Let's see, where did I leave off? In Laos, on my way to Cambodia, if I'm not mistaken... I flew from Bangkok to Siem Reap, happily bag-free (I'd stored my huge backpack in Bangkok and only had my daypack with me -- freedom!), and spent the afternoon on the back of a moto going to see a carved riverbed and waterfall, and some fantastic, intricately detailed ruins north of the main Angkor Wat complex. I caught sunset from a tower near Angkor Wat, where I met a Canadian woman who invited me to dinner with her and
her friends.

The next day, we rented bicycles and toured the temples: Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Ta Keo, and Ta Prohm (the jungle temple -- gorgeously overgrown with banyan trees and wild vegetation). Sunset that night was viewed from Angkor Wat itself.
Pretty impressive!

I caught the boat to Phnom Penh the next morning -- six hot hours on the roof of a ferry -- but the scenery was nice, and we finally arrived...to the crush of touts pushing moto rides to their guesthouses. (I keep telling myself it's all just training for India!) I wound up at a great guesthouse overlooking the river, with a rooftop restaurant serving delicious fruit salad (the woman who made the food had the most lilting and pleasant singing voice I've heard in a long time).

My moto driver, Martin, was very friendly and spoke incredible English (self-taught, of course). He invited me to a wedding that evening -- which I accepted after making sure he knew I was already married myself! The wedding turned out to be near the Killing Fields, so I went from a quick introduction to the painful reality of the recent past to a celebration of future happiness. Interesting.

Martin took me the next day to visit his village. We strolled around visiting everyone during the afternoon -- I was a walking freak show with my white skin, freckles, and sun-bleached hair! We ate at his mother's house, went to a couple more weddings, and then went back to his mother's to sleep on bamboo platforms underneath the main house. It was fascinating to see behind the scenes of everyday rural life -- plus the added bonus of having a bodyguard at the second wedding (Martin brought along a couple of local strongarms when we went to the second party to make sure I was safe -- one of them even went with me to stand guard when I had to pee!), which was a novel experience.

I then spent a day in Phnon Penh, doing tourist things like visiting museums and shooting an AK-47 (for instance), then flew to Banlung in Rattanakiri province for a couple of days. Spectacular scenery, but dusty like a scene from the Wild Wild West -- everyone ended up orange!

Then down to Kampot to visit the Bokor Hill Station and beachside town of Kep, and on to Sihanoukville, where I caught a boat to the border...or almost to the border. Our ferry, already fully loaded, stopped to help another ferry (also fully loaded) that was stranded: every single person plus some of the cargo came over onto our boat. I went up top so I could jump off and swim if necessary. The ocean was kicking up a bit, so the trip got pretty hairy for a while -- you could smell the fear and see the whites of people's eyes as they clung to the boat, which leaned precariously from one side to the other. I understand it was worse below, with the waves coming up over the windows. We were all glad to have the ride over with, but didn't get to the border in time to cross that day, so made the local guesthouse's day -- every room full!

Got to Bangkok the next day, and meant to catch an overnight train to Chumphon and then a boat to Koh Tao, but the tracks were flooded from an unseasonable monsoon, so I (and every other tourist booked for the train) ended up shoved onto any available bus headed south...needless to say, it was uncomfortable and greatly overpriced, but I got there! And just as I got there, the rains stopped. How lucky can one get? The ocean was a bit stirred up, but visibility was still decent, and the water was warm...so who's complaining?!

I stayed in a great bamboo bungalow, did a couple of fun dives, then did my advanced open water certification (including a night dive where we followed hunting barracuda and turned off our lights to swim in the phosphorescence) and a full day speedboat tour of the Marine Park -- amazing coral! Took the overnight train back to Bangkok -- arriving this morning for just a couple of hours, headed to India this afternoon...yikes!

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