The Mekong River
My new hotel is on the river, which has a million shops and restaurants. I love it. So far this trip, I've eaten dinner or had drinks at an Italian restaurant, Chinese, Khmer, French (actually about three different French places), Nepalese, a pizza shop, more Khmer, a dumpling house, a Mexican place, an open air tropical cocktails bar, probably French-owned, and a Spanish tapas bar, which is still my favorite.
This is such a contrast to what I affectionately call "The Colonial Compound"that was my old hotel. I can walk out onto the street and do, see, buy and eat anything. And there's a ton of activity. When Sambath drives me from the office after work, there's a million people hanging out in front of the royal palace esplanade! Today, I saw folks playing soccer, volleyball, girls holding hands walking down the street. So sweet. It's really cool to see such a huge congregation of people and know they're not there to start a riot or waiting in line for work, for food, etc.
There's still not really a middle class in Cambodia - though I'm sure one in a few hundred would argue with me on that, but I stand my ground! - but you wouldn't know it by driving my way home in the late afternoon/early evening. It's a great sight to see.
The shop where I bought most of the souveniers for my girl friends is this fantastic little store right around the corner from the FCC. One of the girls who works there calls me "Sister." I was really flattered and a bit touched until I realized later that it's the polite Khmer custom to call other women that. I still thought it was cute, tho...
It's Thursday night and I'm set to take the morning off of work tomorrow to go to the genocide museum (the old prison here in town) and the killing fields later. I saved the heavy stuff for last for a reason, and now time's running out. Maybe I'll have a $10 facial afterward to cushion the blow and bring me back down a notch...
You have to do anything that requires physical labor and ambition here for early morning, to take advantage of the morning "cool." Bracing myself for that 6 am wake up call...
This is such a contrast to what I affectionately call "The Colonial Compound"that was my old hotel. I can walk out onto the street and do, see, buy and eat anything. And there's a ton of activity. When Sambath drives me from the office after work, there's a million people hanging out in front of the royal palace esplanade! Today, I saw folks playing soccer, volleyball, girls holding hands walking down the street. So sweet. It's really cool to see such a huge congregation of people and know they're not there to start a riot or waiting in line for work, for food, etc.
There's still not really a middle class in Cambodia - though I'm sure one in a few hundred would argue with me on that, but I stand my ground! - but you wouldn't know it by driving my way home in the late afternoon/early evening. It's a great sight to see.
The shop where I bought most of the souveniers for my girl friends is this fantastic little store right around the corner from the FCC. One of the girls who works there calls me "Sister." I was really flattered and a bit touched until I realized later that it's the polite Khmer custom to call other women that. I still thought it was cute, tho...
It's Thursday night and I'm set to take the morning off of work tomorrow to go to the genocide museum (the old prison here in town) and the killing fields later. I saved the heavy stuff for last for a reason, and now time's running out. Maybe I'll have a $10 facial afterward to cushion the blow and bring me back down a notch...
You have to do anything that requires physical labor and ambition here for early morning, to take advantage of the morning "cool." Bracing myself for that 6 am wake up call...
posted by permanent temp @ 9:15 PM
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