I wasn’t too excited about getting up at 4am to go tour a Buddhist temple. I had no clue the history of Angkor Wat, and my stomache was so ill it needed more sleep.
Walking behind hundreds of foreigners up several steps we stumbled through the dark. We were bombarded by venders following us, begging for us to buy food at booth number two, “Lady, drink coffee. Come to my booth. You look hungry.”
Even as we walked towards Angkor wat temple and stopped in front of the pond we had men offering red chairs for $1. We opted to stand and wait patiently for the sun to set. Though the pond was dirty it held 4 beautiful pink flowers. You could see a reflection of the white horse in the water. He stole everyone’s attention. Flies kissed our legs and arms as we impatiently awaited the sunrise. After a one hour wait, the moon decided to go to another country and the sun slowly sneaked out from behind the temple.
Walking from temple to temple, the place was so diverse with tourist from many nations. I kept singing, “People from every nation and tongue, from generation to generation, we worship you.”
It’s always a sight for sore eyes when people walk past me pointing and laughing so nervously, “Look. She’s not only American. SHE’S BLACK.” It’s always the same shocked, surprised ecstatic reaction I get from people. Sometimes I just want to jump in front of their camera and take a photo with them so they can have a remembrance of the day.
I’ve gone to China and heard, “You look like chocolate” but today beat it all. While I was being serenaded by the man selling flutes,
the persistent girl repeating “5 bracelets for $1”, the woman throwing pants in my face bargaining, “$10, $7, okay $5”, two women fighting over whose water bottle I should buy, one stuck out.
One young kid followed me saying, “Michelle Obama.” I went into the bathroom and came out; his song was still, “Michelle Obama you’re so beautiful.” He continued to call me Michelle Obama all the way to the tuk tuk while a young girl told my teammate she was the daughter of Barack Obama. HA! The cute little boy was attempting to sell me a fan for $1. I really didn’t want a fan and I wasn’t going to get one just because he’s calling me Michelle Obama.
“I don’t want one. Thank you.”
“Michelle Obama, do you have a husband.”
“No.”
“Do you know why?”
“Why don’t I have a husband?”
“Because you won’t buy a fan.” Dang. The kid almost had me at Obama but when he said I don’t have a husband because I wouldn’t buy a fan, I just had to whip out money for him.
