Mug Shots!

Before we left to Cambodia, we had to take some "mug shots" of ourselves. We were supposed to take the pictures with us to present at the airport in Phnom Penh. And of course, what happened? ... We forgot the pictures!! As soon as we landed and I got over the shock of seeing a Buddha statue, complete with incense, in the airport, we realized we had forgot to bring the mugshots. Oh no! We didn't know what to do. I thought, "Can't we just pay them $50 or something?" Well, guess how much it cost to get an extra picture? One U.S. dollar! One! I couldn't believe it! All our trouble to take the pictures, then we forget them, then all our worrying, and it only cost one dollar. The whole rest of our trip was like that: me in shock over how cheap everything is and yet how much a few dollars can do for a Cambodian (which is why we usually overpaid everyone).
Our main mode of transportation was a motto gong bay. It's a little cart on the back of a scooter that the driver pulls us in. The driver would take us anywhere in the city, the entire day, for about $15. Wow. Of course, there were times Mitch and I both thought we would die because the driver was INSANE! But overall it was a great way to see the sights.
The food there is rice, curry, rice, stir fry, rice, and rice. I must say, it was the best curry and stir fry I've ever had. I LOVED it! I think I ordered pineapple stir fry almost everywhere we went. And it's soooo cheap! We could both eat a large meal for about $7. Mitch loved getting all of his old favorites; he'd been talking about the food he would order for months before we left. He was sooo excited to eat things they don't have here. He ate some pretty crazy stuff. My favorite was this plate of food with french fries on the bottom, some sort of beef curry in the middle, and a fried egg on top. Hilarious!
Mitch loved speaking Cambodian with everyone. The people there didn't expect him to speak it, so they would start talking to us in English and Mitch would answer in Cambodian. And then, every time, the Cambodians would burst into laughter. It always surprised them them that he could speak Cambodian. It was so funny. They all said he spoke very well and were so surprised that he had only lived there for 2 years. Mitch said it came back pretty fast. He couldn't always understand every word, but he could always carry on a conversation. I think he did very well as he was able to converse with everyone about anything. He LOVED speaking the language again and always had a smile on his face.
I was able to pick up on a few words. I tried to tell everyone "thank you," "hello," "how are you," and "it tastes good" in Cambodian, but I think most of the time it came out with a Russian accent, so they usually giggled. I just laughed right along with them.
Here's some pictures. Our mug shots, a picture of some of Mitch's weird food, a picture of a motto gong bay, and a picture of Mitch with one of our drivers. (This guy was a member when Mitch served his mission there and he drove the missionaries around a lot on P-day. He remembered Mitch when we were there and offered to be our driver.) By the way, we couldn't smile in our mug shots, hence the serious faces.