It's been a curious trip this time around, a little uninspiring frankly. Usually, there are a handful of things that never fail to cheer me up when I come to Phnom Penh: 1) delicious fresh fruit shakes, 2) shopping at the markets, 3) going to the spa and getting a massage for $20 or less, and 4) meeting up with friends and family and artists.

But recently, I just have not been much craving the fresh fruit shakes; I have been totally uninterested in the shopping (I can't have anything tailored, boo!, because the timespan is too short, and everyone I know is too busy). When I first got off the plane, and my body was achy, a massage was very nice. But I more recently got a massage and you know, it was kind of boring. The part that I enjoy most about the fancy spas is being able to take a nice shower with WARM water and not just cold water in a beautiful setting. (I know, I know. Boo-hoo me. The freshly made longan or banana nougatine shakes don't seem novel anymore and the $20 massages in a cool tropical garden seem a little boring. Yeah, Life is so hard.)

Follow up:

This past Sunday, my first and only day off for this entire month, I went with my cousin shopping to various markets. I was feeling very uninspired and didn't find very much of interest. A lot of the shops have changed recently, and I don't know where to find the things I used to like anymore either.

But one of the things that I do love about Cambodia is how easy it is to meet great people. In many ways, Phnom Penh feels like an overgrown village. I saw a magazine article recently about an artist named Chhim Sothy, who is an excellent master of traditional-style paintings of the lives of hte Buddha, as well as of the Reamke, the Cambodian version of the Ramayana.

I called him and said I had read an article about him and was interested in meeting him. A few hours later, I was at his studio, which was filled with old wooden antiques he had collected from old houses in the countryside. I got the antiques from the countryside, when people are tearing down old houses and they are selling off the old things inside....

His house was also full of gorgeous paintings (mostly his own). Many, many, many Khmer artists learn how to do this old-style of religious paintings, but the result is often exact copies. The kinds of pictures, often done on silk or cloth, that are reproduced in Thailand by the thousands and sold for about $3-$4 at market here.

His pictures were different though, using gold leaf, and a highly refined technique that made them stood out from these copies. More than that, though, he incorporated elements of Western abstract art in the backgrounds of these images, weaving together more abstracted feelings together with unusually positioned figures from ancient Khmer stories. It's really a lot more beautiful to see than to describe. He also does strictly abstract art too.

Anyway, those of you in the Boston area will have to come to my house to see what I mean! I bought a beautiful painting that he had framed in the old window panel of an old Khmer house, so it's a gorgeous wood frame. It's a love scene, depicting a young couple dancing Khmer-style amidst a kind of celestial scene of stars and lotus pads and blossoms. It sounds really hokey, but it's quite lovely and restrained. The one painting I really wanted was priced beyond my reach, at about $1500-$1800, although now that it's getting so much notice from the magazine, he may raise the price yet again. I will now have to figure out how to get my more modest paintng home, though....

Anyway, he was a brilliant talker, also studying linguistics, and preparing for an exhibition of his work in China as part of an upcoming Art Biennial in Beijing of somekind. The day before I arrived, he had sold three of his paintings to the curator of the national museum in Singapore for an exhibition of contemporary Southeast Asian Art. He cut me a good deal despite the fact I had not the same budget as the government of Singapore.

He would be a great person to bring to the museum in Chicago for a workshop, as he also speaks some English and very good French, but knows how to teach to widely varying age levels and in different techniques. Most importantly, though, I feel like he has the soul of a good teacher: inquisitive, wanting to impart knowledge; encouraging exploration, education, and critical thinking and meaning, and not only covering technique.

It was a wonderful day, and it was so invigorating to meet him. This is what I love best about Cambodia--meeting such wonderful people. And Cambodia is full of such wonderful people! And I think you meet more of them working in the arts than you do in any other field. While there are plenty of inspiring workers in many other fields, the arts are an easy sell that brings everyone together.

For instance, afterwards, we meet with some other friends at a restaurant. Little did I know that the owner of the restaurant was the organizer of Phnom Penh's international music festival and was preparing a six month program dedicated to Olivier Messian! (I thought he was a bit difficult, actually. Some arts organizers, you know, they have such specific and uncompromising ideas sometimes of how they think the arts must be, but by the end, I think he came around and the discussion became more open and broad) The owner treated us all to a light dinner of Alsatian tarts!

Then, we went around to look for copies of the magazine where I had seen an article of him. At one juice bar that we went to, the owner, upon hearing that his guest was Chhim Sothy, was so happy and inspired, that he then treated us all to fruit shakes and another light dinner of bai chaa kapik and something else I don't know how to describe other than to call it a kind of delicious, cold, sour, peppery lime fish dip. I know, sounds weird. Tastes good. And you know, this time, the fruit shake was delicious. I think maybe they just taste better in better company, as is usually the case. Also, it helped that instead of just blending the fresh fruit (in this case, a kind of sweet winter melon) with ice or yogurt, they blend it with fresh coconut ice cream.

And these were all people we hadn't met before, but who were thrilled to be meeting with other people, making new friends, and joining forces with other young people interested in the arts. So much of Cambodia focuses on poverty and war--or making money and gaining power. There are lots of very wonderful and warm people too, ambitious as well, and it's such a pleasure to meet them, and to meet them so EASILY.

It is so easy to make friends, and not everyone is running around and too busy to sit down and talk to you, and so simple to enjoy things here! This kind of warmth and fast friendship and bonhomie is what I most appreciate about being in Cambodia, and which I hope I can find some way to recreate in Boston and in the States too.

Anyway, on that note of the appreciation of good friendship, much love to you all from Phnom Penh, and I look forward to seeing everyone once again!