Walking and Music (Dec. 16, 2014)

Happy Birthday to Shelley! I hope you have a great day, and that all your wishes come true for this upcoming year. You deserve it, and I know that great things will happen for you.

Today I got up and decided to walk to a restaurant that was listed in the Lonely Planet, which is a bit of a walk away. It was said to be very inexpensive, good food. So I got ready, showered, and took a walk to go and see if I could find it. 

I saw some interesting street scenes along my way as well. That of course, being the best reason to have a destination.

Tuk Tuk with doggie pilot

Guy who pulled up with a rabbit in a
cage, on his motorbike

I found the restaurant, called Mama Restaurant after walking for an hour or so. It was in a totally different part of town than I had ever been in before, so that was interesting. I had a great meal of steamed fish, with vegetables, and rice. I sat on the patio and watched some of the action on the street while I ate. 

Mama's restaurant where the steamed fish was divine

After that, I began to walk back to the hostel. It was very hot, so I stopped at the shopping mall to cool off and buy some snacks for my trip on Thursday. It was a welcome respite, and by that time, I’d already consumed a 2 litre bottle of water, and was still thirsty. You sure have to keep up with the water intake here, or you can easily feel dehydrated. I often drink two of these every day. 

Condo with glass exterior elevator

An aisle in the grocery store

I relaxed with my book on the patio of my hostel where there was a nice wind blowing. I stayed there for quite while, then went inside to write my blog. Not and exceptionally exciting day, but I like these once in a while. 

Oh, on my way to the restaurant, I found the place that I will meet Theresa, called Cabaret. It’s a really nice venue with an open air design, and huge open spaces with pool tables, dinner areas and comfy seating. It looks like it will be fun and I am looking forward to going there tonight to hear some music. I think it’s a couple who do jazz. If they are good, I can arrange to see them in Sihanoukville while I’m there, as well. That would be great. 

So I met Theresa at the bar, had some drinks and great conversation with her. She is exactly my age, comes from New Hampshire, and is teaching and gathering information of sexual crimes of the Khmer Rouge Regime, for the university here. She is super cool and very smart. I really enjoyed talking to her. In fact, I enjoyed it so much, I totally forgot to take pictures of the venue that we went to. In any case, a great night and she suggested that I go to the FCC Club tomorrow, to sit and look out the windows there and take in the sights. That is the Foreign Correspondents Club for Phnom Penh. It sounds interesting and I think I will go.

The duo we saw was really good, and the woman sang a lot of the songs in Khmer. She was gorgeous, tiny and a beautiful singer. She is paired up with a Western partner and together they make beautiful music......excuse the pun.

So that’s it for today. Sorry about the photos, I totally forgot….lol.

Must have been having a good time. I will definitely keep in touch with her. She’s very cool.