Going home.....

After a month-long dream, it's time to go back to the US. My last weekend in Cambodia was like this:
Friday - long day of work with meetings and a visit to Calmette Hospital in Phnom Penh. It was fairly clean but the hallways still smelled like chlorine or something. Left work to go home and pack and get ready for the night. Also went to the gym to pick up my racket I forgot. Marlin and I met up with some friends from the TWG meeting and it is hilarious watching a 40+ year old man shake it with such vigor and enthusiasm. Went to Riverside lounge (club), Pontoon club, and White club. Riverside played "Low" 10 minutes in a row, so we went to Pontoon, this club on a barge/boat. It's quite nice but only techno, so we left for White, ahhhhhhhhhh. More spacious, air/con, good music. Home around 3 AM.

Saturday - woke up at 6, 7, 8, and again 9 AM to the sound of construction next door. I pack some more, run errands, mani/pedi, lunch with Dory for the last time at Garden Center Cafe. I ordered a Khmer beef sandwich and small Caesar salad. The salad came out watery with weird bacon bits on it. The beef baguette was not 3-4 inches like I thought. It was a full 12-inch sandwich!! I ate half and gave the rest to Dory for her dinner. Then Marlin and his fiancee came to pick us up to go to the zoo. His fiancee is quiet and pretty. I felt really happy for them and wish I could attend the wedding. Khmer weddings are supposed to be very extravagant and quite the celebration.
On the way to the zoo, we had to drive down a long stretch of sandy road flanked by wooden houses and emaciated people begging for money. Some people threw water on the road, as if to clear the dust that the car generated to get money. Another couple dressed up in really tall costume get-ups. There were too many people begging - you couldn't pay them all. The zoo was called "Phnom Takeo Wildlife Sanctuary" - endangered and other animals are taken into this area for protection but this was unlike any zoo I've ever been to. There was walking but we had to drive from one section (Monkeys, lake, birds) to the next section (tigers, bears, lions) and we would've gotten totally lost I think, if it hadn't been for these kids (actually teens and men in their 20's) didn't accompany us the whole way selling us coconuts to feed the animals. They explained each animal and gave a little story. Like how the monkey carries the better-loved baby monkey on her chest and the lesser-loved baby monkey on her back,... except the sad irony is that the baby monkey on the chest drowns/dies when the mother monkey goes swimming. So the mommy monkey is left with the lesser-loved baby. I also saw crocodiles and baby crocodiles. There was a white and red squirrel - the red one moved too fast for photos. Deer and something like it walked around freely and Marlin tried to capture me with it on the camera. Finally, time for bears! The whole trip, I've been wanting to see a sun bear and elephant. The sun bear is called that because it is black, except for a golden U branding on its chest. It kept snorting and panting as soon as it saw us. "Lady? Buy a coconut for the bear?" one of the boys asked. I nodded and said ok. He threw the coconut over the fence and the bear grabbed it deftly and with one quick CRACK, the thick coconut shell burst open under its sharp claws and the bear started licking the juice out of it. It must be hungry. We moved over to the next cage and saw these black bears clawing at this metal tunnel thing that turns - there's food inside for the bears. Then one bear caught my eye - it looked like a lion/bear. The mane was golden and reminded me of Simba or something. Its name was Brandy, which Marlin found to be a really pretty name. We then moved on to the tiger and it was a beautiful Bengal-looking tiger just prowling in his corner. Then the elephants. I've never seen an elephant so up-close before. The eyes were surrounded with wrinkles and the trunks moved up and down displaying its emotions. More coconuts abound. The elephant swooped the coconut into its mouth, bit down hard, and drank the juice. Through its long trunk, it was able to pick up the coconut shells and eat the entire thing. Then it was a long drive back as it began to rain - I believe only the 5th or 7th time I've seen it rain during this "rainy" season. We dropped Dory off and then I was dropped off and I began packing again. One hour later, everything was jammed into 1 large suitcase and 2 smaller suitcases. Buddha and Bruce helped me carry them down the 2 flights of stairs (59 steps, I counted one day). I went out to dinner before Marlin and his fiancee came to pick me up to go to the airport. I ordered my last Khmer dish, fish amok, and this pumpkin w/ coconut cream and tapioca dessert, and a green mango shake. The shake was ok, the fish amok was too garlicky, and by the time I was done with that, Marlin called to say that they were there at my house. So I paid the bill, left with the uneaten dessert for Marlin & his fiancee, and headed home. 10 minutes later, all suitcases were packed in the Honda CRV and I said goodbye to Buddha, his brother, Bruce, Buddha's wife, some other friends, and got in the car. Once at the airport, I was supposed to give Marlin back the SIM card I'd been using from the WHO but we both forgot. I said goodbye to the couple and wished them happiness. And then waited in line for a long time before I got to the counter to check in my bags. A man in a uniform behind me was so impatient. He grabbed my carry-on bag - I said that was mine. He cut in front of me and slapped the passport on the counter - I said I'm in line here. He replied in Khmer and I have no idea what he said. Finally the agent was ready for me. The rude man behind me helped me put my suitcases on the scale - I was good at 38 kg. whew. Somehow the airport guy next to the agent thought one of the suitcases belonged to the man behind me, seeing how he kept touching my stuff and putting his passport on the counter while I was waiting, so I narrowly missed a mistake in bag transfer and the man would have ended up with a lot of female clothing, medicines, and toiletries. The woman sitting next to the agent asked if I was Japanese, the fifth time in 48 hours. Then I realized that I still had the SIM card. I called Marlin and he knew immediately that we had both forgot. He has a friend who works in the Customs department, so he called his friend to see if I could give the SIM card to him. After checking in through security, I asked to leave the SIM card for his friend, who was not working that night. The x-ray security guy looked at me blankly. I called Marlin and handed the phone over to him. The phone was passed back to me and Marlin told me to give the phone to the customs guy, who ended up being the guy sitting right in front of me but showed no recognition or acknowledgement despite the fact that I had said customs several times. I handed the phone to him and Marlin chatted with him. Finally, phone back to me and Marlin said it was all ok. I handed the customs guy the SIM card and for hopefully the last time in a VERY long time, the man asked if I was Japanese or Korean. Chinese-American I replied. "Ahhh Chinese-American." At that, I said thank you (aw-kuhn) and walked away.

Finally, I boarded at 10:30 PM and passed out as soon as I got on the flight. I landed in Korea at 6:10 AM and I have a 4.5 hour layover in which I spent over an hour looking for an internet lounge. The staff here don't know English that well and I ended up using the maps rather than asking questions like is the KAL lounge for economy class too? (It's not - just first class).

At 10:10 AM, I board for Dulles airport and arrive at 11:25 AM Sunday morning, a 13+ hour flight.