Yesterday was my first day in Cambodia. I spent the day walking all over the city and exploring. I was also trying to work up the courage to ride the moto - which basically means you hop onto the back of a motorcycle "taxi." Cheap, fast, ubiquitous form of transport throughout the city. I'd already ridden a tuk-tuk --- seen below. (yes, I'm the tourist who took a photo of the back of her driver's head.)



After a long day - about 6pm, I noticed it was getting dark & beginning to sprinkle so although I was just a couple blocks away from my guesthouse, decided to take a moto since the streets were slippery & a bit sketchy in the dark.

I start walking, and immediately a moto pulls over, the kid asks me where I'm going. I tell him Boddhi Tree (my guesthouse) and to clarify, I added, "Toul Sleng." Toul Sleng is a very well-known landmark nearby. We're only down the street from my destination so I feel confident he knows where to go. Hahahaha

We negotiate a price. Rather, I show him the $ and he takes it. I hop on, gripping his shoulders. (This was my 2nd time EVER on the back of a motorcycle. My friends & family know how I always tell them about the dangers of bikes! But when in Rome...)

He zooms down the street, zigzagging, going up curbs. My bare legs narrowly brush by cars & other motos. Lanes & directionality of traffic seem entirely optional. Street lights mean next to nothing. When my driver makes a turn, (he was supposed to go straight the entire way!), I tap him on the shoulder -- not wanting to distract him from vigilant driving -- and remind him, "Toul Sleng." He repeats me over and over and giggles. I thought he was correcting or mocking my pronunciation.

But it quickly becomes clear he has NO idea where we are going. What was supposed to be a 3-minute straight shot from the main street drags on and he makes turn after turn. I tell him, I have map! But he says, Toul Sleng. Toul Sleng. He pulls over (presumably) to ask directions at least 5 times. One girl even drew a map! But still, the ride goes on.

He tries to negotiate a new price as he drives --- 200% more than I already paid him. I give up and tell him to take me back to Sihanouk - the main street where he picked me up. But I suspect he has no idea how to get there either.

Suddenly, neighborhood blackout... or torrential downpour? Not sure what came first. All I know is I find myself laughing out loud hysterically at how quickly I have ventured quite far from my comfort zone. I'm riding on the back of a MOTORCYCLE with a RECKLESS driver in the PITCH DARK (all the lights on the streets and buildings are out -- and of course this bike has no lights!!), in the POURING RAIN, and I'm completely lost. Lightning and thunder add to the excitement. I can't see a thing because the heavy rain is flying into my face. Within seconds, I'm completely soaked.

Suddenly, the bike sputters and lurches forward. Like a teenager driving a stick shift for the 1st time. Sputter, sputter. Jackrabbit starts and stops. Now THE DRIVER is the one laughing wildly. We're running out of gas. The traffic is gone - I don't know if other people have more sense than to be out in the rain, or if we've driven to the edge of town. But we are now alone.

Finally, the moto sputters and dies. I jump off. He wants more money. I feel bad but I cry through the pouring rain and thunder, "I have no idea where I am now!" I gesture with my hands to show the shortest-distance-between-2-points principle. "You go too far. In circles! I was close! I could have walked!" I pat him on the back, say thank you, and walk away. (I probably would have given him a few more riel but honestly, I was worried about opening my backpack & exposing my books and iPhone to further water damage. Selfish American, I know.)

I headed to the nearest lit building I could find - a sort of open-air restaurant. I am dripping wet and so I inch under the awning, not wanting to get everything wet. A group of tuk-tuk and moto drivers are sitting around a table. For ONCE, nobody offers to drive me. They actually avoid making eye contact.

A handful of scantily-dressed young women (working girls????) with heavy makeup are standing and staring at me. Only one ventures a nervous smile. Nobody offers to love me long time.

An older woman walks over and tries to help me figure out where I am going. God bless her! Meanwhile, I'm pulling a poncho out of my bag until I realize it's a little too late for that. I try to wrap it around my backpack. A man and two small children join the audience, standing and staring at me as though I might grow another head. I smile nervously, wonder if they can all see my nipples through my shirt, and say apologetically, "My first day here." The helpful woman chitchats with me, "Where you from, honey?" I am embarrassed to add to the dumb American stereotype but answered, "Los Angeles" before I thought of saying Canada. JK! :)

Finally the woman confers with one of the drivers and gives me walking directions. I'm actually not that far from my guesthouse. I wave goodbye to the frozen crowd and set off.

My flip-flops act as suction cups I wade ankle-deep through flooded, deserted streets. Why didn't I get those darn vaccinations?? As I plod along, I'm thinking this must be expat initiation or something. God pulled out all the stops.

And then... I turn the corner and look up through the rain to see Toul Sleng, glowing eerily. This was the landmark I'd been told was next to my guesthouse so I felt relieved - kind of. Toul Sleng was once a high school, until the Khmer Rouge turned it into Security Prison 21 (S-21) where they systematically tortured and killed thousands of men, women, and children in the 1970's. Today it is a genocide museum... considered by many to be haunted.

I'm not afraid of this place ... but it is decidedly quite creepy to encounter for the first time ALONE, in the DARK, in the STORM. Movie-quality stuff. I half-expected to hear screams or scratchings from the school buildings. I gazed at the razorwire and imagined for a moment the horrors that happened there... then shivered and hurried on.

A moment later, I was home. Whew! I guess it's official, I'm in Cambodia!