The Last Week of April

It has been a week of saying goodbye to the friends I made all over Cambodia.  In the space of just 4 weeks I have connected with many people from many different cultures and places and I hope that in the months and years ahead, I will be able to reconnect with at least some of them, perhaps in some other exotic place!

We said goodbye to Christie at Romdeng, sipped cocktails by the pool and reminisced about our time here over beef, basil and red ants!   She will soon take off for Laos for a bit of meditation and then head to Paris to continue her passion for the creative arts, spending time at translations centres in Europe.  Liz hopes to see her in London in a few months and I hope to see her in Banff, perhaps next year! 

I also visited my friends from Anzac day, David and Martel, at their home in Cambodia.  When travelling, it is always lovely to have a home cooked meal, so I am very thankful for the invitation!  They had fish amok for dinner, a traditional Khmer meal cooked in banana leaf, in a similar manner to the way pillau is made in Sri Lanka.  Yummy!  We chatted about world affairs, travel, our respective diplomatic connections and the 6 degrees of separation! 

Then it was time to say goodbye to my fellow volunteers and my friend Liz.  We had arrived together, 4 weeks ago, ‘newbies’ to Cambodia and the volunteer program.  Both of us  a little apprehensive, unsure of what we will find.  Amongst many other things, we found each other and shared many deep conversation on the meaning of life and death, our hopes and dreams for the future, our search for our destinies and our mutual desires to live life on our own terms!

So, after all the adventures, it was only fitting that we ordered tarantulas for starters, washed it down with a custard apply and mango shake & raised our glasses in a toast to our respective futures!  Goodbye Liz and good luck with your studies and dreams of becoming a vet.  Take care and keep discovering! 

Your friends will know you better in the first minute you meet than your acquaintances will know you in a thousand years.
~ Richard Bach, "Illusions?