7th October
All plans to have a lie-in were in vain as the morning street noise started to crescend into quite a concert of sounds outside our bedroom window at about 7.30am. Nevertheless, it didn't spoil my plan to do very little with the day. The furthest I actually ventured was to a bakery a couple of streets away and other than that I was very content to spend the day lounging around the guesthouse, eating, drinking, reading and thinking about the wonderful past month that we have spent in Laos and Cambodia.
If I had to choose one word which embodies Laos and Cambodia it would be "happy". You see "Happy" signs all over the place in these countries - "Happy Guesthouse", "Happy Travel Agent", "Happy Pizza", "Happy Laundry Service" "Happy Burger Bar" etc. Restaurants even like to keep "Happy New Year" banners up all year round. I think the over-use of the word reveals a number of things about the countries and the people: a desire to please and make visitors feel relaxed/welcome; an obsession with adopting English words (often in the wrong context) as if their appearance makes something more chic/valid/business-like; a lack of urgency in everyday affairs - happiness comes first; an ever-present exploitation of drugs; and an appreciation of the smaller things in life (also exposed in the contagious smiles) after years of war and loss. In short, I'll look back on Laos and Cambodia and think "Happy Days".
