Up, Up and Away...

Sitting in the First Class Cathay Pacific Lounge in the airport in Hong Kong with Christmas songs playing in the background and conveniently seated next to a 10ft tall REAL Christmas tree smelling strongly of pine. Isn't that one of those smells that takes you back? I have to say that I have always TRIED to view the traveling to and from destinations as part of the actual vacation itself, but it is much easier to see things that way when you travel with this level of luxury. Someday this gravy train will end, but until then I savor every, little minute of it.
Last night we retreated to a roof top lounge for our $1.00 Tiger draughts just to get away from the constant barrage of tuk tuk travel offers and street peddlers. Then we came back down to street level to eat in an Indian restaurant. Had some really tasty curry - chicken masala I think. Medium hot, they said. If so, I will not go any hotter than medium hot in the future. But it was very good. Chatted with a gentleman at the next table from Singapore but of Indian descent. He is in the shipping business (Cambodia has just a smidge of coastline and a port) so we discussed corruption in Cambodia (apparently higher than most countries) and cultural differences between Cambodians and Filipinos. Quite interesting.
This morning it was just breakfast at the hotel and then to the airport.
At check-in we ended up with two aisle seats (that flight was only coach!) but it worked out very well since I sat next to a young US lawyer who specializes in international law/human rights law who came to Cambodia to work on some civil law suits related to the Tribunal. We talked about Duch's trial and the remaining four high level members of the Khmer Rouge still to be tried. She is involved with representing Vietnamese families torn apart/killed/damaged by the virtual extermination of the Vietnamese in Cambodia at the time and talked at length about (1) the corruption in the government (again) and (2) the challenges of working through translators in three languages that don't translate well at all. Also extremely interesting. In addition, she has worked on land mine and undetonated ordinance in Afghanistan and also spent several month in Gabon dealing with human trafficking. Now that's impressive work in spite of the fact that she was polite enough to ooh and aah about veterinary medicine - like I buy into such gratuitous fluff. Not! Oh and she is on her way to hang with friends in Kathmandu so she will email me with up to date impressions of the place so we can decide between Nepal and Bhutan for next year.
Meanwhile, Michael sat next to a gentleman and his young son. The son is on his way to a major math competition having been declared the number one 5th grade math student in Cambodia. His father is an entrepreneur who says if we come back to Phnom penh, he'll comp us a stay in a Five-star hotel. His father was a pilot killed by the Khmer Rouge and he and his mother were run out of Phnom penh to work slave labour in the country-side during the Regime. He talked to Michael about being in the labour camps at the age of 5, eating rice water and a few kernels of rice every day and fighting with other children over bugs to eat. He and his mother both survived. They eventually found their way to Indonesia where he volunteered in a number of agencies and learned English and typing and organizational skills as a volunteer and moved back to Phnom penh and is now a partner in a large holding company. Very nice and impressive man who also spoke on the topic of corruption in Cambodia. All in all some really enlightening conversations.
Finally, for anyone still wondering about the whole Vietnam-came-in-to-help-Cambodia dilemma....if you go to the reliable source of modern invormation called Wikipedia...the involvement is explained in the context of the bigger conflict between communist camps in Russia and China....Vietnam having been aligned with Russia who was worried about Cambodia being aligned with China so Russia backed Vietnam in running out the Khmer Rouge (China). Still worth a bit more research. Later, perhaps, when I'm not drinking free wine.
Safe travels.
Later.

Somber morning

So we did the requisite sight-seeing this morning. First, the Royal Palace which miraculously is one block from our hotel (god, I'm good). The main attraction, or at least the one we knew about, is the Silver Pagoda. We were at a loss, however. We could not find a silver pagoda anywhere. An emerald buddha (looking very similar to the jade buddha in the Imperial Palace in Bangkok), scads of other buddhas, stupas at every turn, and a bunch of other pagodas, but where was the silver one? Turns out the silver pagoda is named such because a section of the floor has silver tiles....well honestly the whole thing could be silver tiles but 90% of the floor is covered by rugs, so who can tell? Anyway, having checked that off the list we proceeded to find a tuk tuk (like that is hard!) to take us to the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng Prison. Pretty depressing but it would have seemed rather disrespectful not to go.
I bought a kindle book right before we left called 'When Broken Glass Floats' written by a woman who was a young child during the Khmer Rouge Regime so I knew more than I did a month ago, but she was not writing about these particular atrocities as she and her family were run out of Phnom penh during the 'liberation' and forced into slave labour in the mountains. It is simply staggering what evil human beings are capable of perpetrating.
Now my interest is in what motivated the Vietnamese - just recovering from their own war/conflict - to come to the aid of the Cambodians. I understand that the current Prime Minister of Cambodia (previously one of Pol Pot's lieutenants) fled to Vietnam to petition for assistance in over-throwing the Regime. But if the Vietnamese did so for truly altruistic reasons (and I'm a cynic at heart which is why I want to understand more), then I commend them for stepping in when nobody else did.
On a lighter note, we have an update on the Johnny Walker gasoline dispensing situation. It makes sense to be able to watch someone pour one liter of gas into your tank if you are only buying one liter of gas because spitting that much out of a regular gas pump would seem silly. But our tuk tuk driver today pulled into a regular gas station (like our taxi driver did yesterday in Siem Reap). He only bought a small amount of gasoline but there was a big, plastic bag of snacks sitting next to the pump (chips, cookies, sunflower seeds, etc) and the attendant tossed him one of those too. Now that we think of it, the taxi driver was given a bottle of water. So we are thinking that the actual gas stations, in competing with the 'Johnny Walker' gas stands, must have seen a need for offering a value added service (kind of like the free beer with the Fish Pedicures) and must promote a 'buy x liters of gas and get a free snack' offer - kind of like a Happy Meal! Capitalism and free enterprise at work.

Rollin' on the River

That's actually the name of a restaurant here on the river in Phnom penh. Morning is dawning with the sun reflecting on the Tonle Sap River as the barges and little fishing boats go by. The river walk is coming alive. There are a surprising number of people out for 6AM. Some walking, some just sitting, others line dancing. Yes, line dancing. When we were in the night market in Luang Prabang there was a video on in one of the booths teaching the steps to a line dance. Thought little of it at the time, but we should have paid attention and learned the steps since apparently it's big here. Last night we passed three different groups of dancers on the street - with older folks down to a wee little girl getting down to the music; and now there are two more groups that I can see from the window who must dance as a form of morning exercise like doing tai chi in the park. Richard Simmons would be proud.
Last night was just beautiful. Perfect weather again. Strolling. People watching. Checking out restaurants. Split a pitcher of Angkor beer, had Cambodian spicy and sour beef and lemon grass soup (very good), vegetable pad thai (so-so but that's coz I miss those little bundles of fresh herbs we always got in Laos) and a panang curry that was awesome. More expensive here, though, since all of that cost $15 which is the most we've spent in ages! Chatted with some Australian chaps at the next table. The guy closest to us is just retired (and I mean JUST - as in last Friday) from the military. He used to train troops for jungle war fare in Papua New Guinea.
Basically very pleasantly surprised. Really had marginal expectations of Phnom penh. The original tour we were going to do ended up here so we had to come here to catch our flight home but didn't really expect to like it. Can't even remember why I chose this hotel except that it is on the river and just a couple blocks from the Silver Pagoda and Royal Palace so that must have been it. But it turns out it's a great location just south of the busiest part of the street so not as noisy but accessible. And we're clearly going to enjoy ourselves not just kill time.
Meanwhile, gotta get out there and take it all in. Later.

Arrived Phnom penh

Nice enough hotel at $40 night incl airport pickup, taxes, breakfast, and wi-fi. Lovely view of the river with pretty river walk. Heading out to explore.
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From Fish pedicures to Dairy Queens

We had a free morning on this last day in Siem Reap so we spent it leisurely packing our bags, tuk tuk to town for breakfast (the noodle soup was excellent), and a bit more shopping for Michael.
Throughout our stay we have managed to decline (time and time and time again) the surprisingly popular Fish Pedicures. Everywhere you turn there are 100 gallon fish tanks full of little fish that are apparently happy to consume dirt and dead skin cells off of willing (and not ticklish) tourists' feet for 20 minutes at a cost of $3.00 - but that includes a draught beer. So you'll see maybe 8 strangers who would normally probably wear flipflops in a hotel shower all sitting with their feet dangling in a tank of dirty water with fish swarming their feet. A great idea for all you business people looking for the next big franchise!
Anyway, carrying on - we squeezed in a tour of the oldest temples. It was beastly hot but the sky was clear so we stopped one more time at Angkor Wat for more photos - still scaffolding but prettier skies!
Now we are at the airport too far in advance of our flight so we walked over to the International Terminal and found, of all things, a Dairy Queen! Craziness. So we are eating oreo and kit kat blizzards in Siem Reap looking at Christmas decorations apparently put up just for the tourists in this Buddhist nation. It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world.
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'Solucky'

During Khmer Rouge control, many of the stone sentries lining the causeways
to the wats and temples were beheaded and their heads sold off to collectors
in neighboring countries. This one survived.

more bas relief

They're dancing in the streets

You've heard of Gasahol

Well, here in Siem Reap, Cambodia tuk tuks apparently run on Johnny Walker
Red Label. I know this because our tuk tuk pulled over this morning on our
way to more temples and a woman picked up one of the many bottles of JW on
the stand and trotted over to us. I thought, at first, that our driver was
going to start drinking at the early hour of 8AM but then I was thrown off
by the fact that, in addition to the bottle, the woman was carrying a
funnel! Turns out that the contents of the bottle went into the tuk tuk's
fuel tank not the tuk tuk driver's.

What is he grinning about?

The Perils of Deferred Maintenance

Let this be a lesson in what can happen if you don't keep your gutters clean!
Had a wonderful if exhausting day here in Siem Reap. Started with a predawn trip to Ankgor Wat. Unfortunately the sunrise revealed the seemingly ubiquitous tourist attraction scaffolding. Nevertheless an awesome sight. Phenomenal bas reliefs on every imaginable surface of the extensive temple structures.
Next on to Ta Prohm (tho' don't hold me to the spelling as we're at the bar again and far away from a guide book). This place (see the photo) is famous for appearing with Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider. Tiny in comparison to Angkor but the French decided long ago to allow the jungle to have its way with the site - to create some pretty amazing effects. Guess they were looking ahead to the film industry even then.
Wanted to escape the crowds (there was a marathon here today and no we didn't run) so we veered off the typical tour and went north to Banteray srei (again, probably wrong) which is another small complex but of pink sandstone with very delicate detailed carvings.
Finally finished up at Angkor Thom of the 54 towers with 216 large, carved, beatific faces fame. Very cool but we were exhausted from climbing up and down and up and down and up and down and.....
So here we are at dinner. Will post more photos later. But having a great time.
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Anchors Away!

OK that's not my pun. That's Michael's. We are now in Siem Reap, Cambodia at
Angkor Wat where you can get Anchor Beer on draught for $.50US just about
anywhere.

Uneventful flights down from Luang Prabang. And here we are. Dropped our
stuff at the hotel north of 'town' but closer to the Wats and then walked
south. This is easy navigating....go to the river and turn left.

Town itself consists of one huge market (Michael already bought two very
cool believably old knives) and a mass of cheap restaurants and bars most of
which have Happy Hour pretty much all of the time. Stopped for beers and
spring rolls and met a couple of late 20-ish British blokes who are bumming
around for about 4 months before getting too serious about life.

This place is way cool. We are seriously questioning why we never got back
to southeast Asia in all these years. Meant to. Really meant to after
Thailand in '89 and again after Bali n '91 and then the winds just took us
elsewhere and we never returned. But we most definitely will again now. We
love it here.

Tomorrow morning it's an early start to see Angkor Wat at sunrise. The taxi
will pick us up at 5AM and we should be running around ruins for the best
part of the day. Should be totally awesome.

Rest and relaxation or....

Today is our last day of lazing around Laos. It has been years since we took a vacation (where we sit around and do nothing) as opposed to traveling (where we run around seeing and doing everything we can possibly see and do) so this has been refreshingly peculiar for us.
This morning we didn't even get out of bed to see the monks go by.
After breakfast and a short walk, I decided to stay in and read for a bit while Michael went out wandering and shopping again. Having always gone out together we are constantly offered tuk tuk rides and tours of the cave and waterfalls. Apparently, there is, however, more to this sleepy little town. When Michael went out alone he was offered opium and the company of women.
Hmmmmmm.

Just to show you we don't just eat.

Better than a Denny's Grand Slam

Having taken in the tourist sites yesterday (that cave full of Buddha
statues and the whiskey village) we are now left with nothing to do but to
eat and to drink and to shop. So we spent the day eating and drinking and
shopping.
This is a photo of breakfast down by the Mekong River. All of that food for
about $8.00US. That was our biggest meal of the day. Lunch was $6.00. And
for dinner we splurged on that fill your plate buffet down at the night
market for $1.25 each. Then we went crazy and had a cinnamon roll for $.60,
and Michael had a banana mango honey crepe for $1.25. Food here does not
have to be a major expense.
In all fairness to full disclosure, I am tired of drinking beer so I did
coerce Michael into having a glass of wine (Frontera Chardonnay and Merlot)
for $4.00 each. Woo Hoo. But sat with two Australian physicians and had a
nice chat about infectious diseases, parasitology and advanced veterinary
medicine.
At the buffet picnic table seating we talked with two young women who are
bumming around (for two months so far and for an indefinite period to come).
Turns out they are from the Bay Area - recently San Francisco but grew up in
Walnut Creek and Pleasanton.
Oh and the shopping. Well, let's just say that Santa might have come early
this year.
Now what will we do with ourselves tomorrow?

Big old Buddha

Pretty well fed monk! I think I saw a Snicker bar wrapper in his alms basket.

It's Thursday morning here now. We have almost been in Southeast Asia for a
full 7 days now. Hard to imagine it hasn't been longer than that.
Yesterday woke up at 4A to the sounds of bells and drums. Around 6A the alms
procession started with the monks making their rounds through town to
receive their gifts of alms from the lay people. Our room has a balcony
right on the street so we could just sit out and drink our coffee and tea
and watch them pass by the wat right across the road. There's any
interesting anthropological dilemma there in that tourists buy rice and rent
mats from street vendors to distribute alms to the monks in an imitation of
what is really a deeply religious event/interaction between Buddhist lay
people and the monks. We even read one treatise on the wall at one of the
wats respectfully requesting that tourist not engage in the ceremony unless
they can do so in a truly meaningful way. So we are abiding by the tenet
that you should observe but not influence and are not joining in.
The rest of the day yesterday was spent roaming around town and taking a tuk
tuk ride one hour up river to the Pacau caves where pilgrims have left
hundreds of Buddha statues tucked into the recesses in the caves. More steps
for Michael. (Will post some Buddha statue photos.)
Then went to the night market and ate a sandwich from a street vendor for
dinner. Considering the all you can put on a plate street buffet for
10,000kip ($1.25) for tonight's dinner (if we don't get sick today :-))