My flight from Bangkok to Phnom Penh was delayed by almost half an hour while we waited for the last passenger to bother to get on board. I've never really understood why they don't just stop people who are so late from getting on and remove their bags from the plane rather than disrupting the journeys of hundreds of others.
We were baking in the Bangkok heat while hanging around on the runway with the doors open for this person. He eventually got on the plane - looking worse for wear - and then out of all of the possible places on the plane he could have sat, he plonked himself down next to me. He immediately thrust out his hand and introduced himself and, although I'd like to think I'm a sociable kind of person, I really wasn't in the mood for this.
'Fuck me! I really thought I was going to miss this flight. Can't see why the staff are so pissed off though, these planes never leave on time. Where have you been travelling so far?
'I landed in Singapore about 10 days ago. Then I made my way up on the train through Malaysia and to some of the southern islands in Thailand. Not sure where I'll go after Cambodia yet.'
'How have you found Pattaya?'
'I haven't been there.'
'Isn't that where we are now?'
'No. We're in Bangkok.'
This guy was so out of it he didn't know where we were or what day it was. But, to be fair, he actually turned out to be a nice enough bloke with his heart in the right place. I've come across numerous people like him in Asia before - old style caners in their 40s who love to get out of it and enjoy all the temptations this part of the world can offer. It beats working for a living back home in their eyes, and every day invariably throws up some kind of memorable incident. He regaled me with stories about past visits to Cambodia. One included the sight of half a human body being dragged through the street by motorbike. An other was about eight monks murdering a tourist who stole something. 'This place is fucking mental. Be careful,' he advised.
My friend then turned the conversation to sex.
'Have you been going with the girls out here?'
'No.'
'Oh right. Have you got a girlfriend back home then?'
'No. They're just not my type.'
He looked at me as if I was mad. Obviously the thought someone could come to this part of the world for something other than sex just couldn't register.
It took less than an hour to get to Phnom Penh. After landing in the Cambodian capital, I had to complete some visa related bureaucracy before a driver from my hotel collected me. The first thing that struck me was the overwhelming heat - 35 degrees...
The journey from the airport to my hotel took around half an hour. It was quickly clear that Phnom Penh was utterly unlike some of the more developed parts of South East Asia. The roads seemed complete chaos and the streets incredibly ramshackle. I took an instant liking to the place.
I checked into my hotel around 5.30ish and have just spent a pleasant few hours drinking the local brew in various riverside bars for less than 50p a go. This place is quite underdeveloped, the hotels are very basic and there is a lot of poverty. That all said, there is something quite infectous about it. The people are incredibly warm, and I feel a billion times happier to be here than in the 'comforts' of faceless resorts like Phuket.
We were baking in the Bangkok heat while hanging around on the runway with the doors open for this person. He eventually got on the plane - looking worse for wear - and then out of all of the possible places on the plane he could have sat, he plonked himself down next to me. He immediately thrust out his hand and introduced himself and, although I'd like to think I'm a sociable kind of person, I really wasn't in the mood for this.
'Fuck me! I really thought I was going to miss this flight. Can't see why the staff are so pissed off though, these planes never leave on time. Where have you been travelling so far?
'I landed in Singapore about 10 days ago. Then I made my way up on the train through Malaysia and to some of the southern islands in Thailand. Not sure where I'll go after Cambodia yet.'
'How have you found Pattaya?'
'I haven't been there.'
'Isn't that where we are now?'
'No. We're in Bangkok.'
This guy was so out of it he didn't know where we were or what day it was. But, to be fair, he actually turned out to be a nice enough bloke with his heart in the right place. I've come across numerous people like him in Asia before - old style caners in their 40s who love to get out of it and enjoy all the temptations this part of the world can offer. It beats working for a living back home in their eyes, and every day invariably throws up some kind of memorable incident. He regaled me with stories about past visits to Cambodia. One included the sight of half a human body being dragged through the street by motorbike. An other was about eight monks murdering a tourist who stole something. 'This place is fucking mental. Be careful,' he advised.
My friend then turned the conversation to sex.
'Have you been going with the girls out here?'
'No.'
'Oh right. Have you got a girlfriend back home then?'
'No. They're just not my type.'
He looked at me as if I was mad. Obviously the thought someone could come to this part of the world for something other than sex just couldn't register.
It took less than an hour to get to Phnom Penh. After landing in the Cambodian capital, I had to complete some visa related bureaucracy before a driver from my hotel collected me. The first thing that struck me was the overwhelming heat - 35 degrees...
The journey from the airport to my hotel took around half an hour. It was quickly clear that Phnom Penh was utterly unlike some of the more developed parts of South East Asia. The roads seemed complete chaos and the streets incredibly ramshackle. I took an instant liking to the place.
I checked into my hotel around 5.30ish and have just spent a pleasant few hours drinking the local brew in various riverside bars for less than 50p a go. This place is quite underdeveloped, the hotels are very basic and there is a lot of poverty. That all said, there is something quite infectous about it. The people are incredibly warm, and I feel a billion times happier to be here than in the 'comforts' of faceless resorts like Phuket.
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