~if you should stand, then who's to guide you?~

WARNING: this will be a long, introspective post with insufficient pictoral evidence...

Been on the road for a month and a day. Here are some of the reflections floating around in my head. Maybe they're nonsense and maybe they're obvious. You decide:

1) Trust is misplaced if it contradicts reason. Rational people take advantage of strangers. It is not wrong of them to do so.
2) Don't get attached. If I were to play my 25 years in fast forward I could see that many people, good people, come and go in a maniacal frenzy. Each has their own destination. I'm learning to be grateful when their paths intersect mine and accept it when our paths diverge.
3) Plans are important as long as you understand their cost. Itineraries pose an infinite opportunity cost. Simply put, to choose and stubbornly cling to a set of destinations, one resigns the opportunity to explore every other destination that may spring up.
4) Great friends can be made in a night. Of the 7 billion people roaming this Earth, you never know when you'll run into one that can leave a lasting impression. You'll never suspect where they're from and never guess how they got here. Moreover, you may not see them again in your life. So always be ready to stay out for another drink.
5) Most importantly, if you ever think you come from the best country, best culture, best religion, etc. you're a closed-minded idiot. This is NOT an opinion and if you don't believe me, you should get out more.

Enough. Here's my Cambodian narrative:
The Ankor Wat ruins were cool but Cambodia is not for me. Political corruption keeps the citizenry poor. For instance, Cambodia's greatest national treasure and one of the wonders of the world is owned by a Vietnamese company. That means that every entry ticket sold to see this breath-taking architectural and historical jewel goes to support Vietnamese profiteers instead of desperately poor locals. I'm not a bleeding heart idealist but I have to admit that it's a pretty stupid system. The locals I've talked to agree. What this means for the traveler: prepare to be accosted by every tuk tuk driver, every child, every vendor, every security guard, every store owner, every hotel receptionist, etc. for their side job. (A side effect: people here speak good English.) Cops are Tuk-Tuk drivers on their free time, farmers are tour guides, friendly locals are criminally dangerous scammers and so on. I've heard of four separate instances in Phnom Penh of tourists  getting taken in by nice locals, treated to drinks and cigarettes, and taken to an underground casino to get robbed sometimes thousands of dollars (I've even met a victim). It's not nice but we make it too easy for them bumbling around with fanny packs and clueless smiles. Ankor Wat, a complex of over 50 elaborate and gorgeous temples set up over 1000 years ago, a sacred place of Hindu and Buddhist worship, is infested with families peddling souvenirs and overpriced street food and whoring their kids out to sell you postcards and magnets. Why? Tourists can afford it and locals can't afford not to.

But here's a different perspective. The first day of my visit, I biked past an Israeli kid and told him to look out for elephants that I'd spotted. Later on, wandering down from a hilltop temple, I stumbled into him sitting at a riverside tent drinking with locals. I joined them and many more locals came, feeding me beer, freshly caught fish, chicken soup and even dog! We sat and laughed and sang and swam and taught each other our respective languages. I offered to pay but they wouldn't let me. It was SO refreshing to be treated as a human being and not a overstuffed wallet with four limbs. For four hours, I was a guest in Cambodia and not a prospective customer. I shouldn't have taken it for granted.

The next day, my French buddy, Johan, and I biked to catch the sun rise over Ankor Wat (the central temple and name sake). It was a nice but over-touristed experience.

We snooped around a few temples until it was irrefutably time for a nap.

Wandering past a band of land mine victims playing for charitable donations, we split off from the main road into a random shack for a quick snooze. We awoke to a half dozen temple guards gathering together to cook a meal. They charitably shared it with us and, after some polite conversation, insisted on being our tour guides the next day. Johan, got away easy as he was bound for the night bus that evening but I had to weasel my way out (i.e. wait till the guy fell asleep and sneak off). Before I escaped the locals explained something to us that made a lot of sense. Unwilling to openly criticize the government, they established that there 'is a lot of corruption' in their country. This meant that the citizens are poor. They related that, of course, the guards just want to be guards and don't want to always snoop around for side jobs but they can't afford not to. They said we are very privileged and very rich to be traveling overseas like this (I agree with everything they were saying by the way). And for us, the $25 they wanted to charge me to ride around to different temples is nothing. For them, it's a week's salary. The guy had a point but I still didn't need the service, so after politely declining several times, I had to take the cowards way out and disappear.

Last night I went out for a few drinks with a Dutch actress and musician, Jose. We caught some live music and spent hours entangled in awesome conversation.

We discussed some of the ideas above as well as spirituality, culture, passion, art, and life. She inspired me to enlist in a 10 day silent meditation retreat at a famous monastery in Southern Thailand. So I scrapped my plans for the next few weeks and bought 2AM bus to Bangkok that I'm currently awaiting. There, I'll catch a flight to Krabi, a nice sea-side resort town. Luckily, Luke, Henry and Mike from my Chiang Mai days are all in Krabi so I'll get to kick it with them for a bit before sobering up at the retreat.

After having circumcised 5 millimeters of my right pinky on a curb yesterday, I decided to take it easy today. I've been writing emails, skyping and doing admin work. It has been a much needed sit at home and catch up day. I have a feeling I'll be grateful for it when I get to Krabi. Maybe I'll update this before the retreat but if not - no access to the outside world from June 1 - June 11. Adios.