It's 10pm but I thought I'd better write something because tomorrow will be another travelling day.
I had porridge for breakfast; I said I didn't want any meat or fish, just bean sprouts so why did I get squares of congealed blood? I passed them on to the lady sitting next to me and she was happy to have them. I really don't mind the taste but it's the thought of what it might be doing to my cholesterol level that puts me off. The two children joined us which meant the peace and quiet was over. Morakot kept wanting to dip her bread in my soup while Lee An enjoyed my Ovaltine drink.
I decided to walk into town to buy some of my favourite toothpaste which I can't find anywhere else. It is from Thailand and is herbal. It comes in tiny containers and I put such a small amount on my brush that it's hardly noticeable. It creates a large amount of froth so I'm hoping it works. It's made from such plants as aloe vera, cloves etc. Today I bought coconut flavoured for $1, a tea made with Oolong tea and a charcoal toothpaste for $2. The charcoal one reminded me of the old days when Grandad Heyes used to shove his toothbrush up the chimney to get the soot - he had all his teeth when he was in his 70s so I'm hoping it'll do the same for mine.
I walked for about an hour and I was ready to fade away when Serey's dad saw me and gave me a ride on his motorbike. It was just a couple of hundred metres but it was lovely. When I'm in the apartment, walking and listening to the BBC, I can walk for 1 1/2 hours and not feel tired but walking for one hour on the street was so tiring. I think it's the heat from above and from the cement, plus the noise and the dust that gets to me. I saw it was 38C today.
After lunch I went to my room to relax and read for a while and then Veuk came with his daughter for a visit. I always enjoy my chats with Veuk. He told me that the children's home now has to fund itself so they have over 2,000 ducks that are only for egg production. It means the eggs can be sold every day so they always have cash for tomorrow. The young university students, staying at the home, take care of the birds.
Later on other friends arrived for the dinner I'd invited them to. It was good to see Thiroth - his was the first Cambodian wedding I attended around 13 years ago. He and his bride had the largest cake I've ever seen. It had the usual tiered cake but, coming out from the top tier were two bridges which linked to two more tiers of cake. Nowadays, all the weddings I've attended have had traditional Khmer wedding "cake" which is the mountain of fruit, which makes more sense. Polycarpe came. He's from Burundi and very dark skinned; he said all the tuk tuk drivers in town know him. I'm glad he's enjoying being here. Chamnan came with his daughter Tin Tin and her friend. I'm glad he's happier although he still says his dream has died after his wife died so tragically. Bun joined us later; he's now working for a pharmaceutical company. everyone is mature now, with children. We talked about the old days when I rented a little wooden house in Battambang way back in 2002. The toilet door fell off one day because the termites had eaten it. One day I chased a snake out with a broom. I got to the point of not bothering to yell when I saw a rat.
When they were leaving, two young ladies came in for a meal. I spoke to them and they are from Spain. One has been travelling for eight months and is not ready to go home yet. I gave them information about travel, buses, visas, going to Vietnam etc. They were very nice to talk to and made a happy ending to my day.
