As usual the guide books have the mute button pushed and the crop lines that edit out actual reality. Any thoughts of peaceful meditative states of meandering bliss quickly evaporated as...
“ ello madame, Ello Madame! MADAME!!! You buy from me, Pleeeeease. Only 1 dollor; madame, Madame! ello MADAME!!!” assaulted us from all sides!
Once again it is time to run the gauntlet like running from a spontaneous downpour. Hesitate and we are lost in a blur of flailing fistfuls of bracelets, trinkets and postcards, accompanied by a full unharmonious chorus of “YOU BUY FROM MEEEE!!!” 
Eyes that would melt an iceberg and the negotiating skills of a badger; this world heritage site is in perfect balance with a team of at least ten well synchronized veteran venders to every one fleeing tourist. The very young and the very old were the most successful in separating us from our precious 1st world dollars. Survival is an amazing motivator for persistence, ingenuity and drive.
Fellow world traveler’s Danielle and Tom joined us in our adventures in Cambodia and hopefully will join us again sometime soon in Maui. Meeting new friends to laugh and play with while traveling is great but having free flowing conversation is divine. Our usual communication with others has been a combination of pantomime, sketches and very broken Khmer or Thai or Vietnamese or Hindi or Tamil or…., so being able to complete whole sentences that are also understood is bliss. I wish someone would invent a cochlear implant that would do spontaneous translation, the ultimate Information Technology.
AMAZING photographs!!! :) i'm glad i had the "mute button" to enjoy the beauty... you're both greatly missed here on our own beautiful island... thank you for sharing your fabulous stories :)
ReplyDeleteo the pics are magnificent! you both look great, love the smiles =0)
ReplyDeleteWow! It looks to be as truly magnificent as it is reputed to be. Thanks for the info about the vendors (I HATE aggressive people trying to sell me stuff) so now I don't feel so bad about not yet having visited.
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