Before I move on with the rest of my adventures, here are some things I've noticed on my trip in the countries I've visited so far...Every busride you take in Cambodia and Laos (either local or tourist) you can be assured that you won't be needing your i-Pod, because they will have a selection of the local Karaoke DVD's ready to play non stop, volume turned up to 11. Most of the time I am seated right under the speakers. The only good thing about this are the hilarious, yet seriously meant, videos that accompany the songs.
Talking about buses, one of the things that can't be trusted is people's answer to "how long will the busride take?". I don't mind sitting on long busjourneys, I like looking out the window and looking around me. But every single trip I've taken, being it in Vietnam, Cambodia or Laos, the bustrip has taken at least 2 hours longer than claimed. The strange thing is, it even happens when the bus has no engine problems and doesn't have to stop at every small village to pick up an old lady and her baskets of live chickens! Why don't they just give the correct duration? Are they afraid I won't take the busride if I hear the truth? How else do they think I'm going to get around?
Distances are another thing that seem to be very misterious. "Turn left 100 m's down the road" actually turns out to be 2 km's down the road. "It will take you half an hour walk" turns out to be a 5 minute stroll. TukTuk drivers are always asking to take you for a ride, but often, when I say I'll walk the 2 km's, they laugh and look at me like I'm crazy: nobody really walks in SE Asia, everything is done by moto.
I know I'm not the skinniest of girls, but I still fit a size small at H&M back home. In Vietnam and Cambodia though, walking passed the market stalls showing interest in some of the clothes, on more than one occasion, the shopgirls would laugh and say: "No no, clothes don't fit you, no size for you here, you size large!"Grrumph....
For some reason young teenage girls and boys (or they might be my age, it's hard to tell, everybody looks so young) all giggle when I'm walking by or talking to them. I always wonder what they giggle about, sometimes I've asked, but the giggling only increases. I've asked other westeners and they've noticed it too.
I get alot of giggles from my stuttering aswell. When I stutter to buy a ticket to "Thae Kek" or say "Kawp Jai" (thank you in Laos) or that I've been in "Don Det" I can always expect many giggles, sometimes even a friend has to be asked over so he can hear it for himself and they love to reapeat it over and over. But I know it's not meant in a mean way, the way they giggle is all full of innocence, just like they love Karaoke as a grown-up pasttime, so I don't really mind. But it does mean I sometimes don't get an answer to my questions though...
I love walking around the ancient temples and towns and places of SE Asia, and when the scenery is accompanied by a passing through monk in theirs saffron coloured robes, I love it even more. It even almost looks fake, having seen those pictures in books and magazines many times before. But when I see a monk, in the same saffron coloured robe, calling on a cellphone, turning his head to check out a cute girl, smoking a cigarette, riding a motorbike or taking money out of the ATM, it doesn't look fake anymore, just strangely amusing...
This was just a small summary of things I've noticed, I could tell you loads more, about the embryo eggs they love to eat, the broken cats tails, the no man and woman sleeping together under the same musquito-net, cutting down trees during an eco-trek, the face-whitening products gone wrong, the children playing in the streets.... but I'll save some stories to tell at home.
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