allyson and bryan

"Cambodia is a country undergoing rapid change, but for now the traditionalists are just about holding their own, although the onslaught of karaoke is proving hard to resist."
-- Lonely Planet, "Cambodia," August 2005

We met Sophak working at a small and stylish craft shop in Phnom Penh. She, also small (extremely) and stylish (unexpectedly so), is one of Cambodia's lucky young women -- she has a good job, attends school in a city, wears modern clothes and has the freedom to go out and sing at night if she so chooses. [Lonely Planet's use of karaoke as a symbol of evolving culture and youth rebellion is a bit ambiguous; I should also note that often in Cambodia (as elsewhere in Asia) a "karaoke" club offers not only a menu of songs but a selection of lovely young women for accompaniment as well. It's all very confusing for a simple San Franciso girl like me.] Sophak's part of a generation trying to rebuild a country that was completely dismantled only a short time ago, one of only 20 percent receiving a higher education and the chance to be more than a farmer or a fisherman or seamstress.

Sophak also just happens to be a national singing superstar, her friend Wantear tells us, and she has a CD out in Cambodia. This makes for a high bar in our huge private karaoke room, but Bryan, Daniel and I give it our best effort, choosing from a small list of American songs that includes head-scratchers like "La La La Love Song" and "Lady of Ice." The experience is, as usual, surreal (for example, we had a staff of about five uniformed club workers at our disposal, and arrived after passing through a room full of pretty young women waiting to be chosen by those certain karaoke-plus patrons.) We stayed for an hour and a half or so, tired after an emotionally draining day of touring Phnom Penh's sobering historical sights.

Like in Australia, our night out with Sophak and Wantear was a special experience and a chance to take part in the authentic nightlife of a very different country. Unlike Australia, our days in Cambodia have been filled with a lot of mixed emotions. We've learned heartbreaking fact after heartbreaking fact about the utter destruction and mass genocide inflicted by the Khmer Rouge here only a few decades ago, and we've been shadowed by an endless number of child beggars and landmine victims living in the streets. At the same time we've reveled in the ancient beauty of Angkor Wat, laughed at the goofy camp of Korean dancing waitresses, and taken a small amount of pleasure in being able to help some of this country's smallest merchants. While extreme poverty and despair is something I don't think you can ever be prepared for, we're glad to be here, learning and interacting and absorbing another culture. It explains a lot about Angelina Jolie.

Interestingly, almost everyone in the cities speaks at least passable English, every store and restaurant trades in US dollars, and people bond over the WWE. Cambodians have an extreme fondess for the phrase "it's no problem!" e.g., "Our car just spun off the road? It's no problem!" which can be at once giggle-inducing and infuriating. Most are also incredibly warm and friendly and love to talk to Americans.

My brother left yesterday, after a series of typical travel mishaps (visa mix-ups! missed flights! power outages!) and we'll miss his company, and his hairdo. Bryan and I are here in Siem Reap for a few more days before heading either back to Vietnam (to see the northern part of the country) or instead to Malaysia for the next 10 days. In the meantime, we'll continue to ponder the cultural impact of karaoke along with the vivid images and memories we have, so far, from Cambodia.

stars, they're just like allyson @ 4:48 AM