What the hell was I thinking? I hate hot weather. I could have gone to Mongolia, or stayed put in Shanghai, but noooo, had to go travelling to Cambodia...

It's not even one p.m., I arrived some 14 hours ago, and I've had enough already. OK, I'm kidding (esp. you all stuck in cold places, please don't hate me)...

Anyway, a few days ago on one of the Polish news sites there was a story that somewhere in Cambodia a woman was found, who got lost in the jungle a dozen or so years ago when she was a child. So I put in a tongue-in-cheek comment that on Tuesday I am going to Phnom Penh, maybe I will get to meet her.
Some 'learned' idiot replied to that - Korea is not Cambodia you moron, but obviously the 4 thousand kilometres makes no difference to you...
Cretin.
Unlike some, I do recognise the difference between Phenian, and Phnom Penh...
By the way, PP is 3024km flying distance from Shanghai.

The first thing I did on the way to the airport back in Shanghai, I managed to bang my head on the door frame when boarding the airport bus, it was such a great fucking idea to make the door 1.5m tall, so that a full-size panoramic window would fit above it... I have a cut at the top of my head, thankfully my hat softened the impact a little.

I lied when going through customs, I said that I had nothing valued at more than 5 thousand yuan - I had 5 things I'd paid more for.

Flight was OK, but as soon as I landed the circus started.

It was midnight Chinese time, 11p.m. in Cambodia, 22 degrees. The night before I hardly slept, couldn't fall asleep on the plane, and was really tired.
When you get a visa in PP you have to walk up to a counter with your documents (your passport, a visa application, a passport-size photo, and 20USD in cash), there are 8 uniformed men behind the counter, you give all (bar the money) to the first one, and go to the end of the counter. What exactly these men in between are there for is a mystery to me, but after three minutes you give the last man in the line the money, and he gives you the receipt and your passport with the visa in it.

They put my second given name in the visa (my name is Arkadiusz Jerzy, they only wrote Jerzy...) I went back, told the guy, he said - haha, no problem, no problem, as long as all the stamps are there, no problem.

We will fucking see.. When I get back to my hotel now I am calling my consulate to see what they have to say about that, in about 10 days I'm going to Vietnam, and I have no desire to be sent back from the border (speaking of, yesterday at Pudong airport some guy, who, to make it even more tragically ludicrous, was the first in line, so he must have waited for ever, was sent away, from what I understood something was expired in his passport).

I had a taxi booked, a young chap with a black Mercedes limo, on the way to the hotel we almost had an accident, a pick-up truck was towing another car (post-accident), my guy wanted to overtake, but on the right side, the road was getting from 3 to 2 lanes, the pick-up had no intention to move over, so my guy had to brake and swerve towards the two cars...

My hotel room is fine, large, clean (apart from mysterious stains on the walls in the bathroom), I have air-con (a godsend), a large bed, TV with like a million channels - there is no porn, like in the hotel I stayed in 4 years ago in Battambang (seriously, after ten p.m. the hotel would switch on in-house porn channel), I found Animal Planet, some show about Animal Control in New York, the first thing I heard - we have ten DOA puppies...

The window in my room wouldn't lock, but this morning I found out there were metal bars in it, so no problem.

I dragged myself out of bed at nine, got my passport sent to get the Vietnamese visa, went for a walk. PP is so interesting, so colourful, so alive.... So damn hot...

I lasted three hours, went to see a famous temple, a central market, one more place, was on the way to the Royal Palace and the national museum, but it's just way too hot. 30+ degrees, 10kg on my back, walking in these conditions is, really, killer exercise.
So I said nuts to the king, and nuts to the treasures of the Khmer culture, I can always go tomorrow. I went for breakfast at noon, and now I'm hiding here in the internet place, they have air-con too.

On the way I took some 60 pictures, over breakfast I deleted half.
In the market I saw a stall with deep-fried insects, locusts, cockroaches, whatever, I didn't have the courage to try... And anyway, gorging on deep-fried disgustibles with an empty stomach is not a good idea. Maybe tomorrow..
I have a weird headache though, beer-hangover-like, when I shake my head I feel as if my brain was rattling against the skull.
I had one beer last night, so it's not it – and I've just remembered the head-banging from last night. Shanghai Airport Bus company, I'm gonna sue your ass when I get back

Tomorrow more PP and a quick trip outside, on Friday I'm headed for the wild wild east.
04.2007