A Year Of Living: Little Story About A Billionaire Named Soko

Once upon a time there was (and still is) a guy named Soko, who owned almost every gas station in the Kingdom of Cambodia. Naturally, this made him very rich. One morning while slurping his noodle soup it hit him. Bam. The best thing to do when you're rich in a poverty stricken, corrupt country...is to use your wealth and influence to get more money. Soko made a few phone calls and worked himself a sweet deal. He promised the government some really classy ticket booths for their natural wonders if the government agreed to a couple of small details. Soko gets to keep 72% of the profits those ticket booths rake in. He also sets the price that tourists pay wherever these booths are constructed. And just one more thing..Soko would like to rent Angkor Wat. For a handsome monthly payoff to big brother the most beautiful and historically significant place in Cambodia is monopolized by a single man. I wonder if the US government would be willing to rent me the Grand Canyon. If not I may have to swing by Egypt and make a pitch for a lease on the pyramids.
Anyway, to his credit Soko constructed a sweet ticket booth just South of the miles and miles of ruins near Siem Reap. He did miss one thing..he forgot to train the people that work there.

It was total chaos. No real lines, teen girls telling us to stand here, then there..and by the way give me 40 dollars. The ticket sales building had very clearly marked spots for lines in front of 8-9 windows but no one wanted you to stand in the lines. We had some faceless person from behind glass thrust a camera on a stick at us, snap a shot and then disappear. No one told us there was a paper ticket, and the woman we paid didn't mention whether we should hang around..but we did out of curiosity. Thankfully so. About ten minutes later a different woman walked up to us, eyed us closely then shuffled through a stack of fifty tickets each with a photo I.D. on it. All we could do was shake our heads in astonishment. This was the 'system' that raked in thousands of dollars a day.

Aside from the chaos..Angkor Wat is beautiful. We rode around the park all day on bicycles we rented in town. Other than occasional ticket checks there is essentially no oversight of these temples. Visitors can climb most everything at their own risk. Words don't do this place justice...

As we pedaled home it started to sprinkle..then rain..then downpour. It was the best ending to a surreal experience. We laughed and raced on gravel and red dirt roads with mud flying and our clothes sticking to us, saturated. Now we get ready to say goodbye to Cambodia. Tomorrow on a bus back to Thailand. We have some unfinished business with some tigers.