Life of a Thai Heel: 27 years young...

Birthdays are silly things. Isn't it my mother that had to do all the work the day I was born? Another birthday mystery - when did we start saying "XX years old"? I mean, was saying "XX years young" ever in the running? Who makes important decisions like these?

But, if you're going to force pina coladas (thanks, Kristina!) and pineapple-chili margaritas on me... I guess let's celebrate!!

You clearly haven't asked for them, but here are my thoughts on being in Cambodia for a birthday:

The food in Cambodia is some of the best I've had in the world. (I'm being honest here and not over-exaggerating like I know I tend to do). I won't deny that eating something different than Thai food might play into this statement, but I'm still holding my ground - the food in Cambodia was amazing

Marsh and Matt picked the restaurants for my pre-birthday dinner on Feb 2nd and the birthday dinner on Feb 3rd. Ah. Maze. Ing. Amazing. We had pineapple-chili margaritas and tapas at Marum - a restaurant that takes teenagers from orphanages, teaches them how to be waiters or cooks, and helps place them in jobs (this is also the place I ate ant fritters... the rest of the menu was fab though, I promise). The next night, I had a veggie burger that is a force to be reckoned with a Tangram Gardens. In fact, Carlyn / Matt / Jen / and I secretly snuck back on Monday night right before heading to the airport to get a second veggie burger....

Mr. Chaya Kim - our Angkor Wat tour guide - picked us up on my birthday to take us to the floating villages (described in blog post here: http://lifeofathaiheel.blogspot.com/2013/02/angkor-what.html). We liked him so much at the temples on Saturday, that we knew no other tour guide would measure up. Well - we were right. He pulled up to our hotel on my birthday, ready to take us to the villages, with a gift in hand! I now have a pretty sweet print of the mysterious (and kind of risque) Aspera carvings at Angkor Wat - which I obviously had Chaya sign for me (read about the asperas here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architecture_of_Cambodia#Apsara_and_devata). I mean, what a guy. I almost forgot it was my birthday since we've been traveling so much - and the tour guide remembered?! It was a very kind gesture - the only funny part was that the day before when we were walking around Angkor Wat, he told us the mythological asperas were topless in all the carvings, because all the single ladies did not wear shirts until they got married... in an attempt to attract a mate. Hmm.... not sure that a print of a topless carving will fit with my apartment decor....

Carlyn will get you an American-flag-inspired notebook and a sweet chocolate mousse cake. And get the entire restaurant staff out there to clap and sing to you. That girl was just bringing pieces of America right with her to Cambodia (I get the feeling that it's kind of an American thing to have all the waiters clap in a line and sing "happy, happy birthday..")

Tuk Tuks drive slowly and the living is easy. Things just move more slowly here than Bangkok. There's a lazy river that flows through the town, everything is cheaper than in Bangkok, and you can't walk away from a local without them giving you a big smile.