The Land of Smiles

I've read in several guide books that Cambodia is considered the land of smiles. A funny name for a country and a people who have endured A LOT. And yet, in my experience so far today (well, mostly anyway) it's an accurate assessment of the Khmer people. They are always smiling, always gracious. I think that this smiling sometimes relates to the fact that they have no idea what I'm saying or what I'm trying to accomplish, but a smile is a much more welcome response to frustration or confusion than screaming or hostility of any kind. So I'll take the Khmer smiles any day.

It was an early morning. My TV in Malaysia had this cool feature where it would wake you up at a prescribed time by playing the sound of an alarm that increased in volume until you turned it off. A new twist on the old wake up call in hotels, right? Anyway, mine was set for 4am because I had a 7am flight out of the LCCT at KLIA, and the terminal was about 30 minutes away from my hotel. I arranged a taxi pick-up at 5am with the front desk last night, and got up and packed my things before heading downstairs to check out and catch my taxi.

Check out was fine (except they tried to charge me an extra $200 for something that was very unclear...good thing I actually checked my bill before signing it). My taxi arrived 5 minutes later and I was on my way to the airport. The LCCT is the low cost carrier terminal, basically, the terminal out of which AirAsia flies. It's a really basic design, especially having arrived in KLIA which was very bright and modern. LCCT was...drab. And over-run with people trying to figure out where to go (there was only one lane per flight in which you could check in--and there must have been some system that indicated which lane was for which flight, but for the life of me I could not figure it out), myself included. Eventually I was able to get someone to tell me where I was supposed to check in, and once there, checked in without hassles.

Then there was the immigration portion of the morning. The system that was set up there was one of the worst I have seen. I'm not entirely sure why it failed so miserably--there were two long lines that led to several immigration officers, and the officers for one line versus the other were fairly obvious, and yet the line took FOREVER. Part of the problem seemed to be that people were constantly arriving late for their flights and therefore cutting in front of 25-40 people--and it was often whole families, not just single people. This must have happened at least 4 times in the time I waited to go through the immigration line. I think the officers also had some kind of power complex because they would make random people wait an extra 20 minutes to have their passports returned...they didn't DO anything with them, just set them on the table next to them and told the person to wait, which they did, and then eventually the officer handed back the passport. It was truly random, and had I been "selected" I would have been sincerely annoyed.

Security was basically non-existent. It was interesting because everyone kept setting off the metal detector (seriously, everyone), but then when I went through, nothing. So I don't know what everyone else was wearing that I was just missing out on...

I had purchased some kind of special ticket which meant that I got to board the plane first (wowsers), but there were two people ahead of me and this family of 5 who were handicapped and allowed to board first first. The guy was sitting on this...well, it was much like a skateboard, and using his hands to propel himself along the walkway. It was super impressive. When we got to the plane, there were stairs to climb and I though that someone would hve to carry him, but he simply lifted himself off his board and used his arms to crawl up the stairs. It was pretty amazing. It couldn't have been a comfortable or easy existence, but he made it work. It didn't seem like he was after any kind of pity. And the lady was missing one leg, but refused to use a wheelchair and walked the entirety using one crutch to help keep her stable. These people were rather inspiring--I'd never seen anything like it.

The flight was delayed by about 30 minutes (I think) because there were 9 people who were late for the flight and there was discussion about whether or not to let them board the plane. It was decided that they had arrived too late, and they would be refused, but that meant that their baggage needed to be removed from the cargo area and that would take some time. So in the end, the people were allowed to board the plane in an effort to leave sooner rather than later. I was basically asleep, so this didn't phase me much. I had an exit row seat with TONS of room, made even roomier by the fact that I had the entire row to myself--the plane was probably half full, if that. And did I mention that this plane may have been the nicest plane I've ever been on? All the seats were leather and larger than the average economy seat. And the plane was NEW. Like seriously new. I walked onboard and was impressed with the bright and airy feel of the cabin. I don't think I've ever walked on a plane and felt that it was "airy." But this one was.

The flight was about 2 hours long. As we prepared to land, I strained to see where the airport was, where the runway was. I saw nothing but rice paddies and swampy lands, which made me a wee bit nervous. And then suddenly, we landed. And there was grass and tarmac and it was amazing. And the airport was empty. There were two other planes on the tarmac and they were of the private jet variety (at least, they looked that way to me). The weather that greeted me as I exited the plane was hot and sticky. Really, much like the weather I've encountered throughout this trip.

But the airport...the airport was beautiful. I was totally shocked. Everything looked new and very, very clean. The buildings were designed to look a bit like pagodas, and it was really just so beautiful. Of course, the ridiculousness of bureaucracy appeared almost as soon as I entered the terminal (I paid $20 and gave a passport photo for a sticker that has my name handwritten on it in my passport--and I had to wait for it to be passed down the line of 10 suited gentlemen who carried on gay conversation while I and the other passengers waited for our passports to be returned). Cambodia also had a health certification form that had to be handed in...so that was fun. Once I received my visa, I waited in line for an immigration officer to check the visa and whatever else they do. Their equipment was high-tech--more so than what I've seen at JFK or LAX. He also took a photo of me, but unlike the other people who had gone before me, he had me look at the camera and smile and then he asked me my name (which was ridiculous because he had my passport in his hand). Then he typed some things, looked at me, and told me to enjoy Cambodia, with a big grin. Ok...

My bag had already made it to the collection area (I spotted it while waiting in the immigration line) and the last step was to purchase a SIM card. It was $10 and came with $10 of credit, a pretty fair deal. Apparently, international calls are $0.25/minute, which isn't too terrible. The lady who helped me was quite nice as well.

Once I had purchased my SIM card, there was an adorable man waiting for me, with my name all officially typed out on Tara Angkor letterhead. He greeted me with a big smile, took my bag, and called me "madame." Oh, Cambodia. As we drove to the hotel, he pointed out some of the sights: we passed Angkor Wat (the BIG temple), random shops and people, and the children's hospital. He was so cute as he explained the various things I was seeing. I took pictures as we drove, which may come out blurry...but whatever. The streets were beautiful and tree-lined, and it was hilarious to me how many WHITE PEOPLE there were. They're everywhere! I didn't see so many in Indonesia or in Malaysia, but here...there's tons of them. It made me laugh.

I arrived at the hotel and was greeted with a cold towel and a welcome drink (i have no idea what it was, but it was certainly refreshing). It was only 9am or so, so my room wasn't quite ready. They had me sit on a couch and they brought me all the things I needed to fill out...no waiting at the registration counter here! And my bag had already been collected and would be delivered to my room. I decided to eat at the breakfast buffet while I was waiting, and that was a quality decision. It was delicious! I ate some of the most tastefulicious croissants (to rival even the ones from France) ever in my life. And watermelon and bacon and cereal and omelettes, oh my! I was overjoyed. Ok, that might be an exaggeration, but it was pretty sweet.

When I finished, my room was ready. The concierge showed me to my room and arranged to have a tuk-tuk (hilarious little carriages pulled by a motorcycle) driver pick me up at 4.45 to take me to Angkor Wat to see the sunset. I showered, and then basically climbed into bed until 3.30 (not sleeping the whole time, but certainly resting). I charged my phone and then my computer and slept for a couple of hours.

I went downstairs and grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading off to Angkor Wat. My tuk-tuk driver had been specially arranged because he spoke excellent English and he explained what we would do very clearly. We stopped so I could buy a pass to explore the temples that would last from this evening until tomorrow evening, then he took me to Angkor Wat. I had read about the children selling various items, and how it can be pretty intense, but wow. It is. They wanted to know my name and they all wanted to sell me something. There was one boy in particular who wanted to sell me some guidebook that I really didn't want so I told him maybe when I came back from looking at the temple. They all apparently took this to mean that I would be buying something from each of them when I came out.

I wandered around for about half an hour, and it was beautiful. It was HOT too. I'm going out for a full day tomorrow, and that is definitely going to be an adventure simply because of the heat. I'll need lots of water to survive...but after wandering and taking tons of pictures, I headed back to where my tuk-tuk driver had dropped me off and ALL those children were there waiting for me and calling my name (and they had brought more friends). I ended up buying some postcards from one boy, but then they all wanted me to buy something, especially the boy with the guidebook. When I refused and said I didn't need anything else (AGAIN) they were very upset. The boy with the guidebook said something about me being a really good liar and that he wished me much bad luck and hoped he never saw me again. WOW. It was actually really hurtful to have this 14 year old Khmer boy saying those things to me. I hadn't lied to any of them, I just didn't want to buy anything. It WAS intense. The tuk-tuk driver explained to me that you can't promise them that you'll buy something and then not do it (which I didn't do, but I think that the word "maybe" doesn't get heard or understood here, so you have to say firmly NO). My problem is that I smile easily and I don't want to be rude, which makes people think that I can be cajoled into their will (which is not so much the case), but I can't handle children being evil to me because I refuse to buy their guidebooks! So hopefully tomorrow will be more successful...my feelings were seriously hurt by that boy!

The tuk tuk driver took me back to the hotel and we worked out a plan for tomorrow (fortunately, he's going to be my driver for viewing the temples tomorrow as well!). Then I went upstairs, put on my swimsuit and went to the pool. The water was warmer than the air outside, LOL! Nonetheless, I hung out there for an hour and then came downstairs to write this entry. I think I'm still a bit damp, in fact.

Aside from the evil child, who really, I feel bad for, Cambodia has been a success thus far. The hotel is beautiful, with high ceilings and columns. The bed is hard, but clean and there's individually controlled A/C and a TV with more than 65 channels (most of which are in a language other than English, but stilll...). What strikes me most about this place (the hotel, the country) is the desire to be friendly and serve. People are very helpful, at least so far, and incredibly polite. I'd like to bring people back with me to hang out here.