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After a week in smaller Cambodia towns, it was a relief to arrive in the capital. Pnom Penh (the capital) is a mixture of smaller cambodian towns and Bangkok.

AK-47's & Cockfights

Tim Rea
2006-03-27 15:04:30

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us to a spot where representatives of guest houses wait like vultures for unsuspecting backpackers. Once again, we were swarmed. I had about 5-6 people surrounding me shoving pictures in my face, and trying to convince me that their guesthouse was the best - 5 people at once!
Meanwhile my other 3 friends were surrounded by Tuk Tuk drivers, guesthouse representatives, guys selling sunglasses and probaly some lady boy hookers...

Eventually we decided to check out a guesthouse on the lake, which turned out to have a beautiful view and a pool table :)

That night, some locals who work at the guesthouse took us out on the back of their motorcycles to check out the local bar scene. The bars ranged from arena size disco clubs playing cambodian pop music to scummy bars packed full of hookers, lady boys, and old european men. It's always bad when you go into a bar with lady boys, as they are extreemly aggressive and surprisingly confident. We ran to another bar as soon as we could.

The next day we made a trip to a millitary base with a shooting range. When we arrived, they placed a menu in front of us explaining the costs of each weapon. Our choices ranged from handguns to machine guns or rocket launchers. Looking to save a bit of money while still causing quite a bit of damage I opted for an AK-47. There was also an option of buying a live chicken or a cow as
a target, but I'd rather have someone else kill my dinner.

The AK-47 was awesome. I tried a few accurate shots, then pretended I was Rambo and blew the rest of the bullets off in one trigger squeeze. Damn, did that ever make me smile!

Soon after, we took some motor bikes over to a local cambodian village in the country side. A person working at our guesthouse took us into his family's hut alongside the water for tea and to meet his family. We also met his prized cock!

Cock's are available on the market for about $50 a Kg (this takes you a long way in cambodia). The reason that they are so expensive is that they can make you a lot of money in cock fights. After finding someone willing to fight our cock, we arranged for a fight at the local park. As the cock's got ready, many locals gathered to watch.

The cock's use sharp boney hooks on the back of their legs, as well as their beeks to fight. The biggest blows are when the cocks jump high into the air and plant their sharp nails into eachother. The fight lasted several rounds and over 10 minutes, and eventually our cock was too injured to fight anymore.