The World Beyond the Sidewalk: A Path Uniquely Made for Me: The Daily "Grind"- Life in Cambodia Part 1

Dear Friends and Family,

First, you may wish to go back and check out the other posts as I've uploaded more pictures. It always takes me a couple of days to get my writing and pictures sync'd but no more back loading :-)

I'm dedicating a series of posts to daily life in Cambodia and later, Vietnam. I use the word "grind" not in a negative connotation but in recognition of the fabulousness of Cambodian and Vietnamese coffee! If you were to trip and fall on a Cambodian sidewalk, your body would be stretched out in front of 2-3 coffee houses. Now, in Vietnam, it would be a combo of tea and coffeehouses.

So, Saturday morning, I awoke at 4:50AM after getting a reasonable night's sleep but the minute my eyes opened, my brain screamed "COFFEE"!!! Oh, but I was prepared to take care of this. Here's the situation... I am in Cambodia for 2 weeks and Vietnam for 6 weeks. Neither apartment that I am staying in provides a coffee pot, just an electric kettle. In preparing for the trip, I had to choose one of 3 doors....Door #1: Purchase a simple Mr. Coffee which runs $50 in Cambodia and $60 in Vietnam. While a reasonable option for Vietnam, not so for a 2-week run in Cambodia. Slam the door.

Door #2: Pack or purchase a French press. I have 2 at home but wasn't thrilled with packing the glass and they run $12-15 each here in SE Asia. Plus, there is that irritating feature that the coffee does not stay hot. Close that door. Leaving me Door #3!

Now, it is time for a sidebar. A kind colleague and friend at the College of Nursing gave me her small Keurig probably 3 years ago as she is a tea drinker. I have packed that Keurig for trips to Nevada, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and of course within Florida. It has been the little engine that could. So, I packed my Keurig and 2 weeks worth of Community Coffee k-cups for my time in Cambodia. My plan was to purchase bulk Cambodian coffee and use the filter basket after arriving in Vietnam. Notice the past tense? Spring back to Saturday morning and Door #3.

My brain cells are craving caffeine and I'm rather jauntily plugged in my Keurig and getting my cup ready for that first sip. The water heated, the machine burbled, and.... nothing. Hmmm. Tried again. And again. And again. NOOOO (Do you hear the funeral dirge filling the air?). Alas, it is true. My Keurig was toast.

Back to Door #3. I am a rather resourceful person. I have an electric kettle and a ceramic tea pot with something of a built-in filter. Thus, I dumped the contents of a K-cup into the teapot while the water boiled super quick and then poured it into the teapot. Once that first cup was poured, yeah, there were some grounds but I could spoon them off and it was well worth it. At least when I met with my Executive Associate Dean via zoom at 5:30AM my time, yes... in my PJs, robe, and my hair sticking up like Alfalfa of Little Rascals, I could put nouns and verbs together.

While that worked for Day #1, I knew I'd quickly find those coffee grounds tiresome. Hmmm. A priority on my Saturday to-do list was to go to the Smart communication store in Sorya Mall and reactivate my Cambodian phone number and get cell/ internet service going on my Cambodian phone. Yep, I have a phone specifically for SE Asia. Oh, $8 USD for one month of internet/ cell service. How do you like them apples?! Next to the Smart store, a woman has a rather good sized home goods kiosk and I found exactly what I needed. While a bit large, it does the job quite nicely.... a strainer! $3 USD. There we go. Coffee K-cup contents into the teapot with hot water, steep and then strain into my cup. Door #3!

My coffee set up

Breakfast!

I rather like tuk tuks unless I am dressed up. It then becomes difficult to keep ones hair in place when you are in an open air cart. For years, and I mean years, I used the same tuk tuk drive- Tom Mab. I was brokenhearted last year to learn that he had died. He would not let me go anywhere that he thought unsafe and once upon returning to the tuk tuk, I discovered he had taken a needle and thread and repaired my straw hat that had a split in it. He was also rather aggressive in negotiating Cambodian traffic, which is ncessary unless you want to sit in a jammed up intersection. Here are a couple of pics during my first tuk tuk ride for Summer 2024.

I'll wrap up this first post with where I ate lunch on Saturday. Lee and I LOVE Elia's. BEST Greek food you can imagine. They have two restaurants but I like the one down the "Bassac Lane". They are both open air, so it was stinking hot but the fans kept the worst of the heat at bay. Oh, I left out who owns the restaurants. A brother and sister from.... Finland. So, this US citizen, loves eating Greek food in Cambodia at a restaurant run by Finish siblings. It is rated #22 out over over 1,000 restaurants in Phnom Penh on Trip Advisor. I have been looking forward to this lunch for some time. I ordered the vegetarian gyro: zucchini fritters, lettuce, tomato, red onion, tzatziki sauce. It did not disappoint though the picture does not do it justice.