Hello all,
Well, I logged in today only to find that the entry I wrote last night has vanished into thin air, swallowed up and is now swimming around in the belly of the beast that is the Cambodian internet machine. Oh well, I believe that I ended it with "wow this was one crappy entry..sorry" so perhaps the powers that be were actually helping me out by eating it for dinner.
So let's try this whole thing again.
When our heroine last left you, she was preparing to hop on the back of a 50cc and travel down to the Mekong river delta where she and her mother would be boarding a death boat to Cambodia. Everyone we talked to said "oh yes, no problem" even the Cambodian embassy in Ho Chi Mihn. So, 2 hours straddling some strangers bike (sadly my cute little 21 year old married boy didn't have a helmet or something and was replaced by a greasy weird man) later and we arrive in Mythos which, although it sounds like an exotic greek island, was nothing more than a town where the boat to Cambodia USED to leave from but does no longer. So we were faced with the dilema of what to do. It was either take three days by boat to get the Cambodia from some distant place that was 5 hours away by bus or take a 45 minute plane ride. We thought it over while strolling through the local market while EVERYONE stared at me like I was something out of "world's freakiest people". After having been thoroughly examined by everyone, having drank a can of pepsi that was in a "happy new years 2004" can and waiting for my driver to fix his flat tire ("why are we pulling over?" "bike no go, bad wheel"...man how many times did this scenario play itself out) we decided to drop the extra cash and take the plane. We were too close to give up now and I needed to add another pin in my "places I have been in the world" map.
109 dollars each way, expensive but worth it in the long run.
We left at 8am for the airport in a car that was leaking fluid all over the road and held our breath as we boarded a plane that was just a little too small for comfort ( you had to board it from the tarmack). 45 minutes later and we were on Cambodian soil and I was getting a flashy new visa put in my passport. Yes ladies and gentlemen, I was taking a "holiday in Cambodia"...("it's time to taste what you most fear..brace yourself my deeeaarrr !") although I believe that Jello and the boys got it a little wrong, because it rocks here. We hired our usual motorcycle chauffeurs from the airport and leisurely cruised to our guest house, which although has a bit of a problem with red fire ants and cockroaches is still quite homey.
We're in Siem Reap which is a small town where everyone who is visiting the Angkor temples stay. There are tons of foreigners here and everyone speaks English. There are also tons of cool monks in orange robes riding motorbikes around, cheese and cheap beer.
We have been visiting the Angkor temples for the past two days and I have to admit that I am having a bit of archeology overload. We even got up at 4:30am this morning to go out there and watch the sun come up over the temple domes. It was pretty cool but I kept on falling asleep on the back of my driver's motorcycle.
These temples are supposedly the most beautiful in the world, they are pretty amazing and for all those Angelina Jolie fans, it's where they filmed Tomb Raider 1. There are pictures of her all over town, pretty funny. A guy in the temple today (a Cambodian) gave us a detailed description of how he watched her jump off a rock and fall in a hole and then kept on saying "I LOVE ANGELINA JOLIE" then he tried to rip us off. It was funny.
Tommorow we are going to go to the temples in the afternoon and watch the sun set and then back to Vietnam and up toward Hanoi. Then back to J-town and back to the grind. Boo
I think I will leave you with an interpretive modern poem describing my trip thus far....
Well, I logged in today only to find that the entry I wrote last night has vanished into thin air, swallowed up and is now swimming around in the belly of the beast that is the Cambodian internet machine. Oh well, I believe that I ended it with "wow this was one crappy entry..sorry" so perhaps the powers that be were actually helping me out by eating it for dinner.
So let's try this whole thing again.
When our heroine last left you, she was preparing to hop on the back of a 50cc and travel down to the Mekong river delta where she and her mother would be boarding a death boat to Cambodia. Everyone we talked to said "oh yes, no problem" even the Cambodian embassy in Ho Chi Mihn. So, 2 hours straddling some strangers bike (sadly my cute little 21 year old married boy didn't have a helmet or something and was replaced by a greasy weird man) later and we arrive in Mythos which, although it sounds like an exotic greek island, was nothing more than a town where the boat to Cambodia USED to leave from but does no longer. So we were faced with the dilema of what to do. It was either take three days by boat to get the Cambodia from some distant place that was 5 hours away by bus or take a 45 minute plane ride. We thought it over while strolling through the local market while EVERYONE stared at me like I was something out of "world's freakiest people". After having been thoroughly examined by everyone, having drank a can of pepsi that was in a "happy new years 2004" can and waiting for my driver to fix his flat tire ("why are we pulling over?" "bike no go, bad wheel"...man how many times did this scenario play itself out) we decided to drop the extra cash and take the plane. We were too close to give up now and I needed to add another pin in my "places I have been in the world" map.
109 dollars each way, expensive but worth it in the long run.
We left at 8am for the airport in a car that was leaking fluid all over the road and held our breath as we boarded a plane that was just a little too small for comfort ( you had to board it from the tarmack). 45 minutes later and we were on Cambodian soil and I was getting a flashy new visa put in my passport. Yes ladies and gentlemen, I was taking a "holiday in Cambodia"...("it's time to taste what you most fear..brace yourself my deeeaarrr !") although I believe that Jello and the boys got it a little wrong, because it rocks here. We hired our usual motorcycle chauffeurs from the airport and leisurely cruised to our guest house, which although has a bit of a problem with red fire ants and cockroaches is still quite homey.
We're in Siem Reap which is a small town where everyone who is visiting the Angkor temples stay. There are tons of foreigners here and everyone speaks English. There are also tons of cool monks in orange robes riding motorbikes around, cheese and cheap beer.
We have been visiting the Angkor temples for the past two days and I have to admit that I am having a bit of archeology overload. We even got up at 4:30am this morning to go out there and watch the sun come up over the temple domes. It was pretty cool but I kept on falling asleep on the back of my driver's motorcycle.
These temples are supposedly the most beautiful in the world, they are pretty amazing and for all those Angelina Jolie fans, it's where they filmed Tomb Raider 1. There are pictures of her all over town, pretty funny. A guy in the temple today (a Cambodian) gave us a detailed description of how he watched her jump off a rock and fall in a hole and then kept on saying "I LOVE ANGELINA JOLIE" then he tried to rip us off. It was funny.
Tommorow we are going to go to the temples in the afternoon and watch the sun set and then back to Vietnam and up toward Hanoi. Then back to J-town and back to the grind. Boo
I think I will leave you with an interpretive modern poem describing my trip thus far....
sweat and dirty sox
"lady you buy my postcard?"
fire ants, in my pants, in my bed
in my soul, in my head.
runny nose
Cambodia doesn't make kleenex
Ahhh yes, I think that interpretive poetry should be a part of every entry from now on. Stay tune for more!
O.K signing out for now
P.S I still have all my limbs attached
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