Day 3 - 9th September - The Red Piano

Dinner. The Red Piano. Great food, with western hygiene. This claim was bound to keep everyone happy, so we sat down in the gecko-filled downstairs of this large establishment, and grabbed some menus.

Mmmm... our tummies were rumbling and our wallets were almost jumping from our pockets at the chance of some great local fare at $4 and under per main course... Getting to Cambodia is cheap compared to other places around the world. Staying here is even cheaper.

Lok lak [rumble rumble]

Ginger pork [rumble rumble]

Spaghetti Carbonara [rumble rumble]

Prawns in... hang on. Did I just say spaghetti carbonara? In Cambodia?

Yep. The girls were greatly appreciative of the pasta menu, and I was greatly appreciative of Sophia's 'one strand of spaghetti at a time' method of eating it. Maybe greatly amused is a better expression for it.

We left, completely full, to be harrassed by three local drivers blocking the exit, all yelling (with massive grins on their faces) "'Tuk tuk! Tuk tuk! Tuk tuk!". Luckily, we needed some. But only two...how to choose?

One of them kept saying "Sok sa bai" to me - I had met him before in the street, whilst talking to his friend. "Sok sa bai"is informal for "how are you". The informal reply is "Sok sa bai". You know? Same same, but different...

So I chose Mr Sok Sa Bai and we all headed back to the Sydney, Trish, Felicity and I in one trailer, Florry, Fiona and Sophia in the other. It must be explained that Tuk Tuks here are small trailers that could squeeze four people in (two front-facing and two back-facing) with little canopies over the top and pulled by a 125cc motor bike usually. Heaps of fun when the traffic is chaotic and everybody gives way (to the least extent possible) to everybody else.

From our tuk tuk (which was about 10 metres behind the others') we could hear Florry yelping. I think they were yelps of excitement/nervousness, not so muich yelps of joy.
When we arrived at the Sydney, their tuk tuk was doing donuts in the front yard, with the three of them still in it. I was jealous. It looked like fun.

We then played sey tawat (have you worked out what it is yet?) with the locals for a little while, before plunging into our beds to get our beauty sleep in preparation for about six hours of driving the next day.