1 Dolla Buys Everything!

This morning we packed a small box (the size of a case of wine), provided by Smiley, with our souvenirs and stopped at the post office during our walk along the river. The only post office in Siem Reap was open and there were 4 women at the counter. We put our box on the counter and told the closest lady that we wanted to mail it to America.

Lazy postal worker – Can't mail today. Holiday.

P- Holiday?

Lazy postal worker – Yes.

P- Why is the post office open if it is a holiday?

Lazy postal worker – Can mail letters only. No box. You come back tomorrow.

G- We can't come back tomorrow, we leave for Phnom Penh.

Lazy postal worker – Can't mail today.

A lady standing behind 'lazy postal worker' looked at us with pity in her eyes, but would not intervene. Clearly 'lazy postal worker' was a bully.

G- Can you at least tell us how much it will cost to mail the box so we can leave it with a friend to mail for us.

Lazy postal worker – No. Only letters today. Holiday.

P- (to me, but loud enough for lazy postal worker to hear – if she understood) Well we know that is bullshit.

G- You see how small the world is? (Most) Postal workers are the same all over the world.

We gave her evil eyes, picked up our box and left.

G- Shit! Now we have to carry this box with us to Phnom Penh.

P- Why does that bitch have to be like that? You know she can take our box, she just doesn't feel like being bothered today.

G- And now I wouldn't give it to her if this was the last post office on earth! It'll never get sent to our house.

P- Ugh!!!!!

We were going to walk around the market, but now we were carrying a box, so we returned to Viva Mexicana, across from the market, and sulked while drinking a few beers and eating a few tacos. Of course hawkers passed and tried to sell us the usual crap. We waived them off with no thank yous, until a girl of about 12 came to the table.

Girl – You want to buy bracelets?

P- No, thank you.

Girl – Very pretty. 5 for 1 dolla.

P- 1 “dolla”, we could have bought 21 at Angkor Wat yesterday for 1 “dolla”.

Girl – No.

P- Yes.

Girl – You buy?

P- No. We have all the bracelets we need.

Girl – Where you from?

P- America.

Girl – America. You not buy bracelet from me.

P – No, I do not need any more bracelets. You have nothing I want or need.

Girl – You want peace and quiet? (giggles)

P – Yes! I want peace and quiet, but I can not buy that.

Girl – Yes! Yes! You buy!

P – (Gives girl puzzled look.)

Girl – You give me dolla, I go away and give you peace and quiet.

P – (Smiling at G and the girl.) Ok, she wins...give her a “dolla” so she will go away.

G- That's the first time we've heard that one. Good one!

We continued to enjoy our beer and watch the people go by. We were particularly amused when the Batman & Spiderman tuk-tuks pulled up. These tuk-tuk drivers were clearly proud of their pimped rides!!!!

Then a man appeared who constructed a circle of knives, all pointing into the circle, attached it to a tall stand, and placed a thin mat on the ground on the other side. He then turned on very theatrical music and proceeded to dive through the circle, into a tumble set and jumping up proudly on the other side. Few people were watching and we could not determine why he had selected this location for his act.

The usual carts of fruits, vegetables, cooking meats on skewers, women clad in their pajamas, sweating tourists, tuk-tuks, motorcycles and bicycles all passed as we watched the world go by. Eventually we walked back to our guesthouse, dropped off the box, and went to Rosy's for dinner. Everyone confirmed what we already knew, if the post office was open, there was no reason the woman would not take our box.