05 May, 2010

Cute Cambodia!

Flag of Cambodia.svg Cambodia is great!!!!

Absolutely wonderful people, even though very very poor.... And even though they do try to sell you postcards and bracelets and scarfs and books and whatever else you may need....they do it in a nice, kinda genuine manner... For the first time in months, when a vendor approached Blondie, she did not fee the need to scream at him or to run away or to be a rude bitch....it was a good feeling!
Cambodia was great from the first impression!!! And that's how it remmained till the end!
Blondie will definitely not go back to Vietnam, but she definitely will to Cambodia!!!
It's a country where, if you are not careful, you can easily get a lot of wrinkles!!! It's simply impossible not to smile back at people all day!!!
It is also dangerous for the wrist twists and forearm cramps - cause you have to wave back at the kids waving at you and shouting "Hello" everywhere and all the time!
The average monthly salary is $50 - 80 and it is extremely difficult to live of it, even in such a cheap country as Cambodia...but despite all that, people just smile.... we should definitely import some of those genes to Poland!
As to men - well, they Asian...however, in comparison to Lao and Vietnmese males, Cambodians have the most masculine traces of all three nations....if I had to, I would probably be able to find one or two guys, who could be considered somehow handsome.....of course, I never dared to do so!
If you are in Cambodia and want to support a local community, get a manicure in a village in a middle of nowhere!!! It's real fun! Blondie and her two travel mates, did their bit in Mondulkiri, a remote eastern part of Cambodia. It's cool when this local woman is giving you a manicure, while the rest of the village is applouding!


Phnom Penh - the home to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum - a shocking evidence of the Khmer Rouge crimes on Khmer people...



......

It is as well a good place, if you are after cheap genuine and not so genuine designer clothes!!!! In Psar Tuol Tom Pong, called Russian Market you can find hips of Columbia, Gap, Lacoste, Burberry and all the other clothes! They say that they are genuine bits coming from the numerous designer factories, which are based in Cambodia....
You can get a Lacoste Tshirt for $6, Levi's jeans for $12, Columbia wind jacket for $10.....so, if they are genuine or not...I don't know....
South of Cambodia is interesting! You have Kep, a seaside town with great seafood! Yes, indeed, Blondie had a huge squid salad and loved it...! in Kampot there is not much to see, except for pepper plantations, which Blondie didn't see....don't even know why...well, do, cause she spent 5 days in a hammock in Rabbit Island! It's a little island with again, great seafood-fish with giant teeth and prawns with starring eyes, hammocks on the beach and nothing else to do that read and chill! Although, at times it tends to be dangerous...especially in the storm...
One evening Blondie with some people had a nite swim, playing with the glowing plankton on the water - it is so beautiful, as soon as you move the water those millions of little fluorescent stars start glowing, it's like you are a water fairy making them to glow...! enough of the fairytales..
So, during the swim there came this crazy fierce storm with lightenings and deafening thunders and once it was quite in the sea, the crazy swimmming peole decided to seak the shelter in the beach bar....as Blondie's bungalow was just next to the bar, she went in to change.
And, there...suddenly the crazy thunder stroke just next to the bungalow!!! it was so sudden and laud that the poor girl dropped her panties and stood there shocked and naked....!
The she quickly, with the speed of light, changed and ran to the bar...she figured, if to die, it's better in a group than alone. There was a sigh of relief when the people saw her - apparently the thunder indeed struck just next to the bungalow......well, what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger, huh?
After forcing herself to leave the island - seriously, those lazy places suck you in...,



this finger is not aiming for Nico's......

Blondie made her way to Battambang, a small riverside town, home to the best-preserved French-period architecture in the country...according to Lonely Planet....so Blondie did some cycling there...cyling all day in the burning heat and sweaty, sticky humidity is a serious fun...Then, she decided to take a break and stopped in a little local roadside cafe for a coffee....and there, she got hooked up to a movie on TV...firstly, she hadn't seen a tv for quite some time, and besides they were showing this amazing, terribly lame movie, about vampires and ghosts in 15th century on some strange English island...it might have even been Ireland...anyway, the movie was dubbed in Khmer (Cambodian language) but subtilted in English, therefore highly entertaining! So, 1,5 hours and 3 coffees later, the movie was coming to the end - eveyone died except for the baby, the vampires and ghosts were after - when this crazy storm hit the place!!! So, due to the fierce rain and wind Blondie got stuck in the little local cafe for further 1,5 hrs and 2 coffees....
The followind day, after having so much fun on a bicycle, Blondie opted for a motorbike....She rode around the local temples and had a little accident, when the stupid cow instead of getting off the road, decided to charge straight at the poor blond girl....luckily, both cows survived...!
The last stop for Blondie was in Siem Reap, a gateway to the Angkor Temples and a very, happening town...Very touristy but very pleasant with a good, positive vibe, SR is also a home to numerous internation NGO's (non-government charity organisations), therefore many Westeners live here. Blondie happened to couch surf with Tracy (Au) and Marc (Fr) volunteering in SR. They talked, ate, drank great mojitos, and danced away till the dawn!!! Great time in Siem Reap!


And, let's not forget the temples......you would like to say - only pictures can describe, but saddly the pictures can't show the real beauty, mystery and the feeling you get when you stroll through those hundreds of years of history, fulll of Buddhist monks taking picture with you, as when we were there, there was three-day Buddha's birthday party!!!

Attention: do not confuse - this is a Dutch, not French flag...

After celebrating the Dutch Queen's Day, dancing it away, Blondie took 2 hours of beauty sleep, and then at the crack of dawn, she left Cambodia for Indonesia.............
:-((( & :-)))

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