Tuk Tuks and Fancy Drinks

It has been a very good few days. 

A couple of days ago, Kyle and I scouted out some general supplies at the Old Market (or Psar Chaa) to get a general feel for what things like metal trays, plastic bins and so on would cost us.  We knew that Chanda would be able to negotiate a better price than we could but it was still cool to look around and try to get a feel for what you can buy around there (answer:  almost everything)

That afternoon by the pool, I met a couple of Dutch girls, Lotte and Marajn who had just arrived from Indonesia.  We made plans to head out for dinner and so Kate and I took then to a nice place in Pub Street Alley.  They were so exhausted from travelling and from lack of sleep that they barely touched their food and made it an early night.  Kate and I chatted with our server and told her that we were here in Cambodia teaching.  She must have passed that information along to the entire staff because when I went upstairs looking for the bathroom, I saw seven of them sitting and having a break perched along the balcony rail.  They were all dressed in their uniforms with little orange chef hats.  When they spotted me they were sort of deer-in-headlights at first and then one of them was brave enough to use his English and invite me up the stairs (`please ...yes...toilet...upstairs...).  I showed them the schools on my cell phone (that Galaxy Note II with the Siem Reap sim card is the smartest thing I`ve done in a while.  Anyway, there were so sweet and shy, and kept giggling and falling over each other to ask simple questions and look at the map on my phone.  It is a really nice memory.

The next morning Chanda met us outside of my hotel and we drove downtown. We bought over $200 worth of equipment from one of the vendors, and then went across the street and purchased 30 stopwatches. The little family that owned the watches store sat on the floor and painstakingly opened up every little box to make sure that the device was working, and then they included some spare batteries for us for free. 

 

We then tried the Angkor Market to look for measuring cups because we did not have any success at the Old Market.  Kyle's son Lucas spotted some 250 mL baby bottles with graduated lines every 10 mL.  They were $1.95 each and we thought we could do better at the Upper Market (or Psar Leu).  The Upper Market is worth visiting even if you don't need anything because it is huge...it's like the IKEA of Siem Reap.  There are vendors sellings nails and fruit outside, and inside, under the tents, are vendors selling everything from gold jewelery to housewares.  We bought 9 dozen glasses (of three different sizes), and then walked through the maze looking for baby bottles.  The cheapest ones we found were $1.60 but we still thought we could do better or maybe find the actual measuring cups.  In the end, I went back to the Angkor Market this morning and bought the baby bottles there because we are going into the school tomorrow with all of the supplies we have and it is our hope to have everything ready and done with. 

In the afternoon, Kyle and his wife Jennifer, and their son Lucas came over to the Frangipani and we all hung out at the poor for a couple of hours.  It took Kyle and Jennifer about 20 minutes to cut out the last strips of paper they had with them while I played a water game with Lucas in the pool.  After a while, the two Dutch girls I had met the day before joined us, we enjoyed a fruit drink, and then made plans to head out for dinner together.  Unfortunately, Kate wasn`t feeling to well and so decided to stay home and rest for the evening.  And so I met the others in the lobby, and suddenly, I was in charge.  `Where are we going Leslie` Ha ha.  ... I guess that is what happens when you stay in  a place for a while. Anyway, we went to the FCC again, and had some very nice cocktails.  The kids ordered passionfruit milkshakes and when they arrived, their eyes grew to the size of saucers because they were HUGE.  If I was a kid I`d be so happy.  The rest of us ordered mango daquiries and they were so good I think we have to go back again today. 

For dinner we tried the Cambodia BBQ.  It`s not something I would want to do every day but was a perfect thing to do with such a large group.  We had crocodile, chicken, beef, pork, and squid, as well as all of the vegetables we could manage.   After that, the little family went home because they had a skype date with friends, and the Dutch girls and I went out for a foot massage at my favorite corner.  The corner of Pub Street and Street 11 has got to be one of the busiest and oldest corners in town.  Kevin tells me that when he was younger, those old French colonial buildings, and a couple of bars, were the only things going on in town.  Today, that corner has some fancy restaurants at ground level, flanked by a very chessy open-air Karaoke bar.

The next morning, Kyle, kids, and I set off bright and early to the market to pick up our supplies, and then went via tuk tuk out to the high school.

Even though it was Saturday, there were still students there just hanging out and staff working.  We spent a good couple of hours assembling what we could of the bins.  It was pretty great to finally see all of the planning and work from all of these different people begin to take actual shape.  Kyle spent quite a bit of time assembling the electromagnet kit ... fussing with the thickness and length of the copper wire etc...the size of the paperclip it could pick up...all to see what would be the most reliable and reproducible.  I believe the word is optimizing.

 Anyway, while he was doing that, his kids were unpackaging all of the baby bottles I bought and getting more candles and glasses into those white bins than I ever thought possible.  While they were doing that, I was spending some time testing out the steel wool and magnesium in the vinegar and toilet bowl cleaner they had.  I was a little concerned because the toilet cleaner they were using was 12% HCl and 23% H3PO4!  So I thought....well...maybe I should test a small piece of Mg in the strong acid just to see how vigorous the reaction would be.  So we put it outside in a beaker on the concrete steps and used only 4mm of Mg ribbon.  The reaction was pretty foamy and fast but fortunately didn`t generate the violent and overly hot reaction I was afraid of.  Anyway just to be safe, I bought three bottles of toilet cleaner today with only 12% HCl and will put that one in the bins.

In the afternoon, we got massages from blind people at Seeing Hands 4 (the Siem Reap location).  It was a little tricky to find and we had our tuk tuk driver talk to the proprieters so we could find the right place without too much walking.  It is very very hot these days.  The place is tiny and down a dusty alley.  There were 8 massage tables set up in a dark front room and you really got the impression that you were in the front room of their home. 

The masseuses were definitely blind and did everything by feel.  It was a very good massage, and sometimes, I would peek and see the little kids running around, looking at themselves in the mirror, playing hide and seek, and just basically pushing the limits of what they could get away with.  What an experience.  This was not the air-conditioned, aromatic, and swish Thai spa that we had used last week but it was so genuine and interesting.

That evening, we all went to the FCC (yes again) for Happy Hour.  I had invited a group of nursing students and their professors along and Kyle had invited a couple and another single traveller who had been eating at their hotel.  It turns out that this professor or nursing gives lectures at various conferences all over the world and has been involved in developing countries for years.  It had been a coincidence that brought her to Cambodia for the first time and she has been back every year with some students ever since.  I hope I get to have at least one more conversation with her before we head our separate ways.

For dinner we went to the lovely restaurant down the road that Kate has been wanting to go to for days.  Just like everything else here it was wonderful and we were all pleasantly surprised when Diane appeared with all of the visiting Singapore teachers.  I guess we picked the right place.

As always, thanks for reading.

Leslie