LADY BOYS, NIGHT MARKETS AND MORE MADNESS!

Hello again, sorry about the delay in writing this but I have been out of sorts for a while and not feeling up to doing much. Anyway I am back in the fold now so here we go!!


Most Cambodian women are very short and of a slight build. By and large they have extremely long black hair and piercing dark brown or black eyes. Their finger nails are usually long and well manicured and most wear a moderate amount of jewelry; (No gold chains and sovereign rings here, thank Buddha!!) The smile you will already be aware of, and their overall disposition is one gentility. I have met many such people in the last five weeks and have found them most enchanting.


On the weekend evenings, just a block or two from my hotel, is the night market. Here families gather to eat at the many food stalls and browse the goods on sale. These range from Cambodian silks, clothes, watches, souvenirs and of course the ever present mobile phone booths! Last weekend I was there with a few friends and I noticed a couple of girls looking at me rather more intently than the normal inquisitive looks that most Europeans experience. There was a band playing in the middle of the market; it is a kind of open stage for up and coming acts and for once they sounded half decent. My friends; Atu, her sister and her friend seemed also to be smiling at me in a strange way and said they were going to look at some clothes. Meanwhile I continued to watch the band and couldn't help feeling that everyone was looking at me. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder and assumed it was Atu and simply put my hand on 'hers'. Well, 'her' hand did not feel quite right and I turned around to see a 5'10", short haired, short finger nailed 'lady', bedecked in jewelry and smelling like a cross between the cheapest of perfumes and harpic!! She/he smiled at me and said " You like lady boy? ".....all around me people were laughing and pointing at me and just across the way Atu and her friends were doing likewise. I explained that I did not like lady boy and moved away to seek sanctuary with my hysterical friends; I had become a sideshow to the events on the stage; well I suppose it was probably more entertaining than the cacophony of noise that was coming from the new act!!


We ate quite regularly at a late night stall near the night market and decided to go there after that incident and had my favourite dish of char grilled beef with chicken fried rice. Maybe it was because I had, for the first time worn after shave tonight, that I seemed to be attracting the wrong advances!! Bugger me if the guy running this place was not the campest person I have ever met. He took a shine to me and insisted on sitting with us while we ate. Well enough is enough and the joke was running a bit thin now so I told him in no uncertain terms that I was not interested and he duly minced off looking sorry for himself. I then thought it might be a good idea to sit between the terrible sisters and put an arm around each of them to dispel any confusion as to my sexual preferences!!! The food was great by the way!


I will have some pictures of the night market in due course and put on here. There will be NO pictures of the lady boys!!


That night an accident befell me and I ended up losing one of my front teeth! Now the thought of going to a Cambodian dentist brought me out in a massive sweat but I had to do something about it pretty quickly so the next morning I went in search of a surgery. Just down the road was a booth with a proper looking dentists chair in it and a guy in what looked like an operating gown. I went in and was told to sit in the chair until he went to get someone that spoke English; the translator was sitting at a bar opposite and I could see he and the 'dentist' were having an animated discussion about me; probably thinking how much they could make out of this. Anyway they came back and it was explained to me that a bridge was needed; it would take four weeks to complete and it would cost £390! At this point a young woman holding her baby appeared and looked into my mouth as well and started pointing and talking excitedly to the main man; who she was I have no idea and there then started a procession of people; kids; young and old. Now forgive me for my cynicism but I am convinced that these people were not dental nurses or trainees but once again the absurdity of the moment overtook my worry and I decided to get up and look elsewhere. I found what turned out to be a very good dentist and after two long sessions in the chair will have a crown fitted next Tuesday!! The madness continues!!