Cambodian the Real deal

Okay sorry I have not written in quite a while I have to be in the mood to come up with interesting things to talk about and get it across in the right way and im not exactly the best writer lets be honest im no Stephen king. I was initially waiting on Luis to write up his version of things before I did since he is the new perspective for you all to get a feel from the none integrated way of life in Cambodia but as with most thing he takes to long for my ass to wait. I honestly don’t know where to start or what you the reader wants to read about luis trip but ill just be all over the place just like my wacked out brain that over does things. Well when his plane landed it was nervracking waiting for the love on my life to get off the plain who I wondered the whole time how much has he changed in a year lucky for me not to much =) in the mean time between worrying about that moment I have my host family who decided that they wanted to meet him who are at this point an hour late no idea what’s going on with them now im left thinking in my head I don’t want to wait around for them luckily they made it 5 mins before he got out the door. Well like I said in the blog above how its this huge deal to come to the airport so there is all these khmer people crowding the door and im thinking ill wait on the out skirts no big deal well my host mom would not have this so she drags me over and soon enough luis gets out now is the whole introductions how will this go… okay well he has to sort though his bags so this way we did not have to carry the suit cases with us but give them to the driver I paid he rushes me over bc once again he wants to kiss me but I told him he could not do such a thing in front of the Khmer family who would be to shy to see such things and im pretty sure they might think that leads to me being knocked up (lack of edu abstinence or other wise) but my host family is soon to come over and ask him if he wanted help etc where he starts to whip out his Khmer and they were so impressed with him it was funny however Luis is all or nothing so throughout the whole trip he never felt the little Khmer he knew was enough despite being in Cambodia for only 2 weeks. So now there is a big group of us that squeeze into the taxi and Luis takes us all out to eat where he has his first meal at this point I can just tell he has to take in to much at once. All these people are asking him questions most of them not in eng then there is all the sites sounds and smell along with not being able to really focus on me he sort of got thrown into Cambodia the real deal from the start as the saying goes their was no turning back =) I know this play by play is getting to be a bit much but the first hours in Cambodia really are a play by play situation anyways that night we go explore the city get food and meet up with some other volunteers this is when luis learned what I ment when I said “the best advice I got from peace corps was from my medical team who said walking across the street in Cambodia always think thai che” well no matter how many times I told this to luis before he came it took him walking into on coming traffic to see why or to fight why. To me freaking out over traffic was so long ago I just could not help but laugh and he was getting really mad that I thought it was all funny until the end of the second week he understood what I was laughing about but where not quite their yet. Well he was giving me this whole speech how it will all catch up to me and I will die and im just like umm this is just how its done in Cambodia well I have to admit I like to some times prove my point in a very passive aggressive way by this I mean I told him okay well how would you like to get across and I sat on the side of the street waiting for him to decide when to cross which lead to him running for dear life eventually and me slowly moving behind him feeling 10 times safer then a run it really is the opposite of nyc think thia che and u are golden run and your likely to get hit. He really did give me a serious of lectures on my chances of death to only in the end stop fighting it and except walking into on coming traffic is normal (I do worry about this habit I picked up for when I get back to America but ill deal with it then). Well he got his taste of city life but it was time for the real deal Cambodia to take a step up to my village life something that most of you or travelers will never get to experience and for that he gets mad props for living my life and walking in my shoes for however short of a time. My host family was hilarious about him staying the night with there princess like view of all Americans even though im American and I live with them its like they phase out the fact im American so their stereotype can stay.  Well I think at first having Khmer food was fun until he had to have rice for the 4^th time in a row and there is not to much variation in food to the extent that we in America are used to its like we have the whole worlds food at our finger tips but living in Cambodia that gets taken away to Khmer food only so that is still an adjustment for not just Luis but my self a year later. Besides him being the guest of my host family he was also the talk of the village many people met him he had to listen to a lot of khmer got to see my health center which I think he said my pictures don’t really due it justices you have to see it to believe it sort of a deal. My staff on the other hand loved him and to this day I get told how much better he is then me and I just smile and agree.  After a tour of the village a late night trip to my grandmama’s I can safely say he meet at least half the village all who wanted us to eat rice with them and know so much about him which im still not sure how he really feels about the insight Khmer people want to know about him.  Throughout his stay he was over fed like some farm animal which is pretty customary in Cambodian culture if you can make your guest gain weight it gains face in the village really it’s a sing of having money so im pretty sure that was my host family plan even if luis was unaware of it at the time. He also had a chance to take an out door shower which was funny for me to watch yea he made me take pictures for proof I actually like showering out side more then inside now bc every day is like an herbal essences commercial with big tress around me and fresh air its nice and freeing really! He did not seem to get annoyed by the screaming hello’s which I sort of tune out now since I get it a good 5 times a day from each kid. Best part of all the conversation of my village was… so all the time ask me when I will get married and it gets pretty annoying to answer but with luis being the man and older he had to take on that answer everyone would always tell him he is so old why is he not married yet and he would stumble and then I helped him come up with the excuses that like Cambodia he had to buy me for lots of money and give it to my parents which he did not have enough of this is something all the villagers understand. Once we left site I went for what I thought would be a free ride with the military instead ended up being so expensive sigh but I just kept thinking soon enough we would be heading up north to the jungle to ride my elephant however the trip their was more beautiful/ adventurous that I could have excepted. I should first note that before we left I came down with what I thought was some weird 24 hour bug the day we spent in pp before we left I ended up throwing up all over the orussy market. Before I knew it 5 different yays old ladies coining me in the middle of everything and Luis just sitting their wanting to know does this always happen these are the things I write about but its not real until your with me so im glad he got to see it and can attest that I am not so crazy after all everyday something supper Khmer just seems to happen to me. After dealing with my random bug (which turned into deungay more on that later on) we head for what we at first think is a 12 hour taxi ride luckily only 8 but this leave luis him and his atlas self trying to figure what rds we took considering we were on no rds for about 5 hours I would say the maps he looked at did not have the rds that we actually took its important to note between major high ways there is unpaved dirt rds for like 100 miles before you hit the next major high ways so you have to be a native to really navigate long trips. I was not sure what up north would be like but it interested me how much their would be a village with like 5 houses total which seems sort of crazy for any one wanting to live their once we got into the provential town it was similar to most towns except I thought the people were pretty open and nice some places are not so welcoming their was no other brongs around except us so we go to a few places pricing around for are elephant treck to the waterfall and just generally what there is to do and of course had some food by this point Luis tapped out on Khmer food while I was like ahh I can do more rice no problem. The next morning was an adventure of a life time and I have to say I am sad not everyone will have the opportunity before they die to experience what it feels like to ride on top of this big 2 ton animal that is just so docile and then have it walk around and stop right on top of a waterfall that is 60 feet in the air it really puts a new meaning what its like to feel alive and full of sprit and energy. I do have to say it was pretty funny this elephant deff needed to eat and a lot so we did not go to far on r journey more just stopping in the random jungle forest letting him eat banana leafs etc kids in the jungle would also come out to feed him, that the other thing the people up this way were less Khmer looking and more native Indian looking it was cool and they had some cool clothing that I do not see down in what people in ratanakii refer to as low land areas. One particular thing I just feel in love with was these woven backpacked basket that they call ka-pia I ended up going on a whole separate adventure in the market to find this unique item with the limited Khmer I knew always a challenge. After the elephant ride I spend some quality time with the elephant getting up close to him and just really having a once in a life time opportunity to really observe this majestic animal when its nervous it sucks its thumb like a child its all just so crazy to see and explain and it swings its tail when its happy like a dog I guess also help project it self from bugs. It has hair that really does hurt when you touch it for protection and its skin is so thick I wonder if a misquote would die just trying to suck blood from it. Soon enough we had to keep going to see the rest of the waterfalls where they just got bigger and more beautiful one right after the other with random shrines and cultural artifacts at different waterfalls. Towards the end of the day we went to this big perfectly circle lake that of course has a Khmer tale however before we go for a swim we stop to eat and see these crazy dried out sloth esck type animals for sale now I just had to know who would by such things and why because I knew my family did not own anything like that well naturally this thing was for good luck specifically for health. Well down my a lake is a big sign about the mythology behind this lake but all I can tell you is its magic a giant made it into a circle and that no one can build on it the king however many year ago tried and all his houses etc went up in flames so naturally the creatures of the lake will not allow vacation homes etc to be built it was cool to swim in and a nice break from just looking at the waterfalls. I wish we could have stayed longer to explore but we had to move on the next day towards prey chore where a whole other village was waiting to meet us. My two families while both amazing are deff diff I think luis was seeing it pretty quickly as well and the market and just everything in prey chore is bigger more people have money and seem to be more okay with modern way of thinking. We met up with another pcv and went to a Cambodian resort there are lots of these but they have thankful not made lonely planet yet but they are nice places where you can see more rare things in Cambodia so first place was a stream and the other was just a place you can sit on top of the water in hammocks both really relaxing time and yet another adventure that reminded me of my time up north (I want to find all these type of resorts before I leave Cambodia bc I know its only a matter of time be4 they land up in lonely planet which will take away from the Khmer culture of it all). My prey chore family was happy to meet him and more excited to see me too which was nice its funny going back bc my sol purpose when living their was learning Khmer so they are still are all about teaching me Khmer pointing to things or watching animal planet etc and going back and forth with the names of the animal in both eng and Khmer I sometimes miss that with my permanent family working so much. I think Luis being around reminded them of me when I first came to them and how I knew nothing it sort of made them all laugh about the situation looking back on it they also meaning not just my family but anyone with in that 5 mile ratios’ to talk about how fat I was and how my legs are half the size now from what they were that happened a lot and Luis just sat their being like what??? You know how you never think you really impact people lives around you I deff have that thought process but every time I come back to prey chore I am reminded how not true that is I always assumed people would have moved on who am I to think I matter so much but these group of teenage girls are always so excited to see me and this time was no different except they stopped by to ask if they could make memory with me did I know what they ment know did I just say yes anyways of course lucky it was just pictures however it was in the big picture booth where they all had these wallet size pictures to keep with them at all time if you think Luis escaped you would be wrong they also have a picture of me and him lmao who will see these pictures I have no idea. This is the end of week one I will continue this is the next blogs so it’s easier to read…