... sometimes simply seems not to be part of the travellers world.
Have you ever noticed that a lot of travellers look grumpy?
They sit in a
Tuk-Tuk somewhere in Asia and look annoyed (ok, it is 40 degrees outside and the Tuk-Tuk is not a brand new BMW). They sit on a boat while cruising some
turquoise islands and look hungry (well, no
Schnitzel on the Fijis or
proper bread in China). They squeeze into a tiny guest house and complain about the old mattresses (perhaps they should have invested more than
US$ 5 for a double-room?!). But also in a
4-5 star "etablissement" like we are currently staying at in Angkor the people mostly do not look happy. It seems there is always something that does not work for them: the weather, the food, the tour programme, the (or no) internet, their company, the money they paid, ...
I still think about 2 swedish girls who would spend their days in Phnom Penh sitting in front of the TV, watching Hollywood movies. Sightseeing is boring, especially when it involves history.
While spending the last 2 days mostly in religious temples and places of worship it is amazing how many people simply cannot read, not even a
stupid simple sign. They climb the temple towers to prove they can do it, they wear
close to nothing or complain about the
uncomfortable walk-ways. They pat every kid's
head and ignore the "No pictures"-signs wherever possible (Is this because you bought a very expensive D5 which you just cannot handle?). Why did they decide to travel 20,000 kms, when all they want to do is to behave as (badly as) they do at home? For example, yesterday I had to listen to a(nother) "Tschörman tourisst" who assured me about 20 times that the typical tourist pictures are nothing he would normally do and that he is really ashamed of doing this (ähm, then why?). After that he took off and positioned himself in the middle of the
"real" Aspara dancers and pretended to be some kind of very cool Heavy Metal band lead with his groupies. It was obviously one of the highlights of his holiday! Then - of course - he discussed about 5mins whether the prize for the picture would be 5,000 riel (about 50 cents) or 1 US$.
Didn't they all make the choice to leave their comfortable home to explore a different country and experience something new - something that they cannot see or do every day at home in Wanneikel?
We of course also had our days of
frustration and 3 weeks of continous rain may be a blessing in some really dry areas of the world. Sure, in the meantime, I am absolutely craving a "Leberwurstbrot" and a proper washing machine. And the never ending "Mistaaaaar, please buy this. For school. Very cheap prize" at every possible corner can be hard to take. But on the other hand: We didn't go away to be home.
We went away to find something new. To learn (... to relax (guess who ;-) ?), to cope with the heat (guess who ;-) ?), with the food, with different ways of sleeping, other languages, weird bus schedules, ...) Which we did, maybe in little steps, but we did. Amazing things every day. The pictures prove it:
Thank you, world!
