"You handomse man" and other lies

Today is the last full day in Cambodia. We've managed to sleep in, see the National Museum, haggle with vendors at the Russian Market, and eaten at the Foreign Correspondents' Club. For those who watch the Amazing Race, both those last two places featured in the show recently. But before we get to today's adventures, let's take a step back or two.

Backpackers: Seriously, do you need to not wash your clothes or yourselves? Take a shower, hell, jump in a river, there are plenty around here. You're not cool, in fact you look worse than the beggars here. I get it, you like to smoke pot, but to do so right in the middle of a rest stop, knowing full well that its not something done by locals (and this is a very local rest stop) and its highly illegal, welllll, I hope your ass spends tons of time in some dark prison cell in SEA and that your consulate lets you rot there.

Frenchies: Stop smoking, ladies. Many of you are quite attractive but as soon as that cigarette hits those lips you've gone from an 8 or a 9 to a 3. Also, we understand you use to be the colonial masters here, perhaps you should go away for a bit longer or at least understand how things work nowadays. "Don't touch" signs, mean exactly that. Keep your nasty, dirty, Gallic hands to yourselves. You can be as obnoxious as those wonderful Yanks you love to hate, yeah, I said it.

This guy was smiling at me and talking to me
He was being real friendly,

But he wasn't gay, and neither am I! People here smile all the time. Even when they are bugging the hell out of you, they are doing just that. Our tuk-tuk driver in Siem Reap, Don, smiled and laughed all the time. We just walked past a guy who was about to offer us a ride (the 16th in less than a block) and as I smiled and got out the words, "No, thanks," he was already laughing about it. One would think that with all this country has gone through from a coup, another coup, the mass murders/genocide of the Khmer Rouge, war with Vietnam, and general poverty that they'd be wanting to slit their wrists. Nothing could be further than the truth. The smiling is actually endearing and one might say catchy. Yes, even I am smiling most of the time.

Haggling: "You buy from me," "My store right there," "You my only customer," "I make special price for you." All of those are lines we've heard on a daily basis. Often times its followed by asking where we are from. Together, we've been mostly from the US, once from Germany to get someone to leave us alone, and today, Canada. When you tell them where, they tell you about that country. In Angkor, right under the enigmatic faces of the Bayon (yeah, Ma, look that one up), a boy told us about Barrack Obama and Joe Biden and their governmental positions. Said boy was about 6 years old. We didn't buy postcards from him. One of the tricks the women use is to tell me that "You a handsome man." It may be going to my head. Actually, its pretty freakin' hilarious because Reggie just rolls her eyes when its said. One the negotiating starts, they start SUPER high, and if you've done any asking at other vendors you've got an idea on how much it "should" cost. $5 for one set of postcards is a rip-off...the going rate is $1. That scarf you're trying to sell us for $4 is going everywhere else for either $1 or $1.50. Taking even one step and all of a sudden the price comes tumbling down. We've gotten some good prices on things and at times we know we've been had, but for the most part, we've been good customers who realize that the extra $1 means way more to these people than it does to us.

Monkeys, monkeys, everywhere. From Angkor to next-door, we've seen them and heard them. Here in Phnom Penh, they are spending some time next door, mostly fighting from what we can tell, but I'm sure they're being fed by some of the locals. We saw one run across the electric line yesterday and leap a good 8 feet to the pole before climbing down. As cool as that one was, the best was watching a monkey right in front of Angkor Wat downing the last bits of someone's Diet Coke. We've got some decent shots of that.

Speaking of the Wat, we spent the last afternoon in Angkor there and still managed to find someplaces where it was just us. As Reggie stated, this is highly unusual, but most appreciated. Watching the sunset and the light change the color of the temple was one thing I'll never forget. It also felt like the closing of a chapter for me as 8 years of dreaming and planning had finally been finished. It also was a sad moment because I know just how much Dad wanted me to go there. He was saving National Geographics and cutting out articles for me, the realization that he won't hear the stories was sad.

Ever wanted a massage? If so, SE Asia is the place to come. Some of the best in the world are given here. Want a foot massage? You can have it done by a human or by fish. We've not had any done, but let me tell you, I have been offered more massages here than I will for the rest of my life. As they were offered to me for the first few days I was living in oblivion. The one night we were on the main drag in Siem Reap, Reg pointed out that she was only ever offered foot massages while, "Sir, you want massage?" was always directed towards me. Even here in PP, that holds true. I later found out they don't just do massages, but instead they oftentimes do, "happy-ending" massages. And hilarity ensued. We've joked about it ever since.

Tomorrow brings an end to Cambodia and a stopover in the airport in Kuala Lumpur before going to Banda Aceh, Indonesia. We'll be spending some time on Pulau Weh, an island of the coast of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean, before spending the rest of the time with Rina. We're pretty stoked.

I know there's stuff I'm missing which Reggie will fill in at some point soon (its my turn at this moment).

All the best.

N