🏖️ I Am Florida Man 🏝️ Hivin' From 'Merica 🩴
I've arrived safely in Florida from Cambodia after short layovers in Singapore, San Fransisco and Chicago on the way to Sarasota.
A Rough & Primitive Arrival ⛺
After 36 hours of flying there is nothing quite like going straight to campsite with no running water at the back of a farm. This is what I chose to do in order to see an American friend I know from my time in Cambodia. He moved back to the USA about 5 years ago, and I was really curious to see how well he was doing and how he re-established himself in 'Merica, and from the looks of things it looks like the USA has not been that friendly to him.
My friend picked me up at the airport, something I was very thankful for because rental cars and/or Uber would've cost $50 just to leave the airport. I knew my friend was living rough at the back of a farm, and I am no stranger to camping and living in very simple surroundings. However, the campsite was very dirty and unhygienic, and my friend hadn't prepared any clean bedding for the mini tent that was full of dog hair and dirt. I didn't get to shower, and had to sleep the first night in some pretty undesirable circumstances.
I woke up quite early in the morning eager to shower and use the farm irrigation system if necessary in order to so. Luckily we solved the shower situation on my 2nd day, and I was able to finally feel clean and a bit refreshed after a long travel. My friend is working on an organic farm outside Sarasota, Florida, and some of the workers were picking veggies at 4:30am around the time I woke up. I waited until sunrise to catch some pics of them working with headlamps in the field.
🐢 Turtle Or Tortoise?
As the morning cool was beginning to disappear, being replaced by a very hot sun, I noticed a turtle/tortoise slowly moving into the field to snag a free all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet. My friend said this little creature comes at the same time every day, and the owner of the farm doesn't chase it away because it doesn't represent much financial loss to support the little guy's dining habits.
I realize I could google it, but since we have a turtle/tortoise expert in ASEAN Hive, @luueetang, perhaps he could tell me the difference between a turtle and a tortoise. Most of the time turtles tuck into their shells when strangers get close, but this one was nearly domesticated, not even afraid of me taking pics because he's been encountering humans on this farm since he/she was born.
Jessica's Organic Farm 👩🌾
The farm my friend works at grows a lot of leafy greens, tomatoes, pumpkin, and squash. There are also bananas, moringa trees, and a few other tropical things that would typically be found in Cambodia. Florida is much further north than Cambodia, and occasionally freezing temps can be seen in the winter, so there are some tropical things that won't grow here due to the potential for a freeze once or twice a year.
My friend went to turn on the sprinklers during the day and I captured a picture of him in the field walking. I can't believe we didn't think to take a photo together, but that is just how things go sometimes. During the afternoon I called my mom that lives only 45 minutes away, and asked her to come pick me up in the evening before the farmer's market closed so she could buy some tomatoes for my stepdad.
Florida Man & Horses 🐎
I put "Florida Man" in the title of this post, and I realize that most of my readers are Southeast Asians and probably aren't familiar with the slang usage of this term. Well, here is what Wikipedia says -
Florida Man is an Internet meme first popularized in 2013, referring to an alleged prevalence of men performing irrational, maniacal, illogical, delusional, insane, and absurd actions in the U.S. state of Florida.
Needless to say that Florida is seen as a rather crazy and delusional state according to many Americans, so much so that "Florida Man" has been memed. The above video I have shared is a perfect example of Florida's absurdity, a man arrested for drugs because of donut glaze found on the floormat of his car.
For the last pic of this post I leave you with an image of the horses and barn on the adjacent property. The barn and horses are not owned by Jessica's Farm, but they were a pleasant site. I used to ride horses when I was young, and I always enjoy seeing these beautiful majestic animals. Okay, that's all for now folks. My mom arrived to get me and I have now been staying at her house for a few days.
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Glad to see you made it back to the US safely! That's a pretty rough first night it looked like! Cool little farm though, and that turtle/tortoise is super cute!
Yes, a rough first night, but I always try and make the best of any circumstances.
We are so glad to have you in Florida with us!!
I had a good time, hope to see you soon again.
Glad you had a safe flight. :)
Even with such setup, you're lucky to have a friend who's willing to pick you up from the airport. It must have been frustrating not to be able to take a shower right away. Anyway, did you bring some laptop with you so you could still work in Hive right there?
It was nice to see an old friend I had known from Cambodia. The first hot shower was a life saver though, and I brought my mini pc so I can keep Hivin' while I'm here.
I got the Florida idea from a computer game.
That back of the farm view actually reminds me of Suriname more than Cambodia though.
Haha, even the video games know of Florida's stupidity. Parts of Florida are much like Suriname, but the whole state of Florida seems to be made from sand even if nowhere near the beach. I am surprised folks can grow anything at all down there.
So glad to know that you arrived there safe and sound. There's no doubt that you can overcome any circumstances there 🤗 Be safe always.
Thank you for these kind words. Yes, in order to maintain these relationships I must travel to the USA because nobody is ever coming to Cambodia, I had to accept that long ago.
Awww, there you are. I see that Florida is hot. Well, it is a very good place to live since it is like you are just in Cambodia my friend. I wonder where is Monkey B. Best regards to your beautiful family and have safe travels.
It is very similar to Cambodia, but the winters are a bit cold in Florida. Thank you for stopping by my friend, sorry for the late reply, I've been very busy since arriving.
That would be a nightmare for me to not be able to get clean after a long haul flight. I don't know what it is about flights that make us so dirty but for me, even short flights result in me feeling more dirty than if i had exercised.
I just started watching a show called "Florida Man" and am very familiar with the meme culture surrounding that. I have a few friends that live down there and yes, they just do things differently in Florida but for my friends, they kind of seem to appreciate how different it is compared to the rather rigid laws of other parts of the US. I have only ever spent a few days in the state on drunken beach trips to Daytona Beach so of course I have fond and expensive memories of Florida.
There have been a few occasions where I knew ahead of time we were going to be stranded at an airport or other travel hold-up without hygiene access, so I have become a master of taking a hot rag bath in the bathroom stall of the airplanes while in flight. Had I known this situation in advance, I would've definitely hot-ragged it and changed clothes before getting off the plane.
Florida is indeed a strange place, and although I've never called it home, I become dangerously close to that more than once.
I enjoyed the time I spent in Florida. I think it is probably like anywhere, it is as crazy or as docile as you want to make it.
Hi hi.. wow.. it's great to see the US again and that tortoise must be a couple of years old. He's living the life. 🙏🙏🙏 My friend in Brunei is a rich guy due to his family being in the farming business. I enjoyed reading your post. Though it's pretty tough to not be able to shower.
I had to google for the tortoise's name hahaha.. the Gopher tortoise. I intially looked at it and thought it was a pancake but then i had to be sure.
The gopher tortoise, see the expert chimed in with a quick google search 😉. The other day I found a baby alligator snapping turtle at my dad's house, smaller than the palm of my hand.