bridget and i woke up with the sun yesterday morning and decided, "let's not go to work today, but instead head to the beaches of cambodia..." fortunately we both agreed. and so we went!
actually, that is a lie. i didn't wake with the sun, but rather was awake when the sun was rising-- i also was up, sitting on the steps several times that same night, watching the almost-full moon and many, many stars. i didn't sleep a wink. that night was our "homestay" and the conditions were quite clean and nice but with the oppressive heat, the fear of spiders, fear of malaria-ridden mosquitoes, and the cacophony of voices within and without our hut, sleep never visited me. from the bark of the dogs, to the mooing of cows, clucking of chicken, screeching of the geckos, and the calling of the roosters, it was far from the "quiet country-side" that many imagine in a village. in fact i thought it rivaling NYC with all its clamor!
we arrived to our homestay in the late afternoon, leaving the flat terrain of the central plain and driving through the foothills of the mountains. our paved road changed to red dirt as we made our way over bridges of casually laid planks and past herds of cattle. our host was a woman in her 60s who did not speak any english. she had cleared out her house for us gawking westerners and put us up on cots with sleeping pads and mosquito netting while she then stayed in her road side stand. (quite awkward, but apparently that is how they have the program set up and how these home-owners make an income...) we then walked down the road to have a typical dinner at their village community center. the typical fare included what we've really been eating all trip: steamed rice, pork and vegetables, fried noodles with cabbage, and fried ants with ant eggs! it actually tasted better than the tarantula, but i think the fact that it was dark out (and therefore masked the detail of their bodies) worked as a culinary advantage...! after dinner we danced their traditional dances, which have a salsa-type foot-work and arabic-type hand motion. and then they wanted to dance the mackerena, and i happily obliged them by leading them in it! you would have thought i was a dance-club-junkie in grade 7 with my enthusiasm for that silly dance. but it was fun!
yesterday we arrived in our beach town, sihanoukville, in time for lunch. interestingly enough, the town is still newly a visited destination-- as in tourism has only picked up in the last 5yrs. this used to be a sleepy town with no hotels or accommodations for any visitors. with that said, i am not very impressed by the town (it has wide streets and ugly architecture and trash strewn around), however the beach is really great and the water, phenomenal! as lovely as the bath-temperatured water is, and as beautiful as the golden sandy beaches are, we were less able to relax on the beach than we expected due to the number of hawkers selling their goods and services; from massages and threading, to bracelets, manicures, fried fish, and fresh fruit. actually, not only was the "relaxing" restless, but it was quiet annoying and invasive with the way they pestered us. they would swarm, ask you where you are from, if you want something, and then if you said "no thank you" (which we always did), they would stick out their lip and ask "why not?"... quite persistent. but to make matters worse, they would even go so far as to stroke your legs to see if you were cleanly shaven, or today they touched bridget's armpit to ask if she wanted to be threaded! what happened to personal space?! for a country that is so conservative (they bathe with clothes on and women don't ever show their shoulders) i am really surprised by their lack of respect for others' bodies. quite intrusive! we managed to have a wonderful afternoon at the beach, though, and enjoyed fresh fruit smoothies, before returning to our hotel to shower before dinner.
today was another wonderful day. we got a private boat to take us out to the islands about 30 mins ride from the mainland beach, where we went snorkeling and fishing (using just a hook and squid attached to an empty water bottle). it was really hard to get those little suckers, but i caught one (granted by accidentally hooking it through it's belly!) but it was the largest we "caught" regardless of technique! the snorkeling was sub par-- no crazy colors and beautiful fish or coral-- but i will say that i did learn something in the process: i tend to expect big things in life and heightened experiences, and i think by doing that i miss the smaller things in life. i am pretty observant, so i do see things and enjoy observing them, but i expect pomp and circumstance. sadly i did not get the vibrant colors or pomp and circumstance while snorkeling, but after being patient and just watching the coral and fish (rather than greedily swimming over all of them looking for the brightest colors) i was able to appreciate the beauty of the sea urchin. did you know they have a telescopic eye and 5 points (like the edge of a star) around the eye in a bright turquoise color and then 5 more points in a white, mother of pearl material around those turquoise dots? who knew?! i certainly did not notice that when i stepped on one in jamaica!
from snorkeling we boated to another island where they cooked fish for us (including the ones we caught!) and presented some fried rice and salad for us in a picnic. the beach was secluded and the view from the beach was of the many (30!) scattered islands of vegetated swales and turquoise water. it was heavenly. i really do love the water-- being in it and on it. ironically as i lay on the beach with my feet being lapped by the water, i read a passage in my book, Shantaram, which was an "ah yes!" moment. (background: this is what one guy from a bombay slum is telling the main character)
"our life probably began inside the ocean...about four thousand million years before now. and for almost all of that long time, all of the living things were water things, living inside the sea. then, a few hundred million years ago, maybe a little more... the living things began to be living on the land as well... but in a way you can say that after leaving the sea, we took the ocean with us. when a woman makes a baby, she gives it water, inside her body, to grow in. that water inside her body is almost exactly the same water of the sea... she makes a little ocean, in her body. and not only this. our blood and sweat, they are both salty, almost exactly like the water from the salty sea. we carry oceans inside of us, in our blood and our sweat. and we cry oceans in our tears."
that passage, regardless of how you think about evolution or religion, definitely spoke to me in my love for the water.
it has been such a wonderful break being here on the beach. and though it sounds greedy, we needed a vacation from our vacation since we have been on the go so much! fortunately this has been a wonderful beach experience!