7/2/10 (phnom penh)

Phnom Penh

After two months of traveling around Asia I still hadn’t gotten a full body massage, which was a sin, so Paul booked a two-hour massage for me with his masseuse at 10am. Jon was happy to stay home and have a few hours of alone time while I got my massage. As if by fate, On Prum dropped me off at the same massage shop that caught my attention yesterday when we were driving through town. The place was called Seeing Hands Massage and all of the masseuses are blind. I was intrigued by the concept and long and behold I was there for my massage.

I met Nigah, my masseuse, who was absolutely wonderful. She studied massage therapy for several years and had to go through rigorous exams before becoming a professional masseuse. Nigah was very attentive to areas where my muscles were sore from all the traveling we had done. I felt refreshed and relaxed after two hours. While the place doesn’t have all the frills of an upscale massage spa, Nigah was friendly and I would recommend her to anyone looking for a great massage. And what a bargain for $7/hour!

After my massage I met Jon back at Metro for lunch. I wanted to try Khmer food so Paul arranged for me to have the same meal as the staff. It may sound strange that I wouldn’t order something from the menu but I believe if you really want to try local food eat what the restaurant staff is eating. Today they had sour fish soup with morning glory (type of vegetable). I love soup and morning glory so it was right up my alley.

We were planning on visiting the National Museum but then a huge thunderstorm was passing through so we decided to relax back in our apartment. After a few hours it seemed that the storm had died down so I decided to go back to the Russian market to do a little shopping. I hadn’t bought any new clothes and my shirts were looking raggedy after washing it so many times so I figured a few new tops were needed. There’s a serious flooding problem in the city center so it took us awhile to get to the market. By the time we arrived it was an hour before closing but I was still able to get a tank top and T-shirt.

We met Paul for dinner at Metro and had a great meal outside on the patio. One of my favorite dishes is the wok-fried Chinese spareribs, which they put over a bed of cabbage salad with sprinkles of seasoning remnants from the fryer. It’s debatable on what is tastier, the spareribs or the salad. I might have to order it a few more times to decide.

Comments

[mary lappan]

Your culinary tastes have expanded immensely. I think I would like the Chinese spareribs with a cabbage salad. Experiencing a "Seeing Hands Massage" sounds very cool with such interesting people who have such a unique set of circumstances and making the adaption to a productive life. I admire them! Sounds like you have a few more new friends.