Pon, Stu and Spock arrived in Siem Reap town early evening . It had been a long journey and apart from getting lost once and having to dodge the occasional herd of Nomadic cows, the drive hadn’t posed too much of a problem.
They had stopped in Phnom Penh and bought some English music CD’s. They became tired of listening to the Khmer music on the radio, which sounded to them like a cat with its nuts in a vice. Pon explained about the songs, which all seemed to have the same theme, a poor boy losing his girl to a rich boy and getting her back with some disease.
“All very depressing,” said Pon, after learning the word depressing from Spock and a few other choice words not for the faint hearted.
They also became fed up listening to Stu’s snoring, however the countryside was beautiful and after they stopped in Phnom Penh, Stu took over the driving. From the short time they’d spent with Dragon and Mom they had learned a few Khmer words and Pon had corrected them on the pronunciation,
‘Ock Khun’ thank you ‘som’ please, and beer, the same word in any language. They were taught ‘cadoy-gam-gow’ and told by a sniggering dragon, that it was a pleasant way to greet to a lady. However, Pon told them it actually meant ‘your knickers were too tight up your pussy,’ an insult, but the lads decided to use it anyway, seeing that they had remembered it. They also learned that ‘Bong’ older person, had been used quiet frequently in conversation and decided that it sounded a good word, so everyone became a Bong. Waitress Bong, shop keeping Bong and sexy Bong, as they referred to the lady that sold them the CD’s, they also came across a village idiot Bong.
They had travelled for about one hour from Phnom Penh and came to a fork not indicated on the map, unsure, they took the right hand road and, after 20 minutes along a country lane they saw a Khmer man leant against a gate. They stopped and Pon asked if they were on the correct road. The man just stared at them and pointed straight on. The lads set off in that direction, and after the road narrowed and turned into dirt tracks, they knew the man had sent them in the wrong direction. Eventually they drove into a small village, stopped and got out of the car to ask for directions.
The villagers had never had any foreign visitors before and they all came out of their houses, all happy smiling people saying, “Hello”, the only English word they knew. A villager spoke to Pon and he relayed to Stu and Spock that they had been invited for some food and led them to a house. One by one, the villagers came and gave them food and drink. Spock and Stu noticed how happy and contented the Khmers appeared to be, they had never witnessed hospitality like this anywhere before, total strangers being treated as long lost family. They stayed for about an hour and after Pon had been given the correct directions, they set off back down the dirt tracks. Spock shouted,
“If we see your village idiot again, we will send him home, he wasn’t safe wandering around,” leaving the village inhabitants confused.
They passed the village idiot still stood at the gate, but he ran off when the car stopped, afraid of getting a damn good ear slapping. They got back on the road and after an 11 hour drive saw the lights of Siem Reap. They checked the map and the hotel that Lee recommended was not too far from the town and Angkor Wat. Thirty minutes later they pulled into the courtyard of Angkoriana Hotel.
“I’m ready for a beer,” announced Spock.
“Me too,” agreed Stu.
“I have to prepare for tomorrow” said Pon
“Ok then, let’s check in and go look around,” said Spock and they walked into the reception and booked three rooms.
“Make them with good views, bong, ” ordered Spock “And bring us three beers while you do the paperwork.”
Stu phoned Dao and Mom.
Spock phoned Dragon.
****
Nick had spent a boring time in Siem Reap, and stayed mostly in his hotel room watching TV. He had phoned Shanti on several occasions and missed her, even though they’d had only a brief encounter. Nick decided to head back to Sihanoukville the following morning. He’d considered that Spock and Stu would stay around Coasters resort, so he decided that he would just avoid the beach to be safe
Pleased with his plan he decided to go out and eat, have a few beers and sleep early. He showered, changed and went downstairs to the foyer of the Angkoriana Hotel and ran into his three best friends in the entire world.
“Hello matey!” exclaimed Spock as Nick walked past them, “so this was where you shot off too!”
Nick’s heart sank into his mouth and he went from euphoria thinking about seeing Shanti, to extreme panic. He looked at the smiling faces of Stu, Spock and Pon and groaned
“Hi lads, yeah I had to meet someone, I have to go, see you shortly,” said a deflated, scared Nick, who quickly ran out of the hotel and fell over a noodle trolley. The three lads just glanced at one other, no words were exchanged over the incident as it had become an expected occurrence from the walking calamity.
The lads went to their rooms and showered. Pon decide to stay in the hotel to hire a motorcycle, study his maps and get his bearings. Pon had told Spock and Stu that they would be of no help in the next step of his quest, as they would slow him down, although he never told them the real reason, he didn’t want to expose them to any danger.
Spock and Stu had no problem with this as it meant they could tour Siem, Reap, get spannered, get laid, fester in their beds and meet the mad monk back at the hotel once he had concluded his business.
“We will probably run into Nick somewhere” said Spock “he can show us around.”
****
Nick hobbled back into the hotel reception after about an hour. He made sure the coast was clear, no sign of Spock or Stu, and hurried to his room, packed up his clothes and checked out, much to the confusion of the staff, and hurried into a waiting taxi
“Phnom Penh, quick” said Nick to the driver who smiled and told him it would cost $120
“No problem,” said Nick, although seething about the price, he would save that on the hospital bills that he would accrue if he stayed.
He sat in the front seat and planned his next move. ‘Get to Phnom Penh in the morning and catch the early bus to Sihanoukville, that’s Ok’, he thought and relaxed back into the seat. The taxi got on the main carriageway and sped out of the city towards Phnom Penh and Nick felt safer.
The hotel staff, still confused, called down the hotel manager and told him that Nick had rushed out of the hotel.
“What is the problem, didn’t not pay?” enquired the manager
“Oh yes he paid, but he left an envelope in the hotel safe with his valuables in” said the reception, bong.
The manager opened the safe and took out the envelope that had Nick Godfrey room 12, written on the front. They opened it and found his passport, return flight tickets to UK. £800 in Stirling traveller’s cheques and his visa cards.
“His friends are here, we will ask them if they know where he has gone” said the manager who had noticed him talking to Stu, Spock and Pon earlier.
“I think he went to Phnom Penh, I heard him tell the taxi driver,” interrupted one of the tuk-tuk drivers who milled around the hotel reception.
“Seal up the envelope and put it back, he would probably come back when he realised he had forgotten it,” ordered the manager.
Nick started to drift off to sleep in the southbound taxi, blissfully unaware he was on his way to Phnom Penh, without a pot to piss in.
****
Pon remained in his room and studied maps, information and routes, he went outside briefly and hired a 250cc Raid dirt bike with lowered suspension and drove it back to the hotel, He owned a Honda steed in Thailand, so knew how to use the gears and handling.
Spock and Stu went to an area marked on the map as ‘Pub street’ They took a tuk-tuk and left Lees car at the hotel as they knew they would more than likely get spannered.
Tired after the long journey they ate a happy herb pizza, unaware the happy part was marijuana and became instantly wasted. Now a bit hazy, although not understanding why, they fell into the Red Orchid bar and listened to a band, which consisted of three foreign lads that called themselves ‘The Fabulous Beer Brothers’, who thumped out pretty good cover versions of the Beatles. The bar was quiet, and during the break, Strat, one of the guitarists came and sat with them, and noticed they looked spaced out, especially Stu who just smiled and gazed blankly at the ceiling. Strat chuckled when Spock said he felt terrible and told him that they’d only eaten and this was their first beer, Strat then explained about happy Herb pizzas. Spock and Stu both felt strange and half-listened to Strat, until he asked them if they liked fishing
“Course we do,” mumbled Spock “we are from Cleethorpes and most of our family work on Grimsby trawlers it’s in-bred.”
“If you want something to do tomorrow, I know a great little spot not too far away, but you will need dirt bikes or a 4 wheel drive to get there,” said Strat
“Got that covered. What about rods and bait?” murmured Spock.
“Hang on,” said Strat and spoke to a Khmer tuk-tuk driver who’d been hovering around.
“Give him $30 and he will sort that out and also get you a polystyrene cooler box,” said Strat
Spock gave him $30 and announced to Stu,
“Mate, we are going fishing tomorrow”
“That’s great news darling” mumbled a spaced out Stu “Can we take one of those pigs, that’s just crawled out from under the bar with us?”
“Wasted”, said Strat
“Wasted,” confirmed Spock looking at his old friend with a dopey grin on his face and trying unsuccessfully to pick his nose. Strat and Spock chatted for about 30 minutes. Strat marked off on a free tour map the turnoff to the fishing spot.
“It wasn’t far, just off the main road and about 2 km from Wat Po along the Tonle Sap which should take you about 20 minutes to get there,” Strat informed him.
The Khmer who Strat had sent to the market returned with two telescopic fishing rods, reels and a small, white hesky.
“Your hooks, lines and sinkers are in the cooler box” said the Khmer.
“I think we better get back to the hotel now and have an early one” said Spock having only half finished his first can of Anchor and feeling anything but happy after the pizza.
“Come on matey, we will get up early and go exploring and catch our lunch,” Spock told Stu
“Okay sweetheart, can we take one of those green elephants with us?” enquired Stu.
“No matey, they are busy” said Spock, who got up and dragged his old stoned friend out of the bar and into a tuk-tuk. They had only been out for less than two hours and returned to the hotel. The receptionist mumbled something about their friend leaving his valuables in the safe, but the two just ambled past the reception, took their keys and went to their rooms, oblivious to any conversation that had just taken place.
Pon arose before the dawn broke. He packed his Glave, Pitou, wharm Lorn and gold filing mix into a small backpack along with the photographs, mobile phone, maps and information on his target and went through the quiet hotel lobby and past the security guard, asleep in the reception area. Pon went outside, got on the dirt bike and set off towards Tighe’s house.
Spock and Stu awoke around nine o’clock and felt quite good.
They’d had a great night’s sleep due largely to the pizza .They came down to the reception and noticed Pons key hung up, so realised that he’d already left, so they sat down and ate breakfast.
They stocked up their cool box with ice, beer and some bread. A tuk-tuk driver went out and brought back a small bag of charcoal, so they could cook up their catch for lunch. They put their equipment in the back of Lee’s cruiser, checked the route on the map that Strat had marked off with the fishing spot, drove out of the forecourt and onto the main road, for a pleasant day out, fishing.