8/17/2014
Went to Oudong mountain with Lauren's former employees and their families - Reaksmey, Sambo, Nin, Phany, Thavi, husband Thavi, baby Thavi.
It's about an hour and a half in a tuk tuk from central Phnom Penh. Oudong was the country's capitol city from 1601-1866.
We climbed up to the temples in the scorching mid-day heat. Old folks live at the temples surviving on small donations from mostly Khmer visitors and religious pilgrims.
Oudong serves as an important religious center for Buddhist pilgrims and monks.
There were monkeys everywhere as we were descending from the top of the hill. We find monkeys to be simultaneously fascinating and terrifying.
A monkey grabbed Chris's shorts while he was walking past him. He motioned for his water bottle. Chris surrendered it to him. He unscrewed the cap of the water bottle, poured its contents on ground and licked it up.
After about an hour walking the "mountain" we joined our friends again for a picnic. In many rows there are dozens of "campsites" with bamboo platforms and each is kind of a restaurant. Oudong is famous for its tasty organic chicken.
We also noticed this cool shaved ice vendor literally shaving his ice which he then shaped into different cookie cutter animals and doused with colored syrups.
After Oudong Lauren went to meet up with friends in Phnom Penh. Nin took Chris back to his house where we ate and drank with neighbors. Chris slept at Nin's house and the next morning went out for breakfast at a noodle restaurant. Chris thought we were heading back to the guesthouse when Nin pulls up to a roadside ice vendor. "Whats the ice for, Nin?" "for beer." Aaah.
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