Help, I’ve been kidnapped by an upper middle class Cambodian family and they won’t let me go.

[monsoon]

So, apologies in advance for the lack of sexy bits in this trip report. It’s more about my encounters with an upwardly mobile Cambodian extended family, and their incredible kindness towards me on my trip. ( I do finally get to visit SpaceHair at the end)
 

So some background, I’m 60, been following the various thai forums off and on for 20 years and always dreamed about moving to thailand, but life got in the way, and this is my first trip to Asia. I live and work in an extremely multicultural area of Southern California and one of  my colleagues is Nat, 43, straight guy from Cambodia who has become a good friend. Nat moved to the USA about 8 years ago, and subsequently brought his parents over and recently his 10 year old daughter. 
 

I am in the process of retiring from my job and and I have a few months of sick leave to burn so I start planning a month long trip to thailand to explore if I might want to retire here. Nat tells me he’s going to be in Cambodia at the same time taking his parents back to live with other siblings, and so his daughter can spend summer vacation with her mom. “Why don’t you come over and I’ll show you some of Cambodia while you’re in the area.” Sounds like a good idea, when am I going to get a local friend to show me around?

My ticket to Bangkok is already purchased and is for four days ahead of Nat so I book myself two days at The Banyan Tree and then two days in Phnom Penh at the Harmony House. I spent my days in Bangkok walking around Lumpini park and Silom, and basically falling into a coma at 4pm. 
 

Go back to the airport to fly to Phnom Penh, Sky Anker line is a mile long but I’m early so it’s ok. Finally get to the front of the line “sorry, you can’t board, you don’t have a departure ticket. Ok, no problem, sell me a return ticket for a week from now. Sorry, no can, you have to do it on your phone and get in line again.” I kind of knew that an outbound ticket was required but I’d forgotten it so I practice my zen and then go back to the end of the line and start trying to buy a ticket on my phone. By the time I get back to the front of the line I have the ticket bought but the transaction won’t finalize. I show the counter agent the spinning hourglass on their website and she just sighs. “How much cash do you have on you?” Apparently if I can prove that I won’t be a burden to Cambodia she wont get in trouble for letting me on the plane. The $400 I had in USD and Baht caused her to sigh again, “Keep trying to buy ticket and show me at the gate.” She checks my luggage in and gives me a boarding pass. I get to the gate, ticket still isn’t ready so I cancel it and go on expedia and buy a refundable ticket that I can cancel after I get through immigration in Phnom Penh. Visa on arrival quick and easy, Cambodia also makes you preregister ahead of time like Thailand. No one ever checked the return ticket.

Arrive in Phnom Penh, take a grab car from the airport to my hotel. Am overwhelmed in a good and exciting way by the utter chaos and lack of traffic lights on the roads. When we get to the hotel in the Riverside Neighborhood I just break out into applause for the driver. He just laughs and holds up his hand and says “5stars” 

Nat had not seemed happy that I had booked a hotel in the Riverside Neighborhood, and had cautioned me about it. I had watched videos and it seemed fine, but I can see why a local might be a little embarrassed by some of it. I have never felt more handsome. The Harmony House was nice, with a rooftop pool and bar. My room had a cute balcony facing the street. Just beyond the hotel the street turns into a street market that I thought was cute until I was woke up at 5am to chickens and ducks being butchered. You gotta just laugh sometimes. 

More to come, hopefully the Thailand parts will be more sexy. I have just enjoyed these forums so much over the years and want to give whatever I can back. 

[khaolakguy]

Good start! Nice balance to your report.

[vinapu]

land borders are closed but thanks God it looks airlines are still flying.

Hope  you will have fun at Space Hair bar as I always do

[monsoon]

On the morning of my second day in Phnom Penh I get a text from Nat “we’re coming to pick you up, don’t eat breakfast” But first, a little background on Nat’s family.

Nat is the youngest of 4 children, a girl and 3 boys. Mommy and Daddy are in their late 70’s- early 80’s. Daddy had a stroke a while ago and walks with a bad limp, but doesn’t let that stop him. Mommy and daddy are always dressed really well and both wear a lot of jewelry. I have been out to breakfast with them several times in California and they always are happy and try to chat with me, even though we can’t speak each other’s language. 
Daddy is well liked and well connected. Every time we have gone out people come up to say hi to Mommy and Daddy. I asked Nat about it once and he said that Daddy helped a lot of people flee the Kymer Rogue and so Daddy is very well respected. 
The family are also members of the CPP (Cambodian Peoples Party) which seems to be the dominant political party. I have been invited to several CPP functions in California as Nat’s cock block, to keep the hostesses from setting him up with women he’s not interested in dating. I always get a good meal and drinks out of it.

Nat arrives in Sister’s double cab Ford Ranger truck, being driven by sister’s driver. These trucks seem to be very popular, I see them everywhere. I’m told it’s common for middle class families in Cambodia to have a driver, because driving and parking are such a mess. I’m surprised to see Mommy and Daddy in the back seat, knowing they got in very late the night before. “Mommy wants to take you to her favorite noodle shop for breakfast” and off we go to a busy open front shop across the street from the hospital where Mommy used to work as a pharmacist. Mommy and Daddy have not been back since covid but the second someone from the shop sees Mommy getting out of the truck all the staff are swarming the truck and helping them inside. It was indeed a tasty breakfast. Kymer food in my limited experience seems to have some overlap with Thai and Vietnamese, but not nearly as spicy. 
Breakfast over we run around doing some shopping and I’m told that we’re having lunch at Brother#1 house. At this point I still don’t know where we are sleeping. I was told not to worry about it but I made it clear that I was way too old to be couch surfing. Nat tells me he wants us to stay at sisters house, but apparently there’s been some question about it because #1 brother wants me to stay at his house. Nat doesn’t want to stay at #1 brother’s house because his soon to be ex-wife is also staying there. Apparently two brothers married two sisters, and Nat has to navigate his divorce very carefully, so he doesn’t offend his sister in law. It’s finally decided that we’ll be staying at sister’s Phnom Penh house, sister is at her house in Florida so there’s plenty of room. I last one day. 

[monsoon]

We get to brother #1’s house. It’s a large 3 story house surrounded by a wall, in a very mixed, eclectic neighborhood. They are surrounded by warehouses, small shops, tiny aluminum roofed houses, apartments and other houses like theirs. Brother#1 was a doctor for many years but now works for the government battling counterfeiting. Brother#1 doesn’t speak much English but his wife and children do. In fact, the children seem to default to English with each other. I was watching them play with each other without them noticing me and they were just chattering away in English. 
Brother#1 has a cook, and lunch is a large affair served on a big round table that easily seats 10, with a large lazy susan in the middle so everything is served family style. Among the dishes are a platter of some sort of fried grubworm, and also a platter of fried crickets. I try the grubworms, which are crunchy and mainly taste like the garlic and shallots they’re fried with. They were fine, but not really good enough to get over the eating bugs factor. I skip the crickets, the thought of crunching on the legs is too much for me. Lunch is followed by much beer drinking. I’m not much of a beer drinker, it tends to just make me bloated and uncomfortable, but they are encouraging me to try various beers made around Asia so I go along the best I can. 
Lunch had run late and long so dinner was mainly skipped, but brother #1 decides he wants to take the men out for more beer and music. 6 of us pile into brother#1’s Ford Ranger double cab ( yes, another one. Brother #1 also has a ford Explorer that he imported from the USA. His wife told me that he imported it after he saw the CHP driving them in California) and head out to a newly built entertainment complex that consists of several new blocks of restaurants, street food courts and small carnival style amusement rides for kids. The place we go to is covered but open air and has three U shaped levels of tables with the bar and a stage at the bottom. The service level is just phenomenal. We have two waitresses assigned to us who basically have our beer selections on ice in a large tub, and every time you take a couple of sips from your glass they refill it. There’s a band with a couple of singers alternating between Kymer and English hits. We also get food for the table, which includes another plate of grub worms. They seem to be a popular beer snack. No one will let me buy anything or contribute to the bill in any way. 
We leave and brother #1 drops Nat and I off at Older sister’s house. Now from all appearances older sister has a nice 4 story house in a gated community, probably about 25 years old. However when we get inside it’s clear that no one actually lives (or cleans) regularly in this house. Nat tells me his sister rarely stays there, preferring Siem Reap and the house is just a crash pad for members of the family. There are no tv’s, no linens in the bathrooms, and my bedroom is full of old clothes and sports equipment. The only rooms that seem lived in are the ground floor bedroom and kitchen, which mommy and daddy are using, and the driver’s studio apartment, which is actually quite nice. The next morning I tell Nat “Hey, as you know this trip is all about me deciding whether I want to retire in Asia or not. I can’t really do that out here in the suburbs. I’m going to book a hotel room in the city.”

No one entirely buys it but they all also understand. I book two nights at the Phnom Penh 51 Hotel and residences. Turns out to be a good choice in a nice neighborhood. 

 

[floridarob]

4 hours ago, monsoon said:

No one entirely buys it but they all also understand. I book two nights at the Phnom Penh 51 Hotel and residences. Turns out to be a good choice in a nice neighborhood. 

Is there where the local action will start?

[Latbear4blk]

1 hour ago, floridarob said:

Is there where the local action will start?

Are you getting anxious?

[khaolakguy]

Help, I’ve been kidnapped by an upper middle class Cambodian family and they won’t let me go. And apparently won't let you post now either!

[vinapu]

42 minutes ago, khaolakguy said:

Help, I’ve been kidnapped by an upper middle class Cambodian family and they won’t let me go. And apparently won't let you post now either!

likely ransom was declined

[monsoon]

Apologies everyone, my soon to be ex manager at work is being his asshole self and interrupting my vacation with nonsense. However I have brought my IPad to the beach and let’s see if I can finish this tale while the square jawed handsome Mr Noo gives me a foot massage. 
 

Nat runs me over to the new hotel and checks in with me so I can get 2 keys. It’s around noon and I ask Nat how guest friendly he thinks the hotel would be, the front desk is right in front of the elevator. He just walks up to the female desk clerk and has a conversation in Khmer that includes lots of laughter and joking and then tells me that I can bring anyone I want as long as they don’t look like a street person. The girl just smiles and nods at me with a grin on her face. Ok then..

With nothing on the agenda until dinner time I message Mr. Nate, who had been advertising his massage skills to me on hornet since I had arrived in Phnom Penh. I’m not really attracted to the slender boyish twink types and Mr. Nate was the only massage boy who had a larger framed, more developed physique. He came at 14:00 and I had a very happy 90 minutes with him. I gave him $50 and he seemed very happy. 
 

Dinner is a BBQ at brother #2 house. Brother #2 and his wife are both air traffic controllers, speak good English and have a newer modern 3 story house in a gated neighborhood by the current airport, which is about to close and relocate. They have replaced the roof of their home with a wonderful covered rooftop deck and kitchen, complete with running water and a bathroom. Their teenage boys get a workout hauling all the food and drinks up the stairs. Even Daddy, who can barely walk but refuses to be left out of anything, climbs to the top and we all have a nice time with the extended family and neighbors. The party breaks up around midnight (which they seem to feel is very early) because we have to get up early for an excursion tomorrow. 

 

 

[monsoon]

The next morning I’m picked up by Nat, Driver, Mommy and Daddy and we have breakfast again at Mommy’s noodle shop. Then we head out because today mommy is honoring her ancestors at the family pagoda, a couple of hours outside of Phnom Penh. We get to the village temple grounds, brothers #1@#2 with their families have already arrived and the family pagoda has been opened up and made ready by the village elders. Everyone kneels on mats while a couple of teenage monks lead chanting for about half an hour. Then the monks are given many gifts and much cash by each of the brothers and Nat. The villagers are each given a box lunch and a $20. I’m told it’s a way of supporting the villagers who can't work because they are too old or handicapped, and the village children. It had to have cost several thousand dollars. 

My idea is to finally make it out to some of the gay bars tonight, because the plan is to head to Siem Reap the next day. We decide to have a late lunch at brother #1 house and around 4pm I ask Nat to take me back to the hotel. Back at the hotel Nat tells me he’ll pick me up at 7pm and I ask why and he says we’re all going out to dinner. This is the first I’m hearing of this and tell Nat to make my apologies, as I have other plans. He gets a sad look on his face and says that I have to come, it’s his birthday and brother #1 has arranged for us to have a fancy dinner at a restaurant that a friend of his owns, and they are all counting on me being there. So much for bar hopping tonight. 

They pick me up and we go to a restaurant that seems to consist of only large private rooms. In our room there’s a huge round table with lazy susan, a private restroom and a Karaoke machine. They order tons of food and beer and we dig in. Fortunately no one seems interested in Karaoke tonight.

It’s a great meal and by the end I’m nicely lit. Brother #1 wants the guys to go out drinking more but I get them to take me back to the hotel, where I pass out.