There are 14 time zones between here and Bangkok. Which is why I find myself up at 2:30 am gnawing on a rice cake and praying today’s the day I can stay awake past till 8pm. Fingers crossed!
It’s also part of the reason why so many wonderful recent experiences are such a blur. Like sincerely blurry. I remember wandering around Tokyo with an 11 hour layover trying to navigate a completely unknown country in search ramen. I remember the major crash out I had in the train station that could have escalated to Cottonwood’s first international incident with the Eastern Capital. But it took looking at my uber account to remember how we got from the purged belly of the metro back to the airport. Thank you kind Tokyo Metro cop for letting us go.
The trip was amazing. It was planned in short notice because I saw a window in the schedule and saw how cheap it could be planned and just clicked “buy it.” The main objective location was the Angkor Wat, in Siem Reap Cambodia. Some random retired couple mentioned this place when we chatted with them in an airport in Madrid last year and it sounded interesting. It’s the largest religious complex in the world and is nearly 900 years old. It was a Buddhist complex then converted to Hindu and is the stuff of an Indiana Jones movie or video games. I like seeing cool things so on this list of goals it went.
“Because it’s Asia, you need a guide to navigate language and country” said the kindly woman.
“Bet.” replied my stupid internal voice that can’t help but see things as a competition.
In 10 days’ time we navigated many challenges amongst the 3 countries we visited. It’s simultaneously frustrating and very rewarding. There were a lot of cool things to experience. A few hours after getting to Bangkok I saw Muay Thai fighting IN THAILAND! Drumming, pageantry, violence, and culture in one fell swoop.
The streets in both Bangkok and Siem Reap are lined with exotic foods made right there. Want chicken feet? They got it. I ate all the foods I set out to eat with each effort to communicate what I was after being it’s own puzzle box. After my aggressive pointing and gesturing, I was able to order and learn the price of a banana roti (kind of like a Thai crepe). The vendor had far more English than I do Thai language but still,
“Nutella?” he asked
“No thank you,” I said.
This went back and forth a couple times.
I got Nutella. It was fine. I was able to try again with another vendor on another day. I would go back just for the foods and oddly for the 7-11. I’m not sure what my deal is with mini mart tourism, but it was wild. They were absolutely everywhere and full of mystery and wonder. I ate from there too; a pre-packaged egg salad sandwich. My garbage gut had no problem with it’s deliciousness or with any of the foods I tried.
Brian on the other hand….
He lived, but it was questionable. I had moments of wondering how exactly one contacts emergency services in Cambodia and what will those services look like? Also fun fact about Cambodia, they’re in a border war with Thailand. I’m sure a lot of people know this. I didn’t. This means they refuse to accept Thai communication services. Also, the services I’ve come to depend on for trips like this don’t exist on the same level there. Maps navigation doesn’t exist in Cambodia. Per Apple “Apple has invested little to no resources into collecting detailed, local mapping data and roadway telemetry in the region.” That didn’t stop me from walking around great distances at late hours in Siem Reap in search of Cambodian Pepto or ginger ale.
Walking at late hours or early hours was the primary activity. I didn’t think I’d be kidnapped or murdered. I’m not that special. But with the temperatures being what they are, the streets are alive early in the morning and late at night. At least if someone did try to heist me for a ransom there’d be witnesses.
The humidity was fierce and the middle of the day was basically dead time. My hair loved it. And it was like a 10 day long sweat lodge. I’m proud that I had all that I needed in my one well-traveled backpack. It makes me drunk with confidence and want to go somewhere else.
There were amazing things to see and experience. The temple complex was incredible. I held a giant rat that sniffs for landmines that still litter Cambodian fields. I rode in a bunch of tuk-tuks. I saw historical and spiritual greatness. I saw the working folks in Bangkok. I got to be beat down by the power of a water fall from a reportedly sacred river. I saw giant bats in the middle of the day in a royal garden. And dear gawd (or Buddah or Shiva or whomever)….the food!
One of the moments that was most impactful though caught me off guard. It was in the back of a tuk tuk headed to the temple at o’ dark thirty to watch a sunrise. I’d been seeing the folks and country for a couple of days at this point. It seems like everything they have and do is it’s own battle. The resources are limited. The people are timid. The religions are strong. I didn’t expect to catalogue those data points on that ride, and I certainly didn’t expect to out of nowhere be hit with the idea “why was my uncle forced to go to this part of the world to deal with horribleness?” It led to a visit at a memorial to some of Cambodia’s violent history including, Khmer Rouge genocide which reportedly decimated a quarter of the population and a civil war that only ended in 1998.
I suppose I’m not alone in my inability to conceptualize what that life may feel like. It was heavy. And there were instances in which I’d read something and have to “wait, …what ? I don’t remember being taught that in history.” But that perspective shift is exactly what trips like this should be for.
I’d like to say that I came back a better person. But the travel bandana’s super powers are limited.
Seeing and experiencing other cultures gives a glimpse into the feeling that we live in a simulation. Someone will come to me today with a crisis and I’ll have a moment of recognition that none of this will matter in 876 years. Ain’t nobody coming from 7,000 miles away in the future to look at my sternly worded email like I did to see the Smiling Budda temple.
But today you read this, so thank you!
Go see something cool. If you want help planning trips that are sketch(!!!) let me know. Thanks for reading!
Bifocals and Barbells 