Mouse Loves Rice

The seven hour early morning bus ride from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh got derailed as soon as it started. At one of the pickup points, four female backpackers in their 20s jumped in with their heavy packs, and one of them asked the driver, "Can we wait for my boyfriend? He's getting money at the bank". The driver of course didn't understand much English and gestured frantically to indicate that, "No, you stupid tourist, we can't wait for your boyfriend who is at the bank because we're on a busy road and have to keep moving or else the police will give me a ticket". Thus, the bus rolled along for about a mile or so, all the while the girls were screaming over and over, "Stop the bus! Stop the bus!", much to the amusement of passengers sitting in front (among them yours truly).

In truth, I was amused by their heavy accent whose origin was yet-to-be-determined more than anything else. Things got ugly though, as the girls starting hurling invectives at the poor driver - suffice it to say the English-speaking tourists onboard all cringed in horror and everyone speculated as to where exactly these stupid bitches were from. At last glimpses were caught of their passports and the word "Irish" became a dirty word for the rest of the bus ride. And yes, the (bleeping) Irish boyfriend eventually caught up to the bus.

Sitting near the front of the bus has its perks, watching the onboard entertainment being one of them. (Another is disembarking first. Can't think of anything else). Things didn't start out promising. A couple of songs from Disney movies - one from Mulan (ugh), the other from Lion King perhaps. Just when I was about to concentrate on my Khmer phrase book, the next song caught my attention - a cartoon video accompanied by a simple catchy ballad with lyrics of dubious grammatical accuracy, and the chorus led off by the immortal line, "I love you, loving you, even as the mouse loves the rice". I wasn't the only one who got a kick out of it, as the other passengers seated nearby roared in laughter. Isn't this the perfect pick up line?! ;-D Don't smirk, but the song is quite addictive - check out the Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Khmer, Vietnamese, and Korean versions, and a huge hit in Asia. Most bizarre of all is the video of a family vacation in Utah with the song playing in the background, with the Dad singing in Lao no less!! And for the younger party-going set, a rousing club remix. Or for mellow types, enjoy this acoustic guitar rendition, and an "unplugged" set by an aspiring singer. Ah, these rice lovers!

Sadly, it all went down the drain after "Mouse Loves Rice". The rest of the videos were of a chubby Tina Turner look-alike singing Thai or Vietnamese pop songs accompanied by an ensemble of dancers, but it was gibberish to me. After a couple hours of this tortuous wailing, the passengers clamored for the TV to be turned off and the driver, sensing unrest brewing, had mercy on us and did so promptly.