as i was saying...Rachael insisted the two foot wide dirt track we were following wasn't going to take us all the way back to town and that instead we were going to end up in some farmers front yard. I didn't necessarly disagree but the track was so much fun to ride the motorbike on and the view of the river and the farms was so stunning i figured we at least had to see where it ended up, for all we knew there might be a big pot of gold waiting for us. As it winded past smiling families under there stilted bamboo homes the track got narrower until infact we did end up right in some farmers front yard, just as Rachael had predicted. The whole extended family was under the house, escaping the hottest part of the day, staring right at us. It was difficult to look like we knew where we were going, i tired to pretend like i didnt' even notice them as i scanned to the left and then to the right of the house hoping the track continued...but it didn't. So we gave them all big smiles and said one of the few words we'd learned in Cambodian, "Suesday!" Which is silly really since even the farmers who dont' speak any english use the word hello to answer the phone and to great eachother, but you can tell everyone appreciates us at least trying.
Moments later we were under the house with the whole family eating their local qua-zeen (possible spelling error there) a sort of lady finger banana coated in sweat rice and beans and then all wrapped up and steamed in a banana leaf. They were suprizingly good and we each ate one, only after eating one they wanted us to eat another, which we did, and guess what they wanted us to eat yet another...you get the idea
We spent the better part of an hour sitting on a big wooded table under the house with the family, there was the father, 3 daughters and a number of the daughters kids as well as some of the neighbors kids. One of the daughters about our age could speak a little english as she had just started studding so it was only really with her we spoke, everyone else we just smiled with. She was so excited to have a chance to practice the english she'd been studding. She showed us her wedding photos and we were invited back to dinner the next night, although we had to decline as we were leaving the next day.
It was really great to meet a local family, the experience alone definately upped Cambodia on to our list of "Places You Must Visit!" (Yes i mean YOU!)
We snapped a photo of us with some of the family (more then half of them were to shy to get in the photo) that we are going to send them a copy of when we get home.
5 days in Bangkok, which we actually enjoyed a lot more then we thought we were going to, 2 days in Battembang, Cambodia, where we met the family, 8 hours on a boat past fishermen and floating villages, 3 days in Siem Reap checking out the ancient temples and we've found ourselves in the very crouded, very busy, not so nice city of Penom Pene. Actually lots of travelers say they really like the place, maybe we are just over cities. We'd have probably just left for Vietnam the same day we arrived but our visas don't start until the 13th so we've been forced to hang out here for a couple of days. There are a lot of things most the the travelers do, like visit a genicide museum that has 8,000 skulls on display, (does not appeal to us in the least, i dont' want to see one executed persons skull let alone thousands) go to a range were you can test out your skills with an ak47,( also does not appeal to us), visit another palace (nap), see more temples (no). So we've decided to create our own adventure.
Dispite the fact that our first evening here we actually wittnessed two separate motorbikest being hit by cars we decided to rent a motorbike and get out of the city. Only 20 minutes after renting the thing it stalled out and...
(to be continued next time)
i wanted to send photos but these computers won't let me...next time
Love Micah and Rachael
Moments later we were under the house with the whole family eating their local qua-zeen (possible spelling error there) a sort of lady finger banana coated in sweat rice and beans and then all wrapped up and steamed in a banana leaf. They were suprizingly good and we each ate one, only after eating one they wanted us to eat another, which we did, and guess what they wanted us to eat yet another...you get the idea
We spent the better part of an hour sitting on a big wooded table under the house with the family, there was the father, 3 daughters and a number of the daughters kids as well as some of the neighbors kids. One of the daughters about our age could speak a little english as she had just started studding so it was only really with her we spoke, everyone else we just smiled with. She was so excited to have a chance to practice the english she'd been studding. She showed us her wedding photos and we were invited back to dinner the next night, although we had to decline as we were leaving the next day.
It was really great to meet a local family, the experience alone definately upped Cambodia on to our list of "Places You Must Visit!" (Yes i mean YOU!)
We snapped a photo of us with some of the family (more then half of them were to shy to get in the photo) that we are going to send them a copy of when we get home.
5 days in Bangkok, which we actually enjoyed a lot more then we thought we were going to, 2 days in Battembang, Cambodia, where we met the family, 8 hours on a boat past fishermen and floating villages, 3 days in Siem Reap checking out the ancient temples and we've found ourselves in the very crouded, very busy, not so nice city of Penom Pene. Actually lots of travelers say they really like the place, maybe we are just over cities. We'd have probably just left for Vietnam the same day we arrived but our visas don't start until the 13th so we've been forced to hang out here for a couple of days. There are a lot of things most the the travelers do, like visit a genicide museum that has 8,000 skulls on display, (does not appeal to us in the least, i dont' want to see one executed persons skull let alone thousands) go to a range were you can test out your skills with an ak47,( also does not appeal to us), visit another palace (nap), see more temples (no). So we've decided to create our own adventure.
Dispite the fact that our first evening here we actually wittnessed two separate motorbikest being hit by cars we decided to rent a motorbike and get out of the city. Only 20 minutes after renting the thing it stalled out and...
(to be continued next time)
i wanted to send photos but these computers won't let me...next time
Love Micah and Rachael
No comments:
Post a Comment