Majestic Angkor Hotel Siem Reap

... my face to make sure I am me. He keeps the entry card and waves me through. I look back at him and crack a big smile - he struggles to keep the straight face and his eyes dance. I see now it is all an act that is expected of them. These really are nice people.

Customs next. I get ready for a big ordeal, to open my suitcases and purse, explain it all, explain the gift of medical supplies for the hospital ...

... me" But okay we arrived at the border around noon. Let´s make that High-Noon...cause there he was......" My Brother From My Mother.." My little Cambodian friend who could tell all and all was Hell about to come!!!

At the border...well at the smallest Thai Shack in the world, we all sort of came together. About 4 other mini-vans with backpackers from around Bangkok. All ready to cross the border, and all of us paid the price of the transportation to the ...

... circuit" around. We started out waking up at 4am and getting picked up for 4:30am to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. It was a short sunrise, but beautiful. There were many tourists there for sunrise so we decided to save Angkor Wat Temple for the end of the day. We went to many other temples, but my favorites are the ones with pictures. Bayon was really nice because it as many faces looking at you. It could give you a complex though knowing that ...

... and have withstood the test of time, magnificently. Our favourite site was the Buddhist temple of Bayon. On entering the temple huge stone images of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara peer down at you, and it seems that you can never quite escape their timeless stone gaze. The temple is multi-tiered and it's maze of narrow passageways are adorned with intricate reliefs, carvings depicting famous battle scenes and important moments in the Khmer ...

... felling quite hungry. We start to wonder back to the guest house and stop off at a Khmer restaurant, noodles and veg for me, Chicken Cashew nuts and rice for Rob.

At 2pm we meet Richard and head off for Tonle Sap, which is the largest freshwater lake in SE Asia. The Tonlé Sap is unusual for two reasons: 1) its flow changes direction twice a year, and 2) the portion that forms the lake expands and shrinks dramatically with ...

... right: 0px; margin-bottom: 4px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.4em; font ...

... not conacting them in advance but it was so last minute!) but seemed happy and very welcoming. I walked around saying hello to old students. Many of them remembered me. I felt bad that I couldn't remember all of their names. Also checked out all the changes. They built a new kitchen and cafeteria, had upgraded the showers, had a new playing area. It looked great. I was really impressed with all my students that are now in the "young adult program" which means ...

... forward hoping to fall asleep on the back of the chair in front of her. I tried to brave the situation and hold the bags above our heads from falling on us.

A whopping 50 minutes later we stopped again. Yes yes, we only drove for 60 minutes and the driver stopped again. He assistant announced that we were close to the thai border and that the thai drivers won’t stop for food so we should eat lunch. No one was hungry. The bus filled with shouts of ...

... in town for some shopping. Luckily we changed our plans, because on the way to town, it started thundering and raining hard. Storms seem to come and go here in Cambodia pretty quickly. By the time we reached the night markets, the rain had become a light drizzle and so we put on our new rainjackets and marched through the drizzle to the outdoor stalls. Shopping is a blast in Cambodia, everything is pretty cheap. Lots of vendors on each corner ...

1) photos... up loading photos has been hard... just put a bunch on... they are not matched up with the right entries and some don't have titles... it is hard though to spend a lot of time on line because there is so much to do... so these pictures will get sorted out when there is more time...

2) eco-tourism, NGO and non-profits - just a quick word on this that we have eaten at lots of restaurants that take kids ...