Hi Gram,
We had another great day today. After the travel yesterday, we didn’t set an alarm, choosing to sleep in as best we could. We still managed to get out of bed around 7:30 or 8, but it felt luxurious to wake up naturally and just lie in bed without obligation for a bit. Once we got up, we were of course hungry, so we ambled over to the restaurant for breakfast. We have a prime room right next to the pool with the restaurant, gym, and spa on the other side of the pool. We walked out our door, 50 feet past some nice landscaping by the pool, then the staff opened the two sliding doors as we approached the restaurant and greeted us by name, which felt pretty baller. We chose a table, then headed to the buffet while they pulled out our chairs and set the table with placemats, plates, and silverware. I walked around to see what was available first, then made a few selections.

Unlike America, many people in SE Asia eat the same foods at each meal – some combination of rice, noodles, vegetables, fish/chicken/pork/beef, and a sauce. The hotel wants to cater to this palate as well as European and American palates. So the buffet has an omelette station, pencakes (their spelling), waffles and bacon for the Americans, fruits, cold cuts, cheeses, and olives for the Europeans, yogurt and cereal for the healthy/light eaters, an assortment of breads, croissants, etc for both Americans and Europeans, and a line of rice, noodles, soups, and hot dog-style sausages for the Asians. You can see why I overeat each morning here… Anyway, I chose a few things on my plate, then returned to the table. I was surprised when Nattiya came back with a few small round slices of bread, the kind restaurants serve in a basket, and a bowl of cream of pumpkin soup in addition to her fried rice. I expected the fried rice, as that is her culture, then I realized that bread isn’t common at any meal for her, and pumpkin soup is rare. Just like I was trying things that are rare and unusual to me, she was doing the same. Maybe it’s all in my head, but the thought brought a smile to my face as we enjoyed our meal.

After breakfast, we lounged around the room for a bit before I got to the computer to work on our reservations for the rest of the week. While I was busy there, she took the chance to lounge outside and chat with her friend back home. After a bit, I was getting cross-eyed and tired of the computer and reservation stuff so we went to the hotel spa for a couples massage.

I have never done a couples spa day – in fact, I don’t think I’ve ever done a “spa day” at all – and neither has she. At the front desk, I signed us up for a package that included a “Flower foot glow”, a one hour herbal body scrub with “Khmer herbs, turmeric, sandalwood and rice powder” to exfoliate and soften the skin, a one hour body massage, then ginger tea and cucumber slices as a refreshment. It was so very, very relaxing and rejuvenating. For the rest of the night, she kept touching my arm, or showing me her arm or leg and talking about how soft and glowing we were.

After heading back to the room to relax a bit and soak in our warm glowing feeling, we headed to a restaurant that the front desk recommended, “Neary Khmer” for lunch. The staff was attentive, the food was decent, but it wasn’t a grand experience. For one thing, Nattiya doesn’t speak or read English or Khmer, the two languages the menu had. I encouraged her to translate with the phone or describe to me what she wanted and I’d tell the waitstaff. She wanted to just choose from a picture, though, and ended up with a dish with some sort of fish eggs or fish paste that was raw. We had a bit of a discussion where the waitress talked to me, then I put it into the translator app where Nattiya read it, then replied back into the translator app and back along that chain. The result is that:

1. The eggs or paste were indeed raw
2. No, while they are able to cook it, they don’t normally and would not this time, and
3. Nattiya would rather just eat everything else on the plate around it than to make a fuss.

The plate was huge, so there was plenty of other food and she didn’t go hungry. My dish was alright, but this restaurant served the white rice from a big bowl onto your plate. What this means is that the waitress stood a few feet from our table and watched us eat, which was a little uncomfortable, but also meant that I had to be strategic about how I ate my food. I would mix the chicken and veggies with the rice then eat it, but if I ever appeared to be getting low on rice, she would go get the big bowl of rice and top me off. It ended up feeling more like we were being supervised and playing a game of balancing the rice I ate with the chicken than a relaxing meal. Overall, it was a decent lunch and an experience, it was pretty affordable, but we won’t be returning.

This brings up another point, though. The tables have been leveled a little this week. Neither of us speaks Cambodian (Khmer) so speaking to locals is a challenge for both of us. The menu is written in English, and many locals have a rudimentary grasp of English, so I have a slight advantage in knowing what we’re talking about and deciding what we’re doing. Compare this to when we’re in Thailand (and I’m sure how it will be when we get to Laos) where everyone we talk to ends up chatting with her, she makes decisions with them, then I just sort of tag along, confused but acquiescent. Neither is better or worse, just observing how things are different as we travel.

When we got back to the hotel, we asked the front desk where she could find a swim suit nearby. Apparently, this is a common request because they had a box of swim suits for sale. She rifled through and picked one that was roughly her size in red and blue, but with a big red flower on it that we both kind of laughed at. Back at the room, she tried it on while I confirmed our travel plans for the next couple of days, then headed to the gym to work out a little. I’ve been working out a few times per day, six days per week for a couple months now and I want to keep up the gains, the flexibility, the balance, etc. It’s tough working out when you’re on the road in a different place constantly always having to adapt to a new routine and setting. I did half an hour on the treadmill, then a set of calisthenics that we did every day in our body weight class. It wasn’t a complete workout, but it felt good to do something. With my pride of having lifted heavy things and walked a few miles without going anywhere, I headed back to the room, took a shower, and went to bed.