In late October I had the unexpected opportunity to visit Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. I was asked to serve on an accreditation team by the Western Association of Schools and College. This organization accredits schools throughout the western United States as well as many schools in Asia. For those readers of my blog, you know that I served on a team last year in Bangkok, so I was well familiar with the process. In addition, our school was just accredited by WASC in April, and I was the coordinator of that process.
There is a non-stop flight from Seoul to PP and I arrived around 10:30 at night. Someone from the school met me in the luggage area, and I was surprised that she was able to enter the airport beyond the security gate. She said her cousin works there and he let her go through - such is life in Cambodia :)
The hotel was very close to airport, and we were there in ten minutes. Since it was dark and I was tired, I didn't see too much. I just unpacked and went to sleep. The school visitation wasn't until Sunday, and I left Seoul on a Friday. This gave me all of Saturday to see Phnom. A friend of mine in Seoul is Cambodia, and he has a brother in Phnom who agreed to show me around. At noon he picked me up in his car and drove me downtown. Traffic in PP is pretty bad, not because of the cars so much but because of the road quality. You can be driving along on a halfway decent road that suddenly turns into a rugged landscape of potholes, mud pits, and cracked asphalt. Much of Cambodia is below sea level, and during the six months of the rainy season, flooding is a massive problem. October is near the end of the season, and so it wasn't raining that much, but the road conditions were evidence enough that PP has serious drainage problems.
Toto (my tour guide), took me to the area where most expats live. We ate lunch at a beautiful restaurant decorated in a very traditional Khmer design - with dark wood, balconies, water features, and lush plants. The food was great. Cambodian food is like Thai food without the heat. Everything is rich in curry and sweet. They do have some spicy dishes, but not nearly as hot as Thai or Indonesian dishes.
After lunch, Toto took me on a driving tour of Phnom Penh. The city is a sea of construction. After the defeat of the Khmer Rouge in 1980, Phnom has been struggling with its economy and government. The rest of the world has discovered how cheap things are in Cambodia and they are taking advantage of it, especially the Russians, Chinese, and South Koreans. These countries are buying up land and constructing buildings at an enormous rate. We passed one construction project that was huge - blocks and blocks long. It ran along the river and Toto told me that six months earlier, the road we were driving on was actually the river itself. The project filled in massive parts of the river to acquire the land. The company is now building high end apartments and shopping complexes mirrored after building in Paris. There will even be a mini Arch de Triumph. The style seems so out of place for Phnom, even considering the French influence during their occupancy, but this is typical of what's happening to the city. Foreign money is flooding in and huge complexes are going up. This money, though, does not trickle down to the population. Government corruption is huge, and the average Cambodian lives on $20 dollars a month. Foreign companies are buying up the public works as well, such as water and electrical plants, and charging outrageous prices to a population of people who are barely surviving.
Toto drove through some very pretty areas of PP. We stopped at a place next to the river and had ice cream. This part of the city has a very French Quarter feeling to it. I didn't get to explore it much, but when I return to PP in February, it's an area I want to visit again.
After lunch, Toto dropped me off at place where I had scheduled to have a massage. After my massage, I took a tuk tuk to one of the local gays bars. The bar was very friendly and I met two guys there, one of whom was an owner of another gay bar. I went to his bar afterwards and met some more great people. One guy at the bar told me about a Cambodian artist and showed me his website. I contacted the artist and arranged to meet him later in the week to see his art.
This is how Cambodia works - the people are open and amazingly friendly, yet the country is an open wound. From 1975-1980 almost half the population was killed by the Khmer Rouge. Three of the guys I met at the bars lost their fathers. The Khmer killed randomly, and they killed anyone who they thought was intelligent. Even people who wore glasses were killed because they thought they were smart. The country is still healing from all these losses, and it can be painful to talk with people because everyone lost someone.
During the week, I had the opportunity to meet parents of the students at the school I was visiting. These parents were well-off since they were sending their students to a private school. I told them about my plans to maybe open a bed and breakfast, and I was thinking about Cambodia. One guy was a real estate agent and told me I should buy property in Kampot, a city near the ocean. He said he would sell me the property. One owner of the school owns a construction company and offered to build the guesthouse for me. Another guy was an architect and offered to design the place for me. It was such an amazing experience and it felt almost like fate that I should arrive there.
My school visitation ended on a Thursday afternoon, but my flight wasn't until 1 AM. I took a cab back to the river and met with the artist I had mentioned earlier. His work was beautiful, and so I purchased a painting to bring back with me. It was easy to carry since he unframed it and then rolled it into a tube. Across the street from his gallery was a gay bar and we went there for drinks. The bar was open to the street and very friendly and casual. Cambodia technically has gay marriage since their license isn't limited to just men and women. The country is also very gay friendly. The bars are very visible with rainbow flags proudly flying. Drinks are amazingly cheap. Top shelf liquor is available for four dollars a drink! After a couple of drinks, Toto met me to take me to out to dinner and to the airport. We found a great Chinese place very close to the airport and had a delicious meal.
Overall, Cambodia has won me over. It's country filled with wonderful people and many great opportunities. I plan to go back in February for five days to see what options are available for relocating there.