We headed west from Phnom Penh for four hours in a taxi and a further half hour in a boat in order to reach Tatai Riverfront Resort in Koh Kong Province. This is a relatively new place run by locals who used to work at a foreign-owned resort and decided to start their own business! The resort currently consists of a restaurant, where we were served a four-course dinner each night, and four wooden cottages with steps leading right into the river. The river is really unique because it is salty for half the year and fresh the other half! It also goes up and down by several feet with the ocean tides. We enjoyed swimming, canoeing, hiking, fresh coconut milk and seafood, exploring waterfalls, and beautiful sunsets!

Some interesting notes:
- Driving in Cambodia is much more aggressive in the country than in the city. I think we honked at every car or motorbike we saw and then proceeded to pass them as fast as possible!
- One night our main course consisted of a plate of shrimps and a plate of crabs, heads, shells and all. Those of you who know me will know that I don't do well with food that has eyes! So Dylan popped the heads off most of the shrimp (although I did one myself!) while I attacked the crab. Man those things are hard to eat!
- We found out that coconuts are super heavy. Guesstimating around 8 pounds. Those would seriously hurt you if they fell on you from a tree.
- The resident dog, Tonek, was a terrible beggar! He would come and stand on his hind legs by our table for minutes at a time waiting for us to give him some scraps. And he'd growl if we didn't "pay" him for his effort!
- Since we were the only guests we really got VIP treatment - whenever we went on an excursion in a boat, we would be picked up and dropped off right at the steps of our cabin. Door to door boat service!
- One of our excursions was a mountain trek. The only thing was we couldn't ell when we reached the top of the mountain! The trees were so dense we couldn't see more than ten feet away in any direction, so no spectacular view at the top. Still a cool experience though, ducking under bamboo and watching our guide hack off hanging branches with his machete as we went!

We arrived in Dhaka in the middle of the night last night after an unexpectedly luxurious flight (got bumped up to business class!). It was dark, so we couldn’t see much, but we could tell the traffic and driving were pretty similar to Egypt – no lanes, no passing rules, and lots of honking! Our walk around during daylight today confirmed that Dhaka is surprisingly similar to Cairo, but with tuk-tuks and rickshaws in place of taxis. We are in a Maadi-like suburb rather than downtown, which means we can move around here freely in spite of the hartals (strikes) that have been taking place on and off for the last three months.

The reason there have been so many strikes is that, constitutionally, the ruling government should have stepped down in October in preparation for the elections to be held in early January. They didn’t step down, which theoretically allows them to influence the upcoming elections more than they should. So for the last three months the opposition party has periodically called for “hartals” or strikes where no one is allowed to travel. Anyone who does drive into the city risks getting hit by a Molotov cocktail. These strikes have made it difficult for Dan to work, and the current one will prevent Dylan and I from going into downtown Dhaka at all.

However, there’s plenty to explore in Gulshan, where we’re staying. Today we went to a Fair Trade arts and crafts shop that sells beautiful fabrics and decorations, walked around Banani Lake, visited the American Club and braved a very crowded grocery store. They have so many fruits here that I’ve never seen before! No white onions, which I thought was odd, but a huge curry section! The meat section included a mutton head.

This evening we went to a Christmas Concert at AISD – American International School Dhaka. The school itself seems pretty nice. For Dylan and I, who grew up in international schools, it’s interesting to compare the ones in different countries. On our way back to the apartment we accidentally took a motorized rickshaw – a bicycle that has been hooked up to an electric motor so it can zip through traffic, trailing a narrow seat for passengers. Fortunately we made it back in one piece!

Currently we are besieged by mosquitoes and probably going to bed soon. I’m glad we were able to stay awake all day in spite of struggling with jet lag! More adventures to follow in the coming weeks. =)

Today I celebrated my 27th birthday and my last day in Namibia! Tomorrow we'll be flying out on our way to Bangladesh and Cambodia for a Coster Christmas. Some of the things I did to celebrate were: going out for pizza (ordered one with avocado as I don't think that's a common topping in the US), doing laundry in a real washing machine and dryer (even though the washing took a couple hours and the dryer never really worked at all), doing one last round of souvenir shopping in the craft market (although our suitcases are already full!), and skyping with Mom and Dad in Fort Wayne. I also got a typhoid shot, but that wasn't so fun...

Our goodbyes last week went well. The staff at each of our schools made time for everyone to get together and say goodbye to us along with giving speeches and presents. We said goodbye to our classes by giving each learner a papyrus bookmark from Egypt, which they loved. Many learners also wrote letters to us to say goodbye, which we’re taking with us back to America.

We left Tsumeb on a cloudy, wet morning. The dogs did their best to keep us there – Dylan could barely walk from the gate to the car, they were jumping on him so much! Our suitcases were wrapped in plastic garbage bags in the back of our open bakkie. Just to prove that we have not learned everything about Namibia, our ride showed up four hours early rather than two hours late as we anticipated!

Looking at the clouds ringing the tops of the hills between Tsumeb and Otavi on our drive to Windhoek, I was reminded more of Rwanda than Namibia. Thanks to the rain we’ve been having, everything is greener and more alive than normal. It’s a good last image to have of our home here. =)