Awesome Asian Experiences!

Cambodia in the rain-when it rains here it rains hard!

Cambodia in the sun! tho due to all of the rain there is a lot of flooding in the countryside and in some of the cities.
One shot of many of really cute kids in one of the villages I visited!

This is sticky rice cooked in a bamboo tube with a bit of coconut juice and beans, you literally have to rip the bamboo apart to get to the rice!! It was soo fun to eat!

Met with this wonderful farmer (Middle) and one of the IDE field staff women (right)

These are her cows!

Fun masks at the market!
This was the craziest thing ever! you put your feet in the water and these small fish nibble on your dead skin! and your feet actually come out better on the other end! Its more like a fish pedicure than a fish massage! but I was just walking along in the night market in Siem Reap and decided to give it a try!
As you can see from the photo- I am not the only crazy person to do this!
This was the guy running the fish pool, he and his other coworkers were very funny!

Adventures in the Kingdom

One of the weavers at the night market that I bough some scarves from- they are so talented and weave it all strand by strand!

Pretty sure those are fried bugs- might even be fried spiders- no I did not try them

Flooded road - its always an exciting drive!

Totally want a house like this with that many ducks in the front yard!!!

This is my kitchen- I cooked myself a meal! although cooking here can be more of a hassle here and more expensive than eating out since most vegetables are imported - my meal was soo tasty I forgot to take pictures of it
Chicken Amok- a local traditional dish- normally served in a banana leaf pouch but this was in a coconut as you can see, and it was super tasty!!

Boy is this blog in need of an update! So here it goes

Adventures around the Kingdom

I went on a research field trip this past week. I went with two colleagues with the purpose of meeting with female farmers and asking them some questions about farming. We went to several small towns and villages and it was a great way to see the country. We started by going to Siem Reap and looped around to visit some other towns and came back into Phnom Penh Thursday night. While I didn’t have time to explore Angkor Wat or any of the other temples in Siem Reap, I did have a chance to visit the night market, which was lots of fun. I bought some pretty scarfs and a pair of flowy pants. Through out the trip we did a lot of driving. I met a lot of great people and sat through a lot of strategic breakfast lunch and dinner meetings.

The countryside is absolutely breath taking! There is a lot of flooding going on, so our truck was driving down roads that looked more like lakes. I also had the awesome experience of sitting in a roadside shop interviewing a farmer, and having to yell over the cacophony of rain pouring down on the tin roof just so the farmer could hear me!

Some more adventures

Kind of reminds me of the marginal way in Ogunquit, Maine- but it Sihanoukville - a small seaside town. There was only a railing on one side and you had to time your walking so you didnt get slashed or fall in- but I did end up getting splashed but I did not fall in!
really pretty walkway down to the beach at a fancy hotel - where I did not stay- but it was fun to explore their grounds!
Me in front of pretty carvings
The squid lady!! She served up baby squids on sticks! It was really cool to see! She carries around a small stove with her that's strung up on a wooden pole that goes over her shoulders. I didnt try the them- trying to play it safe with my belly but all of the kids and adults I was with scarffed them down!
Prickly fruit lady- I've eaten this fruit before but dont remember what its called, I think thats a pretty awesome bunch of fruit to carry around on your head!
Me and a Giant coconut drink!
Svey Hem and the giant coconut- she is the wife of one of my bosses! She is super nice and we had a bunch of fun together!
A shot of the rainy beach- it was still really nice despite the rain!

Its been a whirlwind time since I last posted. I want to keep in short and simple so people like Connie will actually read the blog!

I have been sick and recovered- don’t really want to relive that whole experience- tho I did contemplate having my photo taken with ice packs all over me and an IV in my arm, for the blog but glad there is no evidence of that now tho!

I went to the beach with so coworkers and their families. We went to Sihanoukville, it rained but I still had a good time.

Since coming back to Phnom Penh I have been settling in more, going to a mountain of emails, and I have been hanging out with some existing friends and making some new ones!