Lost in Cambodia

Have you ever wondered how it is like to live in a small village all your life and to have never traveled further than the nearest city? Or have you ever wondered how life without Internet, TV, modern transportation, home utilities might be? Of course you know that there are people who live their lives like this, of course you can imagine how it is like (at least partially), but a completely different thing is to feel it, to experience it. I thought I knew, as I grew up in a place
like this. It seems I have forgotten it. With time, the rhythm of life here gets into your veins, and changes you.

The first culture shock here in the small remote village of Kol (yes i know, it is not on any maps, but I can assure you it exists :)) was the daily life flow. At 6 o'clock it gets dark, at 8 PM everyone goes to sleep! At 5 AM already there is
a lot of noise (I don't know what happens before 5:00, as I could never wake up earlier than that) and by 5:30 everyone is awake. The first day when someone said we should meet up at 6:30 I started laughing. They didn't understand. Nor did I.

The second... well, there was no second. I have made a commitment to be open to new experiences here. Try everything, really be here. I have eaten many fruits I don't even know how to pronounce their names, I have eaten snake (it tastes like chicken :)) just with lots and lots of bones and yes, it was alive when they cooked it!!!

), I have performed Buddhist ritual, I have worked with the sugar cane squeezer, but that is nothing compared to the most incredible experience for me so far: I have learned to ride a bike! yesterday. After 15 minutes where a friend taught me the basics while a chorus of born-riding-a-bike Cambodians kept on laughing on my expense I started my firs ride, to some very faraway mountain (10 km, but it seemed like 27 to me), mostly off-road as well. It was not long before I realized that the 15-minutes lesson forgot to include how to use the breaks or to avoid incoming cars. For the first km I stopped for almost every car and motorbike.

Then I got used to it. After the first km actually my friends told me to leave the bike and ride with someone else, as I slowed down everyone. I pretended i didn't understand, and rushed ahead so they could not catch me until after the next village. BY then, I was riding well. That was a fantastic experience and, although my ass hurts like I can't sit down properly, I am proud to say that now I can ride a bike!





Kol Village, Cambodge, 7th of November, 2010