Cambodia is really exotic and quaint. Very picturesque and touristy. Poor too. Food beats Vietnamese hollow. Very few people. Airport felt like some remote railway station. Only western tourists. Asians or Indians don’t come here in numbers. US dollars are the currency accepted even by street food vendors and tuk tuk drivers, the main transport, every one seems to know English.
Off to ankor vaat, a dream of so many years
Angkor, the lost city of 390 temples in the forest, where Indian civilization has been preserved intact for two thousand years, sanskrit is still known, forgotten gods like indra have temples, devotees worship Shiva vishnu and budha with equal fervour, dhoti kurta and sari are the formal wear for all occasions including marriage, vegetarianism is common, food is spicy, people are polite and there are 4 forms of namastay for different situations, and 4 kinds of smiles for every occasion. Names are Indian, food is delicious, fish is the main dish, Kulon mountain and the river of a thousand sivalingas. Swimming under the waterfall was an exhilarating experience everyone is friendly, even touts and hawkers aren’t aggressive, rice is served with all dishes, good roads, very green countryside and architecture that makes us marvel at our ancestors
This is now among the top 5 memorable holidays . Tanzania, Tuscany, Ladakh, bangaram and siem reip, probably 2nd most
Kulon mountain and the river of a thousand sivalingas. Swimming under the waterfall was an exhilarating experience
10 reasons Why Cambodians are like Bengalis
1 they have rice with every meal, preferably with sweetwater fish,
2 resturants have hammocks where customers can enjoy siesta after lunch
3 their religious food restrictions are extremely benign, anyone can keep them
4 they’re sentimental about communism despite a disastrous communst government in the past
5 They wear dhuti punjabi to get married
6 they’ve suffered major genocide, famine and civil war, but do not talk about it
7 even the vendors are not aggressive, despite being very poor
8 an immense variety of street food is available everywhere
9 they pour water over shivalingas every Monday
10 the security guard outside the bank put up a mosquito net and went to sleep at 9 pm
Idyll Dreams of an Idle Fellow 