Rat

Our tour guide this time is Rat, who said his real name is relatively unpronounceable by the western tongue. He’s bubbly and outgoing and was right there waiting to meet us as we got out of the airport.

We made arrangements about what we needed to do next (shower and unpack being at the top of that list for us), talked about going to dinner at 7 and left each other.

Only miscommunication – we dressed in long pants and button down shirts for dinner – he showed up in cargo shorts and a hoodie. Oh, well, turns out the place we going easily accommodated all of them.

Rat had arranged transportation – the Cambodian equivalent of a Tuk Tuk, which here is called a Romok. In this case, it’s a motorcycle with a surry on the back. It’s easier to get into than the long tail boats, but still takes some maneuvering if you’re not as small as the natives. Cost of transport - $4.00, round trip. He came back to pick us up after dinner and waited until we were done.

The first dinner is when we get to grill the tour guides. They don’t know us well enough to not be startled by the questions we ask, so we usually get real answers. In fairness, we offer them the opportunity to ask about anything they want to ask.

One thing we’ve noticed – and resolved to fix next time around – is the appalling lack of geographic information that we provide. People here (and we noticed the same thing in Australia last year) know New York and Los Angeles, but when you say “North Carolina”, you tend to get puzzled looks. Larry sometimes gets a better response to “Oklahoma – with Cowboys and Indians”, but of course we all know that’s not exactly accurate, either. We need a postcard showing a US map to stick in the luggage, or maybe a DVD to explain about where we live and what we’re about – after all, not everyone needs to base their opinion of the US on www.peopleofwalmart.com.

Rat is 27 and just graduated from University with a Bachelor’s degree in Tourism about 5 months ago. He’s not originally from Siam Reap, but is from the surrounding countryside. He is the 4th of 7 children. We learned from the internet that Siam Reap is only 150,000 people, so it’s a fairly small city, anyhow.

He lives in a one bedroom apartment that’s 5 meters by 7 meters – that’s _____ square feet, for those of us who are conversion-challenged – and includes a small kitchenette, toilet, and a separate little bedroom for his younger sister. Who lives there with him, his younger brother and a cousin – and Rat’s wife when she’s in town. She tends to spend most of her time at her family’s farm, though, working on a rice commodity business that they’ve started. Rent on their apartment is $120.00 per month, plus utilities.

Rat’s very entrepreneurial, as are many educated people here (about 30% of the population get university degrees). In addition to being a guide for one travel company, he’s is a guide for another, has the rice business with his wife and has a little coffee shop on the side.

This is a busy young man!

Minimum wage, if you’re working a “regular” job, is $350 per month, and is supposed to go to about $450 once you finish your probationary period. There’s really no retirement, unless you have a government job. His dad is a teacher and is set to retire next year at 60 (he said he was “very old,” but we let that pass), and he’ll get about 30% of his former salary as a pension.