My SE Asian sojourn (Siem Reap)

There are three Air Asia flights a day from Bangkok to Siem Reap. We took the morning flight which was fairly but not completely full. Luckily the Generalissimo had not decided to commandeer the airport and inconvenience passengers for hours on end while he played at being King of the Kids.

I had decided to stay at a hotel, not a guesthouse, and chose Terrasse des Elephants, right by the Old Market. a447 however was desperate (ever the desperate one as you can tell from his late December posts) to try somewhere тАЬgayтАЭ, so had booked for the River Queen Guesthouse тАУ as it turned out a short stroll from my hotel. The obvious question тАУ did either of us have problems with тАЬjoinersтАЭ? An emphatic тАЬnoтАЭ. I suspect that as far as my hotel was concerned, girls were the only issue, not boys. I usually brush impertinent queries aside by reassuring the nosey that I am improving the boyтАЩs oral skills.

I wonтАЩt carry on about Angkor Wat; if youтАЩre interested in old Asian ruins youтАЩll have decided that you want to go anyway. DonтАЩt miss the National Museum (a good 2 or 3 hours visit тАУ quite fascinating) and go there the day before you go to Angkor Wat itself.

Other posters have, I think, commented on the paucity of boys on Grindr and JackтАЩd. ThereтАЩs a reason for that, folks. Cambodian boys earn considerably less than $100 (US) a month if they have a job at all. Smart phones cost multiples of a monthтАЩs salary. The running cost for 3G is around 10% of the monthly salary.

The boys youтАЩll find on those two sites have smart phones because theyтАЩre (a) from a rich family (b) have a rich protector or (c) have a good income from being a money boy. Unfortunately, as a447 found out, trying to meet up with boys on Grindr who fall into the second category may mean the protector decides to issue threats of physical violence.

HereтАЩs a sample:
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As you can see the advance guard of the lunatic fringe has moved on from Pattaya to Cambodia тАУ although travelling with a447 meant I was actually with the lunatic fringe.

a447 said the alarm bells had started to go off when the boy turned up on a new motor cycle carrying an iPhone 5. I met a boy who was studying full time in Siem Reap and had just returned from two weeks in Sydney. He charged $35 US. Do the math, as the Americans say.

Otherwise most poor Cambodians have the style of Nokia phone the rest of us gave up around when the new millennium began. It doesnтАЩt run Grindr.

Apart from the sight-seeing we spent a fair amount of time in Caf├й Central. If you read the reviews on TripAdvisor thereтАЩs a minority of negative ones from people who seem not to realise that there are unlikely to be establishments with even one Michelin hat in a country town in Cambodia, but there you are. IтАЩve had worse scrambled eggs in first-world countries. As a former trolley dolly a447 thinks he knows all about customer service (just ask him, heтАЩs forever being disappointed by boys treating him badly). Hint: some of the waiters are very cute.

I had fun but IтАЩm not going to give you a blow by blow description. a447 was propositioned by тАУ I assume тАУ the same houseboy at River Queen that others have written about, for the same sort of unrealistic price. Clearly he doesnтАЩt learn. ThatтАЩs the boy I mean. Although you could say the same about a447.

He can recommend Room 10. DonтАЩt bother with any room on the side of the guesthouse next to the adjacent orphanage if youтАЩre a light sleeper.

Speaking of orphanages theyтАЩre a real growth industry in Cambodia. ThatтАЩs not because of a lack of parents. Poor Cambodians have woken up to the fact that Westerners can be readily persuaded to part with their money for тАЬorphansтАЭ, so park at least one member of their family at an orphanage from an early age so the child can gain an education. Market forces at work!

I read the recent reviews of Blue Hatha Massage online and also had a first-hand (negative) report from another friend, not to mention a447тАЩs hearty recommendations from a previous trip тАУ which I immediately discounted; you know how he exaggerates his successes (thereтАЩs so few of them)! - so decided to give it a miss. The Old Market area is getting to be as bad as Silom Rd тАУ you simply canтАЩt move a couple of steps without being harassed to take a massage. I was intrigued by the way to read a447 describing a Phnom Penh massage place as тАЬHathaway KhmerтАЭ тАУ obviously still fancies himself in understudying the lead role of The Princess Diaries.

We did go to see the show at the Station Bar тАУ AYOR. We also went to see traditional Khmer dancing at Temple Bar тАУ itтАЩs a dinner show and boys dance as well as girls. Good value.

The funniest episode happened on arrival. a447 had arranged to be met by the River Queen tuk-tuk for a free transfer since he was staying 4 nights тАУ and he was met. However he then had to trudge all the way from the terminal to the road, as the driver was saving on his expenses by not bringing the tuk-tuk inside the airport perimeter. Doubtless River Queen management was paying for him to do so. I gave a447 a gracious wave as my hotelтАЩs tuk-tuk passed him by.

There are two flights a day from Siem Reap to Kuala Lumpur. We took the early one. At the Siem Reap airport (0730) there was a Confused Senior Citizen wandering around in a suit and tie wondering when the Bangkok flight would be available (it departs after midday, I think).

Amusement in Siem Reap book-ended at the airport. It doesnтАЩt take much to entertain me these days.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kommentariat

1.There are three Air Asia flights a day from Bangkok to Siem Reap.
2.Speaking of orphanages theyтАЩre a real growth industry in Cambodia. ThatтАЩs not because of a lack of parents. Poor Cambodians have woken up to the fact that Westerners can be readily persuaded to part with their money for тАЬorphansтАЭ, so park at least one member of their family at an orphanage from an early age so the child can gain an education. Market forces at work!
s.

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@1. varies with day of week, sometimes just 2.
@2.So do many of Thailands hillytribes and notably the red/white Karen/Shan.
Young people from the west happily pay 2/300 US$/week to be able to volunteer in such places. But there is also a very shady side to it, on which I will not expand.
Anyway, i read them from 3->1 and was quite entertained by your writings.

I love reading these trip reports.

Can we have a follow up, how did everything g work out?

The tide is turning in the 'Orphanage Business in Asia.
Following revelations in Nepal concerning the abduction of children to fill up orphanages by unscrupulous charities there's a move towards keeping families together under non-parental relatives.
Cambodia is plagued with foreign charities on the make.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FarangRuMak

Cambodia is plagued with foreign charities on the make.

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Ignore the ****ing lot of them, with their fake orphanages & so on.
I think it's just fine to distribute money to working people let Cambodia figure out how to let it trickle down through their society. Then we don't get had by all the charity scams.

I also don't really get the smartphone argument. Of course they are less affordable, but with smartphones coming in at below $100, any clued up hooker should quickly bring in enough money to get himself on the net. The Cambodian guys in Pattaya get their phones fast enough & they rent themselves out for about the same money back home.
Of course the low overall incomes should mean less non-working guys on line, but the cost of a Chinese smart phone should be a low hurdle for a hooker to get over.

Cambodia & Vietnam (Saigon) are two of the most blatant hooker cultures I have ever seen.
It's big business in these places. You can"t walk 10 meters after 7pm without a menu of ages being shoved in your face. It's open and tolerated. But ask where's the nearest gay bar and nobody knows and they're not joking.