A Cruise to the Sunset

by Fadila Hapsari (Indonesia)

Making a local connection Cambodia

I was standing in front of the reception desk on the fifth floor that facing the Mekong River in Phnom Penh. At night, the reception desk turned into bar table and the lobby area got super crowded with the young locals and loud techno music blares in the background. I was constantly checking the weather, my phone and my wristwatch: 4:35 pm and raining. Perfect! I supposed to meet my tour guide from the tour operator for sunset cruise trip at the lower Mekong at 4:30 pm. Five minutes feels like an eternity. I decided to wait for the boat at the riverside and suddenly the rain were stopped. Apparently, there were lots of tour boat docked on the riverside. I checked each name of the boat and make sure the photo of my tour boat matches one of those, but none of them suits the picture. I've made several calls to the tour operator that I've booked two weeks ago and no one answered me. I decided to text the operator and got replied within the next few minutes: "wait there, we will arrive late from Loudong." I wait for another ten minutes when someone approached me. "Hi miss, are you Fadila? I've been looking for you. I'm your tour guide and you're supposed to join our sunset cruise trip." The girl looked exhausted. She's gasping for air. "Yes. Oh thank God you're here!" I replied. "Sorry we're a bit late from the schedule. We've got a bad current on our way here." She introduced herself as Po, because I couldn't spell her name in Khmer. She showed me the best spot to enjoy the sunset from the top of the deck. "Apparently, you're the only guest for today. Please wait for a second, because you deserve free flow beer and fruit platter," said Po. I got very surprised and happy at the same time. During the trip, Po explained the rivers that flows around Phnom Penh. She looks around my age and she was very eager to explain any knowledge she had about the rivers. "The river that flows just in front of your hostel named Tonle Sap. The upstream is located at the Siem Reap province. Tonle Sap and Mekong meets at the lower Mekong, along with the Bassac river. The locals referred it as Four Faces River." She looked at the grey sky above while I sipping my glass of cold beer and she said, "we're entering the rainy season now. I don't think we could see the sunset today." Po was so friendly and talkative. Other than the geography of Cambodian rivers, we talked random thoughts, like our passions as Southeast Asian youth, love life, family life, hopes and dreams for the future, economic systems in our country and the gap between the rich and the poor in Phnom Penh as shown when we passed a fancy hotel at the riverside and the seasonal fishing village, where the fishermen and their families live on the fishing boats just in front of the hotel. It wasn't that bad, not seeing the sunset from the cruise, at least I've seen the beautiful sunrise earlier that morning from my hostel. I've made new friend, I've learned something new about culture and the ecosystem of Mekong in Cambodia region and I listened to Po's perspective about maintaining relationships, since I just broke up with my boyfriend and using the trip to heal myself. During our conversation about separation, she said while looking at the sky, "I am sad, but I don't cry." She really made my day.