Holiday In Cambodia

"Where did you say we were going?" Rick asked Amber, as they brought up the rear, following the others down the busy early morning street.

After he had told Jack he wanted to move on with him and Amber, they had insisted they wait for him outside the guest house before helping the Americans find their hotel.

The guys felt it was only fair they waited. The knowledge Jack and Amber seemed to have about the area was pretty invaluable to them right then, and seeing as they themselves knew absolutely zip whatsoever about the Cambodian language or culture, they figured they probably weren't going to get far without them.

Having said that, the four guys couldn't help but get impatient when Rick took twenty minutes to get from his room down to the lobby, or when he made them all stop immediately so that he could pick up a long and complicated order of noodles from the stall outside.

"Saphir Hotel," Amber replied, "You know it?"
"Wow, isn't that the really posh one?" he asked, dropping a clump of noodles to the pavement. He looked down, his eyes showing a flicker annoyance for a moment, before the flicker disappeared and he looked back at Amber. "The one with the red pillars outside?"
Amber shrugged.
"Maybe," she said, "I don't really pay attention to stuff like that."
"Well, if it is, then these guys sure aren't backpackers. Hey, maybe they'll let us sleep on their floor? It'll be loads better than that shite pile back there."

Jack looked down at his map as they reached a busy intersection, and then back at the streetsign visible across the stream of traffic ahead of them. Mike, who was walking next to him as they lead the way, leaned over to get a look.
"You know where we are, man?"
"I think so," said Jack, "You wanted Sihanouk Boulevard... right?"
Mike nodded.
"Yeah... Sihanouk."
"Cool, that's the next street. No problem."
"Great," Mike smiled, in relief, "You guys have totally saved our skins."
He chuckled a little.
"It's pretty pathetic," he said, "I mean, we've been all over the place but the moment we're actually left in a foreign country without warning, we totally freak."
Jack smirked.
"Yep, pretty pathetic," he agreed.
Mike grinned.
"What brings you here anyway?" he asked, "You're a long way from home."
"Yeah," said Jack, "But we came here on purpose. Amber and I just wanted to see something new, y'know? We just came down from Thailand a couple of days ago, I think. We were on this really tiny island, and it was beautiful but, y'know, it's good to get back to civilisation."

Jack and Mike's conversation was suddenly interrupted by an exclamation from behind.
"You call this civilisation?"
It was Tre.
"You should've seen the toilet I had to use back there! I shat into a hole!"
Billie Joe winced.
"Thanks Tre," he said, sarcastically, "You know, sometimes it's for the fucking best that people can't understand you."
Jack laughed.
"I gave up on public toilets in the Far East pretty much the moment I got here," he told them, "I usually just go in the bushes. Don't stray too far from pathways though, cause there's a risk of landmines around here."
Jason stared at him.
"Oh my fuck..." he muttered, exchanging a glance with Tre as they turned down the street, and Jack noncholantly turned back to his map.

Mike squinted in the sun when Jack lowered his map and stopped walking, looking up at the tall building in front of them, baring the now-sacred words 'Saphir Hotel'.

"Fuck me!" exclaimed Rick, from behind him, "The party is definitely at your place."
Tre sighed, as he slid his backpack off his shoulders and stretched.
"I never thought I'd hear myself say this," he sighed, "But I am really not in the mood for a party."
"Yeah, I feel like death," agreed Billie Joe.
Amber smirked.
"You guys really are lame."

When Tre woke up, he felt a lot more human. The hotel was an oasis of luxury amongst the run-down $3-a-night guesthouses they'd passed on their way, but he hadn't really cared. He'd just flopped onto the bed and passed right out and now, seven hours later, he was taking in his surroundings for the first time.

Staggering sleepily into the en suite, he filled the sink with cold water and splashed some onto his face, before switching on the coffee maker and heading out onto the balcony, into the warm evening sun.

He blinked as he adjusted to the harsh light, leaning on the rail and looking down onto the street, where people milled back and forth like multi-coloured ants. He smiled a little, his eyes roaming the shuttered windows and the umbrella-topped food stalls, which were sending appealing food smells drifting up towards him. His stomach growled.

He hadn't realised, when he'd been jet-lagged and unsettled, just how pleasant it was to be somewhere so completely foreign, and see something interesting from a hotel balcony. He found himself wanting to just run down and immerse himself in it before he was back staring at the inside of a generic concert arena or TV studio again.

Rubbing his eyes, he strolled back into the room, poured himself a coffee, and settled back on the bed. He wondered if the other guys were awake yet. Probably best not to go knocking.

He glanced at the phone beside the bed, with its list of international dialling codes stuck to the side and picked up his coffee cup. He had only just touched it to his lips when Amber's parting words came back to him.

"Hey, by the way, you guys... don't drink the water."

Tre sighed, setting the cup down on the table next to the phone, leaning back against the headboard and wishing he had someone he wanted to call.

He must have dropped off to sleep again, because he was startled by a hammering on his door. Rubbing his eyes, he crossed the room slowly, pulling open his door to see Jason and Mike standing in the hallway.

"Hey," smiled Jason, seeing Tre's ruffled appearance, "Good sleep?"
"Yeah, pretty nice," Tre nodded, groggily.
"I'm starving," Mike announced.
"I'm pretty hungry too... you wanna go downstairs and see what's around?"
"I actually kinda wanted to go and check out what's around outside," said Mike, "It's not like we'll ever come back here and it looks pretty interesting. I don't wanna just spend the evening in the hotel, y'know?"
Jason nodded, smiling a little.
"No plans to add Phnom Penh to the tour schedule, then?"
Mike smiled, scratching his head.
"D'you think anyone knows who we are here?"
Tre shrugged,
"Doubt it. Those guys we met earlier didn't seem to, and we've just played about five million shows in their countries."
"Maybe they were just being polite," Jason suggested.
"I don't know," said Mike, "I got the impression they were the kinda people who would've said what they thought though. Especially Rick. Couldn't get him to shut up for two minutes."
"They seemed pretty cool," said Tre, "But it was pretty weird they didn't seem to recognise us."
Jason rolled his eyes, leaning against the wall.
"Jesus Christ, listen to you guys," he smirked, "You aren't the fucking Sex Pistols, you know."
Mike grinned.
"I don't know what we'd do without you to keep our feet on the ground, Jase," he said, "Shall we go find food then?"
"Yeah... where's Bill?"
"Waking up," Mike replied, "I'll go give him another knock."
"Okay," said Tre, "Let me just change my shirt, I feel like I've been wearing it for like three days... Hey! Do we have any, like... Cambodian currency...?"
Mike grinned as he walked down the hallway.
"It's called Riel, Tre," he said, over his shoulder, "And I exchanged all my spare bills downstairs. Good job one of us did his homework, huh guys?"

Tre and Jason got the last laugh when they got outside, only to find that most of the places on the street advertised their prices in US Dollars, which turned out to also be legal tender for anything more expensive than a can of Coke.

Stopping at a noodle place at the end of the street, Mike took a seat next to a still sleepy Billie Joe, as he poked his noodles around his bowl, eyeing them suspiciously.

"I swear to God there's egg in this," Mike grumbled.
Billie Joe paused, his chopsticks on his way to his mouth. The noodles fell off, and landed back in the bowl. He frowned.
"I thought you said you sorted out the whole veggie, vegan situation with the guy at the bar, Mike."
"Yeah, I thought so too," said Mike, "He did look at me like I was crazy though. Then he kinda giggled..."
"Oh. Great," said Billie Joe, dropping his chopsticks into his bowl with a clatter, before pushing it towards Jason.
"Hey Jase, taste this for me, will you?"

Tre rolled his eyes between mouthfuls.
"You guys can be such fucking drama queens. Look at it! There's nothing there!"
"It tastes of nothing to me," Jason agreed, "There's no stock in it. Mine's awesome though. Tre?"
"Awesome," he agreed, exchanging a nod of approval with Jason.
Billie Joe sighed, as he and Mike began eating.
"I should have saved my airline pretzels," he muttered.

Once they'd eaten, the guys made no move back to the hotel, but remained outside the restaurant well into the evening, enjoying the atmosphere as the place got more lively and sampling the local Angkor beer, all of it making the whole emergency stopover, missing an entire day of promotional appointments disaster a lot easier to swallow.

Tre chuckled a little as the pretty twenty-something waitress winked at him and filled up his glass. If Rob could see him right at this moment, he knew he'd kill him.

Lighting a cigarette and leaning back in his seat, Billie Joe was suddenly startled by the shock of someone calling his name, and turned his head to see Amber the Call Box Operator strolling down the street towards them, another girl at her side.
"Hey," she smiled, as they greeted her, "See you found the beer."
"Sure did," said Mike, lifting his glass to his lips, "And it's pretty damn good."
"I know," she smiled, "Although, I spent a lot of time in your country last year. I think any beer would taste pretty damn good after suffering that."
She grinned at the round of smirks that were thrown her way, before Tre leaned forward.
"It's weird running into you again," he said, "Thanks for helping us out earlier. We're a lot less cranky now. The sleep did us good."
Amber grinned.
"Glad to hear it," she said, "And it's actually not that weird. We checked into the guesthouse across the street from your hotel after we left you guys. The other one just sucked, I was sick to fucking death of the bed bugs."
"Bed bugs?" Billie Joe repeated.
"Yeah... check it out."
She stuck out her arm to show off a neat line of red bite marks against her tanned skin. Billie Joe made a face.
"If I get any of those bitches in my bed, I'm not fucking getting into it at all."
Amber smirked.
"I wouldn't worry," she said, "I don't think you'll find bugs of any kind in your Hotel Lame-Ass. Hey, by the way, this is Maggie. She's from your neck of the woods."
"You are?" Jason asked, with interest.
"Uh... well, I'm from New York," she explained, poking her chopsticks around in the bowl of stir-fry, which she had been eating as she walked. "You?"
"California," Mike replied, shaking his head at Amber, "Neck of the woods..."
"Well, same fucking country," she shrugged.

Billie Joe leaned closer to the steam rising from Maggie's stir-fry.
"That smells incredible," he remarked.
"It is pretty good," she smiled, and he smiled back, feeling a strange comfort in his stomach just from hearing another American accent in a stranger.
"Looks better than what we ate," agreed Mike, "Which was basically noodles in water."
"We're vegetarian," Billie Joe said, by way of explanation.
"Really? Me too!" Maggie smiled, "Here, try some of this."

Billie Joe grinned, as she offered him her chopsticks.
"It's pretty tough being veggie in this part of the world," Maggie said, sympathetically, as he dove in, "I guess they think if you can afford meat, you shouldn't pass it up."
"Which makes perfect sense," said Tre, smugly.
"Or it would if it weren't so fucking disgusting," added Mike, and Amber rolled her eyes, perching on the edge of the table next to Jason as Billie Joe, Mike and Maggie discussed their vegetarian ways on the other side of the table.

"So, you guys are stuck here till tomorrow, right?" she asked them.
"Yep..." sighed Jason.
"We're gonna head down to the riverside and hit a few bars later, if you want to join us," she suggested.
Jason exchanged a glance of approval with Tre.
"Why not?" he shrugged.
"Cool. Shall we come over and meet you?"
"Yeah," said Tre, pulling a pen out of his pocket and taking Amber's hand, before scrawling something across it. "That's my room number, if you wanna call on us."
She checked her hand.
"Great," she said, hopping off the table, "See you guys later."

As the girls continued on their way down the street, Jason smiled at Tre and shook his head.
"What?"
"You are such a flirt Tre."
"What? Why?"
"'That's my room number'" he mocked, "Jesus..."

Tre was swaying a little as he crossed his hotel room, rubbing some gel into his hair and silently congratulating himself for his last-minute decision to pack it into his back pack and not into his suitcase, which was now sitting in a Hong Kong hotel room. Or at least, he hoped it was.

He was pretty surprised by how unsteady he was on his feet. He'd only had a few beers and his ability to hold alcohol was pretty legendary. He supposed that was one thing he'd be able to report from his 24 hours in Phnom Penh. Cambodians knew how to make beer.

He jumped a little at the knock on the door, and pulled it open, smiling at the collection of backpackers standing in the hallway, looking completely out of place against the gilded wallpaper and the sparkling black and white tiled floor.

"Fucking hell," said Rick, presumably by way of greeting, "You guys are sure living it up over here. I can see my face in this floor!"
Jack smirked a little.
"But do you really need to be able to see your face in your hotel floor Rick?"
Rick shrugged, looking down.
"It's pretty nice. I hadn't looked in a mirror for a few days. Amber did a pretty good job cutting my hair this morning... "

While Rick preoccupied himself with his reflection, Amber turned to Tre.
"Hey," she said, with a smile, "Are you ready?"
"I think so," Tre replied, before a sound from inside his room made him turn his attention away.

Picking up his cell phone from the bed, he answered it almost cautiously, as if he couldn't quite believe anyone was really calling. The phone hadn't made a sound since they landed that morning, and that morning felt like another lifetime ago.

"Daddy!"
Tre's face broke into a wide grin.
"Hey... Frankito! How's my little man?"
"Okay. Mommy said your phone wouldn't work where you are, but it does."
"That's cause Mommy doesn't understand technology," Tre smirked, "Hold on the line, little one, okay?"
Holding the phone to his chest, he turned back to the door.

"I need to take this... it's my kid," he apologised.
"Aw, that's okay," smiled Maggie, "Where are the others?"
"Billie Joe's room is next door that way," he replied, pointing to his left, "Try there."

Moving on to the next room down the hall, the group found Mike, Jason and Billie Joe hanging out there waiting for Tre, and they were halfway through their greetings when they took in their surroundings and their jaws dropped.
"Wow," said Maggie, walking to the window, "This is a seriously nice hotel. Billie Joe? Can I use your bathroom? I don't think it's an opportunity I should pass up."
Billie Joe chuckled.
"Sure, go right ahead," he said, waving his arm in the general direction of the en suite, and Maggie grinned and skipped off.

"So, is this courtesy of the airline?" Jack inquired, taking a seat on the bed next to Jason and lighting a cigarette. Taking his first drag, he looked up at Billie Joe.
"Mind if I smoke?" he asked, exhaling.
Amber rolled her eyes at him.
"Uh... No, man, whatever... " Billie Joe replied.
"It's actually courtesy of our record company," said Mike, turning to Jack as he answered his question, "The airline were crap-all help."
"There's a surprise," said Rick.
"Oh, you're a band, right?" Jack asked them, as he tapped his ash into the beer can left on the coffee table. Jason frowned, but didn't bother telling him he'd been planning on finishing it.
"Yeah," Mike nodded, "We were actually on our way to Hong Kong to play a-"

"Oh my God!"

The group jumped, all heads turning in the direction of the bathroom at the sound of Maggie's exclamation.
"Maggie? Are you okay?" Jack called, frowning a little, just as she opened the bathroom door, holding a plastic bottle in her hand.
"Billie Joe has American shampoo. Awesome American shampoo!"
Jack rolled his eyes.
"Really. Jesus fucking Christ, I thought something serious had happened."
Jason grinned.
"Billie Joe wouldn't go anywhere without awesome shampoo," he said, "In fact, when we fly anywhere, his hair has it's own carry-on allowance."
Billie Joe folded his arms over his chest as the others laughed.
"You're just jealous 'cause I'm worth it," he muttered, smiling, and Maggie grinned.
"Um... would you mind if I borrowed some of this real fast?" she asked, "I'll be, like, two minutes, I swear."
"Knock yourself out," said Billie Joe, with a shrug, "We're only waiting for Tre anyway. It's good to know someone around here appreciates the necessities in life."

It was dark by the time they got outside, but the streets were bright with life and bursting with energy, and Jason would have felt nervous about being sucked into the crowd and losing the others if he hadn't had Amber next to him, leading the way with a self-assurance that anyone would find calming.

The rest of the group followed behind as they wove their way down Sihanouk Boulevard, turning down onto a side street that Jack and Amber reckoned would take them straight down to the riverside. She didn't speak most of the way, but he knew that was because he wouldn't be able to hear her over the noise of the city, and he was losing himself in his thoughts when a hand reached out and grabbed his wrist.

His heart skipped a little as he turned to see a guy from the bootleg tape stall that lined the small street, frantically rattling something to him in high speed Khmer, and refusing to let go of his arm. He tugged hard, and his arm came loose, but the man didn't give up his verbal tirade, and he found himself running to catch up with Amber, who hadn't even noticed him fall behind.

"Are you okay, Jason?" she asked, seeing him appear next to him, breathless.

She frowned in concern, touching his arm. She had warmed to Jason since they had met. She admired his quiet intelligence, and found it amusing that he often seemed lost in thought, because she knew that she could be exactly the same. Or at least, she used to be. She knew that getting lost in thought wouldn't help her while she was travelling. Places as foreign to her as this, she had to keep her wits about her.

"This guy just fucking grabbed me!" Jason told her, indignantly, "I have no idea what he was saying... "
"Oh, he'll just have wanted you to buy something," she said, reassuringly, "Don't worry about it."
"Well, it wasn't a great sales pitch," he grumbled, putting his hands into the pockets of his jeans, "Why isn't he doing it to any of the other millions of people around here?"
She smiled.
"Because he knows you have money," she replied, simply, "And he knows that he needs it more than you do."

Jason felt a pang of guilt, as his eyes travelled to the side of the street, where a mother and her small son were huddled under a blanket, their eyes blank as they watched the tourists go by. He frowned down at his shoes, a little angry with himself for feeling hard done by, that they had to spend one night in a nice hotel in Phnom Penh. There were some things in life that it did you good to see.