Onion Rings

At breakfast yesterday, I got quite pissed off at the fact that another girl in the guest house we were staying at was paying $8 a day for the same room, while we paid $15 (there were other people paying $20). I suppose first wolders are not too familiar with bargaining for accomodation, but suprisingly, if you do, you can shave off about 30% of the first quoted price.

We got about 20% off eventually, which I'm not going to complain about. I approach everything I pay for with the same principal, it's not how much it is, it's what I think it's worth, but of course this is also influenced by how much things are generally, and what other people are paying, generally. But bargaining is addictive, and Ethan is definitely addicted to it. He'd hassle over a few dollars, and splurge a large amount of cash at hand (which we do not have much off, since *gasp* there are no ATMs in Cambodia) on fancy dinners. I do not complain of course, but it makes me sigh and roll my eyes.

Getting off at the bus drop off (there is no station) in Phom Phen, there were all these young kids (about our age) hassling us, offering to take us to guest houses and so on. We (or rather, I) eventually settled on two boys who'd take us around on their bikes to find accomodation and to take us to the Killing Fields tomorrow. If I had to give travel advice to any one coming to Cambodia on a budget, it's this: Find a guide your intuition says you can trust. Of course, there's always a risk, but the ones we've had so far have been very friendly and immensely helpful. He helped us get Visas to Vietnam much cheaper then we would have gotten them otherwise, considering that we wanted them done in a couple of days, and helped us out with our transport to Vietnam.

I can't believe how relaxed this whole trip has been so far, considering the level of planning we approached it (close to nothing).

Aside from flirting with the guys (I actually find the boys here quite attractive. firstly, some of them are really cute, and secondly, they are just cool. They really know how to live it, they're laid back when they need to be, but work really hard when they have to). I do most of the bargaining and dispensing of money; apparently the boys here find fair chinese girls a real dish, and I've been cheekily asked out to dinner a couple of times. When my driver (we've rented two motorbikes for today and tomorrow, one for each of us) bumped into some of his friends at the ferry terminal, they started making dirty jokes about us, and in english, specially so I could understand.

But honestly, I think the people here are amazing, and I'm still completely impressed with how incredibly bilingual they are. Most of them even pay their way through a language school. So shame on me for not even being able to cope with Mandrin, although I was a full-time student, and didn't have to work to pay my way through it.

I was never really that keen on visiting Cambodia at first, but it's proved to be immensely amazing.

Time to check on emails! And don't worry, I'm still doing a-lot of weird kinky things. I'll write about what heppened when I got really bored in Pat Pong the next time.

xoxox