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How will we remember Cambodia?

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

The unedited answer elicited from the family over dinner a few nights back
Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

very dirty
rip you off-y
public urinal
beggars
busy
barking dogs
honking horns
heavy-handed on horns!
smelly drains
affectionate people
tuktuks
baskets on heads
squat a lot
tropical fruit feast
angkor amazing
itinerant sellers calling their wares along the street


(ask Mrs H about this dog if you see her!!!!!)


remember none of these vehicles are stationary – all are moving!


rice sellers on our street

And when we looked at our photos we found a few “remember that?!” experiences
we haven’t blogged about yet…..


on the way to the Chinese Embassy in the middle of town


being given green coconut drink while a man sharpened the pocketknives


remember the day Mama came home and could hardly tell us what she had done she was laughing so much? and how it really wasn’t even funny? That was the funniest bit! When she had exchanged money the man had asked her if it was “real” and she nodded her head emphatically declaring that it certainly was….and immediately realised that he was asking if she would like “riel”, the local currency. Not sure why she found it so funny!

And so we left Cambodia…….

 

P.S. We added one last “goodbye” photo at the ed of yesterday’s post – you might like to scroll down to have a look.

Posted in children, postcard: Cambodia | 2 Comments »

she might only be two…

Monday, January 19th, 2009

by Mama
Phnom Penh, Cambodia

…but the opportunity to travel is not being “wasted” on her.
One thing that has surprised us about our youngest is her recognition of details. After even only one time visiting a place, she will tell us about it the next time we are about to pass. “Here comes uncle’s house,” she would declare when we were still a few metres up the road in Malaysia. At first we thought it was a fluke, but she kept doing it no matter which street we approached from, so we awarded her genius status! It happened far too often to be coincidence 😉
She can spot “our” tuktuk driver (the one who has taken us somewhere before) before anyone else even notices him waiting out on the street.
She picks out the stall we frequent from a row of near-identical ones….whether it’s the sandwich lady in Laos or the pineapple lady in Phnom Penh or the BBQ black chicken man to avoid in Bangkok.
And it’s not just our guesthouses and regular eating establishments and markets…..one day I walked with her to the Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh, passing a three storey white building across a smelly canal, out of which were pouring navy blue and white uniformed children. A few days later we returned with the rest of the family, and as we entered the lane by the canal, she informed whoever was listening, “There’s a school up here.”
Told you she’s a bright cookie! She obviously takes in more than we would ever have given her credit for.

That is not to say she benefits from each experience in the same way the older ones might. But, along with Tgirl4 and Mboy6, she has enjoyed some of the most magnificent sandpits in the world, including Angkor Wat, and some of the more dreadful as well, like the Killing Fields – and that is totally appropriate!

Travelling with a two year old is good for the rest of us too. It forces us to slow down. Returning to the guesthouse each afternoon for little person naps provides us with time to reflect on the day’s events, record musings in our journals and update the blog, keeping us in touch with family and friends. Needing to be back at a not-too-unreasonable hour most evenings means we have even more unoccupied time, ensuring we don’t get overloaded with too many other-world new experiences every day. No doubt this is particularly important for long-term travellers – there is only so much you can take in and process day after day after day. Certainly, when our friends were travelling with us we packed more in to each day, and when we had family arranging our time they tried to show us *everything*, but that pace is unsustainable over the long haul. Whenever we forget it, the two year old reminds us – so we’ll keep her on for that reason alone. Plus she’s cute.

BTW, Playdoh might not seem like the best travelling-substance, but our Bangkok-purchase has been fantastic – our one small tub has been shared out amongst four or five children at one time – children who have never played with it before have spent hours together with our little ones making up all sorts of games I didn’t understand! It’s been turned into roti and noodle soup and a camera and bird flu chickens that no-one is allowed to touch….while the bigger kids process their experiences through their journals, the little ones *play* their way along.

Posted in children, parenting, postcard: Cambodia, postcard: Laos, postcard: Malaysia, recreation | 3 Comments »

disappointed

Sunday, January 18th, 2009
by Rob Phnom Penh, Cambodia Actually, we *had* planned on going to an orpahange today, after yesterday's chance encounter with a tuk-tuk driver, who is also a volunteer at a local orphanage. He was not at all pushy, suggesting we might like ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in children, justice, postcard: Cambodia | 2 Comments »

natural wonders noticed

Saturday, January 17th, 2009
by a sunburnt Mama, who got caught by surprise with mid-30s temperatures and a blazing sun after a few weeks of (more pleasant to us ;-) ) high-20s and an accompanying gentle sun Phnom Penh, Cambodia

[Continue reading this entry]

Posted in children, learning, postcard: Cambodia, recreation, transport | 3 Comments »

begs the question

Thursday, January 15th, 2009
by Rachael Phnom Penh, Cambodia It's mid-afternoon and we're mooching about the guesthouse. I look across at ER2, who is sitting in her Dadda's lap. Hands outstretched, she's pretending to beg. I decide the time has come to ask the children ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in children, food, money, parenting, postcard: Cambodia | 4 Comments »

coping

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
by the Mama Phnom Penh, Cambodia What I would like to know is who of the kids is coping the best and/or the least? How does age and personality come in to that? ~ asked by a friend Interesting questions. In a nutshell, ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in children, food, learning, parenting, tradition | 3 Comments »

horrific history

Monday, January 12th, 2009
by Rachael   Phnom Penh, Cambodia Reading Khmer Rouge survivor, Loung Ung's book "FIRST THEY KILLED MY FATHER", right here in the place where it was set. Walking up the road to the school-turned-prison-turned-museum.

Standing in the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in children, history, justice, learning, postcard: Cambodia | 6 Comments »

fit for a king

Saturday, January 10th, 2009
from Jgirl14's journal Phnom Penh, Cambodia Years ago I had a durian lolly. It was bad enough to be spit straight out and put me off durian and all things related forever. Today, with Mr Lim's expert guidance, this changed. We met ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in children, food, health, postcard: Cambodia | 5 Comments »

Cambodian Birthday

Friday, January 9th, 2009

by Rachael Phnom Penh, Cambodia

A long time ago Pa told me that April is a very good luck month. In the Cambodian culture, New Year's always falls in April, which means that all the children born before New Year's ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in children, food, history, learning, postcard: Cambodia, recreation, tradition | 3 Comments »

food in our tummies and a roof over our heads

Thursday, January 1st, 2009
by a surprised traveller Phnom Penh to Kampot, Cambodia  Expecting to be picked up just before nine, we were cutting into our breakfast watermelon at a quarter to eight when the guesthouse staff apologetically announced at our open doorway that the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in children, food, health, housing, money, postcard: Cambodia, price, toilet, transport | 1 Comment »

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