What an interesting Sunday. I woke up at 7am. I guess I am still jet lag/leg. It began with a lovely breakfast at Garden Cafe #2 with AJA summer team, where I had sunny side up eggs, hashbrowns and bacon. Afterwards we decided to venture out into the markets of Phnom Penh. We took a tuk tuk or amoak (in khmer)to the Russian Market. I love the name of this market. Russian? Who thought of this? It was like the Silk Market and Pearl Market of Beijing. I used my bargaining skills and it went pretty well. This time I could actually understand what the vendors were saying and could bargain a deal. The Russian Market was very crowded, very sweaty, and had winter coats and sweaters to sell. Winter coats and sweaters? Huh? I guess at the night clubs here, it is very high fashion and very in. The market did not smell wonderful because of the mix odors of everyone's sweat, but when we got the food side, it smelt like my mom's house. The fun odors of dried fish, prahok(fermented fish) and hanging various meats.I ended up getting a matching set with Rothany that consisted of a fanny pack and a red cambodian scarf. I also got some fake birkenstocks. A wonderful hit at the russian super market. Bargaining was okay here. There were obviously some set prices, but unlike the Silk Market where you can usually get the price you want. We tried here and it did not work often. I also bought an awesome tin tin shirt. It will be a surprise. I love it!
Afterwards we went to get some drinks and we stumbled upon Good Time Cafe. The name was wonderful. I hope one day I can find Fun Time. It will never replace Stairway to Love or was it heaven? That was a piece of bar. But as we walked in, I noticed that there was a bench and in front a pool of fish. It turns out these fished clean off your fish. They were called Dr. Fish and it would nibble your feet and clean off all the nasty stuff off your feet. We all decided to peer pressure each other and we did it! It was super ticklish for me. Everyone else was laughing. Justin told me that they have full body ones of this type of fish massage. Yup, I do not think that would be happening for me. There is a picture of my feet above if you would like to the see the cute adorable biting/nibling fish.
We went to Lucky Supermarket to get some snacks and groceries and what not. What super nice place. I ended up buying a box of ramen noodles and some cookies for my grandmother. The box of noodles was really fun. On the side of it said, Khmer Mee Yeung that are better than drugs. Hilarious. Also on our way to the super market, we saw an awesome sign that said Helmets were vaccines, One Helmet, One live. An awesome slogan. Alcohol is super cheap, whiskey = super cheap. I heard there is this whiskey called Mekong Whiskey that Sangeeta told me about. It is around a $1. I am guessing that it is bad news.
We got back to our guest house and had a little incident with the tuk tuk driver. It was a little awkward and he was super pissed. But he charged us a really high fare for the trip. But, we ended up just paying and moving on.
I called my grandmother finally. My mom scolded me for not calling her when I landed, but I forgot and I am still trying to adjust. It was the cutest conversation ever. I was super excited and she could understand everything I was saying. She wants to go to Kampong Sam (The beach side where my uncle lives) when I go. I am hopefully going next weekend to meet her with my cousin Jin Long. Hopefully she likes the noodles and cookies I got her! Super excited. She sounded very happy!
Did you know that in Asia, How I met your Mother is really popular. Super interesting I have to say.
I am very tired and think it is time for me to sign off. Tomorrow begins our actual intership work. It starts at 7:30am and a meeting with the various NGO's and S-21.
Til the next.
P.S. When I was taking the picture of the ramen noodles, I ended up knocking over a jar of spaghetti sauce that belonged to my roommate Justin. Somehow we got it cleaned up with no paper towels. We used wet wipes and a plastic bag. Very artsy and creative,
Zai jian!
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