Aidan and I out and about.

Ok, so I promised you a shopping trip with me and Aidan.

The Coke vs. Pepsi war continues to rage, even here...

Aidan and I ventured out to the market to get some supplies. You may remember from his post that we went to a bookstore that had no books. Well, that was one stop. The other was to where we get a lot of our groceries and such.

What? Grocery shopping is boring? Did you see some of the stuff I keep finding here? Panda fish?? Would you rather me do a whole post on Hello Kitty? :)

There! Happy now? Have some ice cream. :)

So we called our tuctuc driver ourselves and headed out. Along the way, of course, we enjoyed the lovely scenery of Phnom Penh, which primarily includes shops and people trying to avoid getting maimed by other drivers.

This place is awesome.

One of our stops, Psat Bayon (Bayon market), is a place our family frequents fairly often. It's a good place to buy meat and other products, like dairy. It's also a source of random American cereals.


Of course, the cereal, and even the snacks, aren't actually imported from America. Most come from New Zealand, Thailand, or Singapore. This leads to some interesting discoveries, such as the hint of ginger in the Diet Coke or the complete and total lack of corn syrup.




Anyway, as usual, Aidan wanted some treats for getting dragged to the market, and I didn't mind obliging.

The goodies just keep coming! Yum!

When we're at the market it's pretty easy to note some of the differences between American shopping and Cambodian. For starters, everyone is very friendly. The workers love to come up and say hi to Aidan, or touch him on the arm or hand. Sometimes this annoys Aidan, being that it can be a bit odd to have so many strangers staring and poking at you, but mostly he takes it in stride.

Smiling, but still with tuctuc hair. :)

Another difference is in the products. You don't see a lot of things like Marshmallow Fluff, grape jelly, or Tang, but there are some goodies like the Panda Fish, Durian (mostly in a different market), Jackfruit, and unusually-flavored Mentos.


Milk is a big one. The milk here is imported from Thailand (at least the stuff we drink is. I've heard stories about some of the other places.) It also sells out quickly - usually within a day - and doesn't come in again till the next week.




With Election Day, this was a bit of a problem as people knew businesses would close. Think shopping just before a blizzard or hurricane and you get the idea.

It sold everything from paper to Angry Birds to high-end electronics. I didn't see one book though.

Then of course there's the aforementioned bookstore. I've since been told the books are hidden upstairs. Of course, I also didn't see any good markings that would have led me upstairs, so...

Looks pretty normal, yeah? It's kind of a nice change.

This was Aidan's favorite stop thanks to a cow-shaped pencil sharpener, and some Angry Bird erasers that look like sandals. He loves little things like that, and for 1500 riel (40 cents, roughly) I figured we could splurge.


We spent a little more time in here than we planned just to have a look around and get a feel for someplace familiar-looking. It also took us that long to investigate all the little knicknacks and such.


I tell you, when shopping in Cambodia, always look at things closely. Even the little mom and pop storefronts sometimes have unexpected items you would never even think to find. In a way, it's almost like treasure hunting... except when you buy, you're supporting that family directly. It's nice.



Well, we didn't go anywhere else that day, but as it got nearer to Election Sunday, we actually took a walk down to the local gas station.

Hard to capture this moment. Aidan was too busy running away!

You have to understand something. Walking outside is really an adventure on its own. Everytime I leave the house, something new or interesting happens. That said, walking outside with Aidan is like walking around a crowded city wearing a turkey on your head and a toga. You get paid attention to by everyone. This time around, it was a small flock of children.

As we walked, they came in 1's, 2's, and 5's. In the end, he had no less than 7 children all trying to hug him at once! Aidan of course, sensing this wasn't prudent to being able to move or breathe, fled quickly. The Khmer did think this a bit rude, and one or two punched him on the arm good naturedly, but in all it was a cool experience. A few even hugged me (I was smart though. I did keep a hand on my wallet and phone).

We got to have a peek at the door-to-door clay pot vendor.

We made it down there after a nice jaunt past many, many people, and Aidan got to enjoy himself in the manner which all kids do...

Paradise!

...by sticking his head in a freezer full of ice cream.

Yeah, no surprise there.

We also got to see people dancing in the street, and a motorcycle parade. The pictures are in with all the political stuff you saw on the last post.

Well, that's it for now. I had hoped to show you the American Embassy, but that's proving to be more difficult due to paperwork issues... not that Americans love red tape or anything. I think tomorrow will be Aidan's turn if he can stop playing with all the font and editing buttons long enough.