Mikes Thoughts

daily Siem Reap

For some years perhaps I wrote a blog on the day. I remember writing that often on what I found in Vietnam. This was just a life spent wandering Hanoi and other parts I loved. Sometimes Da Nang. Maybe Saigon. Flying to Can Tho to see Lily. Each day seemed full of whatever there was to see and yet more. It always felt like something hiding around some corner. Like Vietnam was waiting to see me walk by and yell

surprise!

And it was. Even the most mundane things became points for me to find and the things became blogposts then and for a while memories. Then I started changing blogs. I wanted something else and I wandered here and there. I found both communities and the love of just writing. I left Vietnam in 2021 and had no idea when I would be back. I managed a few months in America and ended in Mexico. Mexico is a wonderful place to spend a year. I simply loved the places. The feel of each day. Merida was absolutely the best and I ended up there twice.

then Cambodia

But as my mom used to say,

all good things come to an end. Sometimes sooner than what you want. Bad things seem to always last longer.

Why? She did not know. She only reported conditions. It was up to me to do as I would. So I did. Coming back was really not coming back. It was like seeing it all again for the first time. I always felt that in Vietnam. Taipei would surprise me with the little twists and turns. Kuala Lumpur with just about everything.

But it was Siem Reap that enticed me again. This city that is just enough that I can explore places and feel like I have never been. Maybe I was but like I said earlier. I’ll take it all for the first time. Again. So the desire to just write on the city returns. A post every so often on a thing I find. A feeling. It can be good or bad. Complaining or loving. It’s all part of some experience here. I watch my wife worry more about what she’ll cook me for dinner and ask how else she can make me happy. That’s daily life too. She’s a part of this wonderful and strange city. This country of wonder that has given me something that I really ended up wanting so badly.

Our final acts on earth a person told me should be our best. How to spend them. What currency to use that gives us that daily feeling that life here is the place for me. Not to be morbid but also where I wish to depart. I want that consuming fire at some temple. That last flame that signals my last act.

I wrote on being retired recently. This was a statement about how I feel and felt. How life is not supposed to just end or become less because one crosses a threshold. We are supposed to find a life of enjoyment and wonder. Not be slaves or invisible to a country obsessed with gain.

Siem Reap becomes the city of this gain for me now. This place where I can feel like I have a life that matters. To me. To my wife. Maybe her family although sometimes I have my doubts. We are all too different. What they hold dear I struggle with sometimes. What they dismiss matters to me.

I think it’s all normal or not. I am so confused. But one thing I do know is I will write more later. That’s a given. I got more to say about the days here. So I’ll take some time and coffee and let things become as they will.

There’s the getting lost down side streets and finding absolutely nothing. The walking in the city that always seems ready to surprise me where I end up. Just like this writing except I think that will end tomorrow.

daily siem reap

Finish one days little notes over two. Ok. Done deal. It doesn’t matter if I say “end”. The words just spiral off to other places. My Siem Reap knows. It’s my place to just be.

part 2 or the next day

A slight intermission was beer out last night. I drank some. Met some tourists from Russia. I asked them questions that perplexed me and they laughed over. Yes. People enjoy vodka. And yes it’s colder than hell in Moscow where they live. And it took 30 hours flying. Political questions not asked. Also met a barang person. I enjoyed the tourists. The barang person was like a repeat. Oh well. The beer was cold.

Now it’s morning. Coffee and music and room time. I’ll take you along for coffee later. See you then.

The walk is to Ur coffee. Down a street. Past the ladies that sell pastries for 500 riel each. I get two of them and a lot of smiles. Then the walk is this basic path of life. This way I know. To coffee and tea. And time to sit. Do some puzzling. Some writing.

Kind of wait patiently for these two Khmer men to leave the nice chairs. And they do. Coffee served. This is the pattern. The day. And here I think I’ve run out of words. Not out of steps to take. Those will come.

See you in the next installment. Whenever that is.