As I said earlier, today has been very quiet and I started to feel a bit low so I left work early and went home. I actually think this last week has been so good that today was a bit of a let down.

I needed onions and tomatoes so walked to the market. When I got there I met a girl I saw a few weeks ago and she stopped and we chatted. The woman at the veg stall just handed the tray of the scales to me so that I could put the vegetables on it and then laughed when I insisted she repeated the price in Khmer until I understood - 2,000 riel (50 cents). I said to the girl that the woman looks after me and they both laughed.

I then walked up the street to a shop to buy some emergency rations ie biscuits. I've used that shop before and the girl aways follows me around until I find what I want. Today she admired my nails and we compared colours - hers were bright red and looked great.

I decided not to walk straight back home but stopped at the hotel cafe - rather than my landlords - and got talking to a Cambodian policeman, a man from Singapore and his translator. He had lived in London for 19 years and we had a great chat.

My last chat was with a shop keeper on my way back home - he and his children helped me with my numbers up to 10.

So after all a good day because instead of sitting at home alone I spent 2 hours in town spending all of $2.50 on food that will keep me alive for the next 2 days trying to talk to local people.