The great escape.
I'm laying in bed with Hoon and Phan fast asleep next to me. Finished watching the local news and now I'm stuck in that weird state between here and there.
It's warm and we quickly jump in the back seat, say a few goodbyes along the way and hit the open road, lucky us, another adventure has begun.
Things are good, that's what we keep telling folks. I don't want to talk about Cambodia too much, people ask because they have to, it isn't Cambodia or even us that they are interested in, I think it's a glimpse at what's possible that most excites people.
Road is always a little bumpy, this one is filled with dips and bumps, twists and turns, dust flies, buses whiz by us appearing seemingly from nowhere in the thick red storm The dust has coated each small house in a light red glaze that shimmers and dulls in the mid morning sunlight.
Soon our memories will be crystallized by the album that we had enough patience to upload. Answering the same questions or desperately filling in voids in conversations to whoever will listen about the amazing lamb in Sydney or the real sushi we had in Tokyo. Those most precious of moments that only exist in your memories are slowly being pushed aside.
It's blazing hot now, after a few hours, we refuel with a bowl of overpriced soup, Phan cuts her finger trying to get the bathroom stall to lock, now she's bleeding, after some discussion, we figure it'll be another 3 hours or so. Back in the car, a little beat up, but I guess I'm doing fine.
The distance and disconnect are more pronounced. We realize how far we've gone. Emotionally, mentally something is different now, not better or worse, different. We are fundamentally the same, trying to reconcile who I am with where I am.
Ahh, finally the hotel, we check in, I go a little over budget, maybe $35 for the night w breakfast and we spend the rest of the day napping and hiding out in A/C. We're super excited, after breakfast the next morning we skype with folks back home before taking the final leg of our journey.
What is my responsibility here? Are these people really all that bad or am I just more sensitive to the change in culture? I'm struggling to put into words what I am experiencing. Maybe it's all too overwhelming. It's not one thing, but the sum of all the differences as a constant reminder of the contrast of these places.
Red eye leaves right around midnight. We are in line checking in with a bunch of ex military types from Idaho, we're talking like 100 of them. We make small talk and poke fun at the ones that have lost their temper in the face of Cambodian efficiency at its finest. We've been flying a lot lately and we're more matter of fact then giddy, did I mention it's midnight?
These interactions are tough to get through, we're wanting a certain type of exchange and I'm even less interested in the problems these people are coping with, maybe all these people are really negative people, maybe we're just surrounded by a group of people that have forgotten their place in the world
After a few flights and about 24 hours we arrive at our final destination..sort of
We're changing things up and relying on a rental,car rather than taxis, buses or trains. The air is thinner here, the oppressive heat we've complained so much about has been replaced with a breeze and maybe even a gust of wind from time to time. We're smiling and laughing, not at anything in particular, but at the circumstances we find ourselves in, all that is left is to enjoy.
We're Home!
Surprise
Thats right, we left Cambodia a little earlier then expected to see our family and do some more traveling in the states before we had to go back to work. I informed my bosses at the school in Cambodia that I would work through the end of the third quarter of the year and they were sad that we were leaving, but things went so well that they left the door open for a return someday should we want to come back to Siem Reap.
We were sad to leave our new friends behind, but I can honestly say that while our Cambodia adventure has come to a close, being back has been a great gift. Reconnecting with friends and family and boy have we made the most of our free time.
We were driving the other day and Phan asked me how I would sum up the last year.
Simply put, it was the best year of our lives.
