Catchup

We all survived the five day trip to Siem Reap and Poipet - we were all in turns suffering from a nasty chest cold - there was vast consumption of tissues between the 5 of us. Thge last night in Poipet we went to the casino on the Thai borderr - there are multiple casinos in a strip that would look right at home in Vegas (off the Strip) - I rapidly lost $50 playing Blackjack - Da then took over using 3000 Thai Baht that I had - the baht being the currency of choice on the border - she of course went on a winning albeit with odds advice from me - she ended up winning $100 - of course my initial stake didnt get returned so she was flush with cash - which translated into jewellry the next day. Having seen the bus go flying past our hotel at 8am we then watched as it reversed against traffic for a quarter mile to pick us up - good service. Three days of chilling followed - we were all tired from a 5 day road trip. Much shopping was involved - not by me of course - Beth and her friend jetted off to LA this morning - thence to SEA. Having lugged a 12 pack of Coke from the Thai border (liter bottles) I insisted we set up a bling taste test as I refused to believe that Thai Coke was/is sufficiently superior to Khmer Coke to justify what seems to be a family obligation whenever anyone visits the border regions - four out of four of us in a blind test verified that the Thai bottle was indeed vastly superior - never let anyone tell you Coke is the same the world over. Celebrated Thanksgiving the traditional way (well at least I would like it to be traditional) with a 4 cheese pizza made with the special herbal ingredient - Very Happy Thanksgiving. I need to find some more excuses to celebrate before I leave here.

One incident I keep on forgetting to document is the great monkey caper.  Unfortunately I was not personally a witness to this but I have video.  Beth, her friend and Da went for a walk to Wat Phnom - one of PP's tourist attractions - there is something of which you ned to be aware when visiting - the thieving monkeys.  Theories vary on why thyey are such kleptos - faster than a bullet - one ran at da - grabbed the plastic bag she was carying - it didnt contain food - only her mobile phone and other women's stuff - the monkey went up a tree pursued by a screaming Da and other crowds of people - the monkey started to unpack the bag looking for food - dropping things as he went - untill all he had was the phone in his mouth - someone tried calling the phone in the hope that the obnoxious musical ringtone would scare it - it would certainly have worked on me - no luck - after about 15 minutes he finally gave up chewing on it and gravity prevailed = she now had a toothmarked phone - now to me thats a story and a trophy but to her it was tragedy - her new phone is now marred - guess we are buying a new screen ($30).

Things now back to some semblance of normality for the next two and a half weeks until I leave here for UK - my god the time has gone so quickly.