noodle quest 2006

yes- you can actually have your very own cliche made just for you. i saw a sign for it today. i also saw a sign outside of a restuarant that read; “we have to serve you a buffet.” Hmm… they do?
yesterday we woke up super late because we got home very late from the carnival. we went to another street kids restuarant called Le Rit’s with a swedish guy who we knew from the bus from saigon. after lunch, we went for a nice walk to an english bookstore and we also bought some funny khmer books. then we conitinued walking to ban ka (maybe?) lakeside area. on the way we stopped at a little cafe and had some tea. som epolice sat down to hang out with us and we thought it might be a good idea to have some police friends in town so we laughed with them for a while and they bought our tea. then we continued walking to the lakeside. the lakeside area on the east side of ban ka lake is complete backpackersville. it is all restuarants with happy food, tour agencies and little hotels. it could be cool but it felt more sketch than livable but definitely a fine place for a visit. we walked around and met Juan, an el salvadorian/canadian guy who runs a bar called the lazy gecko where we found out we could watch movies. so we ate some happy burgers at the pink elephant and then watched kill bill 2 in the movieroom of the lazy gecko. it was very nice. after that we got on a tuk tuk, droe around the city for a while and went home.
we have been meaning to switch hotels everyday but so far it has not happened yet. we are on the fourth floor and it is truly a struggle of will and stregnth to make it up there every night. oh the woes of traveling.
i have a new friend named Poung. he is a 15 year old newspaper boy originally from vietnam. he and his friends are all so hard working, loving and kind. he sells newspapers all day (while he is not in school) and makes about 1 dollar a day. his smile is so kind it makes me feel like he is not human. the other night we took him and his friend out to dinner which was fun. yesterday was halloween- we had plans to be cambodians for the night but instead we were just backpackers. there was some kind of expat halloween party but we opted out of it. there appears to be more westerners living here than traveling here. it is very strange. this city definitely has a pull- there is so much going on, so many layers to every interaction and every scene from every cafe table. it is truly fascinating. all of this combined with the cheap and delicious food and the ridiculously playful and kind people are causing a gravitational energy force that has enveloped me and jess and is holding us here. yesterday we went to the world health organization building and talked to some people about doing volunteer work. they lead us to a handbook of all the local ngo’s in cambodia and this morning we are going to be calling and e-mailing around to see what we can do to get involved. after that we will eat some lunch (yes!) and then see these children perform traditional khmer dance and music for the british ambassador. we were invited by this american guy who was the ceo of some major money making us company and then came to cambodia and started rescuing street kids from the garbage piles where they lived. he now lives with about 125 children in a big house in the center of the city who all love him deeply. they are very well cared for and are able to go to school every day. i am not sure how we will spend the rest of the afternoon….

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