Cambodia - Anna's 14th Birthday in Phnom Penh

Our final days in Asia were spent focused on Anna's 14th birthday. We checked into a fairly decent hotel and the kids and I headed off to eat at - where else- Friends restaurant!! We hired a TukTuk driver namely Soupy (sp?) and he took us to Friends and then to the Central Market for a quick look around and then dropped the boys back at the hotel with John's bowl of rice. We girls then headed to the massage place he recommended and we enjoyed our $8 massages. Okay, I cheated a bit and for $14 I had a fellow massaging my feet and legs and then a gal doing my head, neck and shoulders at the same time!

We arranged for Soupy to spend the entire day with us the next day, march 6th - Anna's actual birthday. He would take us everywhere all day and night long for the going rate $20.

The next morning we had a great buffet breakfast with John joining us and then off to both the Central and Russian markets to pick up last minute things. We knew that our friends the Rices would be surprising the kids in Perth, so we wanted to pick up a birthday gift for Sydney (March 4th). Lunch was at a French restaurant and then we girls went back for one last massage. When we came out of the massage place, it was absolutely pouring rain! Soupy was kind of covered by the overhang of the TukTuk and we were zipped inside like in a plastic tent. By the time we arrived at the hotel, he was absolutely soaked, so I ran upstairs and got him a towel and retrieved the boys to g for birthday dinner. The rain stopped while we were at dinner. This was only the 3 but of rain in almost 100 days of travel! We paid Soupy $30 which is about what many Cambodians make in an entire month.

Back at the hotel was the surprise that we had been working on for weeks for Anna. My Dad had taken his Macbook computer to the Middle School where Anna's teachers and AP had organized an iChat session with us in Phnom Penh. This meant that she could not only talk to her friends, but actually see them too. We crossed our fingers that they would appear on the screen at the appointed hour and a big thanks to Larry, Donna and Max who made it work!! It still seems a little out of Star Trek for me. Anna couldn't quite believe it and it brought tears to most of our eyes!!

Holly