A quiet day for me - Grant

Saturday was a quiet day for me. I woke not feeling well - yup some GI issues. So the rest of the team was off to one of the many Killing Fields in Cambodia and I took some meds and rested (slept) most of the morning. I went to the lobby of the hotel just afternoon to email Grace and before I was done the team arrived back. The plan was to head to the market in just a few minutes. I was feeling pretty good so I headed out with them.

We had lunch at a wonderful little café called Jars of Clay and then it was off into the market. Now if you are thinking Safeway you couldn’t be further from the truth. You can get just about anything at Psat Toul tom pong but you have to smell it more than see it to grasp what the market is like. Let your “mind’s nose” follow me on a tour through the market. We’ll begin in the moto section where you can literally buy enough parts of motos to build one from scratch. The air here is heavy with the smell of grease and oil and solvents. As we move into the knick knack/antique section we fine sweet smell of incense. The clothing, jewelry, CD and DVD area have the smell of wet floor, human bodies and exhaust wafting in from outside. Then we move toward the produce section that has the rank smell of rotting vegetable matter. But we’re not done yet. Finally we get to the meat section. Keep in mind that it is now mid afternoon, the temperature is about 32 degrees OUTSIDE and the meat that has not yet been bought is sitting out on tables and counters to temp the passing customers. The smell is unique. Wouldn’t you like to bite into a nice piece of semi-ripe pork right now? The meat section of the market is best moved through at high speed while holding one’s breath – trust me on this.

Sotheary and Paul invited us over for dinner. Sotheary is a wonderful and gracious woman who is the Ratanak Foundation manager in Cambodia. It was a great Khmer meal and most pleasant evening.

It was a quiet day for me – a quiet day and a good day especially that I was feeling so much better at the end than at the beginning.

Grant