Banana trees

I have never understood the necessity of a banana tree  - surely just another piece of clutter for the dining room table and now I have one...............

 

An Emotional Weekend - written in mid October

Well we are well and truly into the wet season here:

Paul cycling to work with water half way up his wheels, over 'stinky river' - the overflowing open sewage outfall!! - mmmm where is the dettol?

and me hiding under my Angkor beer umbrella with mud flicked up my legs from my flipflops.

But it is refreshing, dare I say cooler and the wierd thing is your clothes dry instantly as you walk along and the sun soon shines again and the water dries up before your eyes

- a good wash down!!

We did our usual market fruit and veg shop on Saturday morning after an early morning bike ride and then went to a really nice salad bar for lunch!!

Torrential downpour so we got chatting to a well educated, I should think pretty wealthy 35 year old Cambodian gentleman who was telling us a little about his family history - he lost 75% of his family during the Pol Pot era -  generations of engineers - I was on the verge of tears.

 

On Sunday we went to Oudong Wat - about an hours drive outside PP - packed out as we are in the midst of Pchum Ben  - a national Cambodian holiday when everyone is meant to go back to their province to pay their respects at their family Wats and remember their ancestors. Families, rich and poor, in Lexus's and lorries bring all generations to share food and give money and remember - very moving.............

 



   The money counters....right in the middle of the Wat!!  I have to say this was an intersting angle on giving.....

Crunchy Crickets

 

So crunchy crickets do really exist!!

and........

 

I just wasn't brave enough to taste them.....

Cambodian Ingenuity

 I am at last opening up my Kindle to read my first ebook.

First on the list the newish Victoria Hislop - The Thread.

I forgot to buy a cover in the UK before we left,
so Siam Reap night market here we go! 

 We found a recycled cement bag stall - as you do - packed with bags of all shapes and sizes - I began to rummage, trying to think what size is my kindle.

'Madam wha' you want?'

'Bag about this size please' - I said, demonstrating the size of a kindle with my hands, 'with no extra pockets'. I bring out my Kindle, imagining he hasn't seen one before!!

'Oh Kindle bag' he said, he then rummaged through his stack of bags, 'wait 2 minutes' and with that, he dashed to his friends stall and found the perfect bag.

'My idea good? I also have ipad2 bags but no Samsung Galaxy bags as I am not sure of size yet!'

A case of mistaken identity

My favourite barbershop in PP David Beckham Man haircut shop,been there twice now as my hair grows like mad here.......must be the humid conditions!!! I sat down in the chair and asked the man to cut it like the picture outside, unfortunately for me a monk happened to be standing at the door chanting for a handout at the time and I ended up with a Hari Krishna special.Oh well for a dollar it's a bargain and should grow out in no time!!!

Restaurants that start with humble beginnings

Maybe the most basic restaurant
but you can site it anywhere!!
and we all have to start somewhere

Now here we can afford to buy a cool box
to keep the drinks cool!

This one is heavy but at least there is a fire pot
in the back basket for heating delicacies!

MORE TO FOLLOW!!

The changing face of Phnom Penh

 On Sunday mornings we usually cycle around Koh Pich or Diamond Island, a reclaimed sand island on the Mekong. The new development is incredible, tower blocks shooting up everywhere but at the moment nice clean wide traffic free roads!

 This development poster always makes us smile! I mean based on this information how can you refuse to move in!

We were told by one of the construction workers that this is going to be the tallest building in SE Asia at 550m. To my way of thinking there are three possibilities here. Either he's lying through his teeth, or there's a Cambodian plot to blow up the Petronas towers and at least three other towers in Asia or this 30 storey building is going to need some ridiculously high ceilings! Love the infinity pool spaning the roof and overlooking the river..

Full marks to the architect on this one 'Glass windows' no less That's what I call inspired!!!
All this built on squidgy sand watch this space!