Losing Sight of the Shore

There is an old expression that says something about never actually getting anywhere until one first loses sight of the shore. Well guess what...today I lost sight of the shore, sort of, at least for a little while.

Where I was (Jim and Ev's house) and where I wanted to go (the Royal Palace) are well within walking distance; however, as my sweat-soaked clothes can attest, it is way too far to walk in this heat (although I think today is a little better because of some cloud cover). None of that constitutes leaving the shore. Merely walking through the front gate onto nearly deserted street 222 and hearing the slam of the steel gate closing behind me--that is losing the shore. Less than six seconds later I heard the gate reopen and Jim call to me, "Do you have money?" which was his way of asking if I needed to revisit the procedure for hiring a tuk-tuk driver (and if I was able to avoid paying more than the $1.50 it would cost). After a brief summary I walked to the nearest intersection. Before long a tuk-tuk driver pulled up (going the wrong way on a one-way street...oh let's be honest there is no such thing a wrong way--not when drivers are constantly headed in all possible directions at all times). As rehearsed I said, "The Royal Palace please." He responded by saying something that sounded a lot like "palace" but the look on his face told the tale. On cue we both retrieved our trusty tourist maps of Phnom Penh (mine in English and his in Khmer). We soon agreed on a destination and I was off.

After a tour of the palace and lunch (more authentic Cambodian food), I began looking for the coastline. As it turned out, it was a simple matter of telling a tuk-tuk driver "Street 222" and we were off. I admit to a certain sense of relief as we turned onto Jim's street. Ahhh...back on the shore.