First Outing

I happened to arrive in Phnom Penh at a very interesting time. I explained the importance and story behind this event in a previous post, and it all began yesterday. I didn't wander out during the procession of the coffin around the city, but I did watch a good deal of it on TV.

Pictures of TV coverage of the funeral procession:

Arial of the funeral pyre.

Gates into the Royal Palace complex (more pictures of this in real life to come!)

King Father's coffin processing into the complex.

King Father's coffin on the float that was processed around the city before resting in the funeral pyre until Monday when he will be cremated.

In the evening, Sopheak, her sister, and I ventured out. We stopped by the clinic across the street, which my host also runs. We picked up one of the girls' friends and walked across the "National Highway" to the riverside. There were boys playing pick-up soccer with mini balls and party boats ready to set out on the river for nighttime entertainment. We walked all the way down to the Royal Palace area seen in the pictures above. I only took a disposable camera with me this time so those pictures won't be available for a while. I'll try to snap some daytime ones, although all the buildings were lit up with Christmas-type white lights and there were a lot of people praying and lighting candles and incense for the King Father, which was a pretty impressive scene. 

On the way back, we stopped and ate pho at a local restaurant with a burner in the middle where they placed a pot of broth. They also brought us each a small saucer of red sauce that smelled similar to mild Siracha sauce, to which we added some red chilies and toasted garlic. Once it was up to a boil, the girls added the raw meat and greens that were brought to the table on a tray. Once the meat was cooked, we each ate some by dipping the meat and veggies in the sauce and sipping the broth. This was repeated as they added more greens, cracked raw eggs into it, and added two different kinds of noodles (glass and some that were thicker and more like pasta). I've had pho before, and it has been delicious each time, but it was extra fun getting to cook it ourselves! By the end I was stuffed to the gills. Sopheak told me for the four of us, the total came to $5 with the sodas we drank. Sweet. 

Walking around, I saw a lot more tourists than I was expecting, and not nearly as many people as the huge flood of population increase expected. I also saw my first set of brotastic CamBROs toolin' town. Check that off the Phnom Penh bingo sheet. They walked into the Mexican restaurant called Viva. Might have to make my way back there at some point for the $3.00 pitchers and/or $5.00 pitchers of margaritas and the tequila lime shrimp! I'll keep you posted.

Happy weekend, everyone!