stuff i like in cambodia.

today was my last day in cambodia. tomorrow i will be on a 7 hour bus ride *grrrr* to vietnam. so i thought i should do a little recap of my favorite things here in accordance with my stuff i like series (yes, i know two posts don't make a series, but i'm working on it!). so here is my favorite stuff that i liked in cambodia:

beach day.
spending a day on bamboo island reminded me that i am a total beach baby, but also that i still have light, sensitive german skin. you would assume after 6 years in south africa i know how to put on sunscreen, but my back and the top of my feet tell a different story. but still i loved it, being on the sand and in the water is my best and i must make an effort to do more beach days when i get back home.

however boat rides are a whole other story. due to it being rainy season we had such a bumpy ride that a few people get sick and all of us where scared for our lives. well, i was mainly scared for my camera. apparently you are a bad traveller if you haven't gotten a dry bag. we also learned not to drink beer in a pool till late the night before a boat ride.

fresh coconut juice.

i have written extensively about my love for coconut water or juice as they call it here. however in cambodia they serve it straight up in a coconut, even in fancy restaurants.

sticky rice.

take a mini banana, plaster it with sticky rice, sprinkle with coconut, wrap in a banana leaf, and grill on an open fire. unwrap and eat it straight out of the leaf. best roadside breakfast ever!

*sorry, no picture because that thing was gone in under a minute.*

the smell of jasmine.
in massage oil, incense, and in fresh garlands for decorations or as an offering at the home shrines - i want my entire home to smell like jasmine from now on and can you imagine how excited i was to find out that my face balm is fragranced with it?!

trees taking over.

i have seen lots of nurseries all over cambodia and apparently there are quite a few reforestation programmes in place. i like this a lot. and then of course there are the trees at ta prohm, better known as the tomb raider temple these days, who have taken reign over the stones. it reminded me of the power of nature.

and though this is obviously not stuff, but what i enjoyed most about cambodia are its people. despite a recent gruelling history are they incredibly friendly and optimistic, very hardworking and hospitable and they don't seem to dislike tourists yet. i have never seen a nation of so many smiles. that made me happy and i think i smiled quite a lot here too. no more annoyka in cambodia, no more worries about wrinkly eyes!

stuff i like in winter.

i'm giving this thing of a regular “feature” another shot. i add the quotation marks because feature sounds a bit too grand for what i have in mind. With the quotation marks you know that i am only somewhat serious or at least pretend not to be.

back when i started blogging i took lots of pictures at least for my standards. whether people enjoyed them or not, i just enjoyed to post stuff. stuff i liked. judging by the comments people seem to enjoy my stories more and that's great. but the other day i was trying to find a category for my blog. But I couldn't as i couldn't find a random, somewhat funny blog with stories about wine, pasta, yoga and failed dates category. nothing came even close. thekla actually had to tell me that my blog would technically fall under the category of lifestyle blog. again lifestyle blog sounds very grand i think. i am much more happy with the random, somewhat funny blog with stories about wine, pasta, yoga and failed dates description. but then i figured, why not? if you can make the shoe somehow fit, just squeeze into it. i have a life, it has a certain style and unless we are talking about men, my taste in most other things is pretty good. so with that and the arrival of my new camera i am taking the liberty of showing things about life again. a new “feature” if you will and i shall just call it: stuff i like.

the first stuff comes with a bit of a confession. two weeks ago i was having a nasty girly moment about an ex's new girlfriend and how she announced on facebook that she was going on a non-carb diet. of course i was gleeful that she a) deemed it necessary to go on a diet and b) she wasn't going to be very happy for a while, because we all know that non-carb diets are a bitch and c) really? You tell the world on facebook? but it must have triggered something because i decided with my impending holiday to have a little self-restraint myself. now i am doing two weeks without wine and pasta, which - feel free to laugh at me – means i am probably more miserable right now than she is, because we know I really don't do well without wine and pasta.

i hope you don't feel the need to give me any dietary advice now. i am not eating fried bacon every morning and i do not expect to look like gisele afterwards. I am not having two of my favorite food groups (pasta and wine are food groups of course) for two weeks just to prove I can. And to eat make room for pad thai. call it half-a-lent in july for atheists.

i am usually not a big snacker or one with a sweet tooth but of course with all other pleasures denied i need something. that something i found in form of yoghurt covered raisins at wellness warehouse. if it comes from wellness warehouse it must be healthy, right, and so i have been eating a few more than a few every day. i wanted to get new ones today to take a picture and to my utter delight i found yoghurt covered peanuts which i bought instead. peanuts, people! i thought they wouldn't last through their picture taking session but to my surprise i like the raisins much more. obviously not enough to not eat the peanuts.

the measuring cup is from o.live, a shop i love with all my heart and my credit card loathes. my friend kate did laugh at me when i showed her, but then again she is a real scientist and couldn't believe why anyone would spend money on these things and put them in their flat as deco.

have i written a post about coconut water? i believe i have. i hate the fact that you can't recycle the little bottles (I hope coco life can take a hint) so i only get it once in while for a special occasion. like today when i can't have wine.

i love how it smells when you walk into enmasse and they have put that smell in a bottle. i have never deemed something like linen spray a good investment before, but i love that stuff on my pillows. i really wish they would make it into a proper fragrance (or can i just use linen spray on myself?).

live as if this is all there is. i guess you could put a tea light in, but i bought it for no other reason as to remind me daily of what it says.  

p.s. i will take the some pictures of stuff outside, i promise, but give me some time. just like any mother of a newborn i am still too terrified to take her, yes, that's the camera, outside.