I was out of bed and marching up and down by 6.45am - I was quite proud of myself. I had an early shower and set off to meet Vuth. Together we went for noodle soup to a new place. Cina likes it because they give customers a large bowl of bean sprouts rather than a few which happens in the other place where we go - that place is also more expensive. Where we went was a more run down place but the service was fast, the place was packed and the food was good. I had fish balls; they are made by scraping the meat from the fish and creating these balls. What fascinates me is that they don't taste like fish when they are made into the balls.
I told Vuth I wanted to buy some brown bread so we went to a new shop that's in the Bred Bank building. I bought two rye loaves and Vuth wanted a sourdough loaf. A lady chatted with him and then she said in English, "I'll give you a 20% reduction." It turned out that Bred employees get this deal if they shop there for snacks and coffee. Vuth old her he had an account at the bank and so I got the deal. I went back with him to Cina Travel and left the bread as I needed to stock up on supplies from Surya supermarket. I got my vegetables, I have cheese but I saw Double Gloucester, which I couldn't resist. I bought fruity yogurt and Greek style and some bananas. I picked up the bread on the way home, emptied the bag and then set off to E-mart to buy my sour cherry juice - none available! All that walking meant I'd done nearly 16,000 so I'm quite chuffed. Maybe they gave up on it as I've been away for two weeks. I'll have to ask them to get it for me when I return in the autumn. I also bought some fancy French pate in tins which will do me for snacks. I had to visit two other shops to see if there was more brown bread available. I need some square bread for the toaster.
For lunch I made a batch of bean salad and had bread, cheese and pate with a yogurt and some juice and then I settled into writing letters. Vuth phoned to ask me if I'd like to go out for a coffee. He said we'd go to an ordinary place rather than a trendy coffee shop, which meant it would be cheaper. I had an iced coffee with milk and after we'd had our drink Vuth bought a 'pow' which is a large dumpling stuffed with meat and egg. I was fascinated by one of the waitresses. Each customer had a plate and a deep bowl for their soup. When the table emptied the waitress started to stack the dishes to take them to the kitchen. Now if it had been me, I'd have taken the plates and stacked them on top of each other and I'd have done the same with the bowls. Not this lady; for some reason she thought it was easier to stack each plate and bowl combination on top of another plate and bowl. She ended up with a stack about seven bowls high and then she marched off to the kitchen. The young teenaged lads were just as interesting. They would come from the kitchen, carrying about five glasses of iced coffee in one hand - no handles, just the glasses sitting on their not so big hands; how they did it I don't know. It's cheap entertainment!
When we got back to the office Vuth phoned a place to prepare snacks for the staff - sticky rice, stuffed with various things and wrapped in banana leaf. He said I should stay but I told him I was already full and couldn't eat anything else. The restaurant was super noisy but it was a happy noise of people talking; in the coffee shops the noise is from the coffee making machinery. We paid $2.50 for the coffee and pow; it would have been more than $3.00 for a simple coffee in a coffee shop. I said to Vuth the cheaper place most likely made more money as people come and go; in the coffee shops the people with a bit more money will order a coffee and then stay forever doing their computer stuff.
I came home and tackled the floor again. It's amazing how it looks clean but then proves it isn't. I notice it when I go into the bathroom as the floor is always a bit wet and I leave dirty footprints. I got my suitcase ready and started packing for my return to Canada. I have to create space for when the UofA students come in May so I tackled the cupboards and sorted out my extra toothbrushes, soap, shaving stuff etc. The wood looks a bit dismal so I did some polishing so now the place smells good. I then settled down to the letter writing I'd started four hours ago before Vuth interrupted me.
