Sleeping in the Capital

Compared to where we stayed in Kep, our housing in Phnom Penh was ...eh... a let down. We stayed at the Indochina Angkor Guesthouse. We arrived, checked in, and were shown to our rooms. I inquired about a crib for Peter. There were 2 reasons we chose this guesthouse. #1- proximity to the Royal Palace. #2- the website said they had cribs that were available upon request, free of charge. As much as I love Peter, I do not love sharing a bed with him. He is very mobile in his sleep and gets very mad when I won't let him roll over my face or fall of the bed, and I can't stand his little kicky feet in my side. It is better if we sleep separate. So, I asked if we could get the crib, which, when I booked the place, I made a note of in the special requests area that we would be needing it. The man who had taken us to our rooms gave me a quizzical look and told me they did not have cribs, and in fact, this was the first time they had ever had a baby stay in their guesthouse. He also informed me that we could not even have an extra bed because it wouldn't fit in the room. What?! Anger. But, what do you do? At least the bed was in the corner of the room, so we could put Peter beside the wall so only one of us gets the feet. 

The second thing that was less than ideal were the neighbors of the guesthouse. We didn't realize it until nighttime, but we were next to a bar, and another sketchy place. There was a steady bass beat playing well into the night. Luckily we were tired enough we fell asleep pretty quick.

The guesthouse was really close to the Royal Palace as well as lots of restaurants, which was a plus. The staff was helpful in getting us boat tickets for the next days journey to Siem Reap, also nice. But it was quite a feat to get the guy at the front desk to understand what we needed and to confirm we had tickets. His English was not too hot and our Khmer is non existent. Good times.

 Maybe if we didn't have a kid we would have liked the place more, but there just wasn't the great feeling that we had just come from in Kep. There wasn't a homeyness or warmth to the place. It was just a place to sleep. If we did it again, I'd probably choose a different place, and call ahead to see if they had a crib. 

On to some pictures- 

There was a cool shrine in the waiting/front desk area. Peter loved it. There was some sort of god and there was incense, money, and flowers as gifts to it. There was also the little tree with the red papers on it. This was for Chinese New Year. The tree had some sort of citrus fruits- tangerines?- and the red papers are for good fortune (I think). Peter also loved the tree and would try to pull the little fruits off.

One of the workers who would have kept Peter if we let her.

This was our room. Peter is showing off his climbing off bed skills.

Oh yeah, also, our room was on the 3rd floor. Three floors of really steep stairs some of the stairs were not totally level either, which made the journey a little interesting each time. This picture is taken from Jonathan's perspective looking down.

And looking up- I think there were only 4 floors total. There were 2-3 rooms on each level. Also, the second level had red lights along the walls outside the room....red light district? Sketchy. Yeah, we wouldn't stay there again.

Babies Playing with Baby

We had lots of great interactions with the people of Cambodia. One of my favorites happened while we were walking home from eating frozen yogurt. There is a nice river-walk that runs between the road and the river. There are 2 sidewalks and between the sidewalks is a stretch of grass with some flowers, trees and bushes. There were little walkways every so often that connected the 2 sidewalks, similar to a ladder, with the empty spaces in the ladder being the grassy areas. 

We sat down by the river for a little bit, but Peter wasn't too interested in sitting. The boy has to move. So, Jonathan went walking with Peter and helped him explore the grass and plants while the ladies talked. Similar to China, Peter attracts lots of attention because he is small and cute and has a head full of white blond hair. Living and traveling in a country where the dominate hair color is black or dark dark brown, Peter sticks out a bit. The old ladies would marvel at him and try to get him to smile, other people would try to get his attention, sometimes people would touch him. But on this day, he got the attention of the little ones. 

I looked up to see where Peter and Jonathan were, and they were in the middle of the grassy area closest to us. Then, when I looked back a minute or two later, they were surrounded by four little girls  who decided they needed to hold Peter and make him happy. The oldest was probably about 8 or 9 years old, and the youngest was probably 3. They had little bracelets and things that they were selling on the streets, but they had abandoned their things on the ground because they were completely entranced by Peter. Jonathan let one of the girls hold him, but then the other one tried to pull him away because she thought it was her turn, then the littlest one got in the mix too! Jonathan handled it great, he told them they had to sit down if they wanted to hold him and they had to wait for their turn. They all sat down...for about 30 seconds. They were up and down and going going going. These little ones could sit still about as long as Peter could. At one point, the littlest one sat down for her turn to hold the baby, but then she decided she needed to stand up with him, she wasn't too much bigger than he is, and was a little unsteady getting up....that's when the concern for Peter's safety red flagged the situation and I went over to help Jonathan keep them calm and make sure Peter was staying on the ground. 

These girls, although very enthusiastic, were adorable. The oldest one kept telling us that she helped her mom with the baby all the time. You could tell she knew how to take care of little ones, she held him on her hip like a pro. They weren't super great at being patient and waiting their turn, but they were so loving. The littlest one caught me taking the above picture and insisted that I show it to her, then she took a picture with the camera. The oldest one spoke English pretty good. The other ones didn't have as good a vocabulary, but kept saying how great Peter was. 

For the bit of time that they were sitting nicely. You can see some of the things they were selling in the green basket. They were so talkative and very open kids. Some of their friends came over to see Peter and I don't know how it happened, but at one point, they started singing the ABC's song. My favorite part was L M N O P. It was such a jumbled mess of sounds. They also sang all the verses of "If You're Happy and You Know It." They were so proud of themselves for being able to sing those songs to us.

But, as it was late, and Peter had only had one really good nap, he soon had enough of the children fawning over him, poking and grabbing him. He got really clingy for mom and dad and if the other kids got too close he would start to cry. I was impressed how long he was okay with them playing with him.

We attempted to get a group picture with all the kids, there were 7 of them gathered by the time we called it a night. But they were impossible to get to stand still, and once Peter was close to them, they would forget that they were taking a picture and would just try to hold him again which would make him cry. Also, the little girl in the red in the above picture has her bracelets over her shoulder that she was trying to sell before Peter distracted her. Also, one of the boys who came up approached me and shot me in the leg with his rubber band gun- which was made of Styrofoam. As soon as it hit me he exclaimed, "Ouch!" and looked at me with eyes that were uncertain if I was going to be mad or reprimand him. HA! I don't know why he was saying ouch, it didn't even hit him. 

It was interesting to interact with these kids. They were really sweet and cuddly. One of them kept hanging on my back and singing. The others would sit by Jonathan and loved playing with Peter. But then you realized that normally these kids would be trying to get anyone who passed by them to buy some small little thing, and those kids are crazy persuasive. I wonder if their families were desperate for money, or if, like some of the gypsy families in Russia, they were doing great because they acted poor and made their kids try to get money. Either way, I felt bad for these kids. They should be at home themselves getting ready for bed. Their parents should be cuddling them and kissing them goodnight. I don't know what their lives are like beyond the small interaction we had with them, but I hope that these kids have a good life. Maybe they can use their skills and set up their own business someday. Maybe they will use their people skills and find a place in the business world where they can find great success so their own kids don't have to sell things on the streets. 

I am grateful to have more than enough money so that our family is taken care of. Peter will not have to sell little things on the streets- although if he wants to have a lemonade stand or a paper route, I will totally encourage that. I am grateful though to be financially stable so that we could have this great chance to live in China and travel to Cambodia and see a life that is so different from our own. Traveling and seeing different ways of life has a way of stretching you. You become aware of different things, of a life outside of your own problems. You gain a better perspective on life. Traveling has always helped me look outwards more and helps me to realize what things are important and what things to let go of. I'm glad we used our money to travel and learn. We are by no means rich, but I feel like the Lord has taken care of us so we always have what we need and a little more. I am grateful we met those kids. Even if it did mean Peter was crying at the end of the night, I learned a lot from that night. Those kids were neat.

Running Amok

Dinner time rolled along and we wanted to go somewhere and get some typical Khmer food. There were tons of restaurants by where we were staying, so it wasn't too hard to find a place that looked good. We got there in time to beat the crowds of people, so we got a table and got some food.

Peter loved the straws and walking all around. Jonathan kept him busy walking around and letting everyone love his blond hair and walking skills, until the food came, and then Peter was passed between restaurant employees until we were done eating. 

Everyone's food. I had the rice and the red dish- it was chicken tikka masala, which isn't traditional Cambodian food, but it was something we were told wouldn't be too spicy, so Peter could eat it too. Turns out this was not exactly true. It was pretty spicy. So, Peter ate lots of rice that night. Jonathan got the one in the middle. It is called Amok and it a popular Khmer dish. It's like a curry with egg, coconut milk, typically fish, and lots of herbs and flavors, all cooked in a banana leaf. Jonathan liked it as did I. Leigh got some noodles and vegetables. Hers was also pretty tasty.  

Close up of the traditional Khmer dish- Amok.

We got a picture with the staff who loved Peter. 

This is actually from earlier in the day, walking around, but I like that it shows just a normal part of Cambodia, and not just the fancy buildings.

After dinner we found frozen yogurt! Ahhhhh! It was delicious, and just like the yogurt places in Provo and I'm sure other places.You choose the flavor and get as much as you want and then put on whatever toppings you want. Then you pay by weight. I got chocolate and original tart with kiwi, banana and dragon fruit. I loved it. I wish that frozen yogurt places could make their way to Nanjing. Mmmmmm.

Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda of Phnom Penh

To me, some of the most remarkable things in Phnom Penh were the buildings. Most of the building were just normal looking, a couple of stories tall, made of cement, glass windows, regular store fronts, hotels and restaurants. But then sprinkled around would be these incredible looking structures with intricate carvings, intricate gold work and beautiful spires. 

After we checked in to our place, Leigh went to find a doctor and we took a nap...which turned into a long long nap. We were planning on going to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda around 3, when we assumed Leigh would be back from the doctor and we were sure to be awake by then. Around 4pm, Leigh knocked on our door, which woke us from our slumber, and she told us she was going to stay home for this excursion. Her bum knee was in pain from being cleaned out at the doctor, so she was going to take it easy. So we put Peter in the pack and headed out. We asked the front desk how to get to the Royal Palace and they pointed in direction and told us to walk about 10 minutes and then we'd see it. We walked for about 3 minutes and turned the corner and saw this. My first exclamation to Jonathan was, "10 minutes nothing! That is amazing!"

We walked into the area and saw cool things like this. We saw some monks, but very few other people. There wasn't a place to buy tickets and we started to be confused. Maybe this wasn't the palace....where are we? We never really figured out where we were, but it was cool looking.

There was a gate around the complex we had entered. It was a cool gate. We think we may have been in a monk school. 

So we continued our walk down the sidewalk, and saw some more orange robed monks.

A came across a huge park area, with many pigeons. There was a cool little shrine at the other side of the park.

We did end up finding the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. They are in the same complex. We got to the ticket booth to enter and saw the ticket price. Gah. It was more than I really wanted to spend, especially because the complex closed at 5.30, and as it was already 4.45, we weren't going to have a lot of time. Was it worth it? Should we pay the money? I looked at Jonathan and his reply was, "Babe, if you want to see it, let's just pay. If you want to see it, then I want to see it, and no matter the price it's worth it." Good man, that's why I married this guy. So, we went, quickly, so we could make the best of it!

The inside of the palace and pagoda were ok, I wasn't super impressed by them. There was just one big room in each that you could walk through and it was like a museum with different things set out that were important. You had to take your shoes off to walk though, which was neat, but I don't remember anything really standing out inside the buildings. But outside...that was the neat part.

There were amazing garden areas.

Intricate iron work on the gates.

Cool architecture at every turn.

It wasn't a huge area to walk through, which was good because I didn't feel rushed as we made our way though, but there were enough interesting things to see that it held my attention in a great way.

Jonathan and Peter in front of a Buddha statue. 

The Silver Pagoda and some of the greenery. I was expecting the pagoda to be more round...and more silver. It was neither, but it was still beautiful.

The wall surrounding the complex had a huge mural painted on one section of it. There were pictures of wars and normal everyday life, in the above picture, they are dancing. 

It was a huge mural and it was beauty.

The carvings were spectacular, so much teeny detail.

Elephant museum, it had lots of the carriers that people (the king/royals) would sit in to ride atop an elephant.

This wasn't part of the palace complex, I think it was a government building, but it is neat looking.

I loved the buildings of Phnom Penh. They had a look that I've not seen before in any of my travels. They were remarkable. I'm glad we spent the money and walked around the complex and saw the palace and pagoda. It was a nice quiet outing. Since it was towards the end of the day there were fewer people there and the sun wasn't directly overhead. I may have been nice to have a bit more time, but I think we did just fine with our 40 minutes. Time well spent.

Going to the Capital

After our time in Kep was over (we were there Monday night and Tuesday all day), it was time to go to Phnom Pehn. We woke up early due to the one hour difference between Cambodia and China, and had everything ready to go in no time. We ate breakfast at the guesthouse, I had a delicious omelet that I would eat again in a heartbeat. We waited a bit for the bus at the guesthouse. Peter walked around everywhere, which I hoped would get all his wiggles out.

The bus arrived and we got our seats- the very very back of the bus. There were 5 seats and 3 of us (4 including Peter). It stayed like this for about 30-45 minutes into the ride, and by then, all the seats were full. It was about a 4 hour bus ride. Peter begrudgingly took two naps during this ride.

 The main things I remember about this bus ride are, it was dusty, the roads are full of pot holes, there were times that I felt like we were going to go off the road or force another car off the road. The dust I remember quite vividly in two places, once as we were driving, any time a vehicle passed us, we could not see the road for a moment because of the cloud of dust the passing vehicle kicked up. Another place was an area full of plant growth but it was all a shade of brown- not from lack of water, but from the dust on the leaves of the vegetation. I wanted to just hose everything down to get the color back. In the bus, I also remember the purple. The curtains were purple and the seats were purple. There was also purple fringe hanging above the windows. So lovely.

We did not go very fast because of the condition of the roads. I'd say probably a fourth to a third of the roads we drove on were gravel and bumpy. There was one area where they were putting a bridge in because the road gets washed out during the rainy seasons. We stopped and waited for a number of big trucks to go and then we went across. There were no construction workers holding signs telling us when to go or stop, people just took turns and let bigger vehicles go first. 

We made Peter wear Leigh's hat. We think he's adorable.

Overall, he did great on this leg of the journey, but when he did cry, it was loud, painful, he would refuse anything we tried and made me feel bad for everyone on the bus. He has a very strong desire to have things a certain way, and sometimes when he doesn't get his way he gets so mad. There was another little boy on the bus, probably 2.5 years old, I think his family was French. Sometimes Peter would get distracted by him and be happy and vice versa.

I remember driving through various little villages along the way. There were always tons of people milling around. The building were small, one or two story, and many looked like they weren't the most stable. There were other bigger concrete buildings throughout that looked more stable, but still had an old, used feeling to them. Many of the stores were very small, with most of what they sold on display in a space the size of our garage in Provo. We saw lots of small shrines outside of shops or in front of homes. Sometimes we saw amazing architecture of a temple or school or big fields of plants, sometimes we'd see some cows. We saw lots of scooters, bikes and people walking and animals walking about. I remember feeling that I need to be more grateful for the home I was raised in as well as the home I have now- both our apartment here in China as well as where we lived in Provo. We have so much compared to so many of the people we were driving past. Sometimes we forget how much we have because we see people who have more, and we forget that what we have is awesome. Even if it's a small space, or the color of the walls is obnoxious or the house layout isn't what you want, it's still fantastic. Trust me.

After 4 hours in the bus, we arrived in Phnom Pehn, excited to see what this city had in store for us.

Spider

As much as I loved Kep- the beaches, the weather, the trees, the bike rides, the monkeys... there was one thing that slightly tainted that part of the trip for me. We had just gotten back to our bungalow, our second and last night there. I remember just a couple of hours earlier, I had dreamily told Jonathan that I could live in this city. It was so peaceful and quiet. This trip was just the break we needed from city life in China. Then, Jonathan unlocked the door, and we went in to our quaint little room and Jonathan turned on the light. 

What occurred next was a blur. I looked down, saw a spider the size of my hand (I'm sure it wasn't really that big, but at that instant it was a behemoth)...on the ground...inches from my foot. So, I did what any human being would do, I dropped my bag, screamed like a child, pushed my dear husband (who was holding our small son) out of the way, and ran to the far side of the room (which was about 3 feet away and which I desperately needed to be much further away at that moment.). I took gulps of air, and looked at my husband in terror and then quickly looked to the ground. I needed to know where the beast had gone so I could have peace of mind that it wasn't on me. I saw it, crouched against the wall. Jonathan exclaimed, "What's wrong?! What happened?!" I pointed, "Giant spider. Kill it. Please." Jonathan handed me the baby, who naturally wanted to get to the ground and run around, but I kept the squirming child off the ground because I didn't want him to be eaten. Jonathan threw a shoe at the spider, tragically missing him, but quickly recovered, grabbed the shoe again and squashed the spider. 

Sidenote: I don't believe we should kill all spiders. I recognize they provide much good for the world, but if they come in my house and creep up on me, then they are free game.

Jonathan got a tissue and disposed of the spider- the thought of it still makes me squirm. I made Jonathan check the entire room, with the flashlight, to make sure no other creepy crawlers were hiding. I then stated the obvious, "Jonathan we can't live here anymore." I guess we can cross Kep off the list. I fell asleep that night nervous that I'd wake up to another beast on the mosquito net or on my face or something, nothing of that sort occurred, thankfully. 

Also, another tragedy occurred due the the spider. When I dropped the bag I was holding, the jar holding our bit of Cambodian sand and water shattered. Jonathan started a tradition of collecting just a bit of sand and ocean water from any beach he goes to. We have one from Taiwan, when Jonathan was a missionary there, one from Carolina beach, when we were dating, one from Ventura, where we went on our honeymoon, and one from the Outer Banks of NC, on a visit to my family. So, we had collected some sand and water for this trip, but then I destroyed it, and we didn't have time to get more. So, I guess we will have to go back to Kep sometime, we'll just check better before I go into the room.

Sleeping Like a Baby

Just a note about Peter during our travels through Cambodia.

Peter was one of the best travelers I could have imagined for this trip. He was a champ. We slept in 4 different places over the course of 6 nights. We traveled by plane, boat, car, bus and train. He had different people wanting to hold or play with him everywhere we went. He had no normal schedule and lots of different foods. He didn't have his crib for any naps, so he slept on all the modes of transportation or in his carrier attached to mom or dad on the go.

Through all of this, he was his happy baby self about 90% of the time. He would cry when we wouldn't let him down to crawl on the bus floor or after we'd been on the boat for 4+ hours, but I was cranky by that time too. He did a fantastic job adjusting to everything that was thrown at him.

The second night in Kep- after riding bikes, playing in the sand and water, trying crab and other foods, we got back, took a cold shower...no hot water...Peter hated that shower (so did I), Peter and I went back to the room while Jonathan showered. I set Peter on the bed, gave him his binky and blanket, and then turned around to find the phone's power cord. I was looking for it for about ten seconds and when I turned around I found this.

Totally out.

Traveling is a tough life. 

Crab Dinner

Since Kep is known for its crab market, we had to stop by and check it out. It was neat to watch people out in the bay catching crabs and walking past vendors grilling up different kinds of fish. It was a very different atmosphere then other markets I've been too. Everyone here seemed to know each other. It was a very friendly environment. Maybe that is more just how Cambodia is, or maybe it was just small town life. Either way, it was neat.

I stole this picture from Leigh (thanks). There are people getting crabs out of the traps on the pier, and doing something with the traps in the water. 

Not what usually comes to mind when I hear "fish-sticks for dinner"

Very convenient fast food. Grab and go. 

Same area as the first picture, just later in the day as the tide has gone out.

People out doing their thing.

I like the crab traps in the foreground of this one.

The sunset just got prettier and prettier as it went.

And since we were in a town known for its crabs, it only made sense to have dinner at one of the restaurants by the market. They seemed to all have pretty much the same menu, so we went with one that had been recommended by the man who was running the guesthouse we were staying at. 

At the restaurant.

Dinner time! Jonathan's is on the left, and mine is on the right. One of the coolest things about this dinner was that we ordered our food, and then a woman took a bag and walked out into the water to one of the crab traps, grabbed some crabs and brought them back. Fresh crab at its freshest. One of my least favorite things about this dinner is my lack of opening crab skills. The meat I ate was great, but it was more work than I wanted to put into my meal. I also wish there had been more vegetables with the crab. The sauce it was cooked in was delicious, and I ate all the rice with the sauce.

Sunset with the babe. It was beautiful to watch the sun go down as we waited for dinner. Such beautiful colors in the sky. Overall, this dinner was good. I would probably rate it higher if I was a crab opening expert. At one point in the meal, one of the restaurant staff came over and asked if we knew how to eat crab. We confessed that we did not, so she showed us how. Her skill amazed me. She had big chunks of crab out of the shell in no time, just snap snap snap- here's your crab. As I watched her I remember thinking, "Yeah, I can do that. Not too hard." Then she left and I tried...quite unsuccessfully A part of me really wanted to just ask her to stay and get all my crab meat out, but I didn't. It was a good experience though, and I'm glad we ate there.

Also, just like in China, there is a built in child care when we eat out. Sure enough, one of the workers came and took Peter away, to show him off to all her friends. And, just like in China, this made me pretty nervous when they walked out of my range of vision, but Leigh did an awesome job keeping an eye on him- she had a better seat to see him, and jumped up the second they turned the corner- busted knee and all. They weren't stealing Peter, just showing him off to a friend next door. They brought him back as soon as one of us was done eating. This will never cease to shock me though, that people feel like it is totally fine to just walk around with our baby and to leave our eyesight. But, it is nice (when I can still see them), when someone holds and entertains Peter while we eat.