I met my neighbor next to my bungalow in Sihanoukville and she is terrific.
Her name is Irene, and she is 24, Italian, and beautiful. I know what your thinking, but nothing happened, so don’t get excited. She was at the end of her trip, and I am at the beginning, but we got to be friends and enjoyed several days of beach time, waterfalls, markets, dancing, dinners, and getting stoned. She had only been in town a few days longer than me, but she had friends all over town. She makes friends very easily because she has such an open and social spirit. It was very good being with her, because I learned a lot about how to really engage life and share that with the people I meet, live each day to the fullest, and how keeping a smile on your face can really open the doors wherever you go. She told everyone that she had a boyfriend and she wore a wedding ring, but that was all forshow. If you saw her, you would understand. She didn’t want to be hassled by every guy who met her. Ididn’t hassle her, and I think she really appreciated that. Instead, I got to just spend lots of time with her and it was fantastic. I really needed a good traveling companion and I found the perfect one in Irene. My only worry is that I am now spoiled by her. She was such a good time, everyone else I meet won’t live up to the fun I had so early in my trip with her. I’m sure I will met more wonderful people, but there’s always something unforgettable about those first great memories of a trip. The first time I came to SE Asia, when I went to Indonesia over 11 years ago, it was such an unforgettable first impression. I still remember very clearly every person I met those first few weeks on the road. That first time buzz never really comes back when you return to Asia again, but I definitely still feel a strong buzz from meeting Irene and being able to have all of this experience crammed into such a short time…I’m feeling so alive! And maybe that’s the best part of traveling, you leave a bit of yourself with others, and you take a bit of them with you. I have finally gotten a decent night’s sleep. I was up until 3 am talking and laughing with 2 Tazmanian mechanics who just got into town after touring Viet Nam for 3 months. They were really great totalk to last night, and we sat down by the lake and watched these big clumps of floating plants move around the lake like they had brains. It was very “invasion of the body snatchers”. They plants will come and crowd around the water-level veranda where we were sitting and you got the feeling that they were coming to grab us with their root-tenticles and pull us into the water to eat us before moving on. The ever abundant local smoke always helps with such imaginings. Ok, time to get out of my room and join the living. I’m going out to eat breakfast and take a look at this city with it’s “wild west” reputation.

Greg

10/27/05