The MAG's Cambodian Adventure: Fried cockraches, the floating village and Miss Chinda

This will probably be our last post from Cambodia. We will be flying out tomorrow night and won’t have email access after noon.

It has been another wonderful day here. We started by trying to go to Child Safe again. Today was a holiday here from the New Year and it was not open. Will try again for the last time tomorrow. From there we went down to a trusted jeweler that we have gotten stones from in the past. Needless to say, it was an expensive venture. We picked up several gifts and the Cambodian stone blue zircon to have some things done later for the girls. The stones were mined here in Cambodia in two different provinces. They are just stunning.

The central market was the next order of business. This is my third time here and I finally made it there. This market is much cleaner, cooler and less crammed than the Russian market. We saw a vendor selling fried cockroaches, water bugs, toads and baby birds. Although it was lunch time we opted to wait. We picked up some last minute gifts and headed off to lunch.

Lunch was at the food court in the mall. The mall had a games area that intrigued the girls along with a rollerblade park. Ana, Maddie and Yoen did a simulator rollercoaster ride. We got to watch them on the screen outside the simulator and it was a hoot. We headed up to the top of the mall to see the view of the city. It was amazing. We could see so much more here. The city has really expanded since I was here last.

We headed back to the hotel for awhile so that Sara could lay down as she is fighting one heck of a cold. The girls took the opportunity to work some more on their homework and send emails to their classes.

Yoen and his family picked us up at 4:00 pm and we went to the boat area to take a ride to see the floating village. It is amazing that these people live on their boats or floating houses. This is such a hard life. We watched them cast out their nets and later pull in their catch for the day. We ate corn, sweet potatoes, tapioca, longans, rambutans and mango stein. Navy kept us all well fed. The sunset behind the Royal Palace and the view of the city skyline was beautiful. It reminded me of never missing a sunset on Mackinac. I told Hong (Yoen and Navy’s son) about our tradition there and said it should be the same for Cambodia. Hong and Navy tried teaching the girl’s traditional dance on the top of the boat as we cruised along the river. It was a great time.

While we were on the boat, Yoen got a phone call from Miss Chinda. She was Maddie’s nanny at the orphanage. Her children got Yoen’s information to her so that she could contact us. She wanted to come to the hotel to see us. We got back to the hotel just before she arrived. When Yoen walked in with her and she saw us, she began to cry and I got all chocked up as well. She was so happy to see Maddie. Yoen interpreted for us. Chinda said that she still has the photos we had given her and she said that I had told her I would bring Maddie back to see her. I said that I kept my promise to her. We talked for awhile and have exchanged addresses so that we can send new pictures to her. It was wonderful to have had this connection for both Maddie and Chinda.

Yoen and Navy took us out to dinner for hot pot soup. There are electric burners inset into the tables where they cook the soup in front of you. A number of items are placed into the pot to cook. It was just delicious! We need to find a place that does this in the states.

We will be heading to FedEx in the morning to ship some items back home. We have more things than our luggage can hold. Some items are bulky such as some of the Buddha sculptures and those will be shipped. The girls will be carrying their Cambodian traditional musical instruments, a drum for Ana and a violin for Maddie, so that they do not get wrecked along the way.

Can’t believe that it is time to leave this beautiful country. We have had a marvelous time on this adventure. I know that I always have a sense of peace and that I am at home when I am here. We now will be planning when we can come back in the future to see our extended families and to once again connect with the wonderful country that has blessed us with these two beautiful girls.