Battambang in a walk
Today decided to just go wherever. Found these streets that were happy to comply. They led me down and around and finally to the river. Then back to the beautiful colonial buildings. Finally I ended back pretty much where I started. Along the way I felt this need of having just me and not tourists and places where crowds gathered. Cambodia always agrees and shows me lonely little places to stop and see. What I enjoy most about being away from the house is I can simply walk away and even if I’m not really wanting a thing I can still go to places I don’t mind seeing. Around the house it’s furniture stores and moto repair shops. I don’t need either of those.
So going today I wanted another thing. I found these streets I had not walked. Or perhaps I did and I don’t remember. Here in Battambang I can easily find a walk tomorrow and Saturday that will let me see parts of the city, along the river, new coffee shops to stop at. None is hard. The city is slower. People move at a different speed here. If we lived here I think we too would slow down. Homes I see have privacy fencing along their fronts. Not like where we live now where all can be seen. We did get this privacy curtain up because it drove me crazy. I’m just a barang so I want some sense of privacy. In a twist of irony, the same guy that would stop and stare into our house and front yard installed the screen or curtain. I thought that was fitting.
I cannot imagine normal Khmer people wanting strangers to see all they do every day. Seeing homes here just reinforces that to me. If we want privacy it should not be an alternative. It should be the default. I do think the sense of self and privacy and solitude is foreign and not understood by and large since even our bedroom door is just opened without first knocking. So yeah. Call me incredulous. Call me a barang.
But here it seems the default is this privacy. Homes are sheltered from passersby and their curious looks. I was thinking today I could live here easily. Anywhere really in cambodia or Vietnam takes no real unique skill. Food and water and social life are easy. Travel by bus or can or train or plane can he had. The main thing I have wanted I have to admit is not being visible. Maybe I want to be the invisible barang.
Here I could see it on my walk today. I felt this sense of it. This feeling peoples spaces are respected. So it must be our loony neighborhood with everyone packed in that is different.
I’ll noodle on that
Most of all when we go I enjoy not having to want something that seems alien. Between now and Saturday I will do my walks. Write my words. Have a coffee.
Most of all enjoy the temporary feeling that my life is mine and not the nosy and intrusive people that seem to operate our neighborhood in Siem Reap. Here’s the Google Photos of my little adventures this time. No photos today of the people in the market or the vendors along the river. Just not feeling it.