Getting Chemicals in Phnom Penh

As I have written before, the research project I am working on this year involves the use of whole plant parts as reagents in organic synthesis. It is a great project for a place like Cambodia as one can explore the use of a variety of vegetables, bought at the local market, as reagents. Last time I looked, there hadn't been any research of this sort published out of Asia. It is also ideal in that as a green chemistry project, the reaction solvent is water, and there really are no other expensive reagents. The solvent used at the end of the reaction can be recycled and used again. All I needed to start this project was some interesting reagents from a chemical storeroom that could either by oxidized, reduced or hydrolyzed, a couple solvents and the vegetables. (Those will be the only chemistry words in this post.) The project was designed for a place like Phnom Penh!

I had been told there were a lot of old chemicals (Russian era) around the department at RUPP. Well, turns out, most of these are inorganic chemicals, and not useful in my work. Actually, for most of these, there are probably 50 bottles of exactly the same thing - something that was at one time donated or very cheap! In reality, there are very few organic chemicals here. But I did find the one I wanted to use most - the one reagent that would get me started and keep me going for quite some time.

However, I have spent the last several weeks trying to figure out if the reagent really is what the bottle says it is. I've got one new, very useful instrument here that has helped me conclude that this is not the case. I've tried several methods of purification, but none have worked as they should have. With additional interpretation from Anne, back at Messiah College, I have now decided to order new.

Meanwhile, I had ordered a few unique chemicals for my work that would take me further. Here in chemistry, the faculty take a couple trips a year by bus to HoChiMinh City to purchase supplies and chemicals. They went this fall, but alas, I never knew about the trip until the day they brought their "treasures" home. A Dutch colleague of mine ordered his research chemicals through a Vietnamese man in town, and I decided to go that route.

Placing the order was easy. Getting the chemicals picked up has been another. I was given a house and street number for a trucking company here in town. Last week I took a moto ride to this street twice, and looked for the house. (I do not yet find moto rides pleasurable.) The house numbers stopped one below the number I had been given! And best I could tell from the map, this wasn't a very long street. So, even if the numbers were not in order, I should have found it. I walked the whole thing twice!

I even gave my phone to my motodup driver, and he called the place. He wasn't able to communicate with them.

So I asked my Dutch friend again. Sure enough I had been given the wrong street number. And yes, I have no language skills with which to communicate with them. They only speak Vietnamese - no English or Khmer.

Today I got a call on my phone. I recognized the number. The Trucking Company. The only word that was spoken to me was "Vietnam." I'm hoping my chemicals are in. I'll soon be off with one of the national MCC staff, this time in the truck, to pick them up - hopefully to the correct street this time.

Nothing is simple here. Thank goodness for the arrival of my second care package from Messiah College chemistry yesterday! Better than candy and food. They are supplying me with many other things that have turned out to be hard to find in chemistry at RUPP, but not chemicals. Opening the box will be like an early Christmas for me!

- Roseann

Restaurants in Siem Reap

Curry Walla

Our bus arrived in Siem Reap at about 2:30 on Saturday, and we hadn't eaten much all day - a snack on the bus, and ice cream at the short stop we took. So after checking in at the hotel, we went to the closet restaurants, within walking distance. It turned out to be Indian food - something Janaya and I had wanted to have for a while. Chicken marsala, chicken korma, and of course, naan. We were all hungry and it tasted great! - Roseann

The Dead Fish Tower

This was the most unusual restaurant we went to in Siem Reap. A sign in the front said, "We don't serve dog, cat, rat or worm. Scary, but we still gave it a try. The restaurant has many levels all being connected by small, steep staircases. Food is brought up to various levels with dumb waiters and pulleys. It looks like an old barn, or something out of Swiss Family Robinson. You can sit at regular tables or sit on cushions and eat at low tables. The food they serve is Thai, Khmer and fish and chips. At times they put on Apsara dancing. We went there on our second day in Siem Reap. They had live crocodiles in a tank and chicks walking around the restuarant. I had fried rice, which is one of my favorites. It was very good. - Austin

The Blue Pumpkin

Many people had told us that the breakfast and fruit shakes were the best at this restaurant. Excited to have our grandparents taste fruit shakes (with safe ice), we went to this restaurant for lunch the second day. We ate upstairs in an air-conditioned room, decorated almost completely in white. Couches and trays were available for sitting around the outside of the room, but our group was too big so we sat at a table. Grandma and I tried something new - fish ravioli. The others had more western pasta dishes. When my meal arrived, I took a bit - spiccccccy! For desert we had fruit shakes, made of blended fresh fruit and ice. This is a very typical drink here, although it often has sweetened condensed milk in it too. It was a great place to eat. Next time I will have breakfast there. - Janaya

BBQ Suki

BBQ Suki is a cool buffet restaurant. At each table there was a big fryer with pork fat on top and chickn broth around the sides, all over charcoal. There was also a whole pig that the chef was cutting. There were alligator k-bobs that Grandpa tried. A chest filled with raw meat (including alligator) and a buffet of raw vegetables and noodles were waiting for our decisions. We cooked it all up and ate it all too. For dessert, I had my favorite coconut jello-like bars - like we often have at Slate Hill potlucks. - Janaya

Weekend in Siem Reap

While my grandparents visited us, we took our first trip to Siem Reap. Siem Reap is a tourist town known for its close location to ancient temples, including the famous Angkor Wat. We went there expecting a quiet weekend away from the city and got a bustling tourist town. From great and unique restaurants, to tons of hotels and plenty of massage parlors, you could tell how much of a tourist town it was.

On our first day, we went to see the temples. We started in the Angkor Thom complex. This used to be a big and busy city in ancient times. In this complex, we went to Bayon Temple, known for its large Buddha faces. A lot of the rock had crumbled, but it was mostly intact. Because of my knee, I didn't climb up to the upper levels, but instead (with the help of our guide) found a cool and empty place to sit and wait, with Grandma and Austin (who doesn't like heights). I knew that without the guides help I could have never found my way through the hallways and chambers.

The next temple we visited was the very popular Ta Prom. Featured in the movie, Tomb RAider (which was mentioned many times) it has gained a lot of publicity. It is known for the trees growing up, in and around the temple, slowly splitting the walls.

After lunch, we moved on to the most famous temple, Angkor Wat. It is in the best condition. It is a beautiful temple and is very photogenic, with a large reflecting pool. Interestingly, there are 4 swimming pools inside this very old temple, built at a time when Europeans would never have thought of swimming.

It was a long and hot day, and afterwards, Acacia, Grandma and I went to get a massage for our tired feet. Then we headed out to dinner at a cool restaurant, the Dead Fish Tower.

Janaya

Working in Chemistry at RUPP

Before Janaya got sick, I wanted to tell you something more about my work here. Now I will try. My assignment for the year is in the Chemistry Department at the Royal University of Phnom Penh. It is the top comprehensive, public university in the country, but still struggling to recover from the days of Pol Pot. On one hand, there is a brand new infrared spectrometer with all the bells and whistles in the room next door to me. But there is no running water in the bathrooms on my floor – only squattie potties, and large drums of water with buckets.
The department has three majors: Chemistry, Biochemistry and Food Technology. There are a lot of students in each class, who take a prescribed set of courses from beginning to end. They study many advanced topics in chemistry, but have limited laboratory experiences, and no electives. For all the college students reading this...classes here start at 7 AM!

As I started getting acquainted here, my first assignment was to assist the biochemistry professor in preparing a powerpoint presentation on nutrition for a group of Vietnamese and Laotian journalists. This was a good way for me to get to know him a little better and it was fun. Each day he would have pulled down a number of facts and pictures from the internet. I helped him to understand some of the western ways of describing things and helped to eliminate material that was not suitable for the audience. Soon after that, the new infrared spectrometer arrived, and I have become the resident expert on that instrument, training faculty and students and looking especially for ways in which the instrument can be incorporated into their laboratory program. I was impressed with the students who were here in the summer to prepare the room for this instrument, and sit in on all the training from the company representative. This happened in the summer – school wasn’t even in session! They swept floors, moved furniture, caulked windows, and learned how to run the instrument.

We’ve also been planning our research projects. Each year, the top seniors are chosen to pursue research, instead of coursework, during their last semester. I am looking forward to working with several students on a variety of projects. While Janaya’s illness has set me back a little, after looking through all the stockrooms here, I am preparing to order the reagents and supplies I need to study how market vegetables can be used to do chemical reactions. This area, called biotransformation, is of increasing interest as chemists look for ways to do chemical synthesis in a “greener”way.. In addition, we have written a proposal for funding to look at the amounts of PCBs and DTTs in the shellfish that is eaten widely here in the city. The latter project is part of a bigger body of work in which the chemistry department has looked for the presence of these toxins in both soil sediments and fish. We have both a GC, and potentially two HPLCs for this work. But not unlike the US, it is hard to keep these instruments up and running at all times.

I am part of a large group of Cambodian faculty here, many who are very young. Each year, the best graduates go abroad to gain master’s degrees, and perhaps Ph.D.s. The hope is that these students will return. Right now many of the best recent graduates are out of the country, so it is a challenge for the department head to get all his courses covered. (Same challenges at home...) In recent years, there have been foreign visitors who have worked with the biochemistry, analytical and environmental chemistry programs. I’m the first to come with an expertise in organic chemistry. The department has enjoyed a long relationship, perhaps 8 years, with an Australian chemist, who works full time in the department to improve every aspect of the program: research, curriculum, infrastructure, building needs, computers, translation of textbooks into Khmer, you name it. There is a group of foreign workers who have coffee together each day. While never part of my routine in the US, this is a wonderful way to meet people and better understand many aspects of Cambodian culture.

This week and next, I am training students on the use of the infrared spectrometer. This is one way in which I can improve the ability of students to work with modern instrumentation, improve the capacity of the department by showing them how these instruments can be incorporated into their programs, and gain the trust of faculty so that I soon can begin research with their students and in their labs. I’ve been teaching 3rd year students – who have some English skills. I have only some Khmer skills. Pretty challenging. I try to go slow – and give the big picture. It is fun – you know I love teaching.

Roseann

“Khnom ot jol jet mon-dti-bpet dtay”

As many of you know, we have recently faced a significant challenge here in Cambodia. Each day brings us a little farther from the intensity of it. But it is still hard to think about.

In late August, Janaya’s knee began to swell and started becoming painful. We couldn’t think of any significant injury she had suffered, but yet she was not running a fever, so it didn’t seem like an infection either. We went to the family practice doctor that the MCC team uses. She prescribed rest and ibuprofen, but when that didn’t help, she prescribed an oral antibiotic. There was only gradual improvement during that time, after which she recommended we see an orthopedic doctor at a hospital / clinic close to us, associated with a hospital in Bangkok. These doctors told her to get off her feet and prescribed a stronger anti-inflammatory medicine. Here things got worse, she began running a fever, at first at night, and then all day long – and the swelling got worse. Finally, on September 14, we saw a young Cambodian internal medicine doctor who knew the fluid on her knee had to be removed. I knew that to be true too. I was so glad to have found him. He was bright and explained everything well for my inquisitive, western mind. He also began Janaya on IV antibiotics. So, for four days in a row we went to see him. He withdrew fluid twice, and the pain during this procedure was terrible. He used some local anesthetic, but not enough for Janaya. He told me that he had done the procedure without any anesthetic – to which I responded – well then, you Cambodians must be tougher than us westerners!

After four days, and no big improvement, except that the fluid he was removing was beginning to get thinner, we decided to head to Bangkok for arthroscopic surgery. I don’t know – we probably should have gone sooner. It was so hard to know how serious her condition was, and whether she was getting the care she needed.

We were scared on that flight. Fifty minutes in the air and we got fed a full meal, but we could hardly eat it. But with Janaya in a wheel chair, we were led through the Bangkok airport– the bathroom, passport control, money exchange and right to the public taxi, which we took straight to the hospital. We really didn’t even have to think – a very good thing. We checked into the emergency room at Bangkok Nursing Home Hospital, where they soon recommended that she have surgery yet that evening. But problems soon arose. They wanted a confirmation for coverage either from a credit card, or my insurance before they would do surgery. No one was up yet in PA, so we struggled to reach our provider. Not knowing we were in Thailand, our credit card company suspected fraud, and wouldn’t process the bill either. Fortunately, the SE Asia MCC team leaders were in town for work, staying very near by, and bailed me out with their credit card. This was a very hectic time, trying to cover the details, while Janaya was being examined. A frantic email to the entire HR department at Messiah College from a computer in the ER room got the ball rolling with insurance, and before Janaya moved into surgery, approval had been given. We were eventually moved up to our room, where we met the orthopedic surgeon, an infectious disease doctor and her anethesiologist. All spoke English and it soon became time to walk Janaya down to the operating room, and leave everything up to the Thai doctors, and God.

I was so thankful for Andy and Lana Miller, our SE Asia team leaders who sat with me throughout the entire surgery – first in Janaya’s room, and then outside the door of the operating room. Lana told lots of stories to distract me – I don’t know if I can remember many of them. It took longer than they had told me it would. She went in at 10:30. Finally at about 12:40 am, they let me into the recovery room. Andy and Lana went back to their guesthouse at about 1:15.

From there began a much longer than expected two week hospital stay. When Janaya came out of surgery her knee was wrapped in a huge watermelon sized bandage, and they had left in two tubes for fluid drainage. For several days, the knee was so painful that even we could hardly move it for her. Janaya’s fever dropped immediately after surgery for a couple days, but then started to creep up again. Her dose of antibiotic was doubled in Bangkok. Unfortunately, because of the early oral antibiotics, they were never able to culture the organism, so while there were markers of bacterial origin, the infection had to be treated with a broad spectrum drug. The doctors were waiting for her fever to be completely gone, and for the fluid from the drains to run clear. Every few days they changed the drainage lines so that they could better see this. The drains were left in for 12 days.

As it became apparent that we were going to be there for a while, we started marking each small improvement: movement to the bathroom with help, independent movement in the room with a walker, the ability for Janaya to move her leg herself, the use of crutches, less reliance on Tylenol for pain... The hospital was very nice and Janaya’s room had a sleeper sofa for me, and a small refrigerator and sink. I relied on food that friends brought, the leftovers from Janaya’s meals and eventually made a couple trips to a nearby grocery store. I really didn’t want to leave her alone. At least one of her team of 3 doctors came to see her almost every day – sometimes in their street clothes. Physical therapy began 4 days after surgery and soon occurred twice a day. We really liked our physical therapist, who spoke very good English and knew the physiology behind what needed to be done. She was fun too! Communication between us and the nurses was not always perfect, but they provided excellent care. We were on a pediatric floor, so the nurses were especially good at putting in IV needles into small veins! That was one of the things Janaya hated the most, as every 3 days the line had to be changed. Our room overlooked a central garden, and I took Janaya there in her wheelchair. But now spoiled by air conditioning, she thought it was too hot. We were encouraged by a traveling display, from the UK, of a life-sized knitted gingerbread house. The hospital had a charity project while we were there, asking people to knit small squares to be put together as blankets for needy families in Thailand. I learned to knit at the very end – never suspecting we would be there so long.

Despite being in Thailand, we had visitors! On the morning after surgery, Andy and Lana brought Dunkin Donuts, conversation and laughter. (For reference, there are sadly no Dunkin Donuts in Phnom Penh.) Cindy Blount, a Messiah College recruiter, also visited the morning after surgery, bringing us all sorts of groceries. We had planned to host her in Phnom Penh, but alas we were in Bangkok and missed her there. The parents of one of my advisees from Messiah College, a Thai student, visited us many times. Their visits made a world of difference. Sunee brought us fresh fruit – western and Asian, flowers, Hershey’s chocolate, many other things and one day – sticky rice with mango and coconut milk. One day they took home some of my clothes, washed them, and brought them back the next day. (I washed most of my clothes in the sink. I had planned for that, and brought detergent.) Each time the Lorganpai’s prayed for Janaya’s recovery. They were such a blessing to us. One week after surgery, the MCC Asia Director, Joe, showed up at our door. He was traveling through Bangkok before meetings in Indonesia. What a wonderful surprise! And during the second week, Ron and Acacia came for several days. They had a chance to learn a bit of Janaya’s hospital routine and therapy, grocery shop for us, allow me to rest a bit, and encourage us. On our last night, the Lorganpai’s and Cindy were there again – happy to hear that we were being dismissed! Pretty good when you are halfway across the world from home!

And we used technology to its fullest. Each hospital room had free wifi. I had begun to second guess our bringing two computers to Cambodia, but not after this. We skyped with Ron and the kids regularly. A talk with Aunt Wendy in Minnesota got Janaya laughing right before her first physical therapy session, almost every morning. Wendy’s a late night person – so that worked perfectly and she had plenty of Sachs family stories to tell us. We talked to Grandpa and Grandma Kroeker several times, a couple times when they were driving down the freeway in the US. By the end, we also talked with Grandpa and Grandma Sachs. When Ron visited, we talked with Austin every day where he got home from school. What a world of difference this made! One doesn’t feel quite so alone when you can video chat with family. I also used the internet to understand Janaya’s illness, and follow her treatment and medications. Several times the nursing faculty at Messiah College provided me feedback when I asked them questions. By the end, I think the doctors and nurses were accustomed to me wanting to understand everything, but I don’t think that is part of the Asian culture. Joe, who grew up as an MK in northern Thailand helped us to understand some of these differences.

Two weeks later we were dismissed. We stayed for one night in the Bangkok Christian Guesthouse. Janaya had really wanted to see Bangkok – but not easy to do from a wheelchair. We plan to go back again. We immediately returned to our Phnom Penh hospital where they continued outpatient IV antibiotics for another week. Janaya started school the following Monday, and is finally getting close to catching up on her work. But we aren’t finished yet. Janaya lost a lot of range of motion during this illness, so with the guidance of a French doctor in town, we will continue with physical therapy – one good session each day. There is still pain, so she has been using crutches. There are a lot of stairs at school, so Ron and I went in often at the beginning to help her manage that and her heavy books. Last week we set up a temporary storage place for her books in the main office, so I think our days of assisting her are coming to an end. Still, her friends and classmates help her with her backpack between classes. We hear that complete recovery from bacterial arthritis in the knee can take anywhere between a month and 6 months.

We don’t know exactly where this came from. Bacterial joint infections are rare in youth. But it seems likely that the bacteria entered through an open wound in her leg – she did have a few of these. There are a lot of new bacteria for us to contend with here.

Hard to travel such a rough road so early in our time here in Cambodia – no denying it. Some have told me that they aren’t surprised, as Satan tries to thwart our work here early on. That doesn’t make it any easier. We have so appreciated the prayers that have been said on our behalf. Please keep praying as we continue to work through what this means for our experience in Cambodia. Our doctor here, in commenting on this illness so soon during our time here, said, “very unlucky.” After thoroughly examining Janaya’s knee during surgery for damage to the cartilage and ligaments in her knee, and finding none, her orthopedic surgeon said to us “very lucky.” Luck, and fate, are very much a part of the culture here. But it is different for us – not luck, but God.

Oh, by the way, Janaya wrote the title for the blog. Translated it means, “I don’t like hospitals.”

Driving in Cambodia

Glad They Don’t Sell RV’s in Cambodia

Becoming familiar with the customs and laws of a foreign country takes time. Driving here takes a change of attitude. One thing for which I am truly thankful, there are no RV’s in Cambodia. This will make sense as I explain the rules of the road here in Cambodia. I am the one person in our family who has dared face traffic in a motorized vehicle. I have driven a moto, or 100cc motorcycle, around the city of Phnom Penh. I have experienced the challenge of negotiating Cambodian traffic.

For those of you who drive “real motorcycles” this may sound lame, but you have to drive here to understand.When I first put on Facebook how interesting my thirty minute commute to MCC was, my sister commented “it will get old.” I seriously doubt that. Here is why.

The rules of traffic differ greatly here to what most people know in the US. I think there is a different understanding of the purpose of the road. In both cultures the road exists to get us safely to our destination. In the US rules govern the road and bestow equality to all users. In Cambodia rules and a mutual respect governs the use of the road and size of vehicle determines right of way. It is the unwritten custom of respect which complicates travel here. Everyone yields respect to the driver in front of them paying no mind to those behind them.

Everyone, no matter how they are traveling, uses the road and gets the “I’m in front of you” right of way respect. Thus pedestrians cross full speed traffic knowing that oncoming traffic will swerve to miss them. This is as hard to do as a pedestrian as it is for the motorist encountering them. I once was annoyed that the two SUV’s in front of me were slowing down so I saw enough space to pass in between them. No more do I move between them than I figure out what is slowing traffic. There are two pedestrians now standing between the two SUV’s. Everyone gets the I’m in front of you right of way.

Everyone shares the road: pedestrian, push cart vendor, bicyclist, moto, tuk-tuk, auto, truck and semi. This may seem a disproportionate system of usage, but the amount and volume of larger vehicles has only recently increased. The increase in autos have made the roads more difficult and unwieldy.

There are other rules of the road here that make driving interesting. One; there is an additional lane on the shoulder of each side of the road. If traffic is too busy to cross, one simply starts into oncoming traffic on the shoulder then crosses it as an opening presents itself. This lane applies mostly to motos. Cars just pull straight into oncoming traffic using the I’m in front of you right of way rule.

A second rule or lack thereof is with intersections. I have yet to see a stop sign or a yield sign. Where major streets meet each other there are traffic lights. All other streets use the size of vehicle right of way. It is not uncommon to be driving down a major road and have a car pull out right in front of you, not even looking to the left. They assume they have the bigger vehicle and are in front of you, others must let them in.

So when I leave the house in the morning I cannot just get on a major road like Mao Tse Toung Bvld. and ride with the flow of traffic into work. Heaven’s no. There is not one second I can relax because any vehicle, mostly cars, can pull out in front of me without a second thought. Every intersection sorts the haves from the have nots.

Of course that does not keep the disrespectful adolescent on a moto from cutting in front of an SUV, and thus gaining the right of way. It adds to the entertainment of the commute as the horns are sure to go off.

As prosperity or something more sinister has crept slowly into Cambodia, more and more people are driving autos. And of course in a country where size gives you right of way, the vehicle of choice is an SUV.

So every time I encounter a traffic jam of vehicles all unwilling to give the right of way to others, one thought occurs to me. Thank heaven they don’t sell RV’s in Cambodia.

Waves, squid and jewelry

Last weekend we went to the beach. We went to Sianoukville and stayed at a guesthouse called Orchidee Guesthouse and spent our time on Ochheuteal beach. Orchidee Guesthouse was very nice and we had a large room with air conditioning! It had a nice pool in which we used late at night when we were back from the beach.
We left Saturday morning very early; I had to get up at 6:30. We went to the Mekong Express bus leaving area near Oresey market. While waiting people tried to sell us sunglasses and magazines, only a taste of what was yet to come. We got on the bus and started the four hours long bus ride. Much to my relief the bus had an onboard bathroom (it was even western). There was also a television which started out showing the ever popular Cambodian karaoke but then moved on to the Titanic. Four hours later we arrived and got on a tuk tuk to go to our hotel.
As soon as we got to our hotel we changed into our swimming suits, packed towels, sunscreen, and water and headed to the beach, which was within walking distance. Upon arriving at the beach we decided that it was time for lunch. We made our way to The Frog Shack and ordered seafood. Fish, shrimp, and squid were our orders but when they arrived we had varied emotions. My mom and I had ordered fried squid and fries only to receive barbequed squid and mashed potatoes. This squid was not exactly calamari as we expected and we gladly shared food with the rest.
Afterwards we went and found a table and chairs amidst the Cambodian people that we had heard were free. My mom and my siblings and I went into the water while my dad guarded our stuff. After getting wet my dad called us in and said we had to move or pay five bucks! So we walked down to the tourist area of the beach and found a restaurant that would give us chairs and a table if we bought something. So my dad sat down and ordered a coconut and we hurried back into the waves.
Soon after we went into the water my dad was bombarded with people selling him stuff: jewelry, being shaved, pedicures, and such were the items and services they were selling. Otay, otay, otay (no, no, no) was his response. They left but not without trying to sell him something. One lady trying to sell bracelets and headbands was particularly set on selling him something. She gave him a “free” bracelet and said she would be back later to sell stuff to me and my sister and mother. She did return only to ask an outrageous price for something we had seen for less than half what she was asking down the beach. Her main selling point was that she had given my dad that “free” bracelet. I decided against buying them and ran back into the water only to have to come ashore again and be offered a new price. This was the same price except for two headbands. Sneakily, she tied a bracelet to my wrist thus making me buy the headband. Acacia paid for the second one.
We spent some more time on the beach but soon a storm came along and brought us back to the guesthouse. We arrived at the guesthouse only to watch the storm quickly pass by. Now it was time for supper, hopefully an improvement from lunch. Supper was yummy and everyone enjoyed their meal. Acacia’s pineapple fruit shake came in a pineapple, which she loved. The thing that was the best though was the peacefulness, after being in Phnom Penh for quite awhile. After supper we went back and swam until it was time to go to bed. We were all quite tired from the afternoon on the beach.
The next morning after eating breakfast at the hotel’s restaurant we headed back to the beach. After purchasing a shake we went back and enjoyed the waves. They were a little rougher so we tumbled some more but still had fun. We tried to build some sand castles but we did not have the adequate buckets and shovels and the waves destroyed them all. We headed back to the hotel to gather our bags, rinse off in the bathrooms and change into dry clothes.
We went to lunch at Starfish café. We enjoyed sandwiches, lemonade for some and shakes for others, and cookies. We browsed at Rajana, an MCC partner and craft organization, and then went to catch our bus back. After another four hours in the bus we arrived back in a rainy Phnom Penh and we were all glad to get to our dry home and grab some winks before another week of school and work. Everyone enjoyed our weekend at the beach and can’t wait for another.
-Janaya