Happy Campers

Boating Lady, originally uploaded by Christiane B.

We have been having some fabulous days. We left Siam Reap on a river boat for a small town called Battambang yesterday. We sat on the sunny roof on all our luggage along with a mix of Spanish engineers and a brigade of Dutch girls for eight hours as the little boat slowly crept up the river through small fishing towns, which are really bamboo huts on stilts right in the river. Lots of expert canoe ladies rowed on up to sell things or collect husbands off the boat and kids, naked and unashamedly so, were jumping into the water from their little "houses". It felt just like a vacation should. In the end I had built myself a tent out of the various scarf purchases and was sincerely understanding the usefulness of a nice burka, albeit maybe in white. It was hot! And we loved it.

Today, in an attempt to recreate my new favorite dish, Amok, we took a Cambodian cooking class. The class included a trip the market - nothing for weak stomachs. We watched a fish loose his or her life life on a bloody wood chopping board and a variety of people poking their finger in some chunks of beef selecting the most tender parts before fondling salad leafs, handling money, shaking hands...no washing hands involved.

As we were chopping our lemongrass leaves, grinding curry garlic ginger pastes and chugging Angkor beer in the heat I overheard a group of 30-something Americans on a table in the restaurant discuss their travels and their dreams, as one does. It suddenly occurred to me why we have had such a hard time connecting with long term travelers which there are so many off in India: We are simply too happy. Unlike say your normal 21 day European vacation troop, or unlike us say, or our average gap year kid, these people are some truly pained souls, running away from their lives, trying to find balance in Ashrams, discussing pressure points, inner silence, the benefits of no sugar diets, meditation, light and auras while their slightly worn faces show that they are not running towards anything, they are not trying to see the world they are running away from something trying to find somewhere that will give them answers. Very different crowd from the rowdy South American booze and beach stampede that I am so used to.