19October 2025: Siem Reap, Cambodia: Obese Americans with Fanny Packs (Ozempic People)
Travelling is primarily observational. Churches, monuments, cuisine, archaeological sites, topography and people. The majority of Americans are obese and benefit from the current vogue word “inclusion”. Obese Americans in fanny packs lolling through Sofitel caught my eye as a bizarre site. Throughout my Asian travels few obese people are seen except for American tourists. You can see hefty Americans en masse in the United States but suddenly to encounter a passle of them in Cambodia rather makes them “stick out”! I almost thought some of the hotel staff saw them as a “tourist attraction”!
It was bizarre to see twenty or so obese couples albeit for one very ill looking fellow. My guess from reading the activity board is they are part of the Viking Cruise clan. Gaudy attire, baseball hats and fanny packs! One of the reasons I avoid Times Square in New York are the hordes of rotund Midwestern Americans mouths agape staring up in the air excitedly gawking about and pointing, snapping photos to prove they were in Times Square.
These folks speak too loudly and hang out in a pack. Even in the sophisticated Champagne Bar at the hotel they are overly casually attired almost shouting, drinking beer, wearing baseball caps and looking like beings from a different planet. Obese in Boston is vastly different from obese in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Sort of like the usual versus the exceptional.
At breakfast their plates are piled high with pancakes, toast, bacon, scrambled eggs, orange juice and American coffee. Are we at an IHop? All avoided local fruits and Asian dishes. Why leave the ship?
One streamer of an afternoon I headed to the swimming pool where the tubby gang was bobbing in the pool and drinking cold beer. I was wearing a gaudy Uniqlo Keith Haring frog themed t-shirt and caused a stir with open mouthed stares. Was it my lithe physique (dream on) or my bright green and white frogger?
A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity 