That’s the Stuff, Pinochs

I won’t do Chelsea’s entire visit in one post, but I’ll start at the beginning – Cambodia. I’d been there once before and absolutely loved it, and this time was no disappointment.

It started with breakfast and a bus ride and a jaunt on a ferry.

The ferry ride was a jolting reminder that I’m in a very different world here, as our bus was right next to a wagon stacked with squealing pigs as they were jabbed in their faces by their . . . owner? Not to sound cold, but I’ve never had a super-soft spot for animals the way that some people do. But, I am used to thinking about them as real live creatures that have some feelings. It seems the understanding here is dramatically different, on a rather large, and occasionally alarming, scale.

But moving on to happier topics for a moment . . .

We stayed at a lovely guest house called the Top Banana, where we slept like mad and were lazy bums for our first half-day there. Eating food and reading books and drinking coffee (whispering now: there are many things about Cambodia that I would consider “welcome departures” from my experiences in Vietnam, but the coffee is not one of them, but it was coffee nontheless).

It's a tough life

Also, it was Chelsea’s birthday and the owner of our guesthouse suggested this hidden, fabulous, incense-smelling, greenery-covered Cambodian restaurant where we ate food and drank wine. If you’re ever near Cambodian food, go for the Amok. That is all.

And then we did some additional wandering around Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. I’ll share some random photos with you here.