Hey everyone, check out my latest Sci-Fi film, GODMACHINE:
It's about a computer virus that allows an android to channel the frequency of the Big Bang, bringing herself to life and threatening the balance of power between man and machine forever.
Me and Robert have taken it to a couple of Sci-Fi conventions. So far, the response is pretty good.
Please give it a watch, and like us on FB.
http://www.facebook.com/GodMachineFilm
Also check us out on:
http://www.godmachinefilm.com
http://www.twitter.com/GodMachineFilm
-Rich
Friday, May 11, 2012
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Poipet - World Shithole
So today my girlfriend discovered WikiTravel, and noticed their was a listing for Poipet, Cambodia. Here is an excerpt:
"Like most of South East Asia, unprovoked violent crime is not rife. However, being foreign and out at night could be construed as sufficient provocation".
Interesting. Here's a link to the rest of the article:
http://wikitravel.org/en/Poipet#b.
So that explains why last October, during my "pilgrimage" to Asia....I ran into such a fuck-all predicament at the Cambodian border. Apparently I am not the only one who's had issues with the local Mafia (descendants of the Khmer Rouge) who run that border crossing. I'm glad Wikipedia broke some of it's "editorial" guidelines by slanting some rightful bias towards the situation there, which is truly appalling. Sprawling, dubious casinos situated right next to some of the worlds most abject poverty. Rampant human trafficking. Let me tell you, it's no adult Disneyland...unless contracting AIDS from 10 year olds is your thing.
I've talked to people since who've apparently enjoyed their trips to Cambodia. From what I've heard, they've seen some beautiful things and met some really nice people. But one thing they all have in common is NONE of them ever crossed via Poipet. Most fly straight into Siem Riep or Phnom Penh. Which is the only sane thing to do. Whatever is going right in Cambodia in the post-genocide era is NOT happening in Poipet.
So if you're out to save the world or just enjoy a trip to one of the seven remaining wonders of the world (Angkor Wat), my hats off to you. However, I recommend you don't travel alone through Poipet under any circumstances (especially if you're female). Stay away from Poipet at all costs.
Good luck!
-Rich
"Like most of South East Asia, unprovoked violent crime is not rife. However, being foreign and out at night could be construed as sufficient provocation".
Interesting. Here's a link to the rest of the article:
http://wikitravel.org/en/Poipet#b.
So that explains why last October, during my "pilgrimage" to Asia....I ran into such a fuck-all predicament at the Cambodian border. Apparently I am not the only one who's had issues with the local Mafia (descendants of the Khmer Rouge) who run that border crossing. I'm glad Wikipedia broke some of it's "editorial" guidelines by slanting some rightful bias towards the situation there, which is truly appalling. Sprawling, dubious casinos situated right next to some of the worlds most abject poverty. Rampant human trafficking. Let me tell you, it's no adult Disneyland...unless contracting AIDS from 10 year olds is your thing.
I've talked to people since who've apparently enjoyed their trips to Cambodia. From what I've heard, they've seen some beautiful things and met some really nice people. But one thing they all have in common is NONE of them ever crossed via Poipet. Most fly straight into Siem Riep or Phnom Penh. Which is the only sane thing to do. Whatever is going right in Cambodia in the post-genocide era is NOT happening in Poipet.
So if you're out to save the world or just enjoy a trip to one of the seven remaining wonders of the world (Angkor Wat), my hats off to you. However, I recommend you don't travel alone through Poipet under any circumstances (especially if you're female). Stay away from Poipet at all costs.
Good luck!
-Rich
Monday, February 20, 2012
Popping my Con-cherry with the folks of VisionCon 2012
Well it was my first time at any CON ever, and the folks of Missouri delivered. Not to hard, not too soft, just the nice right of touchy feely to allow a first timer to drop their pants and not feel guilty when a geek boner pops at the sight of a Stormtrooper walking by. The MidWest is a fine a place as any to indulge in Sci-Fi hedonism, and it delivered the goods in stride.
One of my goals at VisonCon, besides just to sample a culture I'd only heard about but never experienced firsthand, was to screen GodMachine and find out if there was an audience for it.
Our audience response was great. Sure, the film is still a little too David Lynchy for some, but by far, it was a positive one. The world me and Robert Leeshock created delivered, and it even had it's own genre...cyberpunk and hard sci fi. I had no idea I had made a cyberpunk film. Or a hard/military sci fi film. There were even some Matrix (the first Matrix, they liked to specifically point out :) comparisons. Really? HOLY SHIT, what a compliment!
At the post-screening Q&A, I found myself not having to preface anything with "I know this is going to sound weird, but..." The audience would shout out "YOU DON"T HAVE TO DO THAT, YOU'RE AT A SCI -FI CONVENTION", and then I realized holy shit, for the first time in my life, I can be a weirdo and get away with it. I can ramble on about string theory and its connection to Hindu bija mantras and people will nod their head and go "I get it...and?"
And, WOW! You mean I get to rave like a madmen and people will listen? And even add to the conversation with their own powerful insights and observations? You mean I don't have to take my meds? Just kidding, I'm not on meds. And that's the scary thing. But on the flip side, this led to a powerful realization:
I AM A GEEK TOO, with a penchant for cyberpunk, hard/military sci-fi. And there's no longer any need to feel ashamed by it.
On the way out, me and Robert did an interview with the guys from ACTION NERDS: GO! Wow, what a talented couple of guys. Somebody should be flying them out to conventions and comping them a steak dinner or two. Their podcast was top notch. Thanks guys for having us. You can check out our interview here.
I'd also like to put a shout out to the Damsels of Dorkington. They put on quite a show, and were a hoot behind the scenes too. One of my more favorite moments of VisionCon 2012 will be discussing A2M with them. If you don't know what A2M is, you should ask them. It's a much better introduction to the subject matter having these attractive ladies explain it than it is me in some remote blogpost on the internet. Robert had never heard of it, which makes him one of the few gentlemen remaining on the planet.
All in all, my (place your favorite sci-fi character here) helmet's off to the folks of VisionCon 2012! No need for a shower or to find a happy place. I'm good to go!
Monday, February 13, 2012
GODMACHINE to screen at VisionCon and I-CON Sci-FI Conventions
My latest film GODMACHINE, Starring Robert Leeshock and Von Flores of EARTH:FINAL CONFLICT fame will be screening at two Sci-Fi Conventions in the upcoming months.
They are:
VISIONCON in Springfield, MO (February 17th) and I-CON on Long Island in March.
I'm pretty excited to see my film finally hit the screens and get an audience. I look forward to talking to everyone afterwards to see what they think about the project.
I'll be driving across the great state of Missouri from St. Louis to Springfield in a rental car, since I screwed up my online flight reservation with Priceline.com. That's what I get for letting Will Shatner talk me into things. I love that guy, but damn.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
A Cab Driver's tale
So on the way to the embassy yesterday my Cab driver told me he had lived at that same Poipet border crossing 10 years ago. He said he once watched a Cambodian man shoot and kill a Vietnamese woman crossing the border just because he liked the color of her motorcycle.
Yep. That sounds about right.
Yep. That sounds about right.
What the hell was I thinking?!!!!
Here's some nice tales about how the Poipet is one of the worst, most notorious lawless human trafficking and murder towns on the planet. WHAT THE FUCK WAS I THINKING!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/world-vision/poipet-where-cambodians-a_b_214912.html
http://humantraffickingworldwide.blogspot.com/2009/07/girls-for-sale-in-poipet.html
http://www.beaheroaustralia.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=36
http://www.lightstalkers.org/images/show/251785
http://www.camnet.com.kh/cambodia.daily/selected_features/poipet.htm
www.twnside.org.sg/title2/ttcd/SO-01.doc
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/world-vision/poipet-where-cambodians-a_b_214912.html
http://humantraffickingworldwide.blogspot.com/2009/07/girls-for-sale-in-poipet.html
http://www.beaheroaustralia.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=36
http://www.lightstalkers.org/images/show/251785
http://www.camnet.com.kh/cambodia.daily/selected_features/poipet.htm
www.twnside.org.sg/title2/ttcd/SO-01.doc
Monday, October 18, 2010
Holiday in Cambodia
An important lesson was learned that I will never forget:
NEVER, NEVER, cross the Cambodian border at night. Especially alone and a Farang (Foreigner).
NEVER.
I didn't intend on doing this. The train from Bangkok took way longer than I thought. I was hoping to cross the border during the day and deal with the usual scams tourist face, then head up to Siem Riep and Angkor Wat.
I had read in the quidebooks about little hustles here and there, but what they had in store for me was something entirely more nefarious.
It all started with the Thai police on the train. I can speak a healthy amount of Thai, and I began to hear little phrases as we neared the border. "Farang"(foreigner)this and that. Whispering. It was unsettling.
When we arrived at Aruthapatryet, a TUK TUK driver appeared magically OUT OF NOWHERE on the train. I remember it being quite odd, as if he "knew" a farang was already on the train. The fucking bastard made a bee line for me and hustled me onto his Tuk Tuk.
I did my best to try and shake him, but the guidebooks did happen to mention you'd need to take one anywyay, so I did. I shouldn've trusted my gut instinct. It was a lesson I learned and wouldn't forget in the future.
I now know the Thai police tipped him off.
I was then whisked away to a BORDER CROSSING STATION. Or at least, for a few minutes I thought it was.
Then it hit me: it was all fake. Cheap stationary. A couple of staplers here and there. A laminated map scotchtaped to the wall. Even by third world standards it was a joke.
But these guys were really polished. They had a hip Cambodian kid with a British accent grilling me about whats in my bag, why my passport doesn't have this-that. 1000 baht that. 1000 baht this. Nothing the guide books said I'd ever be charged by the normal hustles. The shake down was on. (And what the fuck were cambodions doing on the THAI side of the border anyway?)
I did my best to haggle and maintain my composure, but these guys were relentless. They're apparently a Cambodian mafia that runs the border smuggling in the area. And there I was, all alone, not an American or other Farang for perhaps 300 miles or so in any direction.
My ass began to pucker. I knew I was fucked here, and played along as much as I could. I made another ATM run, then I started pushing back a little.
Normally the plan for getting across the border is first, you do it by day. Second, you pay your little bribes then immediately grab a bus and get the hell out of there.
But the busses had stopped running. They told me I would have to take their taxis for 2500 baht. They then got to the thing that made my spine chill.
THey wanted me to share this taxi with "undocumented female workers". Supposedly me riding with them would help them get through Cambodia faster, past Police blocks. I immediately begin to feel a little sick in my stomach. I told them I don't want to ride with others, but what I really wanted to say is I didn't want to ride with what were probably sex slaves. They then said I could ride alone, but I didn't believe them.
With so many things going on, including this one Cambodian guys aussie accent that was strangely hilarious as the ominous began looming more and more, some of the logic slowly started settling in my brain. Why am I talking to Cambodians this side of the border? Why would I need to ride with these girls once we are already over the border? I did my best acting job to seem cool and collected. But inside these guys had very specific plans for me. I wasn't exactly sure at the time what they were, maybe not even now. But I can tell you now I knew at that point that they were not taking us to Siem Riep in that cab. That is for sure.
Finally they took us to the "real border"...which is bullshit, if you think about it. I thought perhaps the Thai officers there would be trustworthy, but why would they be stamping bullshit THai departure forms written up by Cambodians? It was getting uglier.
But nothing was uglier than what I saw once I crossed into Cambodia:
About 7 Khmer guys waiting for me in the shadows. On cell phones, pretending to be calling. These guys were amateurs when it came to being inconspicuous. Obviously they knew I was a big guy and they would need more help if I didn't behave. I saw the sharks circling in the distance.
Here's something I learned quickly: There's something about how a bad guy uses a cell phone. They never smile. Remember that. Bad guys never smile when using cell phones. If you look closely, their faces are lifeless and their words seem monotone. That is how I began to tell the bad guys apart from the good guys.
Fuck walking in there. Robert De Niro's line from RONIN began to play in my head:
"I don't walk in somewhere I can't walk out of"
I immediately headed back to the Thai border, which pissed my Cambo escort off. I asked the Thai police if I could trust this guy. They promised he was trustworthy.
Now realizing I was attracting attention, I tried to save face by walking back, realizing the Thai police were absolutely useless here, being on the take.
My ass began to pucker more, I was in some real shit. I saw no American faces. I was in their world. And I was running out of options. All alone. No police that could be trusted. Me versus the Cambodian underworld. All I could do was play along, taking very small steps, trying to piece together the big picture of what they were actually trying to get me to do.
These guys, though the evil thugs they are, were amateurs. I could see them closing in from the corner of my eyes, talking on their cell phones: "Farang going here, Farang going there". My Thai language skills ultimately would save my life. I knew they were talking about me. Giving people my height. Stats. Shit like that. I can understand those things in Thai.
I began hearing growls. Laughter. These guys were using the wolfpack mentality on me. I asked where the Taxi was. They kept saying "farther", "just a little farther".
I've ridden in my fair share of taxis. It never takes 7 Cambodian thugs to escort you to a taxi. And I never saw the fucking taxi they were talking about.
What I realized they were trying to get me to do was to get away from sight of the few Thai Casinos just on the outside of the border. These Casinos have normal Thai people playing in them. It seems the Casino owners and the Cambo mafia have an agreement not to have anything go down directly in front of the Casinos.
I turned into a Casino, hoping to find salvation. I asked them for the police. An embassy.
They just shook their heads.
It wasn't a language thing. It was a "you're in Cambodia" thing. As if you can call an embassy or find a police officer here. They almost started laughing at me.
I know I've been talking about ass puckering a lot, but here's where my asshole fell completely out: When I reached into my wallet, my ATM was missing.
I paniced. Now I was really fucked. The sharks stood outside, not able to cause commotion in the casinos. My Cambo escort however managed to come in and extort another hundred baht out of me as I struggled to get a overdrawn credit card to work again.
I began shooting from Casino to casino, playing this game of jockey and intimidation with my pursuers, trying to not let them cut me off from the Casino patron's sights.
I tried approaching one Cambodian police officer, asking him to call the US embassy. He just looked away, as if I hadn't said anything at all. MORE fucked! I learne then, and never forgot, that I would always be comepletely on my own while in Cambodia. No NAVY SEALS. No MARINES.
Each Casino wouldn't let me stand inside for too long without a way to pay for a room or play slots. Not having money is the surest way to disappear forever into a Cambodian night. And I was running out of options. I was actually considering if I could make it to the jungle and escape into the night. I looked down at my flip flops and my heart sank.
I'm not sure how I managed this, but I managed to power walk to a huge Casino in the distance where I met a very, very nice hostess who let me stay the night...for free...with the idea that I could pay in the morning via Western Union. The Hotel just happened to have a Western Union in it. What a God Send. BUt it wouldn't open till 11am the next day.
I realized from that point on I could never leave this hotel, not until I had some kind of game plan. These guys would pick me up at some point if I ever stepped outside.
I holded myself up in the room the hostess gave me. I scrambled to get my tech going, calling on two phones, despearetly trying to get money, overdrafts waived. And that's when the shit hit the fan. Calls dropping. Embassy phones not working. Phones not having minutes. Phones with bad batteries. YOu name it, it broke at the worst time.
I went down to the lobby once to try and use the wireless. Immediately a Casino staffmember approached me...
"So, got a room yet"??
Obviously he was working for the guys outside. I found a way to blow him off.
I didn't leave my room the rest of the night. I barricaded the door and didn't sleep a week. Everytime someone walked by I picked up whatever object I had in the hotel room to use and gripped it tight.
By morning time, there wasn't a whole lot of good news pouring in. People were having problems, the usual fuck-all techno-website bullshit that always seems to screw you at the absolute worst time. And again, no calls from the embassys. The Thai Tourist police yelled at me and hung up because I couldn't understand his English. I was alone, with only my friends who were desperately trying to help.
I had to check out by noon. I could not afford to go down there without cash. Cash was my only power I had. I was cringing the idea of what I would do when hotel security kicked me out on the street. What would happen to me? I was prepared to fight, but you can't fight an entire kingdom.
My credit card was failing me time and time again, but finally, good news...the first wire transfers were coming in.
I paid my nights rent. The hostess gave me a free lunch. I persuaded her to let me use her personal driver and car so I could avoid the taxi mafia outside. That was my only hope in eluding these guys once outside.
I snuck out on a 2 hour car ride to Siem Triep airport. That was the only nice part of being in Cambodia I can think of.
I remember thinking though that I can't get lax yet. I soon realized how right I was.
I was on my way to inquire about tickets when a "security guard" who came up to me and told me he would "tell his friend that I was here now" in a chilling, mocking tone. He was going to notify the guys at the border my location. I knew then I only had a little time to find a plane.
I had begin learning a crash course in thinking on your feet. How to read a person in about 6 seconds to know if they were on the take or a real person. What's funny is my acting and directing skills also helped. I've seen a lot of bad acting in my day. And bad guys in real life are terrible actors. The fact that this guy had tried to intimidate me at the airport was actually his downfall, cause it forced me to jump into action.
I noticed a bunch of westerners going to Singapore. I knew that I had to be on this plane. There were no other planes leaving for another 7 hours, giving the rest of the gang plenty of time to come here or perhaps finding a way to detain me for some bullshit passport problem. I knew that if I didn't get on that plane right away I may not have escaped Cambodia. I'm not kidding.
One has to understand there is really no law in Cambodia. I never saw a US Embassy. YOu are all alone there, and you are fucked if you run into a problem like this. I mean you are fucked.
When it came time to buy tickets it was sold out, but too my luck, there was one buisness class ticket available. The only draw was that it was 525 bucks, and my credit card had been failing me all night.
THis was it. It was either work now or never work.
It did.
I immiediately began chatting up my airline clerk, following him everywhere, asking me to show me around the airport, making sure he was always by my side to keep the security guards from doing something creative to keep me there.
A couple of things that really dawned on me during this experience is that you have to always trust your instincts. Always.
One thing that was especially different, especially in the first few hours, was that seeing farang in this region is exceedingly rare, which means they STARE, and I mean STARE at you. This was quite unsettling when your already paranoid out of your goard.
My guess, at the end of the day, is that I was this lucky little opportunity that fell in their lap. At night, I noticed the place was full of prostitution. I saw a few African guys on cell phones that just had slave trader look, like they were there for some "inspections of new merchandise" kind of look. My guess is during the day, they run the normal scams, but at night, they change their business model a bit. And I just happened to be this guy who came along who they might make a few extra bucks on.
Never travel to Cambodia at night.
I need to collect myself and figure out what to do from here. I feel like I've been living in a Bourne identity film. I really had to think on my feet.
The nice thing is I think I did all the right things as well as all the wrong things.
I saw some real evil in people that night. I don't know how to describe it. Just evil that can't be seen, but sensed. It's horrible what people are doing out there. And what other people are letting them do.
I wonder about those girls in the taxi waiting for me to join them.
They are not as lucky as me, and that's fucking sad.
NEVER, NEVER, cross the Cambodian border at night. Especially alone and a Farang (Foreigner).
NEVER.
I didn't intend on doing this. The train from Bangkok took way longer than I thought. I was hoping to cross the border during the day and deal with the usual scams tourist face, then head up to Siem Riep and Angkor Wat.
I had read in the quidebooks about little hustles here and there, but what they had in store for me was something entirely more nefarious.
It all started with the Thai police on the train. I can speak a healthy amount of Thai, and I began to hear little phrases as we neared the border. "Farang"(foreigner)this and that. Whispering. It was unsettling.
When we arrived at Aruthapatryet, a TUK TUK driver appeared magically OUT OF NOWHERE on the train. I remember it being quite odd, as if he "knew" a farang was already on the train. The fucking bastard made a bee line for me and hustled me onto his Tuk Tuk.
I did my best to try and shake him, but the guidebooks did happen to mention you'd need to take one anywyay, so I did. I shouldn've trusted my gut instinct. It was a lesson I learned and wouldn't forget in the future.
I now know the Thai police tipped him off.
I was then whisked away to a BORDER CROSSING STATION. Or at least, for a few minutes I thought it was.
Then it hit me: it was all fake. Cheap stationary. A couple of staplers here and there. A laminated map scotchtaped to the wall. Even by third world standards it was a joke.
But these guys were really polished. They had a hip Cambodian kid with a British accent grilling me about whats in my bag, why my passport doesn't have this-that. 1000 baht that. 1000 baht this. Nothing the guide books said I'd ever be charged by the normal hustles. The shake down was on. (And what the fuck were cambodions doing on the THAI side of the border anyway?)
I did my best to haggle and maintain my composure, but these guys were relentless. They're apparently a Cambodian mafia that runs the border smuggling in the area. And there I was, all alone, not an American or other Farang for perhaps 300 miles or so in any direction.
My ass began to pucker. I knew I was fucked here, and played along as much as I could. I made another ATM run, then I started pushing back a little.
Normally the plan for getting across the border is first, you do it by day. Second, you pay your little bribes then immediately grab a bus and get the hell out of there.
But the busses had stopped running. They told me I would have to take their taxis for 2500 baht. They then got to the thing that made my spine chill.
THey wanted me to share this taxi with "undocumented female workers". Supposedly me riding with them would help them get through Cambodia faster, past Police blocks. I immediately begin to feel a little sick in my stomach. I told them I don't want to ride with others, but what I really wanted to say is I didn't want to ride with what were probably sex slaves. They then said I could ride alone, but I didn't believe them.
With so many things going on, including this one Cambodian guys aussie accent that was strangely hilarious as the ominous began looming more and more, some of the logic slowly started settling in my brain. Why am I talking to Cambodians this side of the border? Why would I need to ride with these girls once we are already over the border? I did my best acting job to seem cool and collected. But inside these guys had very specific plans for me. I wasn't exactly sure at the time what they were, maybe not even now. But I can tell you now I knew at that point that they were not taking us to Siem Riep in that cab. That is for sure.
Finally they took us to the "real border"...which is bullshit, if you think about it. I thought perhaps the Thai officers there would be trustworthy, but why would they be stamping bullshit THai departure forms written up by Cambodians? It was getting uglier.
But nothing was uglier than what I saw once I crossed into Cambodia:
About 7 Khmer guys waiting for me in the shadows. On cell phones, pretending to be calling. These guys were amateurs when it came to being inconspicuous. Obviously they knew I was a big guy and they would need more help if I didn't behave. I saw the sharks circling in the distance.
Here's something I learned quickly: There's something about how a bad guy uses a cell phone. They never smile. Remember that. Bad guys never smile when using cell phones. If you look closely, their faces are lifeless and their words seem monotone. That is how I began to tell the bad guys apart from the good guys.
Fuck walking in there. Robert De Niro's line from RONIN began to play in my head:
"I don't walk in somewhere I can't walk out of"
I immediately headed back to the Thai border, which pissed my Cambo escort off. I asked the Thai police if I could trust this guy. They promised he was trustworthy.
Now realizing I was attracting attention, I tried to save face by walking back, realizing the Thai police were absolutely useless here, being on the take.
My ass began to pucker more, I was in some real shit. I saw no American faces. I was in their world. And I was running out of options. All alone. No police that could be trusted. Me versus the Cambodian underworld. All I could do was play along, taking very small steps, trying to piece together the big picture of what they were actually trying to get me to do.
These guys, though the evil thugs they are, were amateurs. I could see them closing in from the corner of my eyes, talking on their cell phones: "Farang going here, Farang going there". My Thai language skills ultimately would save my life. I knew they were talking about me. Giving people my height. Stats. Shit like that. I can understand those things in Thai.
I began hearing growls. Laughter. These guys were using the wolfpack mentality on me. I asked where the Taxi was. They kept saying "farther", "just a little farther".
I've ridden in my fair share of taxis. It never takes 7 Cambodian thugs to escort you to a taxi. And I never saw the fucking taxi they were talking about.
What I realized they were trying to get me to do was to get away from sight of the few Thai Casinos just on the outside of the border. These Casinos have normal Thai people playing in them. It seems the Casino owners and the Cambo mafia have an agreement not to have anything go down directly in front of the Casinos.
I turned into a Casino, hoping to find salvation. I asked them for the police. An embassy.
They just shook their heads.
It wasn't a language thing. It was a "you're in Cambodia" thing. As if you can call an embassy or find a police officer here. They almost started laughing at me.
I know I've been talking about ass puckering a lot, but here's where my asshole fell completely out: When I reached into my wallet, my ATM was missing.
I paniced. Now I was really fucked. The sharks stood outside, not able to cause commotion in the casinos. My Cambo escort however managed to come in and extort another hundred baht out of me as I struggled to get a overdrawn credit card to work again.
I began shooting from Casino to casino, playing this game of jockey and intimidation with my pursuers, trying to not let them cut me off from the Casino patron's sights.
I tried approaching one Cambodian police officer, asking him to call the US embassy. He just looked away, as if I hadn't said anything at all. MORE fucked! I learne then, and never forgot, that I would always be comepletely on my own while in Cambodia. No NAVY SEALS. No MARINES.
Each Casino wouldn't let me stand inside for too long without a way to pay for a room or play slots. Not having money is the surest way to disappear forever into a Cambodian night. And I was running out of options. I was actually considering if I could make it to the jungle and escape into the night. I looked down at my flip flops and my heart sank.
I'm not sure how I managed this, but I managed to power walk to a huge Casino in the distance where I met a very, very nice hostess who let me stay the night...for free...with the idea that I could pay in the morning via Western Union. The Hotel just happened to have a Western Union in it. What a God Send. BUt it wouldn't open till 11am the next day.
I realized from that point on I could never leave this hotel, not until I had some kind of game plan. These guys would pick me up at some point if I ever stepped outside.
I holded myself up in the room the hostess gave me. I scrambled to get my tech going, calling on two phones, despearetly trying to get money, overdrafts waived. And that's when the shit hit the fan. Calls dropping. Embassy phones not working. Phones not having minutes. Phones with bad batteries. YOu name it, it broke at the worst time.
I went down to the lobby once to try and use the wireless. Immediately a Casino staffmember approached me...
"So, got a room yet"??
Obviously he was working for the guys outside. I found a way to blow him off.
I didn't leave my room the rest of the night. I barricaded the door and didn't sleep a week. Everytime someone walked by I picked up whatever object I had in the hotel room to use and gripped it tight.
By morning time, there wasn't a whole lot of good news pouring in. People were having problems, the usual fuck-all techno-website bullshit that always seems to screw you at the absolute worst time. And again, no calls from the embassys. The Thai Tourist police yelled at me and hung up because I couldn't understand his English. I was alone, with only my friends who were desperately trying to help.
I had to check out by noon. I could not afford to go down there without cash. Cash was my only power I had. I was cringing the idea of what I would do when hotel security kicked me out on the street. What would happen to me? I was prepared to fight, but you can't fight an entire kingdom.
My credit card was failing me time and time again, but finally, good news...the first wire transfers were coming in.
I paid my nights rent. The hostess gave me a free lunch. I persuaded her to let me use her personal driver and car so I could avoid the taxi mafia outside. That was my only hope in eluding these guys once outside.
I snuck out on a 2 hour car ride to Siem Triep airport. That was the only nice part of being in Cambodia I can think of.
I remember thinking though that I can't get lax yet. I soon realized how right I was.
I was on my way to inquire about tickets when a "security guard" who came up to me and told me he would "tell his friend that I was here now" in a chilling, mocking tone. He was going to notify the guys at the border my location. I knew then I only had a little time to find a plane.
I had begin learning a crash course in thinking on your feet. How to read a person in about 6 seconds to know if they were on the take or a real person. What's funny is my acting and directing skills also helped. I've seen a lot of bad acting in my day. And bad guys in real life are terrible actors. The fact that this guy had tried to intimidate me at the airport was actually his downfall, cause it forced me to jump into action.
I noticed a bunch of westerners going to Singapore. I knew that I had to be on this plane. There were no other planes leaving for another 7 hours, giving the rest of the gang plenty of time to come here or perhaps finding a way to detain me for some bullshit passport problem. I knew that if I didn't get on that plane right away I may not have escaped Cambodia. I'm not kidding.
One has to understand there is really no law in Cambodia. I never saw a US Embassy. YOu are all alone there, and you are fucked if you run into a problem like this. I mean you are fucked.
When it came time to buy tickets it was sold out, but too my luck, there was one buisness class ticket available. The only draw was that it was 525 bucks, and my credit card had been failing me all night.
THis was it. It was either work now or never work.
It did.
I immiediately began chatting up my airline clerk, following him everywhere, asking me to show me around the airport, making sure he was always by my side to keep the security guards from doing something creative to keep me there.
A couple of things that really dawned on me during this experience is that you have to always trust your instincts. Always.
One thing that was especially different, especially in the first few hours, was that seeing farang in this region is exceedingly rare, which means they STARE, and I mean STARE at you. This was quite unsettling when your already paranoid out of your goard.
My guess, at the end of the day, is that I was this lucky little opportunity that fell in their lap. At night, I noticed the place was full of prostitution. I saw a few African guys on cell phones that just had slave trader look, like they were there for some "inspections of new merchandise" kind of look. My guess is during the day, they run the normal scams, but at night, they change their business model a bit. And I just happened to be this guy who came along who they might make a few extra bucks on.
Never travel to Cambodia at night.
I need to collect myself and figure out what to do from here. I feel like I've been living in a Bourne identity film. I really had to think on my feet.
The nice thing is I think I did all the right things as well as all the wrong things.
I saw some real evil in people that night. I don't know how to describe it. Just evil that can't be seen, but sensed. It's horrible what people are doing out there. And what other people are letting them do.
I wonder about those girls in the taxi waiting for me to join them.
They are not as lucky as me, and that's fucking sad.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)