I’m afraid from a reader’s perspective, the days are getting a little boring. With Rosa not feeling so well we tend to not get out very much and so there isn’t much to show you. However, it was a somewhat interesting day. Rosa’s sister Sokphy has 4 sons that we haven’t yet met. They are working in Thailand right now picking fruit and wanted to come see us before we left. So, we chipped in a little money so they could make the trip down and down they came. They arrived yesterday mid-morning so we were able to spend a little time with them.

I guess right now it’s hard to find work here in Cambodia and much like the migratory workers in the US, many of the people here will go up to Thailand for the seasonal work picking fruit. Of the four boys, three of them are married but only one of them brought his wife along as well. We spent the afternoon together here in the hotel and played games and got to know each other a bit more. While we were here, a storm rolled in and it rained pretty hard. I tried to get some pictures of it, but I don’t know if I did it justice.

That evening we all went to an all-you-can-eat buffet together. I wasn’t sure what to expect and what we discovered turned out to be pretty nice. It was essentially an all-you-can eat hot pot.

This was something a little unique from the normal hot pot that we do at home in that the pot had what I will describe as a dome surrounded by a moat of boiling liquid. The inside was headed by live coals and so you could cook your meat on the dome itself, or boil it in the water - or both. It was really yummy and I’m afraid I ate more than my fair share.

Afterwards Rosa’s sister wanted to take the boys to sing karaoke and we went along for a little while. So, I got to experience the whole room thing again only this time we stuck around for a little while. I thought the sign out front was kind of funny and I was glad that I hadn’t brought any hand-grenades. :-)

The night ended somewhat on a sad note though. We had only gone through a couple of songs when Rosa’s sister Sokphy got a call from her husband saying that their 16 year-old daughter was missing from their home outside of Battambang. Of course everyone was worried and all kinds of theories were bantered around. After a bunch of phone calls and discussion Sokphy and some of the boys got a ride back home and headed out. The remaining boys left this morning. As of this morning I can tell you that we still don’t know where she is, but they found a note from her saying that she was leaving with her boyfriend to go to one of the neighboring cities. Apparently she took all of her stuff with her so at least they know she wasn’t kidnapped. Still, as a dad of a 16 year-old, I really feel for what her parents are going through right now.