precursor to Battambang
Welcome back. This is a few days of writing really. I started this on Monday before we go. It gives me a place to just write until Wednesday when we go for the nth time. There’s nothing I’m looking to accomplish going this time. We just go I think because my wife feels I need a break from the house. It’s also easy. So instead of writing daily blurbs this is my lead up to going. There are a few things there I want to do. Walking there is different than Siem Reap so I want to see the downtown one day from a different vantage point. A different lens of a city much like Siem Reap yet so different. It always seems slower. Easier somehow.
I always find coffee spots wherever. My favorite there is closer to the hotel. Heart Coffee always seems perfect for the observer in me. The cable out along the sidewalk invite casual people watching. I can sit there for some bit of time just relishing the change. Later though I want to go. I like feeling that city show me it’s little corners. Sometimes I walk outside of the city and find these little side streets that weave around schools and temples. Places to go and stop. The temples always invite me. A bench beckons and the monks smiles are always welcoming. I wind around though and end up coming back down to the river.
Another walk I like is over the bridges and down finally to the old one. Standing there reminds me of walking to this bridge in Da Nang. Far from the wonderful dragon bridge and the other with lights. It’s a pedestrian only bridge these days. Just like the bridge I could visit in Battambang. Walking it makes me feel this history of feet and bicycles and time past. Maybe voices calling out to the fishing boats. Or people enjoying a day spent doing less.
That’s my precursor for today. My Spring Coffee thoughts. Always welcomed here no matter how long I stay. I’ll walk soon though because that’s the other thing I need. I need to feel the going before.
The day changed. Like days do sometimes at the speed of Mike. I decided I needed to just go. Luckily the speed of passapp is there to take me. I have no idea what I’m doing. Sometimes that’s the best I think. It’s this new year holiday. People here eat wonderful food at home. Drink some. I felt none of that. So I went. Now I sit for coffee. For writing. Going to eat. Do whatever. It’s nice to have this time at a coffee shop of my choosing. Next I’ll choose some food. Don’t know why but I am seriously wanting a burger. There is this place Jungle Burger I should go to I think. So many burgers to choose from. Then maybe gelato downtown.
The day 1 precursor rolls on.
day 2 precursor
Started on the second day with some wayward frustrations around here. I guess this Lunar or Chinese New Year or whatever you wanna call it was not enjoyable or fun. I don’t much like holidays any more and the Chinese New Year is a tepid response to what I enjoy about Vietnam and going for Tet there.
Anyways, today I go for a walk and coffee out. Do some things perhaps I want. Tomorrow at 930am we go. Normally I would go visit my barber in town. Mr. Dasa does good work and I enjoy talking to him. He is careful and methodical and I appreciate the kindness and how he approaches his work. Today is not a day I will do that.
At some point I will pack my stuff. We have gone so many times there that nothing is left to play tourist at. We just go so I can get away from the house for a time. More on the coffee as Cambodia moves away from another holiday I really do not care for.
Finally my day really starts at New York bagels.
But this little thing ends. Someone once said,
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.
Source: Seneca.
See you at some other end that has yet another beginning.