Sleepover Across the Hall

Elder and Sister Thurston have 7 family members visiting, and rather than booking a hotel for the short time in Phnom they decided it would be more fun to just have one big sleep-over. We offered our spare room, since we are just across the hall, but instead they borrowed a stack of extra towels, bedding, and the mattress and pillows from the extra room.  This morning as we were almost back from our walk we met Sister Thurston, her sister, and two teenagers heading out on a walk of their own. They are making a quick trip to Battambang and Siem Reap, then will be back to spend Christmas eve and Christmas morning in Phnom Penh. Then the visitors leave for a quick trip to Vietnam, then on to Hawaii. They started with a couple of days in Japan before their arrival in Cambodia. That is really one whirlwind Christmas vacation.

This morning we took Elder and Sister Curtis for a quick trip to Russian Market before they headed back to Kampong Cham. It is always an adventure to find what you are looking for when you don't speak the local language and things seem to be quite random in their layout. The hard part is the disappointed looks from vendors when they try so hard but you still don't buy from them. Many of them have such a large inventory for how little it would appear that they sell.

Our time at the office is being spent wrapping up projects and helping with year-end reports. There are frequently questions brought to us that start with something like, "Since you have lived in the US for so long ....", or "What does this word (or phrase) mean?" Then there are those who visit our desk for the candy dish.

These brave watchdogs were sitting in a basket on a moto during our early morning walk. The chickens were on display along a busy road. This load of workers were headed home about 9:00 at night, some of them holding on so they didn't fall off the load. And on the grill are skewers of bananas. We have tried them before and didn't care for the smoked flavor.