Rising From Dust

2008-06-04
By FARHAN QUDDUS
The Daily Star/ ANN

"Sihanoukville is the seaside resort town in Cambodia and though commercial tourism is just on the rise, it is still a great new virgin territory for sun and sand lovers."

You've trusted your eyes your whole life, but visit Cambodia and you just may start doubting them.

Phnom Penh’s morning rush hour traffic of motorcycles, cycles and Japanese Sedans with horns blaring shows the country is on the road to recovery. But with its flourishing tourism industry, surprisingly does not have a commercial taxi service. I get on a locally made transport that is run by an old Honda 50cc with an attachment like a horse carriage on its back, sits six people easy.

The buildings are mostly all old French architecture with some being pulled down for high-rise skyscrapers. The French presence is everywhere, signboards written in Cambodge and French.

We turn on the road leading to the heavily fortified US embassy and just opposite the embassy separated by an immaculate trimmed garden space is the Sunway Hotel, another great looking property. More hotel spotting and this time, our driver Saron leads us to the famous riverfront and through some of the city's prettiest avenues and boulevards, beautiful roundabouts with statues and pristine gardens and playgrounds. We pass by the Royal Palace, a gorgeous monument from the Khmer dynasty.

We drive down to the main waterfront area where some of the best hotels, bars, cafes are located. Sisowath Quay used to be a potholed dusty road only a few years ago but now has been transformed into a world class promenade with the gentle river on the one side and renovated old buildings turned into restaurants, cafes, bistros and small boutique inns on the other. It is a big tourist hangout where you will see people sitting outside cafes sipping on drinks, enjoying lunch and the breeze from the river.

We decide to stop by the famous landmark in the promenade, the Foreign Correspondent Club, tastefully decorated in the old French colonial architecture. We go up to the first floor to have a drink and look out at the great Mekong river.

Famished by lunch time, my friend Mahtani asks me if I want rice, curry and daal? I tell her that is the last thing on my mind. Saron takes us to a touristy spot full of busloads of tourists and we find a lovely restaurant with a humungous buffet spread of Cambodian, Indochine and continental spread. Saron explains each dish to me; the Cambodian cuisine is quite like Vietnamese, Laotian and Thai but not as hot and spicy as Thai. Lunches usually always has to have a samlar (a watery soup ) which is eaten with the main course , I fill up a bowl of samlar machu trey (sweet and sour soup with fish), a very refreshing broth with a distinctive flavour of prahok, a pungent fermented fish sauce similar to the Vietnamese nuac cham. Saron comes back from the buffet station with a plate of muan ang, a Khmer styled grilled chicken drumsticks, nice juicy wing drumsticks with skin on, crispy on the outside, smothered in a sweet chilli sauce. The Cambodian styled fresh spring rolls are delightful. I go for the khar si kreoung, beef curry made with coconut water and tamarind. Succulent soft beef chunks cooked in thick gravy of coconut water and tamarind.

Mahatani, a vegetarian comes back from a salad bar with a Cambodian styled papaya salad with strands of long beans and exotic spices mixed with sugar and lemon juice. It is hot as red chillies had been grounded with the lemon juice in a mortar but the chilli heat makes you want more. I heap a plate of filleted catfish rolled like a nari maki with some sort of a cream sauce in between and topped with wasabe but absolutely gorgeous.

After a hearty meal, Mahtani says that its time for some siesta. Apparently the locals start work by 8am and then take a two-three hour break for lunch, returning back to work till evening.

Mahtani says bye to me, walks across the street to her house and Saron takes over as my guide for the rest of the day. He is taking me to the Russian market. We arrive at a huge cluster of open stalls covered in tin. Saron proudly shows me the local products and handicrafts as we lose ourselves in a maze of bustling shops selling cheap curios. With a strained smile and the occasional nodding of my head, I touch, browse and haggle with the salesladies, all the while wondering how much oxygen is left for me to get out of this hellhole. I know my wife and my mother would like this place but I need an escape exit and tell Saron to take me to another market.

Our next shop is a tourist handicraft shop, fully air conditioned. I am prepared and relieved by the cool air and refreshing green tea as I am led like a lamb to the slaughter to the jewellery section. Jade and precious stones are abundant in Cambodia and good quality too. Their silks are also very good but I do not find the art works as exciting as I did in Viet Nam. Cambodian wood crafting is very good. The works are intricately designed.

Saron is on full swing tour guide mode as he plans on taking me to central market. I step into the landmark building as it is Cambodia's oldest market, only to find the same artefacts as in the Russian market, only slightly pricier.

We skip the war museum much to the disappointment of my guide. Saron tells me “Mr Farhan there are many, many heads in the museum." I nod and smile thinking I should have seen the skeletons of Pol Pot's genocide before lunch. As we drive back to the hotel, he starts a conversation about how much I will love Siem Reap and Sihanoukville, the other two major cities in Cambodia. I tell him that I will not be visiting these two cities this time.

Saron's eyes pop out, thinking I must be a moron not to visit the most famous landmark in Cambodia? The ruins of Angkhor Wat in Siem Reap is why millions of tourists keep flocking into Cambodia.

Sihanoukville is the seaside resort town in Cambodia and though commercial tourism is just on the rise, it is still a great new virgin territory for sun and sand lovers. Pity I do not have the time to go to either town on this trip.

Having said that, I tread lightly on the subject of Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge regime and the impact it has had on the people of Cambodia. Saron laughs and says “Impact? Pol Pot Kill half my country Mr Farhan!” He says that he was a student back then when Pol Pot's army were advancing towards the capital. Saron's father was a motor garage owner. When the troops took over the city, the people actually admired Pol Pot's ideologies. But then things began to turn as families were forced to give up their businesses and go back to the village and work the land. Pol Pot's ideals revolved around an agriculture revolution, which never really worked. Harsh austerity measures and impoverished hardship turned the population into slaves. Saron was forced out of school like all other children and were sent back to their provinces to farm. He was lucky he did not lose half his family as almost all Cambodians have lost family and relatives during the Khmer regime. What can you say after that but remain silent? Saron looks at me and says “Don't worry Mr Farhan, Cambodia good now. You see this car I have three now, two vans and one car. Business is good.”

I learn a valuable history lesson sitting in a car, coming straight from the mouth of the people who lived through it. Phnom Penh was a short trip for me but it opened up the gateway to visit this country. As I sit in the transit lounge in Phnom Penh Airport, I am impressed by this quaint little airport, neat and clean and very pretty, just like the country.