March days
March came in and we’ve been living this simpler life. Most days we do breakfast out at a cheap Khmer place. There are two close by I like. Both serve variations of noodles and one gives the French toasted bread called quay in Vietnam. Something different here and also served in China. One dips the bread in the broth by hand and enjoys the simplicity of tastes.
Dinners are cooked at home and include both Khmer and western food. Last night mashed potatoes with pork chops cooked for hours in this delicious chili sauce. They turned out falling from the bone. Just a wonderful experience.
More rarely we go out for dinner. This often includes beer at beatnik and then dinner at a nicer place downtown. We always take PassApp home here because it’s cheaper and easier to deal with than the freelance tuktuks.
I still go out for walks and take photos but have not shared any at all lately. Here’s a little something from a walk the other day I did down some streets not done before. I loved the older look of the walls and fences and the abandoned buildings.
There’s always also little scenes I enjoy which give me a sense of someone’s day to day.
Finally on the walk I love to find little alleys or side streets that always beckon. I could not do this one because running late for dinner. I doubt I could find this particular little place again so a photo suffices to remind me of the hidden and small places in a wonderful and bright city like Siem Reap.
Then there’s today
Today is no big matter. Have to withdraw money and then deposit same money in my ABA bank account so we can pay rent. Also have to give my Khmer daughter some spending money for Phnom Penh. She would like coffee out and new shoes. Finally I signed up to help our Khmer friend’s son get English classes for longer each day. That costs $40 a month. These people are poor and live a basic lifestyle but they want their boy to have better. It starts learning English.
This weekend we go to see Alin’s mom a little outside of Siem Reap. We take a PassApp there along with her brother in law. I inherited a rather large Khmer family who all love when I visit. Language is not an issue. Smiles and food and beer go a long way.
Then in about two weeks another Cambodian wedding party and then a weekend away in Battambang. Our big thing is in April when we spend a week in Vietnam. We’re going to two of my favorite spots. Da Nang for the pure fun and culture and tourism and Hoi An for history and food and relaxation.
Mentioning the fediverse
One of the things I end up missing is the daily interaction on mastodon.art. I really enjoy my instance a lot. The admin team are top notch too. But I felt I had to draw some line. I don’t like the interaction there now. At all. I could just unfollow, block, mute people. Then it becomes some sterile thing with nothing happening and no joy or happiness in it. So I will strive for a middle ground starting soon. I don’t wish to delete the account. I do want social networking because as I’ve said whether we acknowledge or not we all are social beings. But with that powerful belief comes choice.
So I will choose how and when. Now I sit in Temple Bakery and Coffee and muddle through it. A hot latte helps me see a path perhaps. What I dislike is the self-same effect I found on Facebook during the 2020 elections. I grew to hate the pontificating and scheming and insulting behaviors then by supposed friends of mine. If someone made a statement that ran against their progressive and liberal mindsets, they were threatened with blocking and unfriending. Honestly, now I find the same thing on the fediverse disappointing and upsetting. So as I think about just installing the Ice Cubes app again (which is the very best to me), I also puzzle on just how the twitter battles and departures have all combined to make the fediverse more and less at the same time.
So that’s the day. Replete with photos! Can’t believe I shared some photos of a recent walk I did.