Tron on Tuesday

Day 5

Being told on day 4 that we had to leave our beautiful beds and be ready to leave at 6:40am to catch our boat, was the last thing any one of us wanted to hear. After all the preparation we had to go through to fight the sun and dehydration...we were told at 6:30 today that it was postponed till Friday. Disappointment quickly spread throughout the entire group because we all had to wake up way to early when our best friend at the time was our pillows.

It was decided that we would head down to the markets as we did the previous morning for the usual. Riding to the markets made everyone buzz in excitement as we were looking forward to indulging on sugar cane juice and freshly made coffee in condensed milk. After morning refreshments, we were given the pleasure of wondering the large markets to buy fruits or drink. As it was the first time for many of us purchasing fruit and bartering for lower prices (even though it was a few cents difference), we got to learn and practice truly needed skills in a market. We were given the chance to see how the locals do it and how low their prices were compared to what we got.

After the confusion between buyer and seller due to language differences, we all managed to buy tropical fruits that many of us have not tried or seen before. The favorite fruit of the day was rumble-tans and given the nickname of red furry things. We had a normal breakfast of bread rolls, butter and a Cambodian version of jam that looked like jelly.

We headed to the orphanage, eagerly riding our bikes along the beautiful roads to visit our best friends to see their smiles again. Our goal for the day was to show and help them with a paint by number picture. A majority of the boys chose the soccer picture to paint and the girls chose a picture of a cat. The children loved the painting because they have not done anything like it before. The instructions were difficult to follow, even for the ones that were showing them. We didn't finish the paintings today but it was a craft project intended to take a few days.

We came back for lunch and siesta which is becoming a great routine of having a nap or relaxing for an hour and a half. The rains came and that was when we headed back to the orphanage once again to play soccer in the rain. We all enjoyed the soccer game in the rain as it was a fair game with very good skills shown by students and orphans. After we were worn out we stopped and just relaxed and played chess.

We left at quarter to 6 and came back for a delicious dinner. The rest following that felt well deserved.

Tron