Leaving Cambodia

My final days in Phnom Penh were really...really... fun. My good friend Jeanette signed us up for a Fun Rally on Sunday, where you travel all around the city by tuk-tuk hunting for the answers to scavenger hunt clues. Here are my teammates with Joe, our tuk-tuk driver:

From Cambodia

Then on Tuesday night, my students threw me an awesome going-away party. Living with such warm ladies and staying in Phnom Penh for nearly three months, it was really starting to feel like a home.

From Harpswell

Before the party preparations. Limheang, along with her assistants Channy and Leaphea, did my hurr up very pretty and fancy-like.

Here is one of many photos from the party itself. There are plenty more to come.

From Harpswell

But then on Wednesday morning, I actually had to pack and leave. I didn't emotionally prepare myself at all for leaving my girls. I didn't want to waste precious time thinking about it. I didn't get any photos of Jeanette and Martin together or print out the ones that I wanted to give her, with all the hubbub and activity. And I got some troubling news just as I left. My fellow teacher and friend Yuta has a badly mangled knee, and when the doctor changed his bandage on Wednesday, his knee was worse instead of better. Add to this the 3 hours of sleep that I gave myself and you can imagine why I wasn't in the greatest mood.

For the first time in my life, I was unenthusiastic about getting on an airplane. I didn't even think to check out my new passport stamp until several hours later. But I was in Bangkok all the same. It was something else coming here from Cambodia-- underpasses and overpasses and skyscrapers (oh my). I realized that the familiar has now become unfamiliar.

As in other times in my life, good food was the way forward. I had some beef noodle soup with fresh basil and perfect chili sauce. It healed my jangled insides. By the light of day, after some good rest, I realized I needed a whole new perspective. So I'm not at home anymore. I can keep in touch with people the same way I've been doing since June. I'm a tourist/traveler on the move all over again. After a cup of strong coffee and a croissant with butter and honey, I set out on foot to see the city. Wandering around and exploring a new place is one of my Top 5 favorite pastimes. There's an academic vocab word for this mode that is snooty and New-York-Timesy, but it fits. I really enjoy becoming a flâneur. (Thank you, Dr. Rothman.) Bangkok is a great city for it. Only this time, I'm not really just wandering. I'm scouting the place out for what Margaret has aptly named The JAMP Tour 2009 -- Babes in Thailand.* I know that Bangkok is going to transform for me again once some of the women I love most are in it.




* Jesse, Anna, Margaret and Patti