4 Wheelers and AK 47s

A couple weekends ago, I made a reservation to go on a 4 wheeling tour of the countryside of Phnom Penh. I've gotten quite used to the strange looks I receive when I make reservations for only one person or walk into a restaurant and ask for a table for just one. But I refuse to let the fact that I'm here alone keep me from having the time of my life. They picked me up from my house, which was awesome, and drove me to their site where I signed my life away. My tour guide, James, asked me if I've ever driven a 4 wheeler before. "Well no, but I have driven a snowmobile!" was my reply. He looked at me strangely. Oh, silly me! You don't even know what snow is, let alone a snowmobile! ha. So he gave me a brief lesson on how to drive it, and then the 2 of us were off. I was in love instantly (like I always knew I would be) with driving down the muddy, pot holed dirt roads through the villages. The little kids in the villages could hear the bikes coming down the road and would sprint out to the road to say hello and give me a high five. The smiles on their faces were priceless as they mauled me. Look at that picture below. Aren't they just the cutest things ever??!? (Aside from the fact that you can see every bone because they're malnourished...)

When we'd left on our tour, James told me I could stop whenever I wanted to take pictures. Awhile later, we stopped for a drink. He asked me why I wasn't taking pictures. I realized that the people he usually takes out are tourists that are only here a few days, and have never seen what the villages are like here. I told him that I'd been here for a bit and work out in the villages so it was nothing new to me and I really just wanted to spend my time exploring on the 4 wheeler. I think he was quite surprised by that, ha. So we continued on through beautiful scenery of rice fields, passing several gorgeous pagodas along the way. When the tour sadly ended (I could have kept going for hours), I returned grinning from ear to ear and covered in mud. Success.

Last weekend I was pretty frustrated with my supervisor and everything related to my Masters project I've been working on here. And I desperately needed to vent and take my mind off of everything. So I convinced my friend to go out to the shooting range with me and then go get a burger afterwards. We had NO idea where the shooting range was, but it was hilarious driving way out of the city trying to find it. As we turned down a random dirt road, we say some signs that looked promising. But then we were totally lost. A little old lady was sitting in her house and acted out shooting a machine gun to me as we drove past. (I soooo wish I had a video of this.) I yelled out "cha! cha!" Then she pointed us in the opposite direction. I yelled out "awcoon, awcoon" and made the praying greeting sign as we turned around and passed by her again. Well, we drove around forever and still couldn't find it, so this guy at a go kart track called one of the guys to come pick us up to show us the way. As we drove up, it was kind of an eerie feeling, with tanks and canons and missiles lining the road. It was getting late so they had all the guns locked up already. They took me into this closet where all the guns were laying on the floor. I picked out the ak47 and said I wanted to shoot 30 rounds off on that! So he gave me my shooting ear muffs and led me back to this insane shooting range in a creepy room.

It was like a brink wall with a hole in it to shoot through with empty shells everywhere. He loaded the gun (didn't even let me do it--RUDE!) and put it in my hands and started yelling at me to pull the trigger. Hold on a second man! I've got to savor this moment and at least get my aim down!

Well, the 30 rounds didn't last very long once the gun was on automatic. But it was so much fun! The shells were flying everywhere, and then I realized he hadn't given me any protective eyewear. Whoops. Guess I just got caught up in the moment! The gun was so hot after only shooting off 3o rounds; I can't imagine what it would be like in a war. After I was finished, I asked if I could retrieve my target. he told me it wasn't possible. =( Oh well, we'll just say I had a pretty good shot. haha. After that we went to mike's Burgers, which is supposedly the best burger place in Cambodia and is supposed to be like In N Out. Well, I thought it was just okay and pretty expensive. BUT they did have root beer floats which were oh so good!