Back in Cambodia!

We made it back to Cambodia!  Actually, we've been back for almost two months now but I'm just getting around to blogging.

While I'm grateful for being able to return to the USA during the COVID-19 pandemic, and certainly thankful to everyone at the Embassy and in the Department who made our departure and return go as smoothly as it did, I'm very happy to be back at Post.

A few days after July 4th, we headed out to California to spend a few days with friends before getting our COVID-19 tests and onward flights to Phnom Penh.  

One of the few flights out of Charleston International

Masked up...

Arriving Burbank Airport

It didn't quite go as planned.  Due to taking the wrong tests and then delayed results of the correct test, we missed our flight to Seoul and were "stranded" in San Francisco for a week.  It wasn't horrible.  We were able to find testing at Stanford (big THANK YOU to Stanford Health Care for being able to test us with results returned within 48 hours!); we even rented a Tesla to drive to testing and stopped in some beautiful woods on the way back.  Test results, return documents, and passports in hand this time we made it out of the USA, through Seoul, and back to Phnom Penh.

Obligatory Gold Gate Bridge photo.

In Redwood Park near Woodside, CA.

In Redwood Park near Woodside, CA.

Oyster Point in South San Francisco, our home for a week at the lovely Residence Inn.

Ready to depart SFO for ICN!

Everything went smoothly transiting through Seoul.  Once back, we were tested again, quarantined in our apartment for 14 days, and then tested a final time.  

My view while in quarantine.

Happily, we passed the tests and didn't kill each other during quarantine and were released into the general population.

Post-quarantine rooftop tapas bar.

Out for a nice glass of wine.

We took a night-market food tour

At the Kandal Market.

At the Kandal Market

Street-side rotisserie chicken (roasted chicks up front)

Who's hungry for some frog and tarantula?

Fried bamboo worm - not as bad as you think it would be.

We found a new sky bar with amazing views of Phnom Penh.  If you've wondered what the city looks like, here's a birds-eye view.

Looking North

Looking Northeast

Looking East

Looking South

Looking Southwest

I also returned to my sewing projects, yay!  I missed them in Charleston.  Before leaving way back at the end of March, I dropped of one of my unquilted tops with Mekong Quilts.  They finished while I was gone, so I got to pick up the quilt after coming out of quarantine.  I'm thrilled with the job they did.  I've already dropped off another UFO (unfinished object) with them.

And I've started another project with this adorable fabric line called State to State by Ann Kelle for Robert Kaufman Fabrics.

What to do with this panel?

Laying out the blocks.

Making a quilt sandwich.

So happy to be back, for many reasons.  It's a season of holidays (Khmer New Year replacement holiday:  3 days; Labor Day; Pchum Ben:  3 days), so I'll update with some of our in-country travel (Siem Reap/Angkor, Kratie, Stung Treng) later.

Oh, and I just found out I got promoted!