A WONDERFUL RELAXING DAY IN SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA

Most visitors to Siem Reap are here to see the magnificent archeological ruins, Angkor Wat and hundreds of other hindu-buddhist temples dating back to 9th to 11th centuries.
I am a repeat visitor to Siem Reap, and in 2019 this is my third visit. Temples are not in my mind, but I had come here to rest and relax after a hectic travel schedule since November 2018.
In medicine we use a term called postictal period, after a patient has had a fit or an epileptic seizure.
I had just spent few days in Yangon, the most wonderful country when it comes to experiences with people in South East Asia. I was glowing inside after the days there. I had wonderful stays at the two different hotels there, and I would always consider staying at the Sule Shangri La ..
The trip from Yangon to Siem Reap while it was short, it was tedious. Bangkok is not the friendliest of airports and the security officials and the airport personnel work with a chip on their shoulders, who can blame them, it is one of the busiest airports in the region, with connections to all over the world, including the central asian regions and europe and russia... 
My Burmese brother picked me up at the airport, the arrival had been made easier with the abolishment of much of the paperwork. 
I always stay at BEYOND YANGON a boutique hotel run by my burmese brother, Maung Maung.Burma cements our friendship,

Ko Maung Maung had blocked off this room for my stay and it felt very welcoming as i had stayed in the same room in each of the visits i . 2019

 The breakfast was the usual conglomeration of omelette, a noodle dish, fruits and juice and tea or coffee. very filling. 
after the breakfast i went up to my room, and indulged in absolute no pressure morning of not having to make plans.
after 1500 hours, walked about 200 metres to MOLLOP DAMNAK an organic, vegetarian restaurant . The new manager is from France, he said south of France. He had a maghrebian look to him and we had a pleasant chat.

My microbiota would be very grateful and dancing for joy with green leafy vegetables as well as fruits and in this case an aubergine dish..

 This little girl lives across the street, her mother owns a laundry and i usually bring my laundry here during my travels to Cambodia 

This young girl works at a juice stall from 3 pm until 8 pm. I wanted to talk to her but the language was a problem. Like most khmers she was friendly and promised to make me a nice fruit salad.

Stef is a French artist who has been here ever since I have been a regular visitor and it is a pleasure to drop in and have a chat with him. He has an unusual style of painting and we enjoy our existentialist talk. Quality of my life is better here than in France, he confessed. He is one of the many expatriates Cambodia has attracted.  

The next destination as usual was GEKKO massage and my masseuse ANYA was absent and this lady was a pleasant substitute. Poverty drives these young people into such service professions and unable to complete an education which could be expensive by Cambodian standards.

Once again the language was a problem so we couldnt communicate well but I enjoyed my leg, neck and back massage. Will be back for my daily massage during my stay here.

Siem Reap has grown into a larger town now and the ubiquitous transportation congestion arrived here many years ago, but still it retains the small town atmosphere at least in the tourist heavy downtown area.

Every time this fruit seller sees me, she greets me with such great joy and loads me up with fruits. The generosity of the poor people that I have seen all over the world is a hallmark of our human nature.
On a day like this you begin to question the value system of Europe and USA and Australia, where people seem to be bent on a very selfish agenda, striving with stress to get ahead and in general the genuine characters lost or hidden. In all of France I cannot think of a single person as genuine as this illiterate fruit seller of Siem Reap. She made a large container full of Avocado shake and after that I couldn't think of having dinner 
Yoga, Meditation, Massage, Fruit juices, Plant food and this comfortable room at Beyond Yangon.. a perfect place to think about my life and work in various parts of the world... 
feel very grateful for the many people who make my life pleasant (convenient as well) in 
Miami (J and J and MGW)
Havana (BQ as well as many many friends there)
Quiberon
Bruselas
Kuala Lumpur 
Fort Cochin
Doha
Leticia
Thank you thank you all of you ..

Sitting at the sidewalk concrete chair while the Juice Lady of Siem Reap was busy preparing Avocado Shake, I felt so surrealistic. I looked at the fading French colonial architecture and just to think that one week ago I was standing in front of an audience of medical doctors from Latin America talking about Diabetes as a Social Illness. Felt such an euphoria..

At this junction on my way back to the hotel, I pondered about the eating habits of the tourists (and their asian counterparts who are eager to play their european credentials). There is a greasy spoon restaurant serving barbecued food, burgers, spaghetti on the right hand side and an organic, farm to table fresh local food restaurant on the left hand side (Mollop Damnak).. Where do you think the Lonely Planet clutching crowd now fortified with Tripadvisor reviews go .. to the greasy spoon, so diametrically opposite to the good food being provided just across the street. 

I enjoy my meals at Mollop Damnak and hopefully more wistful tourists to Siem Reap would also understand that it is necessary to be eating well, in an ecologically responsible fashion.

In the late evening as the stores were closing, I was happy to see a very young man (actually a boy) flipping some dough , malaysian murtabak style, but you could have a Pancake for a dollar avec les accoutrements.. banana, condensed milk, egg etc. I watched him and the nearby tuk tuk drivers waiting impatiently for ever for a tourist, chatted .. I said it is a crepe, as he had the round heated plate in front of him. The tuk tuk driver said, may be in your language, in my language we call it a Roti.

I asked for a banana plus peanut butter (he had nothing much left) and the taste was that of our humble PARATTA of Kerala origin.. ( actually of Moroccan origin of antiquity)

I have had such a lovely relaxing day here in Siem Reap. I did Isha meditation of Sadhguru for 18 minutes, wrote a lot, kept in touch with friends in Vietnam, Austria, USA, Malaysia, Cochin, France,Cuba and not to mention my native american friends..many medical enquiries, the most interesting of them was asking about the relationship between anti-psychotic medications and dupuytren's contracture (my diagnosis over internet from symptoms given)..
There was even a question from a doctor in Santa Fe in Buenos Aires, she asked: without much resources and the general lack of goods and commodities and food, how come Cubans are so healthy and full of joy of living? 
I will formulate an anthropological answer to that question. It is to do with the Solidarity among the people, the tremendous unselfish sense of friendship and sense of relationships among Cubans (I am talking about the Cubans who live in Cubans and not the Cubans who live elsewhere, especially in Miami , who have dubious reputations, once again explicable with an anthropological lens)
When I enjoy a day such as this, I want others also to have wonderful days like these. I think of them, especially some special people in Bruselas, Miami and Havana..

At the night market just across the river where the tourists congregate, there are multiple stores selling the same sort of souvenir stuff the tourists are after. A good friend of mine of year, Syty by name, a Cham Muslim, has a store which is very profitable. I made a detour to say hello to her, she had just broken the fast at the mosque and so, was suitably attired, with her husband sporting a malaysian style cap. The end of the fasting month would be here soon, and I wish all of them good through this period. In Malaysia this week is a special occasion and a joyous one. 

It was nice to get back to the hotel, to read a little bit of George Orwell and then say good night to friends abroad ( I adore this possibility of instant communication)..

More to come, this week in Siem Reap and le us see what unexpected pleasures are in store..