Ohhh Cambodia, how art thou colourful, wild, jungly, silly, littered, chaotic, serene, kind, lazy, and risky all at once...
My experiences included (and weren't limited to): taking a bus from Don Det, Laos to Siam reap, spending Khmer new year in the city, getting food poisoning while sharing an AC-less room with almost 20 people and the water cut off, sweating more than I imagined possible, exploring mystical Angkor Wat, connecting with others, sharing the bed on the night bus with a stranger again, drinking 50 and 25cent beers in Sihanoukville in response to my depression at the sight of garbage on Serenity beach, getting the hell out of serenity beach the next day to stay on shimmering Otres beach for almost a week, meeting people, going to Ream beach, laughing a lot, watching a rain storm on the sea from a hammock, wondering if our rickety boat would make it back with us alive, eating at the same place every day on otres because the server was the sweetest, even though it always took at least an hour to get food because there was one woman in the back making each dish one at a time. Inhaling a watermelon every day! Finding inspiration to write again. Finally eating pizza, going to a jungle rave on 420, losing hours floating in the gorgeous sea, drinking Klang with local friends on the beach, running early in the mornings, never really getting clean, wearing the same clothes everyday, tearing myself from the beach at otres to the one at kep. Spending an afternoon picking up trash on a section of kep beach, only to see it covered in trash the next day, taking a scenic bike ride around town, admitting defeat when trying to bike up the mountains in the heat of midday, loving the Nepali kep guesthouse owner and her baby, meeting mr right now and riding to beautiful locations on the back of his motorbike, smiling in the butterfly garden, jungle temple, watching local kids immersed in play, waking up to legs destroyed by bug bites, stoney jazzeroni, going to Kampot and taking walks on the river, watching the night fall on the river, swimming in the river, becoming more comfortable riding on scooters, climbing in the cave, being lost in the countryside without a care, eating mangos under the shade of a tree, drinking happy shakes, sleeping so much, asking everyone to make my curry as spicy as possible, running after a hundred dollar bill in wild traffic on a bridge, triumphantly catching the bill only to learn it was counterfeit. having my chocolate bar melt faster than I can eat it, seeing snakes, wondering if I'll ever cool down or smell fresh again but not really caring, visiting the killing fields and Tuol Sleng genocide museum in Phnom Penh, resenting the US/humanity a little more, meeting kind people, hearing adventurous, dream-pursuing stories and restoring my faith in humanity a little more. Studying all of the prostitution in the city and in my hostel and wondering everyone's history. Night bus from Phnom Penh to Ho chi min. Loving the Khmer people and creating new visions for my future..
Wondering if I'll always wander, for if I never wander then I'll always wonder...
