Phnom Penh

We are back in the nation's capital (Cambodia's that is) for a short stay before taking off to Sihanoukville for a week at an ocean beach resort. The big city had stuff to offer that the small towns didn't. My wife and I really enjoyed visiting the Royal Palace, the shopping for souvenirs in the outdoor market, eating at high end restaurants (owned by more family members) and playing volleyball with the locals on their dirt court (good thing I didn't get my feet cleaned by the Dr. Fish foot massage in Siem Reap, I needed all the dead skin padding I could get). The kids liked the hotel breakfast, the tuc tuc rides in the insane Phnom Penh traffic, eating pizza at the mall (as well as ice cream cake for Sophie's fake birthday), playing in the arcade, painting figurines, roller blading (man some of those teenagers could skate) and sneaking into a high end hotel by the waterfront to use their pool. I was able to spend a bit more time with one of my wife's cousins who happened to be a doctor that spoke fluent French and his niece and nephew who spoke excellent English. I learned that teenagers are the same the world over and I told them about all the things we would do together if they visited us in Ottawa. I learned from the doctor that he was considered middle class and was far outranked in salary by politicians, members of the army, policemen and university professors (in that order). A few other major differences between our countries was the amount of garbage found all over Cambodia (he said it had improved immensely in the past couple of years), the lack of law enforcement for traffic violations and the complete and utter lack of laws that encouraged safety like motorcycle helmets, safety barriers etc... That's all for now, next stop is a beach paradise.