Our first morning.
My morning started early, much earlier than I would have like.
When I wake up early I try and stay quiet, letting my family sleep. If I’m lucky I will fall back to sleep but jet lag usually doesn’t allow for that.
When my kids wake up from a jet lag stupor, it’s time for everyone to wake up. We’ve been through a lot of jet lag with the kids, due to our multiple trips to Sweden to see Madeleine’s family.
We had a pretty late night, so sleep was something that I thought would last…but no it was. They were hungry and hungry kids will not be detoured, especially when there is a breakfast buffet to be had. Unfortunately, it didn’t open for two hours...so I had to survive two hours of, "can we go yet?"
It didn’t matter I was asleep it was a requirement that I knew they were hungry and that I was the key to remedying the situation. Somehow I was going to make time move faster or make the buffet open sooner. Neither of which was worth the sleep I was not getting...I wish they could just continue rotting their brains with their cell phones for another couple of hours...
Time kept moving so the breakfast did open, and we did make up to the fourteenth floor. The kids took the stairs, I did not. I believe in a hot climate, one should avoid making more heat than is absolutely necessary. The elevator was faster and I arrived about a minute before they did. This is when the kids got their first glimpse of the pool, which is on the roof top and wasn't open yet...again we are talking six in the morning still. The city was still quiet, and the pool was void of all human life...Which is not usually the case.
I have had concerns about how food would go for the kids, here in Cambodia. They aren't super picky but they have their moments. Knowing what I know about the buffets at the Okay Boutique hotel it would be a crapshoot (a really strange saying when its removed from it origin). The selection from day to day changes, so you never know what you breakfast will consist of...that trend was still in effect.
I was a little disappointed that there were no little orange hotdogs. But there was fresh fruit, pan cakes, fried potatoes, and eggs in various forms. We are also delighted to have beef chow mien, winter melon with eggplant and shrimp and spaghetti with tomato sauce. Of course I tried all of it, and enjoyed it well enough. The kids also seemed to find something.
The mall was about a mile and a half a way, which didn't sound too far for the kids until they got into the heat and humidity. Elsa was pretty much ok with the walk, but the boys wanted to Tuk-Tuk there. We walked along the river for a while and that was really nice with the breeze and it wasn't too crowded.
Now one thing that I was nervous about was having my kids in a busy non-western city. For much of their lives they have been know as forest children because we didn't voyage into the city much and they have lived in less the urban environment most of their lives...We currently live in the forest. The way people drive and the way people move in the city is clearly different than what we see in the forest.
Crossing the street is different everywhere but in Phnom Penh, its like an anti-Frogger video game. Jump to the places where there isn't something and avoid things that will be in that spot in less than a second, from both directions. They actually adapted well and seemed to mostly comfortable, unless they had to talk to someone...but that is how it is at home too.
After about an hours walk, we were somewhat lost. The maps on our phones didn't really help and we were all still jet lagged and the none of us understood the layout of the city yet. And we were running low on water. We found a grocery store that fixed our water problem and apparently my kids ice cream problem too.
I purchased a Coke Zero and a 50% discounted energy drink...had it been full price I would not have given it a second glance but it was in the bargain bin. You can take the boy out of the bargain bin, but he will probably climb into another one as soon as he can.
We found our way in to a "mall" which was more like a five story tall food court with a video game/pool hall on top. The boys decided to play some pool, and Elsa and I walked around looking for something to eat.
Our first journey ended with a Tuk-Tuk ride back to the hotel and a swim in the pool. I am very proud of my kids. We traversed a new city and found ourselves into something fun and no one was openly weeping.
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