after two and a half weeks in cambodia, this is what we've learned:
1. the food is great, though you can't be positive when you order beef or pork that you wont get dog. not since jalisco's on north avenue have i been at such risk of eating dubious meat.
2. it's the slumber party capital of asia. the women all wear matching pajama sets at all times of the day and the men either get 20 hours of sleep a day, or they are nocturnal. there should be a hammock on the cambodian flag.
3. it's a great country that doesn't require more than two weeks to visit.
we did next to nothing for our last few days. kampot is famous for... can i get a drumroll... pepper. i do like pepper, on cottage cheese, on potato salad... can't get enough of it. but i draw the line at visiting a pepper farm. i just don't care that much. so in lieu of a visit to a pepper farm, we took a few hikes, spent a day on an island reading under palm trees, and ate a lot of delicious seafood. it was all quite nice.
on a side note, ashley and i have developed a pastime as we hike, or bike, or sit silently in the sun, where we create detailed itineraries throughout southeast asia for everyone we know. so, odds are, if you're reading this blog we have a very specific trip charted out for you. feel free to ask, that's why we're here.
but back to cambodia. glad we did it, glad we're done. if you ever have a chance to make it to angkor wat, it isn't to be missed. other than that, i wouldn't go out of my way to see cambodia. you can always eat dog at home.
which brings us to vietnam. the man in the black pajamas, eyeball to eyeball. we made it to ho chi minh city/ saigon last night. it is supersaturated with people to a degree that gives delhi a run for it's money. vietnam has about 86 million people, i'm told, and so far i think we've seen most of them. there are apparently 6 million people living in the city, and 3 million motorbikes making pedestrian street crossings an exhilarating and terrifying endeavor. but aside from the congestion, i like it here so far. it's very metropolitan, as far as southeast asia goes, and we've met some great people with whom we can while away our nights over dirt cheap beer. tonight will be our second and final night, before we make our way to na trang, a coastal city with activities galore. our current itinerary has us going from na trang to hoi an, then hue, and then up to hanoi where we meet seth for thanksgiving and rock climbling, before kevin arrives on the 1st, and nicole on the 3rd. ashley and i are both very fired up to see people from home, in vietnam of all places.
and what else...
oh... we finally got around to eating durian fruit, a notoriously noxious fruit incredibly popular with the locals, that to most foreigners, smells too much like rotten meat to enjoy. we liked it. it does smell unpleasant; vomitous, even, but there's just something about the way it tastes that lets you forget the overpowering stench of garbage it emits. we have a plan to make a guacamole-like spread from it that we hope will revolutionize popular perspective on this misunderstood fruit.
and that may be it. i could bore everyone with tales of our border crossing, but i won't. the road was bumpy, we crossed the border, and that's all you need to know.
one last thing... we love getting comments on the blog. i never respond to them, because after checking hotmail and facebook messages, i just don't have it in me, but for those of you who have been doing it, please keep it up. i found chris langenkamp's recent comparison of a mythical hindu beast to marquette high school legend kevin "stobar" perry especially rewarding (see photo below), but nicole's and martha's regular contributions are equally appreciated. kudos to you all.