noodle quest 2006

after we went to friends we droev around with a tuktuk friend of ours for a hiwl checking out different places to read our books but decided in the end to go home to read and sleep. the following market we went back to the russian market and contributed immense capital to the cambodian economy. we came home and layed out our wares and felt glad that we were almost done shopping for family and friends. then we went to an early dinner at a restauarnt called the boddhi tree where we ate some very delicious, hearty vegitarean sandwhices and salads. jess made me try her olives and i didn’t hate them, which is a very new development for me. then we came home for a minute and i almost passed out but somehow regained the stregnth to get dressed up and party in pnom penh. we went first to ton le sap which is a super crazy khmer club. when we walked in everyone was standing in kind of a circle doing some hawaiin hand motions and shuffling their feet around to fantastically sope polynesian-esque khmer folk/pop music. very kewl. we “danced”for a bit then went to a club called U2 the music was good but as soon as we were seated with expensive imported heinekens in hand, the dj turned to the peformance part of the evening (this happened at spark, last time as well). 5 different singers gave everything they had to the tune of khmer pop love songs, american country and some oher thinsg in between. two had backup dancers which was HOT. then there was a talent show kareoke competition. the guy who won was really drunk and funny and the girl who won was very cute and was allowed to do a victory dance to the tune of some standard easy listening american hip hop classic. excellent. after this we went to spark and met some nice guys who we danced with for a while and drank some beers with. the vibe at spark is so fun- so loud and crazy but totally harmless and silly. we were invited to some lunch party at one of the boy’s house for today but we misunderstood and called him after it was over. today we woke up, ate cheap thai food, and went on a road to nowhere 3 hour motobike ride in search of this lake that veryone “knew” where it was but no one could get to. an hour outside of pnom penh with me and jess on the bike of this guy’s bike who spoke absolutely no english and going farther and farther away from anyone else who did we did what any bacpacker would do and sang our driver silly songs from our childhood and some new ones we made up that had lyrics like ÿou gotta have love and hope n your liiiiiiiiiife! yeah!” then we came home and i past out for a few hours and jess got only a little bit farther in her vietnam book. i have been readnig david chandler’s brother number one, a political biography of pol pot which is dense but helpful. we went to a nice restuarant by the riverside and i had a delicious steak, mashed potatos and a salad. mmm it was so good. after dinner we played with our friends. I saw Poung tonight and he made me very sad. he seemed really down and i felt enormously sad and sympathetic to his troubles. he has no parents, they died when he was young and he lives with his 20 year old brother. i want desperately to help him in some way that is more long term. any ideas about things i could do for him, offer him would be greatly appreciated.

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