"Why did the chicken cross the road...?"

It is with great excitement and a pinch of trepidation that Sam and I leave Cambodia and embark on the great journey to India. Cambodia has been a great warm up for things to come and I am sad that I did not fully get to experience all that the country had to offer. The last few days on Otres beach played out not unlike a typical dog's day. Wake up eat; sleep; read; swim; nap; eat; read, go to bed. In all of that activity, I worked up quite a voracious appetite oddly enough. I fear that inactivity is the recipe for gluttony and Sam and I stamped our names on that sin. The sunsets, the people we met, an aussie couple and the owners, two eccentric souls with an even greater propensity top laze around than us, the beach and the quiet restful nights, proved to be chicken soup for all facets of our being. Otres beach is the much less populated area of Shiuonkville and while still harassed by hawkers, it proved to be more secluded and generally free of distractions. Otres beach, however, is over run by ex-pats of all walks of nationalities (that being of the white, appearing more like a roasted tomato or baseball glove variety.) Most have set up shop here along the beaches. While I surmise, most have come under good intentions, I saw way too many older men with conspicuously younger Cambodian females. I was not sure what to make of it except for that fact that, as in Sam and my words, it's "kinda gross."
Aside from passing judgment high atop our beach beds, Otres beach was a great getaway, especially from the normal backpacker trail. We just happened to stumble upon this place and like many before us- the aussie couple, Steve and Nastasia came for 5 days and are now entering their 18th day at Sunshine Cafe- never wanted to leave.

Cambodia has had its practical purposes as well outside of mending souls and seeing new sights and learning about culture. I can safely cross a street here, to which I believe street crossing in Asia should be an Olympic event. Our normal reaction are to wait for cars, bikes to stop, but here that is how you can be hit. Moto, Tuk Tuks, cars, trucks does as they please. Red lights are mere obstacles or for some, a chance to beep louder and with more gusto at the unfortunate soul who actually obeyed the rules of traffic. For pedestrians, I have employed some useful techniques to conquering the road.
1) Best to look in every direction 5 times, because the trick for most transportation is when a vehicle wants to take a left it will enter the left lane- of the oncoming traffic side. So in every way traffic is coming at you.
2) Many times, motos too fed up with trying to get across will drive in the opposite direction for awhile to find an opening. Therefore step onto the street with extreme caution
3) The best time to cross this myriad or organized chaos of traffic is when fear boils up- the salient response to your environment- now this is perfect time to go. Rational judgement can only get you hurt
4) Just walk, don't embody the spirit of the game Frogger and try to duck an weave and by all means dont turn back
5) Make sure that you have your traveler's insurance policy number handy

The old adage and joke, "Why did the chicken cross the road....?" does not apply here at all.

There are many other areas that can conjure up fear- getting mystery beef in our vegetable soup- but for the most part Cambodia has been exactly what I needed. I am still unsure of how to feel about leaving Sydney and coming here and even more uncertain about India. One one hand, I have not come to grips that I have left Sydney for the foreseeable future, nor am I able to coherently dissemble and unpack my feelings.
Unfortunately our time was too short here. For much of it, it was a regimented trip. We had to get to areas and the first four days were a blur of temples, buses, boats, and people telling me I could have 5 books for 1 dollar. I feel I have yet to scratch the surface of Cambodia. Sam's feelings parallel mine in that we wanted to do more. India hopefully will allows the ultimate chance to interface. This trip, on its surface, was like so many: Little deviance from the trodden trail and too much among the bright flashes of expensive cameras. I felt like this when I traveled to New Zealand. I was overcome by the differences, but had no time to plunge into dissecting those differences and forming coherent thoughts with indepth exploration.

Nastasia- from Sunshine- cracked an egg of knowledge about India. She had given us practical tips on what to expect- more on the dangers and annoyances really. To be short, Tom Ridge would call for security level Red for India. As I write, Sam is out gathering the necessary materials for guerrilla traveling warfare. Here is the list Sam has been armed with as she shops at the market:
padlock for our door;
chains for our bags;
a money belt that goes around my waist;
a little Italian dude named Chino for added security;
milk.

Dont get the wrong impression, Nastasia, as well as all of you who have come to lend information about India, spoke volumes of India. From all of you, we are excited. We just needed to be better prepared. It seems so unknown, so big, so fully India and those alone provoke the greatest gamut of emotions that I or Sam have ever felt. The adrenaline is pumping. Our plan is so wide open and I think that this is beneficial as well as a cause for some early jitters. This leg of the trip has been designed for maximum cultural interfacing. If we like an area we will stay. We have no specific itinerary, no sight we need to see, no area we need to go . We will march with the ebb and flow of this vast country and see where it leads us. We feel after all our investigations, this approach is the greatest for us.

We leave you now with eager anticipation mixed with trepidation, but this is not unlike crossing the road here: You just step out and don't look back.