Finding a good ride in Siem Reap

12/10/11

I Arrived at the Siem Reap Airport, cleared customs and made my way into town and to my hotel via the back of a scooter.  The whole way in my driver was pitching his services for the next day.  He was very insistent to the point of annoyance. Once we arrived at the hotel he became rather aggressive, to the point of following me through the reception process and then waiting for me in the restaurant/bar and pestering me until I finely insisted that he leave and ultimately had to enlist the help of the hotel staff to persuade him to leave. After all that I settled into for a few drinks with my new friend Michael, an Aussie who had just purchased a ten year lease on the hotel next to mine and was rather enjoying the show of me fending off the local moto driver.

There are probably, at least, five times as many drivers in this town than are necessary. This has led to a desperately aggressive competition that  takes a little getting used to, and is indicative of all things tourist related. This is further complicated by the idea that once a vendor comes into contact with you he or she, as the case may be, somehow owns the exclusive rights to providing his or her services.  This makes finding a qualified, knowledgeable and professional driver a difficult and valuable thing.  Fortunately, I had just the man in mind from the last time I was here. Unfortunately I had lost his contact information.  

I did however have a family photo that

I took the last time I was here and I

knew that there were people who knew 

his family at the public market.  So, I 

figured I would go to the market and 

find someone who knew how I can get  

in touch with him. It sounded like a 

good plan to me as I was telling it to 

Michael over drinks in the hotel bar. 

He however, was skeptical but supportive 

and offered up his driver to aid in the 

quest that would begin the next morning. In retrospect I came to recognize that what I was trying to do was more like trying to find a moving needle amongst a few thousand moving needles a hey stack where I had nothing but a photo and a very general idea of what part of the hey stack to look in. 

The next morning I woke early and made my way to breakfast. After breakfast I went next door to Michaels hotel and found that he was not up yet and was not expected to be up for some time given the excess of the previous evening.  His driver hadn't arrived yet and even if he had I figured it would be difficult to get him to tour me around on my quest without Michael explaining the situation. So I ventured out to see what I could find on my own.

Now, a bit of explanation about Markets in Siem Reap.  There are several "markets" in town. The "old" Market which has been almost entirely taken over by the tourist industry and  the "new" Market where the locals actually do there daily business. The old market is fairly sanitized and is mostly set up for tourists and locals with money to spend...think upper end shopping mall.  The new market on the other hand is a sprawling maze of buildings and stalls with what can only be described as a kaleidoscope of smells and sights that defy description.  Think Costco crossed with and ant colony. Additionally, there are more than one "new" Markets. There are ancillary or subsidiary satellite markets in the general area which stand on there own but are a part of the whole market complex area. This is an important distinction.

So... as I was saying, we (a random tuk tuk driver and I) took off for the "new" market.  Once we arrived I was surprised that I didn't recognize anything.  As it turned out, I had not been to the main market the last time I was here, I was at one of the satellite markets close to the main market. After walking around a bit I was feeling a little befuddled but not remotely ready to give up so I hired another  tuk tuk to take me back to the old market where I hoped to find the tour agent who recommended the driver to me in the first place last year.  On the way, a short distance, I noticed a familiar building... and yes!... it was the market that I was looking for. I went in and the first person I showed the photo to recognized the grandmother in the photo and knew the drivers name...Sophera. Now we are making some head way.  There was a rather exited bit of communication between various vendors and I was handed to about five or six different people and three different areas of the market before I was directed to climb abroad the back  of a scooter and follow one of the women on what seemed to be a maze of very rough  back ally roads.  About ten minutes later we arrived at a house that I recognized as the house Sophera lived in.  I was greeted with great surprise first by the grandmother, then the wife and kids all of whom remembered me from before.  A call was made and in a few minutes Sophera arrived and the reunion was complete.  Non of them could believe I found them... and so the party starts and doesn't  end till I leave about a week later.  Sophera gives me a ride back to the hotel and we agree to meet the next day to start working.