Asia touchdown - phnom penh

So the 9:10 flight went just fine. After 24 lovely hours in Bangkok, where our Amélie fell in love with the little puppy, the boys got a new best friend ever with Matteo, and we enjoyed seeing them all play together (kids really happy to have some real toys again) and some adult talk with Big Amelie, we flew to Phnom Penh, Cambodia for our first Asian country together! It was already our 10th flight of our trip (I really have to compensate our terrible ecofootprint now...), the shortest of all with just a bit more than one hour to go, and of course, life would be too easy otherwise, the worst of all! Amélie, who has been really great since the start of this trip, had a MAJOR meltdown in-flight that lasted for about the whole flight, starting when she discovered (or maybe for the first time thought about) that oxygen masks should be put around the adult first before helping the children. poor little girl, she felt it as a huge illogical and criminal thing that a kid should not be helped. I am not sure our neighbours had a lot of empathy. Well. No. I am sure by the furious look in their eyes, the turning around frequently, ... That they did not understand how helpless and in panic Amelie felt. Of course, Pierre had just that one hour to fill in custom and immigration paper which are 3 pieces of paper, a person ... So he wasn't really able to help to calm Amélie. And i was seated four rows away with the boys. Then Mat choose to need to go urgently to the bathroom just at the precise moment where landing was started. The airhostess was about to tell me to go back to my seat, but then Mat screamed 'caca caca cacaaaa!' With almost the same panic in his eyes as his sister and so she wisely decided to let us go.
I felt so relieved when we got out of the plane, that I even managed to keep calm - which is per definition quiet rare on traveling days - when Pierre had to fill in even more papers and our eVisas bought online where - of course - not accepted and we had to pay again, queue every possible queue and finally got out last, with only our luggage turning around on the belt. Luckily the minivan we ordered through the hotel was a real one and we all fitted for our first drive through heavy end of day traffic to our little nest, okay boutique hotel, for 4 nights. 3 seconds pop up tents , 10seconds to put "" just""" the feet in the pool/ aka to have full clothes wet splashing around and another 5minutes to realise kids where just to tired to eat (still some 4hours jetlag with Sydney).

So logically, we woke up really early next day to discover the nice breakfast and even nicer personal. They looked honestly happy when we answered we would stay 4 days!  In our first days the kids where touched in their cheek and blond hair a hundred times, a thousand pictures where taken, and don't ask me how you say thank you to Cambodians (putting hands together and a little elegant movement of the head will do) , but I do now that what sounds as 'plhua' means twin! 

Kids are dealing quiet well with the attention, they learnt not to give the bad look to everyone approaching, and when bill asked why everyone was touching them, sweet Amélie answered "c'est parce qu'on est tellement mignons". Cambodians are, as is said, really nice, and compared to other countries we have visited, I have to say there s a hectic buzz but  you don't feel harassment nor insecurity.

Given the heat and jetlag, we opted for some excursions in the morning, then pool/lunch and siesta before heading back to town around 4/5 (sun goes down quiet early unfortunately)

There was some disappointment that we didn't see the king when we visited his palace, but receiving some flowers you can make tea with compensated perfectly

We had a very nice driver who was usually available when walking out of our hotel and at the end he knew which was the walking twin and the 'he doesn't walk' twin. (Mat got rid of his cast, but is still not walking, which is logical as he would have been with a cast till Christmas normally for his broken leg) Pierre tried to take along the stroller on our first day, but he ended up walking on the street, which is not necessarily the best place to be walking. So we are carrying mat around in the manduca/carrier. 

And the tuktuk does the rest. And the magic! I think I will never forget the look in their eyes during their first tuktuk ride!