woah! first impression, coming in through the industrial areas and port; polluted, smelly, dirty, ugly, big. second impression, after checking in at our hotel, walking around the immediate area; not really "westernized", but certainly more "modern" than hanoi. more four wheeled vehicles, more pressure to buy stuff, more agressive techniques by cafe owners to get rid of street salespeople. at the first cafe where we stopped, we watched a young western boy go off with a probably younger prostitute, while his older than me friend was necking with one not much older. a woman came up and set a wallet down on the table next to me and the waiter swept it off into the gutter. harsh. definitely a gay pickup area, and much more out in the open than other places i've been. the sex scene is very overt here. we walked over to the park after coffee to a completely different world. a troupe of beautiful young atheletes performing everything from contortionistic gymnastics to rollerskate dancing, to unicycle riding and juggling. roller skate dancing, big deal, right? how about an older girl with a rope in her mouth twirling around and a very young girl with the other end flying through the air and spinning at the same time? unicycle riding, also no big deal, right? how about unicycle riding with no seat? just a wheel with pedals. or riding a six foot unicycle up stairs to a little platform and then spinning hoops on both hands, one foot, and two on a stick in your mouth at the same time? we probably won't do a whole lot on our one day here. we'll see. day after tomorrow we take the bus to cambodia. it's hard to believe that the trip is only half over. i'm glad we won't be packing so much into so little time from here on out. a full four days at siem reap and angkor. it will be nice to wind down and see the highlight of the trip leisurely. i arrive in tucson at 11:39 PM on united flight 6544 on tuesday the 25th if anyone reading this wants to meet me :)
