Poetry on a Boat (Dec. 13, 2014)

Today was a bit of a slow day, thankfully. I got up early, had a great chat with Jan, and then went for breakfast with Laure-Elie. She left on the bus at 12:30 pm, so I helped her lug her stuff there after we ate. We said goodbye, but will see each other in a few days, when I go down to Sihanoukville, on Thursday.

After she found her bus, I went back to the hostel, and had a sleep. After the couple of late, but fun nights, I needed a bit of catch up sleep, which was wonderful. I woke up around 4 pm, showered, and got ready for the evening.

I was invited by a Spanish guy, Alberto, from the Space Hair Salon and Bar, to come on a Booze and Poetry in the Penh excursion. Again, it’s a whole whack of Westerners, now living in Phnom Penh, that organized and go on, these boat cruises along the river. Before it was time to meet them, just down from my hostel, I went to the Night Market, and got some street noodles with pork. They were delicious and filled the bill for supper. I had such a large breakfast with Laure-Elie, that I wasn’t that hungry but knew that if we were drinking on the boat, I’d need to have something in my tummy before going. The noodles were delicious and nicely spicy, but not too strong.

For this cruise, you needed to bring something to share regarding a drink, as well as a poem to read. It could be a poem that you like which was already written, or one that you write yourself. For those of you who know me well, that was a no brainer, and I wrote one about an hour before going to meet the people for the cruise. It was really fun to write it and I enjoyed reading it on the boat as well. Here's my poem.

Travel Poem

Why do we travel, I ask this of you,
To open our minds, change our point of view?
Possible reasons, I definitely agree,
But deeper than this is what I really see.
To discover the truth that lies in oneself,
Dusting off the books, removing them from the shelf.
Pressing the limits of comfort and norm,
The language, the customs, the ways to perform.
These are the innermost fears of them all,
To wake them, to love them, a complete overhaul.
So I offer my thoughts on what I stand to gain,

To travel, is to grow, to develop, to unchain.

Once there, I met a whole whack of people ranging from a woman about my age or older, named Theresa, who teaches Humanities at the University here, originally from New Hampshire, to a nice fellow who teaches kids, about 52 years old, who is from England. There were many others in between these two extremes, and the group counted 13 people from US, Spain, Greece, England, Australia and other places, who all now live in Phnom Penh. It was a really cool idea and outing and I enjoyed chugging up and down the river, having drinks with the nice group, as well as listening to poetry. Here are the few pics I took today. They are of the poetry group on the boat.

At the end of my night, I was lucky to catch Amanda, Livi and Zakki, having a slow get up on Saturday morning. I Facetimed them for a while and that was amazing. I always enjoy doing that as it brings me so close to them. Take care of your scratchy voice, Livs. 

That’s it. More tomorrow. I think I will go to the National Museum tomorrow if there are not a few people to share a Tuk Tuk for the Killing Fields.