First 2 Days in Cambodia by Zander

us going into the Air port in Siem Reap

            Yesterday was really special, we flew to Cambodia. Cambodia was where my mom was born, and I have always wanted to go there. Most of my mom’s extended family lives there. We few into Siem Reap on Jet Star. I was looking out the window the whole time. I saw lots of Rice paddies and farmers. I was so excited to land, because my Grandma was waiting and I haven’t seen her in about a year. When we went through Security, we didn’t have to pay for a visa because we have Cambodian heritage. The only person that had to pay was my dad. Finally getting to Cambodia, seeing some of my family that I didn’t even know existing was really cool and kind of confusing.

            When we landed, we all hugged my Grandma, and then got into a car and drove to the Hotel. I was looking out the window the whole time. When we got there, they gave us cold towels to rub on our face, and some juice.  We went to our room, and then we went out to dinner on Pub Street. It had really good Cambodian food. My mom, Mingdeap, and my Grandma were going over our itinerary of our trip in Cambodia. When were done eating we went back to our hotel to go to bed. I was really tired; we had just gotten of a plane ride. I had to go to bed early because we had to go to an Orphanage and then drive to Phnom Pen the next day.

Orphanage

            Then next day, my mom woke me up really early for breakfast. Then we got into the car. We had to stop at the market to get some food for the orphanage. My dad wanted to get them soccer balls but they were too expensive. After we were done shopping, we got into the car again and went to the orphanage. There was a ton of little kids that swarmed the car. We put the food that we had in the store room. The manager was sick, so we just walked in. They were so happy. They showed us pictures of them and where they lived. We played games with them, and read books to them. We stayed there for about an hour playing a game like duck duck goose. They didn’t want us to go. They were so cute, tough. There was only one girl, and they treated her pretty well, they were like a family and took care of each other. Even with the manager sick, they had eaten breakfast, they were really self-sufficient. It was really cool that they could survive on their own.

Orphanage

            After we left the orphanage, we drove to Phnom Pen. It was a really long car ride and I spent most of it playing on the I pod. At the very end I slept for about 30 minutes. When we got to my Aunt Sopha’s condo, two of my cousins were waiting outside. What was really weird is that I didn’t even know them and I was staying with them in aunt Sopha’s house. They looked like all of the other cousins on my mom’s side of my family. They have black hair, slim and tall for Asians. There are 2 of them, Dina works at the Bank, and Bang goes to school. We put our stuff down, and went out to walk to dinner. We went to a really fancy restaurant, and ate a really good dinner. My Grandma ordered us dinner. There was Phad Thai, fried vegies, and some curry. The curry was really spicy and I had to have rice with it. The Phad Thai was really good, and had lots of bean sprouts.  After that we ate a plate of sampling Cambodian deserts. They were really good. We walked home and went to bed. It was a really good 2 days in Cambodian, and I am looking forwards to seen some more of Cambodia.

            Our first two days in Cambodia were some really wonderful experiences. We got to go to an orphanage to see how they lived and see a lot of rice paddies. I am glad that I will be spending the next two week here, get to learn a lot about my culture, and eat some really good food. What I really am looking forward to be seeing are all the Cambodian temples.