Cambodia Fabulousness

So I'm missing the States--big time--so instead of wallowing in my desire to be somewhere other than where I'm at right now, I thought I would blog about some of the amazing things Cambodia has to offer:

Bomb-Diggity Fruit...and Cheap Cheese
As I write this, I'm munching on a big bowl of fresh fruit. In it consists of bananas, dragon fruit, and papaya. I chose not to put the mango or pineapple that is also in my refrigerator, but that was out of pure laziness more than anything else.

The best thing about all of this? It was SO cheap, it's so good for me, and I can get it easily every day from the local market that is two streets away. I will certainly miss this, and if you have no idea what dragon fruit is, I've attached a picture for your reference.

 


We also love cheese and bread and wine, and because all of this is a lot cheaper here than at home, we've been indulging in our most favorite meal ever. Here it costs under $10; in the States, we'd have to spend around $40-$50 to eat this. Yummy.

A Different Way of Life
I've been seeing a lot of posts about rear-facing car seats, which promise to keep your child safer longer. What's funny about most other non-Western countries, however, is that car seats are non existent, and children don't die from car accidents at a higher rate than they do in the West.

I know this will probably upset a few, but we've been in quite a few cars and had no car seat for Sila. Gasp! He's also been on more motos than I can count, and it's the complete norm here.

The point I'm trying to make is that I appreciate (and very much love) the perspective that Cambodia--and other non-first-world travel--offers.

Chickens and Ducks
Non meat eaters for animal rights reasons, stop reading now. About every few weeks or so a moto will zoom by with around 50 live chickens moaning and squawking hanging from the back of it. They're not the liveliest of chickens (it's probably been a long journey for them), but it's amazing to see.

On our way home the other day, we decided to take a tuk-tuk (a luxury for us now since we tend to bicycle everywhere), and as we were heading home, Conan started to hear what he thought was a cat meowing. As I tuned in, I said it was a chicken, and we both laughed and wondered where it was.

Turns out that our tuk-tuk driver had a chicken and a duck stuffed under our seat! They, too, were on their last legs and were probably bought at the market early that morning to inevitably become dinner way later that night. In the interim, they got to sit in the heat and darkness until that time arrived.

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So you might be thinking that it's weird I titled this post "Cambodian Fabulousness," but that's what all of this stuff is. Will I miss seeing chickens hanging from motos? Probably not. Will I miss the simplicity that Cambodia offers? Absolutely. It's all fabulous and in many ways so much simpler than the States.

I know that many are thinking or have hear rumors that we're not coming back. We laugh to that. Yes, we LOVE travel and will continue to do it for the rest of our lives. But you know what we love more? America. Our lives. Our home. Our life. So if you're hoping we'll be back, we will. Until then, hugs.