(written by Dave)

Just a quick post from Phnom Penh.  Gretchen arrived late last night after 30-something hours of travel.  Still this morning, everyone was up early for a big day of playing tourists.  We started with the National Museum, had a break for lunch at another “street kids” cafe called Friends and then hit the Royal Palace.

The museum was interesting, mostly focused on the Angkor and pre-Angkor eras, sort of up to 1600 or so.  Most displays were in Khmer, French and English and pretty informative.  Lunch at the cafe was great.  All three of us had some form of local dish and it was very tasty.  The local kids serving were great to interact with, the training they receive there seems to be very good.  We ended up sitting next to a Aussie cycle tour group that we’d seen a few days ago as well.

In the afternoon we headed to the Royal Palace.  The palace is where the king and queen live but you can wander the buildings and grounds, both are quite impressive.  Even more so when you consider that 30 years ago the Khmer Rouge levelled this place.  They may not have gotten all the roadways sorted out in Cambodia but the palace is a real source of national pride and they have done well.

I took a stack of pictures so I hope that makes up for the lack of in depth text.  I’ve also included five bonus photos from yesterday when Nancy and I were out strolling for dinner.  We came across a “bugs only” stall right in the middle of all the restaurants.  I know that some readers (perhaps not all) enjoy these special treat photos – enjoy.

Tomorrow we are off to the killing fields.  We have some idea of what to expect but I’m sure that it will still be quite moving.

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