SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT

JULY 9 - New for me this year, to get to Siem Reap I traveled on Korean Air via Seoul. For about 3 years now South Korea has trade/commercial agreements with Cambodia permitting flights directly from Seoul to Siem Reap. I took advantage of this Chicago-Seoul-Siem Reap...cut 10 hours off my airport/air time and avoided restless Bangkok.

Just like the novel T-shirts they sell in Cambodia, Siem Reap is: SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT. You get the full effect when you see "same same" on the front of the T-shirt and "but different" on the back!

Siem Reap population in 1998 was approx 500,000. Today it's 900,000.

New rules of the road that all motorbike drivers must wear helmuts. Traffic police do pull over and fine any motorbike driver they see not wearing a helmut.

Siem Reap Town has alternate sides of the roadway parking laws, even numbered days one side, odd numbered days the other side. Local traffic police make a handsome supplement to their monthly government salary by enforcing this law. Siem Reap Town has a particularly successful policeman, the infamous Mr. Veng [R in picture], who with his unusual height for a Khmer is powerful and feared by the ordinary people but not so much by people who have money...because if you have money you can pay the fine, whatever Mr. Veng says--on the spot, of course, and then you're free to go. No writing up a ticket, no appearance at traffic court, no sending in the fine to the clerk of traffic court. You have no money or no driver can be found, the new tow truck tows your vehicle to a fenced municipal lot where you can pay a lot more to get it back.
Siem Reap urban area is now officiallydesignated "Siem Reap Town" as are several other larger villages, primarily provincial seats, such as Battambang, Sihanoukville, and Kompong Cham.

Regular gasoline in Siem Reap is $.89 a liter, or $3.33 a gallon.

Cambodia's currency is quite stable over the last 10 years fluctuating between 4100 riel and 4350 riel to a USD. This morning I bought groceries for $8.70 US and paid 36,584 riel with four 10,000 riel notes.

I'm at the Siem Reap Riverside Guest House on the south side of Siem Reap Town. When I arrived, they said I'd be moving to a different room and floor in a couple days when it becomes vacant. For now I live out of suitcase. I brought 2 suitcases, 1 is full of thread, fabric and first aid supplies.