cambodia dreams

our first december is upon us in asia. it's amazing how much christmas is 'celebrated' in hong kong. decorations galore everywhere, all lobbies of buildings, and lights all over the buildings. strange you may say? not at all, it's a time for locals to spend with friends and shop. it's been commercialized to the max to drive retail sales. brilliant for my industry! a time for family for the locals is chinese new year, not christmas.

the day after the family leaves is our 6th year anniversary, december 2nd. i am so behind on the big presentation after the family visit that i can not enjoy the lovely evening my wife planned. a beautiful dinner at a very nice restaurant - when we sit down, i ask if we can leave. i wanted to go somewhere a bit more casual where we can enjoy a casual dinner. not very romantic i know, but i promise to make it up when my mind is at peace!

saturday, december 5th, we have tickets to the opening ceremonies of the east asian games. the east asian games are every year with the countries competing from this side of the world in various sports from aquatics to badminton to tennis to the games happen to be in hong kong this year which is fantastic and the ceremonies are done by the same group that did the beijing 2008 olympics. if you saw those, you can imagine how these ceremonies were. at the cultural center across the harbour overlooking the hong kong skyline, we saw a performance on a boat dockec on the harbour. with many boats coming by brightly lit resembling all things hong kong. followed by an amazing fireworks show over the city. fantastic.

earlier in the day we enjoyed watching the football (soccer) finals where hong kong pulled a big upset over heavily favored japan to win their first gold medal. on penatly kicks, great finish. on sunday we got to see our first rugby matches. great game - saw the china women's team crush all opponents. and then hong kong lose to korea. i was unfortunately at work in between the matches working on the final presentation. a very long week indeed and i am ready for a 3 day trip to singapore to get a break from the hong kong worklife.

bright, sunny days in singapore but the days are long still coordinating final touches on the presentation while the boss is in new york. get back to hong kong for a final wknd with malabika before she heads out to cambodia for our holiday one week before me. she leaves on sunday the 13th while i have a pretty easy final week - the presentation is over, everyone is exhausted, the first 4 months have come to a close.

it was exhausting, challenging, but absolutely rewarding. i've never learned so much in my life - nor worked so hard! i am ready for my two week holiday to cambodia, time to see friends i have not seen in years, time to enjoy some well deserved time off...

dec 19th, saturday morning, 9am flight direct from hong kong to phnom penh. my mind is racing, after only 3 hrs of sleep, i can't get it to rest just yet. after such an intense 4 moths of work, it's hard to let it all go. it will come, i tell myself. i arrive at the small, welcoming airport. my buddy hetal, who has been there for nearly two years, tells me to take a 'tuk-tuk' from the airport to a meeting spot in town. i ignore all the taxi drivers and find a 'tuk-tuk' which is a rickshaw or a 3 wheeler that is open. i have a small duffelbag for my two weeks, it's hot, i throw it by my feet and off we go.

driving through the streets of phnom pehn, reminded me much of india. warm smiles everywhere, crowded, quite poor, energetic, asia indeed. my mind still unable to let go - i can't believe two full weeks ahead with no work! after a 30 minute ride, i arrive at the destination in town and just happen to run into hetal right on the street. he takes me to a local cafe where malabika is and we enjoy a couple of beers at 1130am in the warm sun and catch up. it now feels like holiday, work is behind me...

the first day is action packed - i have to see my other good friend neil who has organized the paraplegics world cup volleyball to take place in cambodia. i showed up during the semi-finals and finals. we head to the stadium mid-day and see cambodia take on germany in the semis. amazing to see these athletes - all that have lost limbs and able to compete at such a high level. i see neil, for the first time in 10 years. a good friend from university back in england, we have kept in touch all of these years but have not seen each other. he has been in cambodia for the past 9 while me in new york. our paths never crossed until now.

it was incredible, i was so proud of him and all he has accomplished for himself in cambodia. it's going to be an amazing two weeks! we enjoy phnom penh - a very quaint capital town with nice cafes, restaurants, bars, and very friendly people. sunday we head out on our journey up north into the country. our main stop will be the ancient kingdom of ankgor wat in siem reap but first to battambang. a taxi ride north takes approx 5 hours through the country and rice fields. very flat land, easy drive. we rest in this small town for the night.

the next day we begin a 5 hour boat ride that will take us into siem reap. it's extremely hot, but we enjoy a very scenic ride through the waters seeing how many in cambodia live and thrive - off the river. houses on stilts, as seen throughout cambodia - not very much to call their own but bright smiles across their faces. a people that have suffered so much in their past, through genocide and back, and yet maintain a sense of true happiness. heart-warming, words can not describe it.

we enter siem reap shortly after lunch and check into our hotel. malabika and i stay at a small, quaint hotel with only 6 rooms - it's perfect. it feels like a holiday, feels so far from hong kong. the pace of life, the landscape, the people, the food, this feels real. we step out to enjoy the city centre which is full of restaurants and cafes to relax and get a bite to eat. the next 3 days will be filled with seeing the beautiful temples.

words can not describe the temples - they are in excellent condition and absolutely breathtaking. each in it's own unique way - hindu and buddhist temples dating from the 10th century. and the bas reliefs (wood carvings) are unreal - the entire ramayana (ancient hindu book) is depicted in wood carvings which took over 30 years to do! the absolute worst part about our trip was i lost our camera on the last day in siem reap which had all of our pictures! i will never forgive myself! luckily, my parents visited in feb and took many pictures but it's not quite the same.

we spend 3 wonderful days visiting temples, enjoying the local food, and relaxing in the evenings. the days would start early, once watching the sunrise over majestic ankgor wat. and they would finish around mid-day so there was enough time to relax and enjoy an early dinner. we met up with a friend of neil's on christmas day and a few other friends of friends for a nice italian meal. and then hit up the wild nightlife (that's a joke) of siem reap where i lost the camera!

time for our next adventure and we head back down the country to phnom penh for a 1 day stopover before heading to the south of the country on the coast. we pick up neil who is now done with work and the 4 of us head down to coast with a specific stopover in a town Kep for a special meal. Kep is a beautiful, quiet town on the southern coast next to Kampot which is famous for it's black pepper. it's a spicy but not too spicy with a very unique, somewhat sweet aftertaste. and Kep is known for it's fresh black pepper crab. needless to say, the best crab we have ever had. sunset on the coast of cambodia, black pepper crab, and a cold beer. watching children play on the beach, no one around. we wished that sun would never set.

off to our resting spot for the next 5 nights - sihanoukville. the cambodian coast is not known for it's beautiful beaches like neighboring thailand but it's best that way. they are not crowded, beautiful, and a great meal costs less than 5 dollars. we spend the next few days really relaxing - sitting and sleeping in hammocks, swimming, eating seafood, reading, some more sleeping. about the most adventure was riding scooters to more secluded beaches. this was truly an adventure - the streets in cambodia are no joke - there are not really any rules and lanes! we spend an amazing new year's eve on the coast dancing the night away.

time to head back to phnom pehn for our final couple of nights. two weeks (three weeks for malabika) had come to an end. feel refreshed, re-energized, re-awakened. this felt like asia, i will truly miss the warmness and kindness of the people of cambodia. i look forward to getting back to cambodia very soon. the western new year is upon us, but it's the only the 1st of 2 new year's to come this year...