Happy New Year (relatively speaking)

Mouseheads playing mini-Uno. Heaven.
see all photos »

Well this was a big one.  We have the coming of a new year.  We have family, and and also loss of family.  We have bombs in a nearby city, which for all you know we could have been in, because clearly we've been too busy to update our blog for weeks and who can really tell one place in Southeast Asia from any other, especially when we're gone for so long.

To clarify, Phnom Penh was pretty cool.  We had a lot of time, and seemingly not a lot to do (even the tourist offices admit that there's really only a day's worth of sightseeing).  We thought we'd finally have a chance to just relax and enjoy the luxurious resort we were staying in.  This leg of the trip started with a 6 hour boat ride which some of us would rather forget, followed by the arrival of the inevitable travel sickness.  This made for a slow paced next few days.

Bright lights and sunset from our balcony on new years eve.
see all photos »

We did have time to do all the things we were supposed to, plus more.  We saw the national museum, the royal palace, the silver pagoda, the genocide museum, the killing fields- it got pretty intense at times.  But we also saw the central market, the Russian market, the supermarket... we saw just about every market this city had to offer- sometimes twice.  Shopping was a thrill and a dream here, especially because Cambodia seems to have the largest number of non-profit places to spend money.  It seems like every meal we ate and every silk bag we purchased was made by some organization benefiting street children, or women, or adults with any array of disabilities.  It sounds like a joke (b/c everything I write on this comes off sounding a bit sarcastic) but in all seriousness, it was phenomenal to see such positive institutions set up all around town, and all run so smoothly and professionally.  We particularly enjoyed Friends (the restaurant) which teaches hospitality skills to street children.  Definitely go there if you have the chance.

People living it up (equally as embarrassing )
see all photos »

And then there was new years, bitter, bitter-sweet new years.  We got dressed up, we had dinner and champagne, we tried to watch the ball drop (but apparently we were 12 hours early for that), and then we called home to check in.  This was the unfortunate evening when when we heard that our family cat, Puppy, was seriously ill.  Lee (Jenny's sister) took care of her in her last few hours, but she passed before the new year (EST).  It was hard being so far away from the situation, but I was glad that my parents were with me- the news certainly would have been harder to bear alone.  Puppy was a 10th birthday present- a member of the family for nearly 15 years.  It's just not gonna be the same coming home and not having her there to sit on top of me.  We'll miss her.

Ben and Jenny (and Mousehead), on their own again
see all photos »

Otherwise, happy 2007 to everyone- all the best for the coming year.