Day 310/311: Rest & RPG Shooting Range

After staying up late at the festival, we opted for a Friday rest day and an opportunity to get laundry done / more Gap Year planning.

Now, for those that don’t know Kieran very well, he’s a really chill and easy going guy. He doesn’t have the strongest opinions and is generally agreeable to suggestions. It should be understood that it’s rare for him to say, “When we visit X, I definitely want to visit ———.” Fair to say that Gap Year has pushed his trip planning skills and made him into a more decisive person when visiting places.

However, Cambodia is the one place Kieran made a specific request and he almost didn’t go through with it: he really wanted to shoot an RPG 🤣🤣🤣 He did his research and found Visal Buth who offers the opportunity to shoot an RPG as well as other WWII and Cold War guns.

And of course we are going to do it. When would a military history major and Call of Duty nerd not take up the opportunity?! You essentially visit a Cambodian Army training base and can pick from several weapons. Kieran picked the RPG and Dragunov sniper rifle while Mary picked an RPD Light Machine gun (both are Soviet).

The ride to the army base was 1.5 hours and we had a lovely time talking to Visal. He served in the army for 4 years and has a wife and three children. He’s working to move to America and talked a lot about dealing with young teenagers. We learn that he runs his business all by himself and wants to create a larger presence on social media, but he doesn’t know how to use a computer.

He’s been working with a guy from Japan to build out his website and recently worked with a man from Vietnam to create a YouTube account. We learned Visal gave the Vietnamese guy his email password and immediately told him that wasn’t a good idea. We offered to help him change his password and create a Instagram account for him for free. He was so grateful and invited us to coffee at his house after the shooting range.

We get to the base and drive up to an area with big holes, army men, and a line of guns. Visal provided water and beer. Hanging out with the Cambodian Army guys was cool; they were all dressed in their camo but wore flip flops, which is very southeast Asian. It ends up we couldn’t shoot the Dragunov because they needed it for real army training that day lol

It was time 🫣 the guy demonstrated to Kieran how to hold the RPG and how it would go. After one practice round, they were ready. The man counts down and immediately on three Kieran shoots it and it was so fucking loud!!! You could feel the boom and vibration on your chest. The rocket went flying and hit a bush; it was so cool.

We both got a few shots off on the RPD and went with a Soviet SKS rifle as well. Kieran was able to hit a bottle on his first shot 😎 now for the kicker, the army guys offered a discounted price to throw a hand grenade. Mary was scared shitless, but also when are you going to get opportunities like this? Kieran goes for it and once again the guy shows him the process. Kieran is pretty scared too but keeps a level head.

The pin is pulled out and he throws it into the water. The army officer points into the air and it goes boooomm!!!! Probably the most reckless thing Kieran has done in his life, but will cherish the memories forever.

We thank the officers and head on to Visal’s house. His wife gives us coffee, a coconut, and lunch! Mary helps Visal create a new second email for his business, helps him reset his email password on his original account, and helps him set up his Pay Pal. She also forces two factor authentication and facial recognition to log in on all these accounts 😂 we say goodbye and his brother drives us home.

When we get back to the hotel, we end up hanging out with a front desk worker there named Jakie who lives in Phnom Penh. We met him earlier, but couldn’t sync up our schedules to meet at the festival. Instead we chat, eat dinner, and enjoy beer until bed time.

Such a crazy day.

Food:
Dumplings
Spring rolls
Fried rice
Bagels

Spots:
Phnom Penh Shooting Range ExperienceRead more