Crazy Expats

After spending months of time immersed in the inner Cambodia’s political and economic environments I am about to leave and head back to Manila. The work is largely very technical and somewhat boring to hear about I am sure, and a little proprietary as well, so I will not go into much detail here. However, the experience, though frustrating at times was still largely rewarding from a career and personal perspective.

In terms of my time in Cambodia as a whole, I have really come to appreciate the country. Once you get to know your way around, things are much more comfortable and begin to make sense even if a warped way. I have fallen in with a bunch of expats here which have made my time here much more enjoyable. We generally do anything from going to bars, to going to sporting events, to going to bars. Friday nights generally involved going to various seedy bars throughout the city. I came into a well established group, but I was informed later that the bars are chosen for a variety of reasons including theme, décor, price, and a special X factor which I have still yet to figure out. So we would bounce around each week from different places around the city. My favorite Friday night event involved floating down the Tonle Sap in a ricketedy wooden boat sipping on beers as the sun set off in the distance. I am surprised the boat could actually float because every step induced a load creak and the floor boards gave way much too much for my liking. But alas the multi-colored boat with fading paint trudged its way to a watering hole that we frequented often located right on the shore. Not having a dock to speak of the boat would simply crash into the shore and lower a very slender gang plank which traversed a ditch beside the river that was littered with various trash, broken glass, and my favorite, needles. The trip to the bar was easy, the way back over the plank was fraught with a few more difficulties.

The bar itself seemed even less well constructed than the boat if that can be believed. It overlooked the river and was supported by a series of stilts that seemed to be arranged in a rather haphazard manner. In fact the floor to the bar had a downward slope that tilted towards the river and appeared to be one swift breeze from falling the rest of the way in. However, the beers were, cold, the prices were cheap, and the view of the river from the outside balcony was the big seller. And who does not like taking boat rides?

The group was also nice because they exposed me to insider aspects of the city that I never would have discovered by myself. I saw restaurants, art stores, cafes, bowling, water slides, and everything in between.