Stuff

Ended up in a Khmer disco club the other night some time around midnight after way to much beer - when will these Cambodian guys ever realize that getting into a beer chugging contest with someone with my body mass is never going to be a winning proposition for them - same resdult with the General in Beijing - I am always going to be the more sober one. No, of course I didn't dance - did you really need to ask? The surreal efect was completed by the huge video screen above the dance floor showing 1970's Benny Hill Show sketches - whoever thought that was a good idea? About 2am we were fishing for cooked noodles - the noodle cart comes along the street below - customers yell - lower cash on the end of a length of rope - a delicious bag of noodle soup comes back on the end of your rope about 2 minutes later - now that is service. I discovered that the Happy Pizza restaurant delivers - now THAT I must check out - not determined yet whether Da approves of pizza with "extra happy" but as she has never tried pizza maybe she will just assume that all pizza comes with that magic oregano replacement herb. The other day Da asked me whether they have Coca Cola in America - I managed to suppress my laughter - it is funny the Khmer are fiercely loyal in their choices of food and drink - they typically do not stray from what they consider their own country's products - for all I know she really thinks that Coke is a Khmer thing. I tried to offer her a piece of bread with peanut butter the other day - you would have thought I had offered her poison - she eats peanuts just fine but peanut butter is way too foreign. This existence is really fabulous - not having a schedule for anything - rehearsal for eventual retirement - I am as relaxed as an overcooked noodle - speaking of noodles had a fabulous fried noodle with egg pork and ham for lunch - 4 people with freshly squeezed sugar-cane drink - $7 for the whole thing - gotta love it here. Wow is it really Friday - English football tomorrow and Da at work to give me the peace and quiet to watch it - next week my daughter and her friend arrive for a stay just lessd than a month - already planning trips to the coast and to the Angkor temples. I cannot imagine how hard it will be to eventually go back to the real world and all that it "offers" - come to think of it this is the real world with real people with real problems and a real way of dealing with them.