FLYING SOLO

Woke up quite early, well early for me, and most of the expats in bangkok, and went to get some passport photos done for my Cambodian visa. I checked out of the guest house and put my big bag into the locker room, I;d decided that I could survive for 3 days with just my day pack. Which was full.

I got the minibus to the airport, just me, my passport and 3 days worth of clothes. Traveling light. I met a guy on the mini bus from New Zealand, he was going to Phnom Penh so we could share a taxi together into the city.

we chatted the whole way about one thing or another. He was in his 40s so obviously the conversation turned to age gap relationships in SE Asia, what else? He'd spent about 10 months in Cambodia and loved it. He was on his way to Vietnam but had to go to Cambodia to get some documents signed or something. Had quite an enjoyable flight, despite flying on the official airline of Man Utd, Air Asia, this would require quite a long time in church for forgiveness, but I couldn't afford to have morals at this point.

We touched down and got the visa quite quickly. I tried to call Sophia, we'd spoken yesterday and the day before so she knew I was coming, but I had no idea if she was working or not, and my phone didn't work in the country so I was a bit lost. Jimmy and I got a tuk tuk (they don't seem to have regular taxis in Cambodia, just tuk tuks and motorcycles), and went back to the Okay Guest house, it was familiar and I knew my way to and from there. Jimmy decided to stay somewhere else where his friend was so we arranged to meet up later that night. I went for a bit of a walk to try and find a phone box, 20 minutes later I found one that was out of order, they're all too willing to sell you phone cards over here, but there are very few public phone boxes to use them in. Anyway I managed to use a phone in a hotel and found out that she wasn't working but was in a bar near work.

I didn't really know what to expect from this little reunion, certainly nothing serious, but on the 2 occasions we'd met before I learnt quite a lot about her and her situation, it gave me more of an appreciation of what the people here have to live with, what their expectations are, and how very few people achieve their dreams and they just have to make do with what they have, and have nothing to look forward to really. So it's completely understandable why so many of these girls go off with older western men, it offers them a chance of a better life, maybe a life outside of Cambodia. Any thoughts that Sophia was after me just for my money were quickly dispelled as she knew I didn't have any! But when you earn $60 a month from bar work, even the little money I had must have seemed like a lot.

I got to the bar where she worked, it was a convenient place to meet. She was chatting to her friends behind the bar, she looked grumpy. “Look what they did to my hair, I don't like it”, she'd obviously had her hair done and bought herself a new outfit because I was coming, although she'd never admit that of course. We went for dinner and had a couple of drinks. I called Jimmy and got him to meet us at the bar later on. He was with 2 of his friends, a guy who lives in Phnom Penh and some other guy who looked like a former hippie and heroin addict. They didn't stay for long. I played Sophia at pool for a while, whilst watching a Liverpool vs Arsenal game from 2002 on LFC TV. Some how I lost a best of 7 series when I was 3-1 up, there was some dirty tricks applied by the opposition, and a hefty slice of cheating, and the table was terrible. Plus she spends all her time there playing pool. It just wasn't fair!

We were going to the beach tomorrow for the day and were coming back the next afternoon, so she went home to pack a bag. “You want to see my room?”, now all night she'd said that I couldn't see her room as it was too messy, but had somehow relented. I was curious as she lived with her 2 sisters in a small room, and I wanted to see what the set up was.

We walked down a really dark alley round the back of the bar, it stank of urine, there was a guy who had set up home there, and built himself a small shelter. We got to a doorway and climbed about 3 sets of stairs before we got to some iron gates. There was one shared bathroom and toilet for that floor. Through the gates I could see a small set of wooden stairs going into what looked like a loft. Sophia called to her sister in Cambodian and she walked down the stairs to let us in. Sophia had 5 sisters and one Brother, he was in the army. She lived here with her younger sister and one of her older sisters. She was away at the moment, so another one of her older sisters was staying instead, with her husband and 1 year old son. I climbed the stairs and almost knocked myself out on the ceiling. The room was about 10 feet wide, and about 15 feet long, and about 5 feet tall. There were two mattresses on the floor which they all slept on, and there was a small portable gas stove in the room, with a TV and CD player. I felt quite privileged that she was showing me this side of her, I was seeing a part of Cambodian life that not many back packers will ever see. The rent on that place was about $60 a month, which is what she makes from the bar. Last month including tips she made about $200, which is a very good wage over here. But she gives some of that money to her mum and nephews, and her younger sister. When you make that little money it's hard to see a way of bettering yourself. Made me really appreciate what I had, and made me realise how lucky I was to be born in the UK.

I sat on the bed while Sophia packed her bag, for some reason we all stated to watch an old episode of Monkey, but it was slightly different to the Monkey that I remember, different actors. I think she put it on because in this episode one of the characters sings a song in English, so I wouldn't feel left out. Her nephew was up and running around, which considering it was 2am probably wasn't a good thing, and I felt a bit guilty that we had disturbed them.

The bus to shanokville was leaving at about 8.15am and we had to be in reception to get the tuk tuk there at about 7.30am, so I was dead on my feet, luckily Sophia's brother in law was a motorbike taxi driver and gave us a lift back to Okay.