The dusty bus stop was hot and sticky. My light green shirt had turned dark green with sweat. I was trying to figure out if the American that had just pulled up in his own motorcycle and disappeared into the back of the station was sex tourist or not. Every time I see a middle aged male traveler who is traveling alone I wonder if he is a sex tourist, I wonder if people think the same of me. Man, watching "Locked Up Abroad" in my hotel room the night before was a bad idea. Suddenly a little man sitting in a plastic chair shot up and tossed on his flip flops. He hailed down a minibus that said "Chau Doc," my destination. I picked up my bag but the driver said no and went off. This was the third time this has happened. Since I don't speak Vietnamese no one wants to be responsible for me.
I opted to take the regular big bus, packed with locals. I could have taken the tourist bus but no, I had to go this route. My bus eventually came. I stepped on with my two packs and looked for a seat. The woman who was standing in the isle looked over at me and then said something in Vietnamese and then began to laugh. Everyone else looked at me and laughed too. Oh boy. I sat down on my bag in the isle. A man came over and pushed aside a little boy and an old lady and told me to please sit down, or maybe to go fuck myself, I dunno, either one.
I was sweating even more now and the guy behind me, who was about my age, tapped me on the shoulder. He gave me a wet wipe. "Where do you like?" he asked. "Uhh, wha?" This went on for a while until we sat down at a rest stop where be bought me a juice. I told him I was from New York and he was from Singapore, I think. We got back on the bus and eventually I got to my town. When they opened the undercarrage to get out my bag two ducks were sitting on top of it.
It was tehre that I met a mototaxi driver. He told me that after I get settled in at my hotel he would take me around town. He showed me a flyer he made that said, "If you don't have a good time, you don't pay me!" "Okay" I said and I gave him a thumbs up.
As we were heading off it started to rain. We went off road into a farming village. Villagers cheered for us as we slipped around on the mud. One lady looked happy to see me. She was smiling and I smiled back. She started to laugh and slapped me as I went by. "What did she say?' I asked. "She want you to come for dinner."
After that we went to the top of a mountain. He bought me a beer and we overlooked mass rice fields in both Vietnam and Cambodia. As the clouds vanished purple mountains revealed themselves to us. We talked about the Vietnam war, and women. It was a very peaceful night. I had a blast with this man who charged me $7 (I gave him 10), the day before I had a boring trip that cost me a fortune. Go figure.
This morning I took a boat to Phnom Phen where I met two other travelers. We talked about the world up and our travels. I explained to them that I had to watch the world cup at 1AM with the hotel employees in the lobby, and that during the last world cup I had to do the same in Sri Lanka.
I asked one of the travelers, Hoang, a tour guide on vacation from Hanoi if the Vietnamese were bitter towards Americans. "No," he explained, "we learn to forget the past. That in order to move on we must look forward, not backward. If Americans are nice then we like them. He explained taht once he gave atour to John McCain's friends.
We took a mototaxi to our hotel and our driver spoke perfect English. He sounded like a cross between John Wayne and Crocodile Dun Dee. I asked him why he spoke such good English. "I teach English in an orphanage." I told him I wanted to volunteer. "Yes okay," he said, "I pick you up tomorrow, you play football with the kids." I laughed. The last time I played soccer with little kids was also four years ago, in Sri Lanka.
Memories...
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