Phnom Penh and Mr Bombastic

Palace Grounds

Tuk Tuk

We arrived in Phnom Penh as promised in the early afternoon. We took a tuk-tuk, Tamara's first tuk-tuk experience to the hotel. In both Cambodia and Thailand tuk-tuks are the major form of tourist and local transportation in lieu of a taxi. Taxis especially in Cambodia are few and far between, and much more expensive. A tuk-tuk is a motorcycle which has a canopied 2 to 4 person 2- wheeled carriage attached to the back of it. In Thailand they are a little different, as the motorcycle is actually built into the carriage. Same-Same, but different. The picture here is one I downloaded off the internet and it a Cambodian tuk-tuk.
We checked into our hotel, and set out exploring our surroundings after a much needed lunch and icy cold beer... or two. We realized through our wanderings that our hotel was wonderfully centrally located with the mighty Mekong River less than a block away, the Palace grounds for the Royal Family, a large Buddhist temple, the national museum and a local market all within close walking distance. Sadly we discovered most things were closed by the time we got to them. A good scouting expedition all in all.
We walked towards the Palace to observe from the outside, and in front of it was a large park. In the background of the above picture is part of the Palace grounds behind the peach wall, and the large green space outside of the temple. This green space is home to a  couple hundred pigeons who hang about waiting for families with young children to buy corn kernels to feed to the pigeons. The young toddlers love throwing the corn and watching the birds gather, only to go careening through the flock, scattering them to the air. Children of the poor locals entice tourists and the young local families to buy their small bags of corn kernels, and if their selling pitch of picture opportunities or fun for the kids does not work, plain old badgering seems to be the next trick.

Many local beggars or poor will use their children to sell the souvenir wears, as it is harder to say no to a barefooted scruffy child then an adult. Most children by the age of 4 seem to be able to count to 10 in a multitude of languages, and know the routine of bartering like a champ. They are determined following you and harrassing (and I do not use the term lightly) to buy something, and no amount of no thank yous, firm No's or ignoring them will stop the onslaught. They tug on your arm, run around and stop directly in front of you, and follow you until you are often quite far from where you started, or are driving away in your tuk-tuk get away car. At times it seems easier to pay the dollar they request and move on, but in every book, travel guide, travel agency or NGO, they advise strictly against this as it instead encourages the behavior and promotes the exploitation of children, who should instead be in bed at home, or in school.
Another local trick is to have 2 small children hold a baby, with an empty bottle in its mouth. They will ask you to buy milk formula of the baby insisting that they are not asking you for money. The first thing to note, after you ask yourself where the hell is the parents of these three very young children, how does a child of 4-10 know this much English that they can hold such a knowledgeable conversation with you. These children are often found at night on the street corners of the tourist areas. They assure you that they only want the milk for the sleeping baby in their arms, and they cannot sell the milk back to the stores as the police will catch them and arrest them. The rehearsed skit is painful to see and you curse yourself as you walk away and insist that no, you will not help them feed their baby sibling. But of course I will point out two things here, first breast milk is freely provided by the mother. And it is a well known fact that they sell the unopened formula back to the store, or often have an arrangement with the store to split the money. Sadly the use of children in begging practices is very common here.

Continuing from my tangent, back to the Palace, it was on our way to see the palace and the birds that we first met Mr. Bombastic. He was to become our new friend in Phnom Penh. A 24 year old tuk-tuk driver, with a flat brimmed white base ball cap, with fake small little diamonds outlining the 2 in the number 24 on the cap. A mess of tight curly hair pushed out from the side of the cap, that when out of the cap stood up in Afro form.  A huge smile, neon yellow sleeveless shirt, and a skull overshadowing a lightening bold tattoo on his shoulder, he attached himself to Tamara and they wheeled and dealed a price for him to take us to the killing fields and Tol Sleng, the genocide museum the next morning. He had  a bright yellow tuk-tuk with a picture of a DJ table and the words Mr. Bombastic beneath on the corner of his tuk-tuk. The back read in big black capital letters "No Money    No Honey". He was a riot to start.
The next morning bright and early as promised Mr Bombastic arrived at our hotel to take us to Tuol Sleng, the genocide museum. Prior to owning his own tuk-tuk he used to work as a tour guide and agreed to take us through the museum. The genocide museum is an old high school that during the time of the Khmer Rouge, was used as an interrogation prison to torture "confessions"out of the prisoners. Through this one prison 12,000 people were, cataloged, tortured, imprisoned and if they did not die at the hands of their tortures, were shipped to the killing fields outside of the city. One unlucky Australian man somehow found himself at Tol Sleng. He "confessed" to being KGB-CIA spy. I would like to point out the irony of being both KGB and CIA in the 1970's  in the midst of the Cold War.
The prison has been left exactly the same as it  was in 1979, when it was raided by the Vietnam army. They have only removed the 14 bodies of the people who were left in the prison, who have been buried in the court yard. Of the 12,000 people seen in Tuol Sleng, 7 survived. I will not go into the horrors that were seen or inflicted here, but it was a terrible place. 2 of the survivors were at the prison, selling books of their life stories. Tamara and I each bought a book. I sat with a man who had been saved because he was able to fix typewriters that the tortures used to record the confessions of prisoners. It was sobering meeting these men, and after buying a book they asked us to sit and take a picture with them. It seemed wrong to smile. In the picture I have with this man we are both looking into the camera with a blank stare. I am honored to have met him, but I could not smile at his reason of being there.

Survivor of Tuol Sleng

After the Genocide museum we went to the Killing Fields, one of many such places where in 4 years the Khmer Rouge killed millions of people. IT was a very very difficult and sad day. To see the horrors and atrocities people will inflict on each other out of fear, hate, or propaganda from a psychotic leader is astounding and sobering.
After we left both the genocide museum, and the Killing Fields, Mr Bombastic helped us in our despair by blasting rap, hip-hop and club-pop music through the speakers he had wired into his tuk-tuk and a cable he used from his iPod that was charged from somewhere in the  bike. I believe he spliced into the wiring to his headlights to wire his iPod and speakers. You could not help but come out of the doom and gloom with the music blaring, him weaving in and out of traffic, and singing and dancing on the front of his motorcycle.
After our depressing morning, Tamara took a nap to escape the escalating heat and I went and wandered through the Palace grounds and into the Buddhist temple we had passed the day before. The Palace Grounds were stunning, but a large part of the grounds were closed as the King, (who truly abdicated the throne in 2004, and son is now the King)  had died a week or so prior. I don't believe the family actually resides on the grounds, instead is an area that is used for ceremonies and such.

May I introduce Mr Bombastic

I went and met back with Tamara. That day was March 17th St. Patrick's day (and my sister-in-laws birthday), and we had found Rice Paddies, and Irish pub that we were going to have some beers and and celebrate the holiday. We invited our entertaining friend Mr  Bombastic along telling him drinks were on us for his help and cheerful attitude. We met and Rice Paddies and happily they were selling green beer and had a line up of 3 bands to play and entertain that night. We had a wonderful time, and even when the power went out for about 20 minutes (they have rolling blackouts occasionally, happily they are short) the singer of the band picked up his acoustic guitar and started belting out some  Tom Petty. It was a great night. We introduced Mr Bombastic to green beer and St. Patrick's day and had a wonderful time.

He told us his life story: He was orphaned when his parents died in a car crash a few years ago. His family house and estate went to his uncle as he and his 2 younger siblings were too young to hold titles or that type of responsibility. I am not sure exactly what happened but they ended up in an orphanage and he worked to support his two  younger siblings after dropping out of high school. At some point he began working as a tour guide, and as his siblings became independent moved to Phnom Penh. He worked as a tour guide saving his money until he could afford to buy his own tuk-tuk. He now chooses his own hours of work, lives between 3 houses of friends who let him crash, and parties like he is 24 going on 18! He was great fun and we called it a night around 10 o'clock as we had met him early at about 5:30. We are two old ladies and are typically in bed at 9:30. (I say old here lightly!) Bombastic had met up with a friend and we left them $10 to continue the night. With beers at $2.50 they had a couple rounds left to go.

Tamara and Mr Bombastic

At Rice Paddies with Green Beer

The next morning we had a 10am flight to catch. We had arranged with Bombastic to come and take us to the airport.... he sent a friend as he was too drunk still to pick us up.
We hope to see our little character friend again when we transfer back to Phnom Penh before we start our long journey home next week. Hopefully he will be  able to meet us, but if not, he is kind enough to send reliable back up!


I have heard feedback for want of photos. As it is now I am unable to upload pictures, but when I get home I will come back and attach a few photos so you can have a visual of what I am talking about.
Thanks so much for reading. I love to hear that friends and family are enjoying my adventures.

Local Nun who was very sweet and kind to me