Fetch-a-Phrase

Language, linguistics and travel. A blog that tries to bring them all together.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Phnom Penh to Tokyo - Blog I - Los Angeles Int'l Airport

I just bought Truman Capote's classic, In Cold Blood. I could have bought Memoirs of Geisha instead and ostensibly done some kind of research reading for my eventual arrival in Japan. I prefer not to. This journey is going to very involved and Mr. Capote will provide a perfect place for me to escape to when the need arises.
For those of you who are just tuning in, I'm at the very beginning of a seventy-five day journey that will take me to Cambodia, through South and North Vietnam, across China to Shanghai and over the China Sea to Japan toward my eventual return home from Narita Airport near Tokyo. The entire journey revolves the idea of being able to speak the basics of each of the languages of the countries I'm visiting. In order to this I've put together a system that combines color-coded template sentences with color-coded word lists. These creations, known as Do-It-Yourself Phrasemakers, give me the ability to create thousands and thousands of basic sentences in each of the languages. You can get a rough idea of how the system works by visiting the how to page of the Fetch-a-Phrase website.
The Phrasemaker for Khmer, the main language of Cambodia, is only 75% done; I'll be using my three weeks in country to finish it off and test out the results. I'll also be visiting my friend, Mark Norris. He's currently residing in the seaside town of Kampot and has just become engaged to local lass called Jasmine (you can see photos of the happy couple on Mark's blog, The Far-East Asian Review or F.E.A.R. for short). Mark's family gave me a small suitcase to give to him that's chock full of little things he's been unable to find in Cambodia - plus a few extras; gifts for his wife-to-be from her prospective parents-inlaw.
During the next twenty-four hours I have to decide whether or not I'm going to go directly to Kampot. It's not as clear cut as it might seem. I arrive Bangkok fifteen minutes shy of midnight after 25 hours of flights and connections. From there I need to catch a plane to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. I don't have a ticket yet and there won't be any way of getting one until morning comes. Should I then decide to make it a go, I fly to Phnom Penh then need to track down the share-taxi stand for the three hour ride to Kampot. I have been warned to carefully check the condition of the vehicle as a bad one may not make it. If it does, I will arrive just in time to celebrate Mark's birthday. There is one more thing I need to remain aware of - it is one week to the Cambodian New Year. In the lead up to it, people celebrate by throwing water-filled balloons at each other and anyone else who crosses their path. Re-packing everything inside plastic bags might not be a bad idea.

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