Longing for home

Today would have been my last day in Cambodia.  However, the coronavirus had different travel plans for me.  My flight through Shanghai got completely blown up and I had to rebook passage with another airline.  My departure date has been moved to Sunday through Hanoi, Tokyo, Vancouver and Calgary.  My body is anticipating the long journey and has already shown signs of low stress and anticipation.

They key for me on these bonus days in Siem Reap is to keep busy.  I did so on Thursday by doing a lot of painting.  My subject was the monk from the previous day’s blessing ceremony that reminded me of my grandfather.

I set up outside in the courtyard and had several viewers as I put down the first few layers of paint.  Lisa and Ariella, Nabil’s two youngest daughters, both pulled up chairs and watched.  The handyman and the maid both wandered by on several occasions to check out my progress. 

Early morning is best for painting.  Once the clouds burn off and the sun is high in the sky, it becomes too hot to paint.  

I packed everything up and went and had a late lunch at Khmer Kitchen Gate before dropping into Genevieve’s Fair Trade Village for another visit with Naret and Rick.  I’m going to try and go down there and do some painting today.

When I got back to the condo I noticed that my feet had become a little swelled.  I think I need to walk more.  I’ve been relying too much on tuk tuks to get around.  So, this morning I’m going to take an early morning stroll with the objective of getting a few good pictures of a statue of a mama elephant and her baby down by the river.  That should get the blood moving.