A Few Things About Cambodia

This post will be a bit lighter than my previous two... just wanted to share a bit of the basics about Cambodia and some of the interesting experiences we've had....

--Everything costs $1 -- a bag of assorted fruit, a pack of postcards, a guidebook, a beer -- you can buy anything from a street vendor for $1 and a buck even goes a long way in most restaurants and shops.

--We ate bugs - while driving the 6 hours from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, we stopped in the country for lunch. As we drove, we noticed large plastic sheets set up on wooden stands. That's for catching bugs. The bugs fly, hit the plastic, and then drop to drown at the water below. And yes, we all ate crickets. Big ones. It was very crunchy and basically tasted like BBQ spices. They also had big spiders to eat, but we decided against it.

--Boys up until age 8 don't wear clothes. Basically, we see a lot of nude boys around here. Babies, toddlers, elementary school boys... all over. In the city, with their bare bottoms on the dirty streets, in the country playing in the water, or being held by their mothers. A lot of the time they have shirts on, but there are a lot totally in the buff too. With the tremendous heat, I don't blame them.

--We are always sweating. It is so humid here that we can't really escape being in a constant slime of our own perspiration. It's gross and uncomfortable, but luckily we have an air-conditioned hotel and car, lots of free water, and have just gotten used to being shiny and smelly.

--The people are very friendly. It's been really amazing to see how welcoming the Cambodian people are. Part of this comes from not seeing many Americans, especially a group of 8 of them. We are greeted with smiles, stares, and waves. People have taken our picture without asking on many occasions, but mostly they just look at us in awe. It's refreshing to see so many disadvantaged people being so cheerful and accommodating.

--If you're a woman, you're name is "Lady"(with a unique Cambodian pronunciation like Leh-Deee). Street vendors, children, tuk-tuk drivers, and all others have a very similar way of addressing us that has become quite comical - I guess you have to hear it.

--There are no driving rules. It's pretty crazy actually. There are lanes, but no one uses them. There are sides of the street that you would assume to be a certain direction, but no one follows it. There is a round-about that is literally 50 different vehicles going in completely different directions. While this all may sound pretty dangerous, the people here are great drivers. Calm as well. They simply toot their horn to let the person on their right know they're passing and leisurely pass by. I am surprised we haven't seen any instances of road rage - we did see our first accident tonight though, between two motorbikes.

Ok - that's good for tonight. I encourage everyone to check out Allie's blog as well to hear her perspective on the trip - she has also posted some pictures of our travels.

Tomorrow we will visit Hagar and we are all so excited!!! (I think we might go "brothel-hunting" tomorrow night as well -- heading into the red light district to do some investigating... don't worry, no raids and nothing risky, we just want to see more of what we are learning about and here to study).

Nighty night!!