Reisverhaal «De ronde van Cambodja; proloog, 80km»

Cambodja | 0 Reacties 20 Maart 2007 - Laatste Aanpassing 10 April 2007

Dit verhaal zal binnenkort naar het nederlands worden vertaald...

Amazing, when I left for Banteay Srei 40 km up north, I never expected to be back in Siem Reap that night... 
Around 2.30 pm I left Siem Reap (SR) to Banteay Srei (BS), a 'must see' temple 40km up north... Many enthousiastic people along the way again, except for the 4 policemen on their scooters who even avoided any eye-contact...? That didn't gave me a welcome nor safe feeling, especially after a guy, who guides tours to the region, in the guesthouse told me to be careful leaving so late in the afternoon... I didn't go into that because I thought to myself that the guy was probably expecting me to come back to SR, leaving that late, that would be in the dark...
I reached the temple at 4.30, half an hour before closing time with just enough time left to explore my favourite one so far... Dedicated to Shiva in the 10th century, this one is really a masterpiece and has survived the forces of time and nature pretty well... I got into a conversation with a guardian and he asked me where I stayed. After I told him that I would find that out in the next hour, he advised me to ask his chief if I could spend the night in the policestation nearby... The 2 voices in my head were going; -"hm could be interesting with them speaking English...I wondered how open they would be about what happened in the recent past and is still happening...and it would be safe..." - "yeah right, you're in Cambodia you know, one of the most corrupted countries you just read about?" -"Yeah, but they wouldn't risk a scandall like this, they are so careful about tourist-safety as the're depending on it"... -"Hm, with their 'open' policy, who would find out?" And so on, but all this was useless as the chief didn't allow me to spend the night anywhere in the region and ordered me to go back to SR again! He tried to avoid the word 'unsafe' and after several more questions I asked him he told me that I would need a special document of the government with their permission on it to spend the night anywhere between the 2 cities, SR and Anlong Veng (AV), 142km up north, my planned stop the day after...
And that would cost me (a lot of) money, cause in that case they would arrange patrolling and guards in the area! So back to SR he said, even when I pretended to be too tired for it... After consulting some people who were speaking good English as well, and who told me that it normally is safe to spend the night here with a family, I went back... 1km. Asked around but they sent me to a police-station a couple of hundred meters further, saying I could spend the night over there and so I gave it another try... It was a big surprise for me when I saw the same chief in the door-opening, cause I never saw him passing me... Another cop, speaking better English, tried his best to help me, but the chief signalled that it was his ass going to be kicked if something happened or if someone would find out... I told him that going back now in the dark (as the guide told me earlier) would be unsafe, but he was already taking care of it by organising an escort for me all the way to SR!
I left, saying that I would go back, (around 6pm, 15 min. before sunset), but I didn't want to give up and have to do the same road for the third time tomorrow to reach AV! Approximately 1 km on my way back, I asked again to a warm looking family with many kids and who were one of the rare families here owning a car, and in quite good english as well, he invited me in, could place my hammock in the porch under a roof and join the table for dinner! I told him what just happened with the cops and if his invitation wouldn't get him into trouble, but he ensured me, against my expectation and in a confident manner, that he doesn't have problems with the police... Did he mean up to now, or ever? Hmm..
But not even 15 minutes later someone with a scooter and a radio-transmitter came to ruin the moment again... This time, I had no choices left, cause the guy was ordered to escort me whole the way back to SR... I forget my sweatened shirt and began, disappointed, full of unbelief, the 35km left... A few kms further I stopped for a beer, sat down and pretended that I had to rest, and saw the face of my escort telling 'this is going to be a long night'...
2 hours later, around 9pm I was back where I started, and treated myself with a delicious big italian pizza, a karaf of wine and some icecream for dessert, convincing myself that I will get back my shirt  and reach Anlong Veng damned! But maybe first ask some more around about the safety...