jeudi 16 février 2012

MINGALARBAR IN PHNOM PENH.. CAMBODIA

The Night falls very quickly here in Phnom Penh, the din and rush of the day disappear. Street 240 lay quiet, at No 71 is Le Rit's Boutique Hotel, an excellent place to stay, run by a Cambodian (and French) NGO  NYEMO, www.nyemo.com. They do have a French (Khmer) resto adn I have eaten there and would recommend it.. But! in just a few days I will be back in Paris, so Khmer food is the choice for the night.
Mother in Law's House, Maurits had recommended. I started walking towards the distant bright light (about 300 metres away), past some tipsy moto driver who jokingly offers to drive me there for 2000 riels, but in return, I offer him 3000 riels, to which there is no answer!
A huge wall photo adorns the shop on my right.. it portrays The Lady of Burma  Aung San Suu Kyi! What? is my first response.. then I look at the shop, a catering business, appropriately called Rangoon Foodstuffs. 
What an unexpected pleasure , and like most unexpected pleasures, it turns out to be more pleasant than expected! The young couple are from Yangon, she is a teacher at a private school here in Phnom Penh. We have some friends in common, not the least of whom is my brother, Ko Maung Maung the proprietor of The Mandalay Inn (.com, in Siem Reap). They offered me a cup of tea, sweet and creamy and reminiscent of Le Paye in the Rangoon Tea shops..
A very human and sincere interaction. How quickly one becomes friends with the Burmese, the sweetest people in all of Asia! now the doors of that prison is open, The Lady is out and the people are enjoying the fragrance of freedom since 1962..They talked about two of their friends, M and C, good people, foreigners, who want to go to Burma to volunteer, work and help Burma. Je su tin ba de, M and C!
I am sure I will run into them again..
La Shanah Haba'a Yangon...
Next year in Rangoon..

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