Kangaroo Karma in Cambodia

Well, I should have known better than to eat kangaroo at the Cambodian BBQ - I felt guilty eating my favorite animal - and Kangaroo Karma came back to get me. I spent the next 24 hours with an upset stomach, body aches, and a sense of complete exhaustion, so for me, today was a bit of a wash. (Everyone else was fine, I'm happy to report.)

However, there couldn’t be a better place for me to feel lousy. There were plenty of things that Steve and the kids could do around town without me, and since I’ve been here already with mom, I didn’t feel like I was missing out. I had air conditioning, a comfortable bed, and a book to read, so I just took the day off.

Everyone else made good use of their day, however. Steve and Dylan took a walk in the morning to find the supermarket (gotta stock up on cheap beer and juice) and the Artisan d’Angkor workshops and showroom.

Later in the morning, Jaz and Dylan ventured out with their own agenda. Jaz had been wanting to get her legs waxed, and Dylan was interested in getting a tailor-made suit, so they asked for ideas at the reception desk and engaged a tuktuk driver (who turned out to be handy as an interpreter as well) and set out to see what they could do. They returned to the hotel a couple of hours later, missions accomplished. Dylan got measured for a suit, then he and the tuktuk driver dropped Jaz off at a salon to get her legs waxed, and Dylan proceeded on to get fitted for a pair of custom shoes! They went back for Jaz, and Dylan had tea in the salon while he waited for her to be done. (This is one of many things we've learned about Dylan on this trip: he drinks tea.)

Dylan said that every time he came out of a store and started looking around for his tuktuk, he would see a Cambodian tuktuk driver who would wave him over with a smile, so Dylan would begin to approach him. Then Dylan would realize that his tuktuk driver was the other Cambodian guy a few feet away who would begin gesturing wildly and calling more loudly so Dylan would end up in the right tuktuk. I guess it’s still a little tricky for us to tell one tuktuk driver from another with their identical numbered vests, but luckily, Dylan stands out in the crowd and they can spot him just fine.

By this time, everyone (except me) was hungry, so we offered to buy if the kids would go and get take-out. As Steve says, “We’ll buy, you fly!” Special Happy Pizza was the restaurant of choice - rumored to put special happy herbs in their sauce - and Dylan and Jaz rounded up another tuktuk driver, only to find out that the pizza place had free delivery. Who knew? (And there was no evidence of any unusual ingredients in the pizza, except for tuna.)

The afternoon was spent swimming and watching strange Asian game shows that involve a lot of painful-looking stunts and obstacle courses. I napped a bit, read a bit, lounged a bit. By evening I thought I felt a bit better, so we walked to the Night Market to browse and bargain. I headed back to the hotel early, feeling not quite as well as I had hoped, while Steve and the kids stayed out for a while longer to eat and explore.

The town is great for being able to go out and find things to do within minutes of the hotel, and a tuktuk ride anywhere within town can be had for a dollar or two. As before, eEverywhere you go, the tuktuk drivers offer you a ride: "Tuktuk, madame? Tuktuk, sir? Where you go?" Sometimes they try a little harder to drum up business by asking, "You need tuktuk tomorrow?" Dylan has developed some kind of body language with tuktuk drivers, market vendors, and street kids alike - he says "No, thank you" once and keeps going, and they leave him alone. Word must have gotten around town because now none of the tuktuk drivers even offer him a ride, and if he actually wants a tuktuk he has to wave them over. Steve feels compelled to give an explanation, every time he says no, which prolongs the interaction quite a bit: "No, we like to walk and we're not going very far...We're not sure what we're doing tomorrow...No, I don't need to buy a guidebook because we already have one..."

Dylan and Jaz continue their marathon Rummy game every chance they get. Their scores are now well over 10,000 points each - and have I mentioned that they lost the eight of Spades somewhere in Laos and have been playing without it ever since? Oddly enough, on my walk back to the hotel this evening, I found a single playing card lying in the street and out of curiosity, I picked it up to see what it was. You guessed it: the eight of Spades.

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(Photos and further blog entries may have to wait until I get home. I'm posting this on the 23rd of April, so I've fallen a bit behind. I can assure that we've had a few more wonderful days here, and there will be tales to tell and photos to see when I catch up. Thanks to all who have taken the time to read all of my ramblings thus far!)

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