January 20

twenty reasons to live in cambodia
1. it's sincerely debatable that anywhere else in the world has food so cheap and produce so fresh
2. a flood of pirated movies, music, tv, computer software, sweatshop-made clothes by Western culture's top brands are snuck out of the shops and sold for a 1/10 of the price they are in the states, it's all blurry shady corrupted beauty
3. the prevalence and utility of bamboo, the practacality of wicker, the city's biggest buildings painted yellow
4. everything's busy and out in the open, congested with fruit and meat stands, market-goers, bustling with life and color, almost devoid tourism; it's a risky, smelly stroll down the street
5. the never-ending sun
6. public transporation, on the back of a stranger's motorbike, so close you're bumping legs with the commuter next to you, the wind blowing through your hair
7. gigantic woven baskets balanced on the top of women's heads, filled with bread or fish as they walk down the street, wild chickens tied and bunched together with rope, strapped to the back of a motorbike, straining their necks to turn and look your direction
8. wild mean monkeys in the park with the worst of reputations, elephants in the park at Wat Phnom, giant lizards and frogs on the staircase up to our apartment, the common nonchalant presence of all these
9. street food venders that make you sick, waffles at Psa Mnong that always taste sweet and soft and cooked with sand, over-styled clothes, side of the road tailors, sweetened soy milk
10. Asia's seriously great and trendy packaging design, even the gas brands (only I would love or care about this), green tea juice boxes that you buy just because they look rad
11. Jars of clay coffee shop, Rajana, and other NGO charities and businesses that empower the poor and just produce beautiful things
12. Khmer fruit shakes, Thai hot soups
13. Psar Toul Thom Poung, and the markets I could visit everyday, with vintage jewelry, great clothes, leather sandals, stacks and stacks of silk and pashminas, Buddhist carved statues, and so many beautiful things
14. a way too big bag of greens and fresh vegetables for significantly less than 1$ US
15. the simplicity and pace of life
16. plumeria trees grow far and wide, and their flowers fall and litter the sides of the freeway
17. internet overseas calls (airfone) to home are amazingly cheap
18. warm rain, cool nights and cool mornings
19. strong coffee with condensed milk
20. monks on the streets clad orange wraps, with matching orange bags and umbrellas