Naked Soul Kitchen

This morning I woke up in my own room, in a big comfortable bed with a constant hum of the fan which kept me nice and cool in my slumber. Even though it was pitch black in the room, and there was no one else there to disturb my sleep, I woke up a little before six. I still felt sleepy yet rested so I decided to get up and on the rooftop terrace and do some yoga. The morning was quite hot even at that early hour. After some yoga, I did some writing and then packed my bag. I had received some very nice emails this morning from dear friends which made me very happy. Thank you!! :) I had my usual morning tea back up on the roof and short Skype session which was also lovely. Shortly after I was picked up by a minivan and taken to the bus which would eventually get me to my destination for the next couple days. The eighth world wonder; Angkor Wat. And now that my camera is working again, I will be able to take digital photos! So far so good. And the photos are of me and my hairdo the other...

After taking Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975, the Khmer Rouge implemented one of the most radical and brutal restructurings of a society ever attempted. The goal was to transform Cambodia into a place dominated by the lower class agrarian cooperative, without any remains of the previous ways. Within days, the entire population of Phnom Penh and the surrounding towns, including the sick and the elderly, were forced to march into the countryside and work as slaves for 12 to 15 hours a day. Intellectuals were systematically wiped out. Having glasses or being able to speak a foreign language was reason enough to be killed on the spot. Leading the Khmer Rouge was Pol Plot. The man behind the movement had won a scholarship to study in Paris, which was where he began developing the radical Marxist ideas which later became extreme Maoism. Under his rule, Cambodia became one big concentration camp with slaves working incredibly hard all day and night with only a little bit of food being provided f...

I am sitting at a fancy restaurant on the river with my glass of white wine after just ordering a nice steak with fries and a salad. I feel like a queen even though I know that this treat will cost me under ten dollars. However this seemingly perfect afternoon by the river is overshadowed by a constant flow of kids selling things from their little baskets and men offering tours of the killing fields and other sad places which are a testament to the pretty difficult existance that Cambodians have struggled with. I must be honest though, because I have gotten used to the kids beging and selling things on the street, this does no ruin my nice lunch. On the contrary. It makes me appreciate what I have so much more. And these kids have a pretty good sense of humor. Instead of just asking and making sad faces, they actually make jokes and respond to yours, which makes the situation a bit better. Now that my meal is finished and I still have a bit of wine left. I will sit back and enjoy my w...

After spending yesterday lounging around all day on account of being sick, it was nice to wake up this morning feeling myself again and without any traces of a headache. I will have to interrupt my own thoughts right now because my thoughts were interrupted by an explosively potent green hot pepper which I just ate without looking in my soup, mistaking it for a string bean. The sensation started with me making a face which probably looked like someone had just told me that Buddha is a fat furry house cat. That face would say 'huh?'. So that was the initial reaction. It was immediately followed by profuse sweating from my face and chest. And finally, saving the best for last; first my tongue, then my gums and finally the rest of my mouth and even my throat started feeling as if someone had just thrown some burning coal into my mouth. Since I've never actually experienced that first hand, I believe now I know what it would feel like. In an attempt to not completely lose my s...

As I awoke this morning just as the sun was coming up, the first thing I felt was a serious headache and the same sick sensation in my stomach. Not the best way to start a day, especially since I just arrived to a new country. My day was spent rolling around in bed, watching television and resting my head, since moving hurt more. But since I went to the pharmacy and got some medicine, later in the afternoon I actually started feeling like myself again. I decided to venture out and see what Phnom Penh was all about. When I walked out of the guesthouse situated near a very busy street, I was hit with all the noise and traffic in the streets. Strangely, it didn't bother me. And he further I walked, the more enchanted I was becoming with this city. As busy and loud as it was, for some reason, it didn't bother me. This city feels alive, even it it's mostly alive with the local people trying to survive and make a living, being alive is the part that counts. But within that hustl...

We left Tad Lo village by bus the next morning and arrived in Pakse midday. As we were looking for a bus going to the islands, we only found a tuktuk cramped with a ton of locals, chickens and little pigs in a basket. Apparently we were out of options since it was late afternoon already so we threw or backpacks up on top and wiggled into our wooden seats in the back of a truck transformed into a passenger car with a roof and natural air conditioning from the wind. The locals were a bit apprehensive about being nice to us because they usually don't see falangs (tourists) taking local transportation with them. The four hour ride to Ban Nakasang, turned out to be a great experience of smiling at really old locals who were missing a bunch of teeth yet smiled the brightest smiles at us. And laughing with the kids siting next to us and making silly faces at them. After repairing a flat tire on the way and picking up a huge stack of roof squares made out of leaves and piling them on top o...

When Raquel and I arrived to Tad Lo, we didn't really know what to expect. First of all, the bus ride was interesting because for the first time we both tried barbecued chicken and rooster heads. Interesting. Then at our destination, the bus stopped somewhere on the side of the road, not at a bus station so that was a good indication that this was going to be a small, simple place. After gathering our bags, we headed in the direction down the road that another falang (foreigner in Lao) suggested to us. We knew we were going the right way because we saw a small sign in English, what a relief, welcoming us to the Tad Lo area. It was about 2km down a winding road through another small village with some houses scattered close together and those with a bit more land, a little further apart. It was definitely one of those authentic villages at which time has stopped many years ago and has preserved all the habits; living and farming, just like they were hundreds of years ago. There were ...

Leaving Kong Lo village was quite an adventure. Instead of taking the regular, more expensive bus, Raquel and I decided to take a tuktuk for half the price. It turned out to be a fun ride in the front seat with the local driver. We sang songs and just had a grand old time! When we arrived in Savannaketh, after taking a local bus, we were a bit disappointed. The town didn't seem as nice as the guidebook described. However, after settling in at our guesthouse which was so out of place in this typical architecture Laos town. This was a huge cement building that looked like it belonged in a grungy Russian town in the middle of nowhere. Even the broken AC in our room was Russian. However, it was a big room with a nice shower so all was good. We walked around town and went to see the sunset on the Mekong. It was a lovely evening just walking around and resting from all the bus travels. Sadly, later on that evening I found out that my camera had stopped working and was broken, ruining the...

Getting to Kong Lo village was quiet a long bus journey with very loud pop Lao music playing constantly. Not fun. When we finally arrived to our destination, we were greeting by a place I wouldn't even dare to called a village because it was so small. But as small as it was, it made up for it by its lovely, warm locals offering nothing but smiles and the best hospitality even with the language barrier. We spent a relaxing night eating dinner at a guesthouse down the street where we ended up meeting a very interesting character. This French guy who has been living in the caves with some other French researchers. A guy who has been jailed in a Laos prison for 25 days for that same reason; for living in the caves without a permit. A guy who after that experience was completely ok with it and said it was an interesting experience. Oh and he Waldo built an elaborate tree house on the grounds of a National Park in the Southeast of France and had a huge book which he published documentin...