Talking Location With author Gabrielle Yetter – CAMBODIA

10th February 2021

#TalkingLocationWith…Gabrielle Yetter, author of Whisper of the Lotus set in CAMBODIA

At first, I didn’t care for Cambodia. I’d flown across the world with my husband, Skip, to volunteer and begin a new life in what we expected would be an exotic country, and didn’t realise we’d be staying in a ten-dollar a night guesthouse with overflowing drains, rats on the street, and unbearable heat.

But we’d sold our home, quit our jobs, and bought one-way tickets. We had no Plan B.

Every morning that first week, we’d climb into a tuk-tuk with our fellow volunteers and bump across Phnom Penh to the Khmer language school near the Russian market. After four hours struggling to pronounce and understand this alien tongue, we’d return to the guesthouse where I’d retreat into an air-conditioned room for the afternoon; hot, tense, and disheartened.

So why, ten years later, did I base my novel, Whisper of the Lotus, in Cambodia?

Because I fell in love. With the chaotic lifestyle, the stimulating unpredictability, and the extraordinary people who captured my heart and opened a space that can now only be filled by this magical country.

It began with SomOn, the jovial tuk-tuk driver who picked us up at the airport and became a friend and loyal driver for more than three years. He was our introduction to the kindness, charm, and honesty of Cambodians, as he drove us to work every day, invited us to his one-room home, and provided insights into a populace that has very little yet gives from the heart.

In my novel, SomOn is also the first point of contact for my protagonist, Charlotte, a young woman travelling to visit her best friend and escape a difficult family life in England. Like me, Charlotte was initially taken aback by the chaos of Phnom Penh, and on her first day SomOn (with typical Cambodian naïveté) takes her to Tuol Sleng for a taste of local culture. This horrendous reminder of Cambodia’s tortured past is the former Khmer Rouge prison where thousands of people were incarcerated and tortured during the Pol Pot regime. It was also the first place we visited on our ‘introductory tour’ of Phnom Penh.

Woven throughout the book are Charlotte’s experiences, as she takes readers on a journey through the country, complete with scenes, smells, sounds, and diverse characters. She visits the Best Iced Coffee in Phnom Penh stall at the Russian Market, meets a Buddhist monk who becomes a trusted friend and confidante, and travels on a rickety local bus to the coastal village of Kampot where fireflies sparkle and stinky durian fruit is abundant.

I’ve provided glimpses into places that are special to me: quaint cafés fringed with jasmine-scented balconies, spas offering luxurious, cheap massages, and colourful markets crammed with vivid silks and gleaming teak statues. But there’s also the gritty side: girlie bars where young women are treated as disposable objects, unscrupulous characters who prey on the gullible, and seedy spots frequented by equally seedy individuals.

Charlotte sat in one of the chairs and Roxy in an adjacent one, then two Cambodian women appeared carrying plastic bowls filled with water, flower petals, and slices of what looked like bark. The women set the bowls on the floor in front of the chairs.

‘Lotus blossoms and lemongrass,’ Roxy explained as Charlotte stared into the water. ‘Take a whiff. It’s gorgeous.’

Charlotte leaned over and breathed in the sweet mist emanating from the water. Gusts of air from the fan in the corner blew her hair and cooled the sweat on her arms. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

‘Take off your shoes and relax,’ Roxy said. ‘It’s pampering time.’

Charlotte slipped off her flip-flops and leaned back in the chair. One of the women picked up Charlotte’s bare feet and slid them into the bowl of warm water. She washed one foot and calf then the other, then carefully wrapped each foot in a towel and elevated Charlotte’s legs to a padded cushion, rubbing perfumed oil onto her ankles. Charlotte’s head fell back onto the headrest as she immersed herself in the delicious sensations.

The author at a pagoda blessing

It’s a country of extreme contrasts and my work provided me with experiences beyond what most tourists see. While I visited the majestic Angkor Wat temples, sailed across the Mekong River, and feasted on spicy noodles at sidewalk stands, I also went to tiny, remote villages, learning about traditional cooking methods for The Sweet Tastes of Cambodia (a book about desserts), and interviewed village chiefs about farming practices with the assistance of a translator. When writing articles for local publications, I studied ancient healing methods of cupping and coining, and spent an evening in an ambulance, prowling the dark streets of Phnom Penh responding to medical emergencies.

There were adventures aplenty – from crossing the street to eating strange food to communicating in a foreign language – and every day was different. Some were tough, some entrancing, some confusing, and almost all challenging in some shape or form. But they were the most stimulating days of my life. So, it was only fitting that I launch Whisper of the Lotus on November 9: Cambodian Independence Day.

Gabrielle Yetter

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