Week 4: Travellers’ tales

Eek!  Week 4 already.  Here are some more observations, just for the record:

Laundry

Whilst in Kratie, I splashed out on some laundry – one kilo for one dollar.  One small bag of stuff, plus a pair of very muddy trainers which, I explained, I was happy for them to put into a separate wash.  Next morning, I realised that I hadn’t removed the insoles, and was directed downstairs to the laundry section… where I found a woman sat near a floor-sink scrubbing my clothes.  OMG.  First-world brain.  I’d just assumed they’d throw everything in a washing machine. Duh – you silly moo!  Felt very uncomfortable with someone else doing my washing.  Nat pointed out that it was keeping her in a job, giving her money in return for a valuable service.  Still not sure how I feel about it, though.

Sun cream

Thanks to terrorist activity, I was only able to bring one 100ml lot of sun cream (as I travelled hand luggage only).  And I’ve been tanking through it.  You can buy it here but it’s expensive (as the locals don’t need it) and, more importantly, not as good quality. So I decided to start economising… and got burnt.  Stupid idea.  Back to slapping it on.  I mentioned it to Natalie… who not only had some left over and didn’t want to take all the way home in a week or so, but it was exactly the same stuff that I was using.  Result. Thanks, Nat 🙂

Language

Sitting waiting for the boat back from Koh Trong on Thursday, I really wanted to talk to the old lady sat next to me.  But I only know three words of Cambodian, so conversation was going to be limited.  I’ve been frustrated before at not being able to converse, but suddenly it had crossed the line between “it’s frustrating” and “I’ve got to do something about this.”  It makes me feel ignorant and rude. Figuring that with only another week in Cambodia it wasn’t worth starting, I decided to give Vietnamese a go.  That lunchtime, the cafe had a second-hand book shop and what should be hiding between the trash fiction and chick lit, but a Vietnamese phrase book, complete with pronunciation guide.  Vietnamese lessons have started 🙂

Butterflies

The butterflies here are enormous – more like small birds.  And they’re beautiful.  Unfortunately, they also don’t alight on anything for very long, hence no photos.  Will see what I can do.

Independent children

Children here are independent from a very young age.  You see them playing in the street, going swimming together, working in the family business and generally taking responsibility for themselves.  A young boy on the boat to Koh Trong was working his way through a bag of lychees.  His whole demeanour exuded confidence and maturity.  A stark contrast from the cotton-wool of England.

Hard beds

Cambodians like hard beds.  I can confirm this.

Electricity

Had quite a few power outages since I’ve been here.  And I love the way everyone just gets on with life regardless.  Apparently, electricity is supplied by Vietnam (certainly in Sen Monorom where I had this conversation) and when they don’t send enough, the town goes dark. For a few hours.  Or until the generators kick in (for those businesses able to afford them).  In fact, Natalie had a pizza cooked for two hours in a slowly-getting-colder oven.  She said it was great.

Clothes

Fashion for pre-middle-aged and middle-aged women seems to be a matching top/bottom combo.  Florals are especially popular.

Vegetables

Five a day?  I don’t think I’m even getting my five a week!  Veggies aren’t a staple of every plate.  Instead of the tripartite carb/protein/veg of English dishes, it’s usually a 70:30 ratio of carb to protein.  Veggies only make a cameo appearance, even in veggie dishes.