It is chill here.
The streets are dusty and quiet. Tuk tuk drivers are napping in hammocks that
they've hung in the back of their vehicles. Dogs snooze in the shade, unmoved
by occasional fly pestering them. A tumbleweed rolling across town
would not feel out of place. It's probably because we've arrived via a fairly
remote border crossing, beneath the maze of the Mekong Delta, into the tiny
riverside village of Kampot. I'm sure the more common arrival city of Phnom
Penh is a chaotic mess of a place. But here, life is reeeeal slow.
The travelers
here are cool. Way cooler than us. Their beards have seen more than we have in
the 10 months since we left home. Ambling around town in their loose fitting
layers, leaving a trail of hash smoke in their wake, they are the detached calm
that most travelers merely pretend to be. But not in an obnoxious way. They
exude good vibes, and we're meeting some great folks.
It's a little
bit lawless. You get the sense you can do anything you want here, and no one
will bat an eye. It feels both liberating, and a little dangerous. Bartenders
openly rolling joints on the bar. Businesses opening and closing on a whim. The ability to borrow a motorbike from just about anybody. The
lack of shoes on, well, anyone. Folks sleeping, well, everywhere. Do what you
want, when you want, cause nobody cares.
The people are
extraordinarily friendly. We thought the folks in Vietnam were nice. We'd been
told they just get better and better as you make your way through Cambodia,
Laos, Myanmar. And we can already see what they mean. Every person we pass
greets us with a genuine smile. We are bombarded with enthusiastic hellos from
every kid we see. People are warm and kind and we feel really welcome. They are
happy to joke around with us, which is a rare thing when language and culture
pose a barrier.
So far, Cambodia
gets a thumbs up. And we're curious to see how the rest of the country will shape our impression of it.
Your writing is so vivid. Thank you for passing along your first impressions of a place I know little about. I am going to pass on this post to a young American who was born in Cambodia.
ReplyDeleteKeep the posts coming! I have read your whole blog since the day I discovered it on Who What Wear. Please continue updating as your travels are so fascinating!
ReplyDeleteMélissa from Canada