I’m not the biggest fan of going to a new place, especially if I am uncertain how to get there and/or I will be travelling alone. Now add to that being in a foreign country where communication can be interesting at the best of times and you’ll have a better picture of my Friday night adventure.
I was meeting some people who are connected to my church in Australia, along with some of my local friends to have dinner together and hang out. The location was to be at the Riverside, a popular tourist part of town along the banks of the rather full Mekong River. I looked up the location on a map and was ready to hit the road, well so to speak.
I walked up to the first moto taxi driver and asked him to take me to the riverside, expect I had made one fatsl error in presuming that the drivers would know the English word “Riverside” and had not learnt the Khmer. The driver stared back at me blankly.
But all was not lost in my mind as I knew it was on Sisawath Road so I tried saying that in Khmer, just be receive an equally blank stare and an “Ot squall” (don’t know). So it was a continuation of saying Riverside and the name of the street in many varying tones long with pointing to the direction of it when he finally said that he knew where I wanted to go. So we were off.
He started taking me an unusual route, but who am I to judge. Then he pulled up to a temple, called a wat, and told me we were here. It was Wat Saravan – I wanted Plow Sis-a-vath. Thankfully I knew the direction so I started directing he to where I wanted to go. Did mean he bumped the price up 1000R, but oh well.
Sometimes travelling around Phnom Penh can be frustrating, especially as a foreigner. They say they know the place and yet they don’t. I speak Khmer and they ignore me or don't believe that I know where I'm going. Some days I wish I just had the confidence to buy a moto and just get there myself, but for now I am at the mercy of the moto taxi drivers of this city.
