Back through Phnom Penh

After Siem Reap we had to swing back through Phnom Penh on our way to Vietnam. It was a five-hour bus to Siem Reap, and another five-hour bus to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam and since we didn't want to do this on back-to-back days, we decided to spend an extra day in Phnom Penh and just let the kids play.

The Playground

When we were in D.C. for Chinese language training, a fellow military officer living right around the corner was in D.C. was there studying Khmer to go to Cambodia and work at the embassy there. They may have thought we were joking when we told them two years ago, "See you in Cambodia!" Case and Tanya took us out to a wonderful Khmer restaurant with Case's parents who were in town. Adayla and Tally had a blast playing with their two kids, Shelby and Ethan. Unfortunately our pictures from that evening are too dark... Tanya can you send pictures from the evening?

Wondering what we should do with the kids on our "kids' day," Tanya suggested we go to this playground. It's a big playground in good condition, and it was a hit with the girls...
They even made some friends with local kids at the playground. This boy was so cute... he loved holding Ryann!In this same park, these guys were messing around with a monkey. They were teasing it pretty good, but the funny thing is that whenever they turned to leave the monkey tried to jump them. Not what I call fun, but they did...Elephant Ride

Adayla had wanted to ride the elephants in Siem Reap, but got scared when she actually faced an elephant. Give the girl credit, she was determined to ride an elephant and when she saw elephant rides in Phnom Penh she wanted to ride... and she did! During the elephant ride, the glorious site of the red, white and blue stars and stripes caught my eye blowing in the wind... there she was, the American flag blowing in the wind at the U.S. Embassy there in Phnom Penh... what a beautiful sight!
After the elephant ride we bought some bread from this girl -- how long does it take to learn to carry things like this?Tourist Temples

Phnom Penh is named for the temple there with its name. Since it is right next to the Embassy where we were, we figured we'd check it out.

A buck for foreigners?! I don't like being discriminated against because I look differently, especially when it costs us money! And yes, U.S. dollars are the official currency here in Cambodia... weird going to the ATM here and getting U.S. dollars.The temple wasn't as impressive as the other sites here in town...
... and apparently they don't think so either. They used the temple as a storage area for junk.Food

As mentioned in our Siem Reap post, we were largely disappointed with the food in Cambodia. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't Thai food!

So after a week in Cambodia, we gave up trying to find "good" Cambodian food and instead tried the fast food. There are no McDonald's or Pizza Huts in Cambodia, but instead they have knock-off restaurants.

Here's the knock-off McDonald's... it's called Best Burger. Here's the "BB Cambodia Burger Set"This picture doesn't capture how big this restaurant is... there were a couple hundred people sitting down eating here.
The knock off Pizza Hut...

The pizza here tasted just like a pan pizza from Pizza Hut. Since we LOVE Pizza Hut's pan pizza, we were very happy.

One of the funny things about Pizza Hut in China, and this place in Cambodia, is the salad bar...

Just look at this mountain of salad!
If you purchase a salad, you are allowed one bowl and one trip to the salad bar. I think that is pretty clear, but people here have taken liberty with that definition. Here they "expand" the bowl putting some salad in the bowl, and then they use carrot sticks as a frame to extend the bowl. A couple pieces of lettuce placed on the carrot sticks serve as a second, and larger, bowl to place more salad into. Here is another lady "building" her salad... note the protruding carrot stick frame...A view from the pizza restaurant... this IS Phnom Penh, not much to see...
If there is a way to fall, or get stuck, Tally will find it. Here is another example... Tally somehow got her head stuck in the chair at the restaurant and couldn't get out.

Shopping

We've already noted the great shopping at the Russian Market that we did the first time through Phnom Penh. There were a couple of surprises at the supermarket as we were looking for snacks for our trip to Vietnam the next day...

Symphony bars! These are Morgan's favorite. These are available in China, but for $9/bar so she doesn't buy them. For this price Morgan bought several and was in heaven.Um, has anybody ever seen these in the States... disposable panties? Yes, they're for guys and gals. The first time I saw these was on my trip to Hong Kong where my Chinese roommate had a pack of these next to the sink. Anybody think there is a market in the U.S for these?! Didn't think so...

As good as the pizza was, this ice cream was the best thing we ate all day. The ice cream was even better than it looks, it was sooo good (Shayla, wish we could have shared with you!)...

One last walk through a market and our time time in Cambodia came to an end.

We had a blast in Cambodia... next up, Vietnam