Last Stop Before Home - Cambodia part 3

Day 12

On the road again.  Somehow, despite it being the same van company and the same roads, the trip back to Phnom Penh doesn't seem to be quite so long or bumpy.  Still, the girls sleep/drowse most of it.

The afternoon is once again spent with friends in the fish-pond-turned-swimming-pool as the power goes off minutes after we arrive. Daddy spends the afternoon trying to catch up with people we missed last week.

Day 13

Back to the all too familiar world of airports and airplanes.  We get to the gate an hour early so the computing begins - I guess we all missed having the internet readily available?  Mommy was quite content to lie down and rest though!

We almost missed our plane though!  As boarding time approached and the lounge stayed empty, Mommy got suspicious. And sure enough, we were at the wrong gate - and the agent there couldn't tell us where to go! So we had to rush back to where the halls divided to read the monitor, and then hurry off to the new gate.  That was when we discovered just how hard it is for Mommy to run or even walk fast :O)  But we made it - just about the last ones on the plane.

Day 14 - 17

Last stop before home:ThangThorn Retreat Center for a working retreat - 45 min up in the hills above Chiang Mai, so deliciously cool after the cruel heat of Cambodia.  It might have been around 30 at noon, but even that seemed quite wonderful to us. A great place for the girls to spend a weekend! There were:

Butterflies to follow and admire

fish to feed (and to try catch barehanded!)

A mantis that we found in our cabin - it jumped on Jasmin's front - as big as Mommy's hand

rabbits to try touch and to feed

a river to play in

with sand to build with too!

and even an extraordinary bathroom to explore.

Not to mention the tree house, the tame parakeet, huge rocks to climb, and lots of staff to treat them to drinks and snacks :o)  Daddy had to work most of the time, but we did get in some fun family times as well.  We all came home with a new kind of insect bite, but it was well worth it.

Night of the 17th day

We traveled back to Bangkok on the overnight sleeper train.  That was a very good move!  It is a great way to travel and get home rested.  The girls were pretty excited about the whole experience - until we took an extra hour and a half to get through Bangkok to our station going inch by inch, it felt.

Then, home!  It felt so good to be home!