cambodia

It's a wild place. As much of a culture shock coming from Vietnam to Cambodia as it was coming from San Francisco to Bangkok. In Vietnam we experienced the most luxury of our whole trip....guesthouses being the best measure for us, we had TV in every room often with 60 channels, soft beds, A/C in a couple places, western toilets, soap/shampoo, even toothbrushes and toothpaste.
Cambodia though....right now (we're in a beach town called Sihanoukville), we each have our own room, prison cells, on the second floor of a restaurant/bar....just a mat, a blanket and a mosquito net. There's about 10 kittens that like to bat around cockroaches on the floor outside the rooms. When you come up, they scurry into the closest room through the cracks and holes in the walls and doors. A few of the rooms are their favorites probably because those are the rooms they were born in....... I think my room is one of those. Oh, and rats too.
It's disgustingly hot at night with no reprieve. When I got into bed last night, it was sandy, but it wasn't me who brought it in........you're sweaty, you're sandy and even if you take a shower right before bed, you don't escape the cycle. You pretty much treat the skin on your body like it's the bottom of your foot.
Because and despite of all this, I think Cambodia will end up being our favorite country. Nothing is watered down, nothing is kept out of sight.
The people, too, are so different....they look different.... in the other countries we've visited, people protect themselves from the sun because whiter skin is considered more beautiful, a symbol of one's social class, but here everyone is so dark. Some look Indian, others African, and others Mexican. Their hair is wiry and curly. It looks like they've been here for a long time.
Like I said, the realities of this place aren't kept out of sight, and there's a lot of tragedy in this poor country. There are many beggars on the beaches and on the streets, tired mothers with babies, amputees, paraplegic kids with only crutches, and blind men with untrained seeing eye dogs who trot along with a bucket in their teeth for change.
There's less of a buffer here so that it's all here for you, the good and the bad.....everything in between.