And It Got Better

Kep continued to please and surprise. I ate the crab market that first night with a friend I met, Patrick. We each ordered a heaping plate of crabs - mine sauteed in ginger, his grilled and we split the plates. Amazing food, and fun to eat.

The next morning I boarded a boat to Rabbit Island, off of mainland Kep. I met two German guys, Thilo and Guido. They are from Berlin, but Thilo is part owner at one of the guesthouses on Otres beach, the remarkable beach I stayed just a few days before. We had a great time together on the island - took a longer than expected walk around the island, meeting some local people, navigating rocky shores and resting on the beach when needed. I stayed in a bungalow for $5 (I still get excited by the cheaper-than-US prices). There was a Spanish couple running the guesthouse, helping the Cambodian owners, for a few months and it was nice meeting them. The woman was very warm and welcoming. She owns two restaurants in Spain and at night she cooked us dinner. We ordered "whatever she was having," which happened to be a grilled squid, sauteed shrimp, and a heaping plate of stir-fried rice with vegetables. And of course, Angkor beer to wash it down. We spent the rest of the night talking, the Berliners telling me hilarious stories about their travels. They have been traveling together for over 10 years.

I was happy to spend the night in the bungalow. The day on the island was peaceful and jovial, and the sound of the waves at night was the perfect end to the day.

The next morning I dined on stale bread and sour mangoes that the island kids picked for us. A meager meal since there are no banks in Kep and I had 6 bucks to my name. Thilo was kind and lent me some of his nutella :) To my surprise and appreciation, when we checked out and paid the bill, the Berliners treated me for dinner the previous night. It was incredibly sweet and I hope to return the favor in Berlin sometime soon :)

The boat to the mainland left early, leaving me a few hours to kill before the bus to Phnom Penh. I started chatting with a motorbike driver, Menassy, who the Berliners knew. We got to talking and he asked if I wanted to ride around to see the countryside. How much? I asked, and he said free. Why? He laughed and said he didnt know, he just wanted to because I was nice. (I had told him I had a boyfriend and Cambodians seems to respect that). So we went for a ride. I told him I would buy him lunch, so we went to a local place outside of town. It was fun. At places like that, you feel a bit like a celebrity. Young guys look and laugh with their friends and older guys are straight-faced until you smile at them or say hi, then they give you a genuine grim. We ate a delicious meal. $3 total for the two of us and we had grilled fish with ginger, rice, soup and two iced coffees :)

Menassy and I chatted throughout the ride. He was born just after the Khmer Rouge and his parents died when he was a child. He was raised in the orphanage nearby. Now he teaches French in the mornings and works at a bar/guesthouse as night. I was honored he was showing me his country, and it was beautiful. At one point it started to rain heavily, so we pulled off the road and joined a family in their covered, wall-less living room. Without much talk, they smiled and pulled up some chairs. A younger pregnant woman sat picking mint leaves off the stems, another sat breastfeeding a baby, with two older woman there calmly watching the rain and their family. Menassy and I slid right into their quiet life. I was thankful to be there. The generosity of the Khmer people, or Vietnamese or Laos people for that matter, is tremendous. There is never a second thought to help someone else out. (Ha, I often imagine certain scenes being relived in the US and how they would turn out....)

I took the 4 hour bus ride to Phnom Penh. I sat next to a young guy who seemed "cool" - urban looking trucker hat, tight jeans, etc. Some of the young guys dress pretty cool. He barely spoke english but we managed to exchange a few words. The bus was playing the usual Khmer music videos or comedy routines (which seem awful but who am I to judge) so I put on my ipod. I saw him checking it out so I offered him one of my earbuds. We listened together the whole 4 hours. I played basically whatever I wanted but I tried to play some stuff I thought he would know or like. I think the only thing he actually recognized was a Justin Timberlake song, but he seemed to like more clubby upbeat music. Anyway, it was just nice. Nothing else - chilling together and rocking out to music.

In Phnom Penh for the second time, I decided to stay in a different part of town, somewhere more local feeling. Thankfully I made a good choice on the area (guesthouse was average). Right on the corner there was a happening local restaurant, an upgrade from the usual local haunts, which are usually pretty bare bones, but not a tourist place. Red flags for Angkor beer all around and Khmer music playing, lots of tables of young people and adults talking and sharing food. I ate alone, but then started chatting with this young guy who was essentially the motorbike valet for the restaurant. He was having a beer with one of the "regulars", a middle-aged guy who was pretty drunk. We had a good time. The older guy was always chinking glasses, pouring us beer, and feeding us bar snacks. Me and vishna (?) the valet guy just laughed and chatted. (I asked him if liked Ameircan music. Strangely enough he knew only Jack Johnson and Santana...why?) I love how people here are always friendly and ready to chat. Not just with westerners, but also with other Cambodians, I have noticed. It is just their way. I didn't stay too long, but it was nice to share some beers with locals and have a good laugh with them.

The amount of sharing I experienced in a single day struck me - from eating nutella in the morning, being treated for dinner, sharing lunch, riding free, sheltering from the rain, playing music, and drinking ever-flowing Angkor. People I barely knew, in a convential sense, were so willing and wanting to share with me, and me with them. What an amazing capacity we have to open up and connect with others, and a need to do so. A simple gesture of generosity does the trick, no matter what language you speak. If ever a day had a lesson!