Day 14: Eat, Shop, and Eat
Just to realign my dates: today is 07/07/2015 (July 07, 2015).
Today’s itinerary: meet family friend’s brother, sorya mall, jewelry shopping, dinner at Aunt’s place.
We started the day by meeting my Uncle Meng Heang brother, Meng Hourn. We ate near a restaurant close to the hotel. It was a vietnamese khmer place. We were seated in the atrium. It was probably 8:30AM and already hot. I really wanted kuy teav. I ordered kuy teav and my Uncle Meng Hourn tried to say they don’t have it. I showed him in the menu where it was. He was embarrassed. That was the joke of the day. After that, he thought I could read khmer.
kuy teav phnom penh (dry style)
family photo
I thought this place was cool because the tree pots had fish in them.
After breakfast, we visited a shop my brother rents in Tuol Kork through my cousin in-law. I didn’t realize this till after we left. My cousin in-law name is Danny. His english is very good and he’s a nice guy. He’s related through my Uncle Sy’s wife. They are first cousins. I also got to meet some of the workers for the first time. All I know is it is near this
Afterwards, my Uncle Sy dropped us off at Sorya Mall. I finally experienced a mall with only affordable “copies”. I’m pretty sure everything in this mall is fake: shoes, backpacks, clothes, purses, and software. They also had a ShareTea! I think that was real. Software was cheap like $1.50 for Microsoft Office. We also did some jewelry browsing. I’m in the market for a bracelet.
corner looking out from Sorya Mall
For dinner, we ate at my Aunt Mouy’s place. She made some great Cambodian food. Tonight’s menu consisted of some local favorites
nompajok
vegetables
table shot
Ta da! The final product
I also had a rice bowl with something I don’t know how to say in English.
easy comfort food
The food was on point. I ate until it hurt. Everyone loved the food. After we ate, we did gave gifts we brought over from America. It was fun watching them receive it since they seemed to be happy. I wished security at Hong Kong didn’t get rid some of our gifts. Jerk faces.
We ended the night with late night talks outside the shop. While I don’t speak Khmer, I tried my best to listen and learn. It was fun watching them kick back. It was reminiscent of how my friends hang out.
candid family photo