We ate breakfast at our hotel again, which is always very good. We’ve gotten fried eggs with “toast” (a toasted French baguette which is very good!) and my friend has gotten a pancake with honey with it for the last couple of days. The honey is really fresh and good.
I forgot to mention a couple of things yesterday that I’ll write about now. First, we saw small bottles on the side of the road at many of the stands set up to sell various items. Jac told us the bottles are gasoline for the cars and mopeds! He also shared with us the marriage process in Cambodia. While some people, especially in the city, are marrying for love then telling their families about it, many people still marry in the traditional way. It starts with the man having interest in a woman he has seen. He tells his family, and his parents, if they accept the match, go to a broker who reaches out to the woman’s family to see if they are interested. If they are, the couple meets with the family present. If they decide to get married, they consult with a fortunate teller who, after they share their birthdates, tells them if it’s acceptable and recommended that they marry. There are several thresholds passed where approval is required of the couple or the family as well. With a shrug, Jac said that if the fortune teller says no, then they move on.
If the fortune teller agrees, then the process begins with the man paying the bride’s parents a sum of money for the wedding ceremony, ranging from $500 in the country to several thousand in the city. One requirement that I found interesting is that the man needs to present 35 different kinds of fruits to the bride’s parents, and only if they approve can the couple marry. The ceremony traditionally goes for three days, with lots of steps and stages, though now more often it goes for one and a half days. The new couple typically lives with the bride’s family.
We headed out to the Tonie Sap lake, the largest lake in Cambodia and hired a boat to take us to the fishing village. It has wicker chairs sitting on it and would seat around 20, though we took it for just us. The fishing village was interesting, and so different from the one we saw in Vietnam. In Vietnam the boats were all tied together so you could walk over each of them, and was very much a village of people working together. The village in Cambodia was a large cluster of independent boats that were mostly flat and buoyed with tires, metal jugs or whatever materials they had to keep it afloat. There were people cleaning out their fishing nets, people mending nets, and a lot of people sleeping in hammocs. Jac explained that they usually fish at night and sleep during the day. Women were cooking and kids were playing and running around. The water was high, but when it’s low, they move the village elsewhere.
The village had two large shops and we stopped in one. It showed displays of some unusual local fish, and there was an alligator farm which is mostly for export. There was a large tank maybe 20 feet down and alligators climbing all over each other.
We left and headed into town for lunch, and ate at a place Tany Khmer Family Kitchen. It was adorable, and had thatched wood all over the walls and ceilings and brightly-colored linens. Lunch was costly for the area but really good. I got a Khmer stew with green tomatoes, onions, lemongrass and a tangy red sauce and my friend got noodles with veggies and chicken. One of the best yet. We got apple shakes as well which were good, but not as good as the one my friend got yesterday. Yum.
We headed over to the old market for some shopping, but I’m all shopped out and bought a ton of gifts already. So we picked up the dress I bought last night (not sure if I mentioned that either, but we stopped in a dress shop specializing in silk. I tried one on which was pretty retro looking that was a medium shade of blue with thin stripes, and it’s a wrap dress. They tailored it overnight and I tried it on today. They made a minor adjustment and we were on our way. It’s a blend of silk and cotton and I love it. We decided to call it an early day and went back to the hotel to relax for a bit. I took a quick dip in the beautiful pool at the hotel and we made arrangements for tomorrow.
I scheduled an hour and a half massage to work out the kinks from all the hiking around the temples over the last couple of days. Did I mention that life doesn’t suck? It was a really good one, in an open-air room near the pool with flowing curtains, and so nice and relaxing. Interesting experience though, as any typical western modesty is tossed out the window.. or in this case, there actually were no windows!
The people here are so warm and friendly, and also very meek. They appear genuinely happy to serve, and to do their jobs to the best of their ability. The other thing all of the locals do which is really wonderful is their bow: they put their hands together in front of their chest and incline their head while leaning forward in the ultimate gesture of respect and humility. Everyone is so appreciative of any kindness and just really warm. Being in Cambodia has been a really wonderful experience, and I feel like I’m watching a people who have been so devastated by the violence and poverty over the last 20 to 30 years really evolving into a wonderful society that works hard and truly cares about the image they project to the world. I loved Vietnam, and would have liked to have seen a little more of the countryside for comparison, but I have to say that Cambodia has really touched me.
It took me a while to get moving after that wonderful massage, but finally I did. We went into town for our last dinner in Cambodia walking amidst the swirl of 'hey lady, hey lady, you buy? Good price' and 'tuk tuk? You want tuk tuk? ' We went to Khmer Kitchen again, but a different Khmer Kitchen. After walking around a while to find a place, we decided to go there again as it was good the last time. He got lak lak, a traditional chicken dish, and I got friend morning glories with chicken (it had an amazing chilli sauce and ground chicken which was delicious.) We did some people-watching then headed back as we have to get up early to pack and head out for our day before heading to the airport.
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