I arrived at the Pattaya bus station just before noon, intending to catch the bus to the border. "What do you mean there's no bus?" I asked the attendants. They directed me to the tourist info bureau around the corner. They, in turn, told me I had to go out to the road and flag down a bus heading for any of the cities on the way to Cambodia. Is this any way to run a country?
I haul my lazy ass out to the road and watch for buses. A few beautiful tour buses roll by but ignore my pleading waves. A guy in a car pulls up and asks me where I'm going. "The border to Cambodia. Koh Kong, Kampuchea." He tells me he's going there too and will take me for 200THB! I confirm the price, I confirm the destination and hop in.
Half an hour later, he pulls into the Ambassador hotel complex. If you haven't seen this place, it's a sprawling complex of towers and buildings on Joentien Beach. Anyway, I figure this guy has to pick up something and he pulls up to the door and smiles at me. I smile back. He then motions that we've arrived. "Um, no, this is no where near Cambodia. For some reason, he thought that "Cambodia," "Kampuchea," "border" and "Koh Kong" all sounded like Ambassador hotel. I had him drive me back out the road and gave him a hundred baht for the air conditioning. He demanded 100THB more, of course, and told him I'd pay him if he took me to the border.
I was on the road for only a minute when a public bus slowed down to drop off a passenger. I hopped aboard and paid around fifty baht to go to Rayong. Here, I waited half an hour for a bus to Chanthaburi. There I waited an hour for a bus to Trat. There I had to wait for a mini-bus to fill before the driver would proceed to border. It was getting frighteningly close to the 8PM border closure.
Koh Kong
The Cambodian border pirates (they demand you pay the more expensive Thai baht for your visa instead of dollars) handed me my passport at exactly 8PM. The Koh Kong taxi pirate demanded 200THB to take me into town. The guy with whom I was sharing the cab was not willing to walk to the casino where we could have gotten one for less than half. (I discovered that the guy is a total Jesus freak and not beyond spreading more than just the good word, if you know what I mean.) At the bridge, the toll pirates demanded 44THB to cross and we farang had to pay that too. Eventually, I made it to a dirty little guest house and settled in.
The taxi driver was keen to know if I wanted to visit the chicken ranch. Five years earlier, I had a decent enough time at one of the brothels near the border, but after spending an entire day bouncing from one bus to another (and after having experienced a superb bout of sex that morning), I was simply exhausted and decided to turn in.
I had a chance to have a quick look around Koh Kong the next morning. It's changed a lot since my visit some five years ago. There are a lot more buildings and there are now numerous three-story buildings and a few four-story buildings. The place is really growing but it's still nothing more than a border town. It also has an awful lot of backpackers.
Sihanoukville
I arrived at the bus station in Sihanoukville in the afternoon and walked the few hundred meters to the downtown area. If you're taking the bus, you don't have to pay the moto-pirates to take you there. My objective was the new guest house (well, new five years earlier) owned by a retired US cop and his Khmer wife. The guy is super laid back and quite sanuk-friendly. The Spitfire Guest House was no more! It was now called the Ocean guest house and club. It had been upgraded with an additional floor added and a bit of a roof extending over what used to be the fenced-in area around the building. "What happened to the Spitfire?" I asked the older gentleman behind the bar. It turns out that he bought the place from Randy, my old cop pal.
I later learned that the new owner was a major sanuker. In fact, he built a bar on the third floor to facilitate such activity. Get this, he was flying in Filipino gals to work the club! Awesome, dude! Unfortunately, due to landlord troubles, he's scaled back the enterprise. Keep an eye out for Ocean to see how things go there.
While I was sitting at the bar one afternoon, a young woman eased into the place to chat with the folks working then and made her way over to me. As we talked, she casually dropped her hand on my thigh, half an inch from the little Wombat (who was quite responsive). I wasn't attracted to her as she was quite thin and a bit rough looking. She eventually teamed up with a young, Mohawk and tattoo sporting, Germanic dude staying at the guest house. An Aussie acquaintance pointed the out to me and whispered that the girl was HIV positive. I wonder if Teutonic guy knew.
I rented a bike to explore Sihanoukville. I was particularly interested in the brothel area near the port (http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&q=cambodia,+map&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=vn&ei=rEGpSb3iDti5kAX_svzoDQ&t=h&ll=11.554045,104.932544&spn=0.002139,0.003412&z=18). Half a decade ago, I landed myself a Khmer princess there. I drove down in the evening to see what, if anything, had changed. The dirty little road was just the same as it was before. There were a score of little brothels scattered up the road to Biba's disco. The girls ran outside and called to me "Boom boom good! You come!" I chatted with a few of the girls; some were damn good looking. Five bucks for a quick session? For the price of an hour back home, I could expand my life list by twenty girls!
Biba's was just as I left it five years earlier. I parked my bike and went inside. The seats around the numerous tables were empty - empty! The dance floor, was, fortunately, packed with girls and a few guys, grooving to the live performers on stage. The song finished and everyone returned to their seats. Numerous girls past me on their way to the front door, determined to pull me in for a drink. Oh, my brothers, I was sorely tempted, sorely tempted. Alas, thoughts of the spectacular performance of Da (more on her in another post), left me satisfied.
A few of the bar owners in town realized that they need to coordinate a bit and have tried to hold events of various sorts to attract customers. The Poco Loco (crazy chicken) held a beauty contest one night. There were about ten girls. They stood on the stage together, stepped forward, stepped back and the judges made their decision in something like five minutes. It wasn't much of a show, but at least they were trying to do something different.
Sihanoukville used to have a little brothel area down by the beach. The numerous hotel developments there pushed them out, but I did discover another potential place for fooling around. From the "golden lions" roundabout, head due East. That road goes up hill slightly. On the left side, there are a score of karaoke joints bursting with eager girls.
The beaches have changed somewhat. The once abandoned Independence Hotel has re-opened and the Independence beach is open only to their guests (and guys like me who just walk in like I own the place). The main backpacker beach is hoping! There must be damn near a hundred bar/restaurants on the beach. Liquor is cheap (like fifty cents for a glass of draft and a buck for a gin and tonic) and the food not bad.
Afternoon sightseeing is pretty good too, if you're keen to check out Euro and Aussie babes.
Phnom Penh
I arrived in the capital just before sunset and rented a motorcycle to get around. I knew some of my favorite places had been torn down and replaced with horrible three-story cement business/apartment blocks, but I was keen to have a bike between my legs and the freedom to look around. Inevitably, I was drawn to an area where I'd had such fabulous luck in the past
(http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&q=cambodia,+map&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=vn&ei=rEGpSb3iDti5kAX_svzoDQ&t=h&ll=11.554045,104.932544&spn=0.002113,0.003363&z=18,).
The deal was, back in those days, to drive your bike right inside a particular ground-floor apartment. The young guy in charge of the place would call out half a dozen girls from the apartment block and you'd take the one you like (for short time on the spartan premises, or with you to your room). On my last trip I was told that the place was being watched. This means that there was a strong likelihood that, uh, bad things were happening there (things which I heartily disapprove and certainly saw no evidence of (otherwise I would go nowhere near the place)). Interestingly enough, instead of having to identify the right apartment (and hide myself and my bike therein), I was surprised to see the touts right out the street waving me down. I stopped and was introduced to a lineup of five or six rather attractive girls! Nice to see things are a bit (OK, a lot) more out in the open, now). If my old sweetie Tow had been in the line-up, I'd have been all set, but while the ladies were quite attractive, I decided to hold out and see what would happen that evening.
In Walkabout, I met up with my old pal, Soi Dog, to get the scoop on what was happening in town. I was very disappointed to learn that Jim had to close California II. Although the building was sold out from under him, it sits empty. Fools! Fortunately, he's now at Sharky's and keeping plenty busy there.
I don't normally pick up girls at Walkabout. No particular reason, I just don't care much for the place as a pickup venue as compared to Martinis. However, two girls who knew Soi Dog well came over and started chatting with him. They were quite lively, responsive and attractive. I found myself being particularly drawn to Sre Daw, who made liberal use of her hands and tight jean-clad ass. As the four of us talked, she was touching me everywhere and pressing up against my erection. Soi Dog knew her well enough to lean over and tell me she's quite open to the ol' rumpy pumpy. "Ooooh!"
We'd planned to go get some food, head to Sharky's to see Jim then wander over to Martinis to fool around. I was starting to get second thoughts as my attention had been successfully diverted. I told my girl if she wanted to go with me long time, I would meet her at Walkabout at 11PM. She really wanted to go with us, but I explained that the boys had some business but I would be happy to give her the business later.
After eating, we went to Sharky's and Soi Dog introduced me to two regular guys and quite a few girls (including one we'd met at Walkabout earlier). There were lots of girls at the bar that night. Apparently, the management was buying them drinks so they'd stick around rather than wander off to another bar. Good thinking!
Soi Dog and I found ourselves alone with a few girls. One, he knew well, introduced him to the cutest little thing, explaining that she'd just arrived in Phenom Penh. She spoke no English, but Soi Dog managed well enough with his limited Khmer. Before long, the two other girls announced that they were going off to somewhere else and that Soi Dog should look after the new girl. "I've just been given a gift by Buddha!" he told me as the girl squeezed up against him. She was a total doll and was pressed up against my friend like he'd just proposed to her.
He told me he was torn between his commitment to go out to Martinis with me versus shagging the new girl. "Dude, always go with the better offer!" I replied. I was quite keen to get back to Walkabout to see if my own Khmer babe was there early. We went out to our bikes and headed off in different directions.
I wandered into Walkabout by didn't see Sre Daw. It was still early so I went next door, checked e-mail and returned at 11PM - the agreed upon time. As I came in she scurried over to me and gave me a big hug. I suggested we take off, but she just ordered something to eat. We waited a half hour before her food showed up, some rice and a chicken leg (which she cleaned down to the bone). For some reason I can't fathom, she also ordered the very same dish for take-away.
We rode the few blocks back to my hotel, the Royal Princess, and climbed the stairs to my room. This is the same hotel I used two years previously. It's Khmer owned and operated (and therefore girl-friendly), it doesn't get many foreigners because it's off on a side street and the rates are generally low. Unfortunately, two years earlier, they just began upgrading the place and now they're attracting lots of foreign families and charging $20 a night for a room. I got a slight discount by badgering the desk staff ("But I'm a regular customer!" I told them).
Sre Daw kicked off her sandals, checked out the room, turned on the air conditioner and the TV (tuned to a pop channel) then started undressing. Well, that was refreshing! Too often, in Cambodia, I had to take the lead and coax them out of their protective wrappings. It was then I noticed something peculiar. In the bar she seemed so tiny, but looking at her naked she seemed as long and tall as a runway model. She must have been a towering (by Khmer standards) five foot seven inches in height. She had fabulous legs and a to-die-for ass.
We had a thoroughly enjoyable shower and headed for bed. (Far too many Khmer girls want to take a shower alone - with the door locked - then sneak under the sheets while you take your shower. Very annoying.)
In bed, she pretty much ignored the television and I paid my utmost attention to her. I honestly forget the details. Let this be a lesson though, if you don't write it down right away, you forget the details - and the details are what make these sanuking adventures, believe me. The long and short of it is, I had a terrific time with this girl. I had fully intended to, uh, clear her pipes, but she was not exactly up to the task, claiming that I was too big (and for the record, I'm totally average). No matter, I was quite satisfied.
While the room had two single beds, we managed to enjoy sleeping on one, wrapped in each others' arms. Mmmmm, I sooooo like that part.
In the morning, I was raring to go, but she was, uh, quite exhausted. I vaguely remembered promising her not to bone her in the morning so I spent the time packing my bag. I saw something that I noted the night before, but couldn't quite figure out. In the morning light, I could see how long her nails were. Well, you know how some girls pride themselves having nails so long that their hands can't be used for anything practical? This girl had toenails that long. I kid you not. Her toenails extended at least a centimeter to an inch in length. With one kick, this girl could stab you in the throat in five different places! Yikes!
I woke her very gently (thinking about those lethal toenails). She yawned, responded to my hugs and kisses, then sat up. Then she made a punching motion with her arms to crack her elbows. "Whoa!"
We got a shower together and got dressed. I marveled again at the shape of her body with those long legs. I'm so used to short Khmer women; she was a remarkable exception (and, no, she was in no way, shape or form, a lady-boy).
I toyed with the idea of staying another night in Cambodia. My old pal Kon Yai was headed into town the next day and Soi Dog would be celebrating a birthday a few days later, but I was keen to move on. Phenom Penh had changed a lot in recent years and I wasn't all to happy with that, but that's what happens when you get older, things change and you really regret those changes.
At least the girls still wear short skirts.