Khmer Pajama Party

And we arrive in the final country of our trip. The final border crossing and it’s rather wild west style. Hello Cambodia, hello corruption. The immigration official claims he cannot issue my business visa…I stand, I wait, I grit my teeth, I insist… until his:
"I help you, you help me” and then an extra $20 (in addition to the bribes to leave Lao and the $1 for my temperature to be checked) and I’m in…just in time for the pajama party.

The trendy (and practical) fashion outfit for Khmer (main Cambodian people) ladies is a garishly patterned full pajama set, worn complete with white socks, high heels, safari style hats cum face masks and a handbag.   The word pajamas was incorporated into the English language from Persian, and the clothes adopted by the British when they came to South Asia as night attire. So, it's actually not so strange wearing pajamas as day wear.

We phlitter straight across Cambodia to Siem Reap to visit Angkor Wat, the ancient temple complex and ruined city built in the 12th Century.  There are millions of tourists, lots of Koreans and Japanese. Also lots of Khmer brides who have come for a photo shoot. 

We take a tuk tuk temple tour in the sweltering heat around the massive site of this ancient civilization comparable in its advancement with those of the Incas and the Romans.  The main temple fails to impress our high levels of temple expectation after 6 months visiting them. Then we discover the marvellous "Tomb Raider" temple (filmed there), the temple has been has encroached upon  by the surrounding jungle, the trees and animals reclaiming their land. Then to a mystical temple with Buddha faces peering out of the crumbling buildings.

Suffering from the heat we leave Siem Reap and are bundled into a van heading to the coast.  We squeeze in next to crates holding a few hundred eggs. It's not a regular bus, the enterprising administrator of this van, dressed in her pajamas, stops every few kilometres to pick up and drop off loads...eggs, watermelons, doors, babies, foreigners...always clutching a wad of bank notes...quite insightful.  By the time we reach the coast it's dark and the pajama lady doesn't know what to do with us so we are left by the roundabout in the quiet coastal town of Kep where we investigate by tuk tuk.


Kep is a lovely seaside town, quiet but kind of strange.  Built by the French then home to rich Khmers, the Khmer Rouge destroyed the town and murdered its inhabitants, it remained deserted for many years. There are still many burnt out shells of villas, a grim reminder of the recent horrific history of this country. 
The sadness of the history is that the corruption, poverty and lack of rights continues...but more of this to come with future blogs...




And a welcome to the crazy Cambodian money system. I've visited a few countries with bizarre systems now, notably Cuba and Myanmar. But this is a first where the ATMs give out American dollars and when you pay with dollars you get small change in Riel, the "official" currency.


Kep is famous for its wonderful crab market and we spend  our last few days of travel before starting work eating crab on Rabbit Island and reflecting on our wonderful trip.