The next day we took the morning bus to Phnom Penh, arrived, checked into a hotel, and then went to Dara’s house to have dinner with Dara’s family, Tú, Tâm (Tú’s sister), and some of Dara’s Cambodian friends who wanted to practice English. Took a Tuk Tuk to Bak Touk High School where Dara met us and then we walked to his house (like a block away). It was a good meal, but I wasn’t very hungry because I was still getting over being sick a bit. Some fish, rice, veggies, and some other stuff, it was good.
Dara’s house was interesting. First, you enter into a door between two shops and go up these unlit stairs and then along an unlit passageway and up three or four flights of stairs which are all pointing a different direction and seemed to have been constructed by a different person at a different time. Each floor had countless doors and probably countless people behind each. When we got to the top level, I thought we would stop. Then, we started up thin metal stairs which were more like a ladder with railings. Finally, we were on the top of the building and we went into the concrete-floored, open-air one room that Dara lives in when he’s in the city. It was an adventure just visiting the place.
After dinner, we went back to the hotel by motodup and slept. The next day, we met again with some of the mentees, Tú and company, Trent, Leang, and Rith. After lunch, we headed to the airport to fly off from Cambodia. Had to pay the stupid $25 departure tax again this year!!! (I hate the stupid foreigner fees in Cambodia, though, I suppose if I were a poor country and could easily relieve the rich of their money, I might too).
We went through immigration and security. At security, the Cambodian inspectors played with my huge diving/snorkeling flippers (they were in my hands cause they were too heavy to put in my backpack to check in). After playing with the big cool, spit-fin flippers, they gave them back. In the waiting area, we browsed a few stores and waited. When it was time to board, there was the normal chaotic rush of people to board that accompanies unassigned seating AirAsia flights. Got seats on the airplane and flew off for Kuala Lumpur!