after a long, but relatively uneventful flight, i have safely arrived in phnom penh, cambodia, and into the open arms of my dear friend, meg. since she picked me up, we have been galavanting around the city, although the word galavanting might belie the relatively slow pace at which the excessive heat and humidity force us to move.
the afternoon after i arrived, we unceremoniously dumped my things at our guesthouse before heading off to a japanese salon where meg had made appointments to get our hairs cut. such a surreal experience - sitting in this ultra-polished, quiet salon, faced with my japanese hair dresser and her khmer translator. everything i said, filtered through this girl and then filtered back. the constant hovering presence of the assistants was certainly unnerving, but probably not a better introduction to cambodian customer service. although, meg assures me that invariably, when you actually need someone, there is no one to be found!
newly coiffed, we stepped back into the city streets, grabbed a moto, and headed off to the riverfront and grabbed a couple of fruit shakes. after a dinner of indian food (i'm in cambodia, i know, but meg assures me all i'll be able to eat in battambang is khmer food, so we're expanding out horizons while here), we headed off to the apartment of her friend for a little get together. seeing a bit of meg's life here is such a wonderful gift.
yesterday was more focused on sight-seeing. we started off in the big market, where i bought some wonderful fabric, and then we scooted over to a cafe near the tuol sleng genocide museum where we relaxed under the bougainvillea. after i felt a little less faint from the overwhelming heat, we entered tuol sleng, what used to be a primary school that under the khmer rouge (or democratic kampuchea, as it called itself), was turned into a prison, torture center, and site of execution for political prisoners. of the 20,000 people on record for staying there over the 3 years or so it was in use, only 7 survived. a place of horrific human brutality, definitely worth seeing, but so, so difficult at the same time. the energy itself in that place was so oppressive, so deeply saddening...
we capped the day off with a tour of some of the riverside bars, tasting an insanely delicious passionfruit rum made locally. the the sun tucked away for the day and the cool tendrils of the riverside breeze, it was an absolutely gorgeous way to end the day.
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