Days 8 & 9- Journey back to Phnom Penh, Shanghai

We bid our gorgeous hotel a sad farewell in the morning, and had a driver (the same one we'd had to travel there) pick us up for our journey back to Phnom Penh. We loved that hotel, as my father seemed to get to know most of the front desk staff, who looked after us well. Even though the power went out about 7-8 times during our stay, we quickly realized it was part of the norm in Cambodia, as it happened in Phnom Penh a few times as well.

Our driver always made such a great effort to make the long drive back as entertaining as possible...we stopped in a town that sold a delicious sticky rice cooked/roasted in bamboo as a snack.

He also took us an ancient bridge that had survived against all environmental odds...

We stopped at a village that hand carved Buddha statues en masse (the whole stretch of the town had them prominently displayed in their front yards).

The only downside of the drive back, was getting hosed/wildly overcharged for a very overpriced, mediocre meal at a tiny 'resort' that was more expensive, and more unexciting than any meal we'd had the entire trip.

Thankfully, we checked into another beautiful resort that evening near the airport that we LOVED. We were upgraded to a nicer room, and got to stay there for nearly two nights (we booked a second night, but our flight out that night was at midnight).

Since it was my dad's birthday, we surprised him with some kinako mochi I'd been carrying in my suitcase the whole trip! We cooked it very slowly in the microwave so he would have some comfort food from home.

The next day, our intrepid foursome (my dad decided to siesta) hailed a tuk tuk to the AEON mall, and had a very mediocre, but cheap Japanese lunch there, and got to hit up a bunch of western stores/Japanese hyakuen stores.

We found a Krispy Kreme there for my dad, and Ryan delivered some to his grandfather on return.

That night, we went to a restaurant we'd been wanting to try, and loved it!

Because they had just opened, they were wildly overstaffed (as you can see), and we had great service. ;-)

Late that night, we flew out from Phnom Penh to Shanghai. Ryan was exhausted from the red eye, and crashed in the airport. Since it was freezing cold and we were not prepared with any cold weather attired, we improvised. ;-) In hindsight, we were in an airport in China, in November, and were lucky to have escaped coronavirus free! Truly, one of the better trips we've ever taken!