Pics are up!!

I got my computer back just in time to post a bunch of pics before taking off to Laos. I put pics in all the way down, back to Bangkok, so be sure to take a look. Enjoy!!!

Food yum! Chn'nang na!! Very delicious

What in the world am I eating you ask? Such good food, even on the Cambodian side!! After a sweet Indian meal last night, my friends and I went for the roti pancake, soo yummy, like a crepe rolled up with sweet milk
Across the street they were selling whole duck. Looks weird to us but it's so freakin delicious
The other night Tania and Rem and the Gecko Kid group leaders all went to dinner at King BBQ, where you BBQ your food on portable BBQ units at your table. They really need to bring this to the States.
Tania...

A couple of the kids...

The two-tier pricing system...
Ann's boyfriend Jeack is a trained chef, so we are extremely spoiled, he makes the most delicious Khmer lunches...

Morning glory, probably my favorite Khmer food, so buttery!!!


Jeack's amok, a traditional Khmer dish..

Off to Laos tomorrow so may not be posting anything for a week or so. The big activity in Laos will be doing the Gibbon Experience-- you stay in tree top huts for three days and zipline from hut to hut during the day. It's rainy season so I think there's a chance that we may have to evacuate the huts at soem point, but hey, sounds like adventure to me!!
Pani

More birthday fun

In true Khmer style, I actually celebrated my birthday over 3 days. One party was thrown for Rem and me at Green Gecko with the kids (Rem's birthday was several days before mine) with fluffy pink cupcakes and big speakers for all the dancing.

We had another party at the house for both of us, with cake and chicken curry and big speakers for all the dancing. I was stirring the curry in a big pot as I readied to serve it to our guests when a chicken foot broke the surface of the soup and I jumped, gave a little "eek!" and dropped the spoon. Forgot where I was there for a second I guess. :) Chicken claw and all, it was a delicious curry.

We also had some yummy spring rolls.

And a really tasty mango and chocolate cake.

The guests got riproaring drunk, as did Rem.

Great coupla parties!

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

Yee ha! Made it to 30!! So my day started out with a very rude surprise- I'd been burglarized!! Thieves do this thing here where they take a stick and poke it through your window and hook whatever is nearby. And I'm the dumbass who left her purse right under the sodding window!! I had been running expensive errands like getting visas and vaccinations and having my laptop fixed, so of course there was $200 in there. Sort of devastating but I was determined not to let it ruin my day. My Cambodian friends will say that it was a good thing that it happened- now only good things will happen for my birthday... crossing my fingers!!

My dear friend Tania made it all better with a spa extravaganza, where I was treated to a lovely day of head to toe oil and aromatherapy massage, steam bath, and jacuzzi filled with fragrant flowers. Amazing!

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So I wrote all that earlier in the day. My day did indeed get better...pretty much... we went to a posh French restaurant where I deliberated over the ethics of ordering crocodile curry, but went with the pork chops on the owner’s recommendation. It’s just about the nicest restaurant in town and for five of us the bill came to $71. Love it. Great meal, great atmosphere, great friends.

We finished our meal and were sitting around picking our teeth with toothpicks when the big finale to my birthday took place—a huge chunk of one of my molars popped out onto the table!! I have no idea what happened! It must have been cracked already and I dislodged it. Apparently thre are a couple of foreign trained dentists here now, so yay. Thank goodness for travel insurance!!

So when you ask me how my 30^th birthday in Cambodia was, I’ll say, oh yes it was lovely, except for the robbery and my tooth falling out!

Same same but different

Wow...so...back in Cambodia!! I got a little teary eyed as the plane was coming in for a landing at the Siem Reap Airport. The sight of the houses on stilts over the vibrant green rainy-season rice fields sort of got me all choked up. But I was like, okay Stephaney, keep it together.

When the plane landed, I gathered my bag, moved really quickly through immigration and waited outside for my Dutch friend Anne Marie to pick me up. Instead I was greeted by Anne Marie, my Aussie friend Tania, her husband Rem, and a group of my Green Gecko students holding signs that said "Welcome Pani Love" and "We Love Pani" !! So of course I completely lost it and cried and I'm so glad no one got it on camera because I was a blubbering mess!! They were the 15 or so kids that I knew best, and I was totally floored by how much they'd grown. After many hugs and kisses and "Oh my gods", we loaded into the flatbed and headed into town. It being rainy season, a massive downpour caught up to us and we got soaked to the bone. It was the absolute perfect way to arrive in Cambodia!!

I swear it's like I never left. There is a huge new glass and steel bank building, which didn't shock me as much as I thought it would (Cambodia maybe needs some permanence). Honestly, the most shockingthing is that THERE ARE NO BEGGARS on the streets. It's SO weird. And it's not as good as it sounds. A couple of years ago the king was coming to town (or maybe some other member of the royal family) so the police did the usual roundup of street folk and carted them out of town. You know, for propriety. But then they also made begging illegal, so most of the street folk just found another town or returned to their villages. Except for the Gecko kids,which have opportunity here, ie school, home, food.

So, like they say in these parts, Siem Reap is "same same, but different."

I'm staying with my friend Ann near to town in a nice little house, with my own bedroom...



Ann has the two sweetest cutest kitties ever. Here they're drinking out of the pour shower pot. I love the pour shower and if it was warm enough in the States, I'd have one. It's like bathing under a waterfall.
So I've just been tooling around, enjoying being back and not working, planning my trip to Laos, reconnecting with old friends, etc.

Okay, mossies are eating my feet, must go, more news later

Pani