I will probably go up and give them a hug. For those of you that don’t know what I am talking about, expat is short for expatriate, which is a person who resides in a country other than the one that they hail from. We have met people from the US, UK, Hungary, Russia, Greece, Malaysia, Australia, Germany and more. Siem Reap in particular has quite a few and overall Cambodia seems to have a particularly large number of them here.
Many are many have left home to start NGOs or work for NGOs. Others have arrived to start a bar or restaurant in an exotic place. In the end the majority of them, it seems, have chosen this life because they are looking for a little adventure and more simple life. As of now, we have not met a single one that had anything less than a terrific attitude.
In Siem Reap we met Mac and Trixie, some true hippies from Britain that now reside in SR running a bar they opened called The Funky Monkey. We have now adopted one of their monkeys and he will be traveling around the world with us. Their bar in SR has the walls pasted with old magazine cutouts and trinkets and record album covers from all over the world. Their vocabulary is sprinkled with the word "groovy" in just about every sentence they conjure up, and well placed I might add.
So what is a true hippie? As quoted in Wikipedia, "Hippies opposed political and social orthodoxy, choosing a gentle and nondoctrinaire ideology that favored peace, love, and personal freedom, perhaps best epitomized by The Beatles‘ song "All You Need is Love". I am talking about those few who really live to have a wonderful time and follow their dreams. They are not like the hippies of today sporting dread locks while rambling on about how open minded they are (even though many of them are more on the stuck than your average businessman). Quite simply Mac and Trixie are just open minded, giving and full of zest for life. Any beers or food we had at their bar was generally on the house. We did not go more than a few moments without them introducing us to more of their friends that might be able to help us out on our journey. A couple of late nights with Mac and I ended up nothing short of good ideas for things to do with my life. He certainly is a good source of info on how to be happy, as I don’t think that I ever caught him or his self proclaimed "love of his life" Trixie not smiling. The two of them will be happy for years to come together.
The number of friends we made in Siem Reap alone would take thousands of words just to introduce the stories of their generosity. So in the nature of keeping this blog from taking up your entire day, I will continue on to the newest and most friendly of the expats we have met recently.
The last few nights we have spent our evenings eating at a place here in Sihanoukville called Angelo’s. We first found this restaurant when we arrived late on Tuesday hungry while walking down the main street. Due to the time, most of the restaurants were starting to die down, but then we smelled something enticing. Down the street ahead of us was a place named Angelo’s with a huge BBQ out front on the street. The smell of the BBQ had us sold, so we went inside.
Immediately we were greeted by "Jimmy the Greek" as we call him now. We of course assumed that he was Angelo, but later learned that his brother is Angelo who now resides in California. Jimmy is the proud new owner of his brother’s establishment and is doing a fine job of running the joint. 
He formerly owned a place in Thailand that was destroyed by the Tsunami and now calls Cambodia home. We ate his BBQ, which is some of the best we have had in the world. Out of our four nights in town we will have eaten there three of them because not only is the BBQ amazing the ambiance is as well.
With his wonderfully friendly Thai wife, her unbelievably cute puppy that runs all over the place making everyone laugh, and Jimmy’s true hospitality, I cannot remember another time on the road having such a great meal. The pride he has for the food requires him to only serve what he can import from Phnom Pehn as the local markets are not up to his standard. Other restaurateurs could learn from the way he runs his place. Far away from home a delicious slab of the most tender ribs can always lead to a smile and a $7 price tag for a plate full of world class food is something that I can live with.
People like Jimmy, Mac, Trixie and the rest of these dreamers around the world called expats are a true inspiration. When you have a chance, talk to the foreign owner of a restaurant down in your town or while on holiday make a point to talk to the owner of an establishment you enjoy. All around the world you can find these interesting people and they are always ready to tell you a story, so just sit down at their bar and give them a few minutes, or probably more like a few hours. Hats off to all of you that are making your dreams into realities with your unique establishments around the world. I will listen to your stories anytime.
