Our time in Cambodia is two hours short of being over and, once again, we have fallen prey to the charms of this welcoming nation.
The music that I find myself bobbing along to, the clay braziers in the markets, the dog toy “honk” of the garbage cart as it gets pushed down the street – these are all little details that get stuck in my head when I think about this country. Most significant, I think, is the red earth that, to me symbolises this place: it surrounds you in unexpected swirls and sticks to you, until you find yourself completely unable to rid yourself of its traces.
While Cambodia isn’t known for its culinary expertise, since many of the traditional recipes were secondary casualties of the Khmer Rouge’s massacres, we’ve had some incredible meals while in the country. Our favourites were Phnom Penh’s beef BBQ, Sandan’s Khmer feast in Sihanoukville, Kep’s pepper crab, A’Dam Restaurant’s Khmer chicken curry in Ban Lung, and, unexpectedly, Stung Treng has just offered up a noteworthy “fried hot pork” stir fry.
Some of my favourite sights and experiences have been spotting the mother and daughters with the varying loads of sticks, my brief encounter with the child on the bridge in Siem Reap, watching Gou’s son and nephew take unparalleled interest in my gorillapod in Siem Reap, our hour on the river with the Irrawaddy dolphins in Kampi, the serenity of walking with monks collecting alms in Phnom Penh half an hour after learning of the death of my grandfather, touring the back country roads of Kampot and returning the shouts of “hello” as we passed, jumping into the lake from the balcony to surprise the locals in Ban Lung, and emerging from the water on an elephant in Sen Monorom.
We’ve marvelled at the progress made in the two years since our last visit. NGOs abound and money is clearly easier to come by, judging by the prevalence of Lexus, Toyota and Range Rover SUVs; gone are the days of “just keep walking, just keep walking” pedestrian crossing, which was made easy by the fact that the motos could easily change pace and move around you (as long as you didn’t stop or change speed).
We’re leaving this place again, and again we wish we had more time. Maybe that will never change. I hope so.
