Happy Khmer New Year

So this week has been Khmer New Year.  All the people, well not all,  probably 2 million of them have left the city.  They go to their home provinces and gather as families.  So from Monday till Friday everything is closed.  We planned ahead and bought groceries.  All the vendors are gone, restaurants closed, government closed, MY CLEANING GIRL GONE, so weird to see a city like this.  I have even opened my window is the morning and it just smells like air...no food cooking on the street...you can hear the birds sing, It was quite a sight to see the buses, big vans, tuk-tuks, trucks, moto bikes loaded up with people and piled high with suitcases, food, and again lots of smiles as they left the city.  Coming back in today for them was hot. It was 104 degrees when we left Sacrament meeting.  We felt it....

Well, Friday night a french restaurant opened back up.  It is just around the corner from us, so we had a New Years dinner.  Can you guess which is Dad's? I love him...

Also a Khmer friend gave us a Khmer cake for new years.  So it is sticky rice rolled in a banana leaf with I think mango and papaya inside.  It was amazingly sticky!!! Our friend said it is not sweetner that makes it sticky, it is just the rice, real 'sticky rice'!