Saturday 13 November 2010

But different ...

I missed Stephane:  it's 730 pm by the time I leave my hostel. I hop on my yellow bicycle and head to the centre anyway. This is warm evening and the cycle cools me down nicely.

A smiley cyclist slowly overtakes me. He turns to say hallo and I respond. The back of his different reads' but different...'. I am compelled to speak to him and say:  'Of you course you are different, you are Barrang'. He laughs out loud , slows down to cycle with me and asks: 'What is Barrang?'.

I know this accent, I know these features. I explain the meaning of Barrang and then ask him where he is from.

'Greece' he replies enhusiastically.

I respond :

'Den mou kaneis plaka etsi;, which means 'you are not joking are you ?' in Greek. The man almost falls from his bike, staring at me incredulously.

Yiannis is from Serres , near where I am from. He is here working on the location , seeting and production of a film. He has been here for two months loving it and he will be off in a couple of months. He tells me that in the past 24 hours he has met the only two Greeks he has seen in Cambodia.We are both Greek girls from who have or still lived in the UK.  Like me he was convinced that Cambodia is not a Greek people destination at all.

We exchange contact details and agree to meet for a coffee Monday morning.

What are the chances?

1 comment:

  1. Hahhahahaha! We are everywhere, truly everywhere! I salute the 3 Greeks in Cambodia!

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