It was depressing to see Ding go. Despite our differences, Ding was amazing to travel with! We were scheduled to leave Siem Reap the same day: her to Kuala Lumpur (to take her 3 transits back home) and me to Phnom Pehn.
Now begins traveling alone…again.
The six hour bus ride was effortless…except for the fact that I didn’t eat anything. (It’s generally an ugly scene when I don’t eat…)
We had stopped for snacks at a traditional market where little girls sold pineapples cut into the shape of flowers. Why didn’t I eat that, you might ask? It was because the guy who I chose (at random) to stand next to when I got off the bus was snacking on… wait for it… tarantulas.
He was scooping them into his mouth like you would popcorn at a movie. The crunching noise was distracting, and my empty stomach was on spin cycle. But of course, I was curious. So I strike up a conversation with the man. He spoke great English and explained that all the tarantulas sold at that particular market were gathered locally (pausing to slurp back one of the legs). This fact made my mind drift to two possibilities, since there were hundreds of spiders available for sale.
1) Cambodia was a country where, as soon as night falls, tarantulas roam the streets at will, claiming babes and small animals as their victims. The scene would be of them eating everything in their path, blanketing the city like a plague, and fighting until the death with the local market vendors. <shudder>.
2) Cambodia had tarantula breeding farms. <shudder>.
“Spider Man” (that’s his new name, clever eh?) then continued to explain that they break the fangs before they deep fry them…. What a job. I wonder what transferable skills that would offer on my CV…
Spider Man continued snacking on the bugs while a local child crept up and put one on my arm. She smiled at her little ‘joke”. Hilarious.
The bus beeped its horn for us to board once again and I said goodbye to Spider Man and the Queen of Comedy to continue my trip to Phnom Pehn.
When I got back on the bus, the girl who was sitting next to me chose another seat… and I strongly suspect this was due to the fact that I fell asleep on her for three hours and woke up bashfully ashamed at the local market stop.
Look, I’m making friends already! <sarcasm>
Ten years ago I set a goal to visit 30 countries by my 30th birthday. With no plan or country list to fulfill this goal, I decided to let life take me where it wished.
“See Simi Travel Blog | Adventures of a travel snob“, is just that. The account of an ex-20-something year exploring the world, usually solo, and on a very limited budget.
Every other week I try to tell you a story about the friends, food, fun and fails I’ve had along the way.
