We made it to Cambodia the week of New Years. We had an overnight flight from Dubai, landed in China with an hour to catch our flight to Cambodia, which meant speed walking through the airport. We made it but our luggage did not. We learned it would be put on the next flight into Cambodia that afternoon. We were pretty excited when Phil arrived with all of our belongings in a little Tuk Tuk.

Homes in Cambodia are tall. They build up instead of out, giving us nine flights of stairs to reach the top storage and back patio area and two sets of bedrooms at each landing or every third set of staircases. All the kids have their own room with their own full-size bathroom, which I think is wonderful! This means they are fully responsible for their own cleaning up each week- I love this. It also gives them perspective of how clean or untidy their rooms get on their own instead of blaming the other person they share a room with. It’s brilliant!

The furnishings here are, in my opinion, less than inviting. They are solid, heavy, hard wood and not very comfortable. Which means less screen time because no one can stand to sit through anything longer than a movie, if that. Our kitchen is a good size with plenty of cabinetry, the only downside is because the Asians are smaller people, the counter heights fall just below mine and Phil’s hips. Which means we’re either bending over every time we’re at the stove or as Phil prefers, on his knees. We don’t have an oven or a microwave either. Which if I’m honest, doesn’t make that much of a difference. Most of my meals are cooked over a stove. We do have an air frier and rice cooker though. Branch members have shared with us some of the clever ways they’ve discovered using the air frier and rice cooker to bake certain meals, I’m up for the challenge.

We don’t have a car here and by the way people get around, I’m more than okay with this. There are certainly a lot more American sized cars here than imagined though. I figured the cars would be the same European size because of all the motorcycles and tuk tuks (three wheeled taxi motorcycles with a covered cabin bench) on the roads. But the roads are quite spacious and somehow the flow of traffic works. they maneuver like a flowing river, but with motor vehicles. With far and few traffic lights the people push through using their horns to inform the other drivers that they’re coming. With speeds as fast as about 40mph, this system somehow works. I use this term very loosely when I say motor vehicles because from what I’ve seen, if it has wheels and you can control it, then you can take it on the road. I’ve seen families of four cram together on one motorcycle, teen moped drivers, bikes, large oversized and over loaded trailers being pulled by motorcycles, food carts attached to the side of a motorcycle, the tuk tuks, remorks (a tuk tuk with a larger carriage), and so forth. It’s certainly the most unique experience I’ve ever had, and the kids are loving it.

We will often request of a tuk tuk, which will comfortably seat three people. But they’re easiest to get so we will have Claire and Hallie take a lap as we all pile in. When we can, we’ll order a remork, which fits us better but also means a windblown hairstyle by the time we’ve reached our destination. (We learned this is not ideal for going to church) When we can, we’ll order a car or walk. Phil likes to walk to a nearby food cart in the morning to get his pork and rice dish, we have a few grocery shops nearby, and some other restaurants, and a park.

For New Years Eve, we found a local wings place with really great flavors and delicious tatortots, not a traditional Cambodian dish. Because we didn’t think they really celebrated the New Year, due to their Chinese New Year traditions, we didn’t bother looking for a place to watch fireworks. However, after dinner we walked for 20min up the road to a place called Euro Park. We enjoyed a swan paddle boat ride on the river, the festive lights, a jumbo screen, and lots of games and food stands. It was crowded and people were selling all kinds of unique foods. Some that stood out were the fried insect and roasted squid stands. (So grateful we had already eaten and weren’t looking for food to eat). Phil mention that these were delicacies to the people. At one point this is all they could get their hands on to eat, and they continue to be something they enjoy.

We decided maybe a dessert would be good and that’s when we found a popsicle stand with a few questionable flavors…red bean, green bean fermented black sweet rice, taro, and coconut. I did try the taro, you know, to show a little bit of bravery. It wasn’t bad, similar to the flavor of a bland radish. Claire set her eyes on an ice cream “sandwich”, where the sandwich was taken literally because it was a rectangle cubed ice cream set into a slice of white bread that had been tie-dyed with food coloring. She liked it.

It wasn’t until midnight, after we had settled into our beds that we heard the roars of fireworks going off all around us. Phil and I stepped out onto our balcony to watch what we could see through the other homes.

During our first week here, Phil introduced me to the “market”. The market is an outside shopping center that is filled with the same kind of stands we saw at Euro Park and then some. You can get just about anything at the market, fresh produce, fish, pork, turtle, veggies, rice, beans, pans, toiletry items, skin products, clothing and shoes, etc. I’ll share more about this in another post. I will share however, when we took Gavin to look for some sandals, we weren’t expecting to be lured down a really long hallway of nothing but hanging shoes.

This has truly been the most unique experience any of us have ever had and Phil is loving being back where he served his mission and connecting with the families he taught over twenty years ago. Stay tuned for more in coming posts!