Bai chaa
Just got back from beers and fried rice (bai chaa) at the local cafe/restaurant on the corner of my street. Managed to order it in khmer but got a bit lost with the chit-chat after. Will go there again to practise and try the beef loc lac (beef in a peppery sauce with salad) which looked good. Will take photos next time. Was there camera-less which was a shame.
Am still in the throes of jet-lag and culture shock. Didn’t sleep til about 2am last night and today I didn’t want to go out. Remember this feeling of wanting to withdraw last time I was here so made myself go out and buy some shelves for my room. Even if it’s just going out for half an hour at a time, it helps.
Really enjoyed this evening’s foray though. Started off cycling round the Russian Market which is about 5 minutes away and quite a touristy area. There’s a food court type-place outside every evening but I didn’t fancy it. Was heaving with locals and tourists so bought some milk from a mini-Mart and headed home. Hadn’t noticed the cafe on the corner before and was heartened to see it was fairly quiet so bobbed in for my tea.
Was happy to be the only white face there and smile at the stares that came my way. Felt a lot lighter all of a sudden and it gave me the impetus to talk which is no bad thing. Last time I spent a lot of time with Westerners and made some very good friends. Am glad to have that foundation of easy-to-talk-to friends but the freedom tonight was definitely among the locals. A time to just keep turning up, methinks, and go where the life is.
Comments
Post a Comment