Day 4
Travel Location: Phnom-Penh,Cambodia
The day began with a market breaky again. So far so good with the acidophilis powder. All our tummies seem to be holding up although I have warned the kids that there is always a chance that they may get a bit sick.
We planned to see the Palace and Silver Pagoda today but when we got into the compound where they both were the Palace was closed but there was no reduction in entry fee. So we decided to get value for money and return at a later date when we could see both.
The kids tried the lotus flower seeds today. Zara was not that keen but Theo loved them. They also tried and loved sundried banana strips (yeeha – no sulphur or preservatives), dried persimmons (to die for and my personal favourite), traditional Khmer fried pastries (Tim and the kids loved them – me and my hips gave them the swerve) and what looks and smells like Kentucky fried chicken and according to Tim and the Kids tastes like it too – not that I know of any time the kids have had Kentucky!!!
Tim has us in fits of laughter with his attempts at the language. He commonly throws in a bit of Lao and Thai and wonders why the Khmers look at him with blank looks on their face or just totally ignore him. It is great to have the language (well at a street conversational level only) as we not only get what I ask for (not when Tim tries though!) and also get it at a slightly lower price than the regular tourists. I love listening to their language and the morning/evening market times are perfect for that! Off at 08:30 tomorrow to Siem Reap – a long bus trip. Just hope the county side will keep the kids occupied enough!
The traffic lights here are a bit different to what we are use to back in Australia. Where the pedestrian walks they have this picture of a green man walking and above that they have a clock that counts down from about 60secs. When it gets to under 10 the figure of the green man actually begins to run instead of walk slowly. It is a really novel idea!
From Zara’s Day 3 diary:
My most favourite thing today was the noodle soup in the market. It is made from a big pot with 2 sections. 1 has plain water and the other side is flavoured with meat and veges. You choose what kinds of noodles you want, the lady puts the noodles in the plain water until they cook then spoons them into a bowl on top of what Mummy calls is “swamp veges’. The poorer people collect these green vegetable from the swamps as they grow wild and cost nothing to grow. She puts a spoonful of the flavoured water on top and then adds some fried onion/garlic and I add my own sauce. I chose soya sauce, it was delicious.
At the markets today I saw some local ladies preparing these beautiful flowers. They were peeling back one leaf at a time – it is hard for me to explain what they did but when they were finished the flower looked beautiful. Mummy told me it is called a lotus flower and comes in pink and white. She also told me she thinks it is the National flower for Cambodia.
