But then there will be five

A mango, a shower, and a hot afternoon. We bicycled 65 k today to stay outside Phnom Penh, somewhere near the airport. Starting at first light in the morning gives us a couple hours of riding in reasonable temperatures, instead of scorching and parboiling in the sun. The road today was dusty, busy with ever-honking traffic, and the shoulders were uneven and jouncy. The last of my Thai baht coins jangled irritatingly over the bumps and Buddy Lissy and I put earplugs in our left ears to block out the honks.

We pass a large bakery coming into this town, signed in English even, with beguiling baked goods all laid out. Because Buddy Lissy does not eat wheat, I sometimes help manifest her wheat-wanting by eating the stuff myself, and so with little convincing I went over to explore. How rare and lovely to find a bakery! I bought a slice of something that looked like a browned cinnamon twist cake.

How deceived was I.

The cunning thing was, in fact, full of ground pork and alarmingly colored processed meat pieces. Also some shreds of a cheese like thing. And onions and eggs. The dough was rich and lovely and I was exceedingly happy to be eating it.

Then we bicycled past 2 more, very similar-looking, large bakeries with English signs. And then 3 more! This makes me laugh, how when there is a particular establishment you're looking for, you go some time without finding it. But when you do, there are 5 of them. This has also happened with fruit-drink stands, bicycle shops, and clothing stalls. It would be like clustering all of Seattle's coffee shops in Fremont, rather than sprinkled helpfully about the city.

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How to baffle Cambodians
While pedaling, I was creating a mental list of some American Saturday Activities that might baffle a Cambodian woman--in the same way that I am sometimes thoroughly baffled here.

Your American woman wakes up, puts on expensive bright clothes used only for a single purpose, and goes running. Then she takes a hot shower in a little space that does not comprise the entire bathroom. She changes into other clothes (not pajamas), wearing only one patterned piece at a time (not two!). Then she drives her car (not motorbike) to the nature preserve and volunteers to pick up trash (what??!). She then meets her girlfriends for lunch with a menu and lots of choices, where she doesn't eat any rice because she is on a low-carb diet. After, she stops to relax by the outdoor community pool and lays in the sun to work on her tan. Finally, driving home, she slows down when passing a police officer to avoid getting a speeding ticket.