Vientiane, Laos to Phnom Penh, Cambodia…….and then a fight !!!!
Categories Cambodia 2018......painful memories and memorable templesDecember 9th
A pretty overcast day as we have breakfast, gather up our gear and head for the airport. This transfer will be the opposite of our mini bus journeys as we opt for a taxi to the airport (10 USD) and a flight to Phnom Penh of 900 kilometers as the crow flies and less than an hour and a half and 400 CAD for us both. Not cheap but is the only way to get there unless you overland about 1400 kilometers and god only knows how many hours. Furthermore, after considerable research we felt the areas en route did not justify the effort involved.
Smooth exit from Laos, great flight > they even fed us a decent cold lunch politely and efficiently (why this impossible in North America boggles the mind) . We bought our visas on arrival (60 USD) a bit of a gong show > you give them your passport/application (no receipt) at one window…..then walk over to another window and wait with a crowd of people until someone waves your passport in the air, at which you hustle over and claim passport/visa while handing over the USD. Then over to the customs/immigration where a stony uniformed person reviews your docs, photographs you, stamps various papers and you are in. Actually not a problem so long as docs are filled in properly otherwise you are turfed out of the line for a redo.
Collected our luggage marched into arrivals and there was “our” guy with our name on a placard and the hotels Lexus taxi whisks us off…actually crawls off ….bumper to bumper traffic, through alley ways, shortcuts etc. not a pretty drive but we reach the Rambutan Hotel in about 40 minutes > 13 USD.
Sophoarn will be our tuk tuk driver cum guide for tomorrow’s tour e-mails us and asks us if we want to go the kickboxing matches this evening…hmmm, maybe >>> ok , why not. No charge for the tickets (apparently an energy drink company, Carabao, sponsors the matches) and 15 USD for the transportation to the venue.
Just enough time to grab a quick dinner at The Coriander Restaurant (Indian) …delicious….
…and Sophoarn is at the hotel door to pick us up and away we go. He explains his tuk tuk is 5 star > holders for water bottles and a/c > two fans running off the battery. The ride is something else, we are in the midst of rush hour with emphasis on RUSH, imagine a river of humanity mounted on bikes, cars, trucks, tuk tuks of various shapes and sizes and of course the scooters > weaving, bobbing, cutting in and out …all in a haze of dust, diesel fumes, smoke/aromas from charcoal braziers on the side of road barbecuing (anything that can be bbq’d) as parked vehicles serving as the proverbial rocks in a river >>>> it is a truly scintillating ballet in which surprisingly (at least) on this trip, nobody got killed or maimed…WILD! After about a 1/2 hour we arrive at the arena which is in a pretty gritty area > as Sophoarn explains, there are many young factory workers here, which is exactly the demographic the promoters want. He quickly leads us into the arena which is pulsating with Cambodian Hip Hop
and full of some funky looking dudes (no beer allowed > I can believe what that would lead to) and directs us to some ringside seats…..as we are eyeballed by some in the crowd….two white grey haired geriatrics do stand out !!!
Over the next 2 hours we got to see three fights (5 rounds each) of Khmer Kick Boxing… very ritualistic, at the start the contestants bow/pray at each ring post,
….then go into a slow motion stylized prance around the ring carefully avoiding any contact with their opponent. As the match begins there is a feeling out process and as the music builds….type of snake charmer tunes (put the audio on high in the video below), the action kicks into high gear…
…at the end of each round the fighters are massaged and stretched, washed down, dried, with an assistant flapping a towel to cool the fighter down ….very hot with no a/c and then thrown back into the battle and this is a battle…
….in between matches two singing performance (in English > can’t tell if they were lip synching) but the fans loved it …
….and a lot of chatter from the MC. The MC interviewed the winners of the sponsors contest …to the great amusement of the fans who yelled out their support for the winners’ answers to the MC’s questions….obviously we understood NADA, but the vibe was fun. The matches were fun too and as Sophoarn is a super fan (actually trains in the sport himself > showed us videos of himself in the gym) to the point where when one of the guys lost he showed Annie the replay on his phone (it was televised) to explain the finer points !!
What a way to end this day……