Hi Gram,
Today is sort of a down day/ slow day. We woke with the alarm and did a 3 mile walk this morning, but walked in the opposite direction. The path was nicer, the scenery was just as cool, we saw a sign warning us not to surrender in chess, and most importantly, the sun was behind us as we returned to the hotel! Back at the hotel, Nattiya took a bath while I joined the FinTalks zoom call to discuss cruise tips and tricks. I took some notes and some of the cruise veterans offered their sets of notes for everyone to peruse later. After the call, we walked over and had breakfast.

We discovered a problem with having a buffet of delicious food and personal service available. It’s very easy to eat too much before you even realize it’s happening. I tried having just a little of this and a little of that each day for the past few days, and each day I walked away wishing I’d eaten less. Nattiya has it even worse because she’s half my size and has never had all-you-can-eat food and service. She’s just copying me with portion sizes, then eating everything on her plate out of guilt for having taken it. I keep trying to reassure her that it’s better to leave food on the plate and waste it than to eat everything and get sick. It’s okay to take a large plate, realize that you took too much, leave the extras, learn from that experience and get a smaller plate next time. That’s easier said than done, sometimes, though. We discussed this trend and both agreed that we’re going to eat less and be more aware tomorrow.

After breakfast, we gathered up our laundry and walked it down the street to a small shop. A little tip if you’re traveling, especially in SE Asia – there are laundry services everywhere that charge very little. This place charged $1/kg and our laundry from the past few days, a few shirts, a skirt, some socks, a dress, and maybe a couple other things was 2kg. The hotel charges $1-2 per item. The convenience of having the hotel do the laundry would have cost us $8-10 or more, while walking 100m got us a little exercise and cost us $2. We’ll pick it up around 7pm tonight. When we got back to the hotel, I got on my computer to make some reservations while Nattiya sat in a lounger out by the pool talking to a friend. We spent a few hours like this, each doing our own thing, then decided to go find some lunch.

The concierge connected us with Mr Kim, a Tuktuk driver, who took us to a nice restaurant in town. We’ve been eating too much lately, so we split a meal between the two of us that turned out to be just right. After lunch, Mr Kim took us back to the hotel via the scenic route and pointed out some interesting views like the palace and river. Unfortunately, it was hard to hear him as he drove, so I missed hearing almost everything he said. Back at the hotel, we changed into our swimsuits and headed to the pool. I’d rented a room right by the pool, Nattiya kept saying she wanted to swim, we got her a swimsuit so that she could… darn it, we were GONNA get in that pool at least once! We spent a little time in the pool and chatted with some other tourists, but got out after a few minutes because the water was cold. After lounging on chairs, letting the sun dry us, we headed to the room for showers so the breeze would stop cooling us.

Warmer and dressed to the nines, we grabbed our laundry then caught a ride with Mr Kim, our new best friend tuktuk driver, to the circus. The show was scheduled to start at 8, but the grounds opened at 5:30 with side acts and food available. We got there around 6:30, wandered through the gift shop (which, in tourist attraction fashion, was the entrance and exit), I got a mojito, and we watched a school troop dance and sing while we waited for the doors to open. Once inside, we were escorted to our reserved seats. I had paid the extra $5 each for third row center instead of general admission and we were pleased with that choice. Our seats came with souvenir metal water bottles filled with cold water and borrowed fans to keep cool. We are here in the cool season, so these weren’t needed but appreciated nonetheless. Soon, the other seats were filled in and the show started.

A little side note, here – this wasn’t just a standard circus. As with many things in Cambodia, there’s some weight to it. All of the actors, acrobats, stagehands, trapeze artists, ushers, concession workers…. EVERYONE that works here are part of a program to help underprivileged youth develop skills that they can use to lift themselves and their families out of poverty. This program has trained thousands of people with artistic or business skills. Using the classic funnel method, some just attend a few classes then go back to their world with a little more knowledge, some spend more time and develop some skills but never “go pro”, and a few get really good and move to the big city to work, onstage or off, to help generate revenue for the program and income for themselves and their families. While we waited for the seats to fill in and show to start, there were testimonials on TV’s overhead from a wide variety of students who had been through the program in the past 20+ years. Some talked about how their family was originally against them learning the circus arts, worried about injury or wasted time, but was now overjoyed and proud of them for what they’ve done to help their local village. Some talked about the rough conditions that they saw as children and how this training helped them to lead a better life than their parents. It was really touching.

With all that said, this was no amateur production! The next hour was filled with awe and wonder, the story of a village with elders and children, parents and workers, and a college student who comes home to visit, all told through dance, acrobatics, and acting but no spoken words. The band, tucked off to one side, provided the soundtrack as the actors wowed the audience visually with their expressions, flexibility, strength and skills. A unicyclist juggling while balanced on a rope strung through the air, a silks dancer suspended up near the ceiling and dropping almost to the floor, dancers balanced two and three people tall on each other’s shoulders, contortionists with their legs wrapped impossibly around their heads and behind their backs, choreographed dancing and chanting, and so many more acts wowed and amazed me and the rest of the crowd.

I’ve been to a few Cirque de Soleil shows over the years, and the skills here met or surpassed all of those. The stage was smaller, there were no pyrotechnics, the costumes were a little simpler, but the skill and passion were unparalleled. Both of us left there smiling and flabbergasted by what we’d just seen. We exited through the gift shop, politely declined all of the other tuktuk drivers who insisted that they were sent to pick us up, trying to escort us to their rides, and met Mr Kim who was patiently awaiting our return. The ride back to the hotel was filled with visual spectacle and a cool breeze. We thanked Mr Kim for his services, wished him a good evening, and headed to our room where slumber overtook us almost before the door was closed.