Early tomorrow morning I'm taking a bus to Siem Reap, the departure town for the ancient Khmer temples of Angkor Wat, and it's about time. I really need a change of scenery. It's not that Siem Reap will be any different than Phnom Penh--or any other place--in any fundamental way. I've traveled enough to know that your perception of a place is more important than its actual qualities. It's so easy at the start when everything is new and interesting. After two weeks the city hasn't changed but I find myself sitting around playing Pixel Dungeon and browsing Reddit rather than exploring the town.
So I haven't been able to post anything for a week. I've even done some stuff worth writing about: exploring silk island with my Mom, visiting the Royal Palace with my Cambodian friends Kunthea and Rathana, watching a documentary about Asian shadow puppets in a German bar. I couldn't quite get my fingers moving on the keyboard when I had some time to type though. The topics don't seem that exciting after the fact.
Yesterday I tried to pin my malaise on the city. My ideas included: I don't feel the right vibe here, the temples are gaudy monstrosities inside and out (except when their rooftops stick out from the skyline), buying things is my most common interaction with Cambodians, the weather is too damn hot,and there's tons of pollution. I wasn't being fair though. Nothing on that list is keeping me tossing and turning night after night. There are all kinds of things that are great about being here: Cambodians are super friendly (tuk tuk drivers are not pushy here at all), they love trying to speak Khmer with foreigners, nighttime in the city is beautiful, and the food is fresh and delicious. The real issue is that, at some point last weekend, my internal vacation clock turned over from a fun-and-relaxing upswing to a worrying-about-real-life downswing.
I'm betting that having something new to explore will rekindle some of those upswing feelings.
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