Eating our way in the UK

Cranberry rouge à lèvre, dark shades to mask fatigued eyes from travelling near 20 hours from Cambodia; now descending the UK soil to meet  relatives after a long spell ...  

May was a month of a whirlwind adventure before we left Cambodia.  May was also a month of relaxation, visiting fun places with family, eating our way throughout the well manicured UK that certainly left us wanting to spend more  time there.

First rewinding the clock to our busy week in Cambodia … Before we left for our break, for our break away from Cambodia, we went through a bit of a whirlwind adventure; from packing, to sorting things out for work, from getting rid of stuff at home that I will never use, to giving them away to neighbours, colleagues, and friends ... Added to our whirlwind of endless things to do , we had misplaced the motorbike key – what to do? 

Our landlady/ landlord, Savy and Sukhon came to the rescue and drove us to and from work, to the market and to other  various places for last minute to do list.  Over the week, over the period that we were busy getting ready to leave Cambodia, Savy and Sukhon pampered us to no end with yummy lunches, including snagging fresh avocados from their tall trees, twisting passion fruits from their vines ... What’s more, when the new contract was reviewed, renewed and resigned, by the landlord and yours truly, they agreed to keep the rent to the original  VSO standard rate.  Having had some unsettling dealings with Savy and Sukhon in the past with rent and alike, the Country office was astonished at their unusual ‘accommodating’ attitude toward us.  They wanted to know: What was our secret?  What had we done to keep them so content?  How could we possible have hit the right chord?  See post ‘Going the extra mile … The hearts `the minds of my comrades’ December 25, 2015’.

Oh yes,  the day before we left, we  had also inherited one of our colleague, Rebecca's two large, extremely comfortable chairs that ICC, our neighbouring NGO friend, helped transport to our house by lending us both a driver and a truck to move them.    Sophal, Sophek's husband's rationale, 'You're part of the community and we have to help each other.'   I was pleasantly surprised to say the least and relieved that we were able to arrange this last minute plan before leaving Cambodia for the UK.   See post ‘A morning with Sophek’ April 15, 2015.

Fast forwarding to the present, to the UK – well it goes without saying – it's such a treat to be here, to be here with family.

The first thing that we noticed when we touched the UK soil, the many places that we visited, that garbage was almost non-existent, especially in the countryside.  We also noticed that outdoor furniture such as tables and chairs were left out overnight, which is unheard of in Cambodia – The people there will store them away daily.  

Whilst here, it was indeed a treat to use a washing machine instead of washing clothes by hand.   Except, that some of the laundry disintegrated in the spinning cycle …  lol

During our stay, we took hikes to our favourite places, such as Ashdown forest – Pooh’s forest for a spectacular view over the Sussex countryside.  As some of you may know, Ashdown forest  is  well known as the ‘home of Winnie-the-Pooh’.  After each hike. for more extraordinary luscious scenery, we also treated ourselves to ice cream despite the cool weather.

In London, we went to Rebecca’s (our niece) art show and visited more family.  We also rode on red double-decker buses and swiped a card at the entrance of the bus that Alan gave us, instead of paying the bus conductor who in the past cranked out a transfer from his ticket machine for your next destination, (that is should you needed one,  either to transfer to the tube or to another bus).  Instead, it was all done electronically– I think its called advance technology :) 

Food was heavenly delicious wherever we went!  In the quaint villages we had gorgeous meals at various local pubs and then back at the house to enjoy cake and more goodies.  At various homes that we stayed at, food was just as scrumptious and in some, we had a proper roast with ample wine at that!  What’s more, during warmish sunny days, we had barbecues and stayed outside as long as we could to relish the long days.  Over the month, we must have gained at least 5 to 10 lbs,  all because everything that we ate was deliciously decadent as we ate our way throughout  the various parts of the UK.

So yes, everything that we had hoped for did come about during our visit in the UK.  

More later … :)