March 15th 2025, Siem Reap, Cambodia

Welcome to Siem Reap, the gateway to the celestial city of Angkor, the largest religious monument on the planet. I will have ample time to learn about Angkor and tell you about it here. For now I want to talk about last night and today. Last night I went to Shabbat diner at Chabad of Phnom Penh. The rabbi told me to sit at the English speaking table for it to be easier for me. The English speaking table consisted of A Canadian man in his late 60s, an American woman in her late 50s, and a danish guy in his late 40s. I was actually really surprised about all the great conversations we had, way more interesting and deep than sitting with 20 year old Israeli backpackers. So let us go character by character. The Canadian man currently lives in Kep Cambodia, retired and taking it slow. The most surprising thing was he used to live in Palm Harbor Florida for 9 years! This is where I went to high school and properly live. He travelled around the world to over 50 countries and had international businesses. He sold insoles to shoes, yarn and more. He loved the jibber jabber but he gave some good insights into life. When you walk outside your door opportunities come at you every day. 1 in a million stick. He never planned any of his businesses, just was open to opportunities that came his way. He said stay healthy, everything else is bullshit. Finally he mentioned how people all across the world are essentially the same. Food, water, shelter, clothes and a better future for their children is what everyone wants. People will go to extreme lengths to ensure a better future for their children The older American women hailed from New York. She lives in Phnom Penh retired as well. She worked for USAID all across the globe, in Senegal and other cool places. She retired from USAID just before Trump cancelled worldwide funding. She said how her coworkers all lost their jobs and were told to return to the US. It was really cool to see older North American people so energetic and adventurous and well travelled. Lastly the Danish guy was pretty interesting. He lives in Sweden but is Danish. He just found out his father is Jewish and got connected with Chabad. He is traveling around Asia to see where he could retire. He likes Chiang Mai because they have a pickleball community. The guy was a little odd but had some good topics to chat about. We talked about various forms of renewable energy, how nuclear is obviously the best. We discussed which country will implement UBI first. I said UAE. I think the UAE will pioneer futuristic economics and policies. We also talked AI and he gave some weird ideas. Overall I really enjoyed talking to these older people. I believe I have mentioned I actually typically enjoy talking to them rather than people my age due to the depth and the amount I can learn. Ok so today I took a 6 hour bus to Siem Reap. It seems like a cool city with lots to explore other than the temples. I met a young Korean kid about 12 years old and maybe his older brother at the sauna today. The young Korean boy told me I was very handsome. At first I thought it was weird but I guess it's just a cultural difference. When I was in Korea 2 years ago a Korean guy also told me I was handsome in the sauna too! I have only been told I am handsome by guys from Korea, and one guy from lao. That made me think, should guy friends compliment their guy friends for being handsome more in the west? Anyway these Koreans were cool and are in Siem Reap for 4 months doing a wake boarding camp. The older guy is a professional wakeboarder. I am considering going to the cable park tomorrow. Anyway I am tired, I was not planning to write today but there is always something worth sharing!