This is what I remembered:
Breakfast of jackfruit, watermelon, pineapple and mango (very Khmer) beside a plate of fried egg and toast, with coffee (not very Khmer).
The street view from my breakfast table.
The immediate sense of heat.
The aromas of flowers mixed with frying oil mixed with diesel fuel mixed with heat — you know that smell of heat?
Children laughing everywhere.
This is what I had forgotten:
Being woken up early by music. One street away, a loudspeaker started to blare out the sounds of monks playing flutes, pounding drums and chanting. This could have been a funeral procession, a wedding or it could have been usual morning prayers. I’m not sure which it was today, but it doesn’t matter. It’s there everywhere, inescapable — at least in my part of Siem Reap — today it started about 8 am and it beats the alarm clock by a mile.
I spent an hour trying to record it on my computer, but technology defeated me. But if you start listening about 30 seconds into this and close your eyes you’ll get the idea. Thanks to MyCambodia.TV:
That is making me ‘homesick’ for Thailand!! Hope you have a great, and productive, trip!
C x