Siem Riep,
Cambodia
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Beth and I are happy and healthy in Siem Riep. After 40 hours of overland travel, some aircon and a clean shower were very welcome indeed. We had some breakfast, showered, and felt like new people. Our guest house was great! UNFORTUNETELY... Beth lost a small pink pouch she had in the top of her backpac, containing her old cell phone, and the memory card with all of our pictures from the first week and a half of the trip. Our gust house has been really helpfull trying to locate the bus drivers etc.. from yesterday, and they are all checking to see if they can find anything. This is devestating news, but life goes on. We left our bags at the mekong palace and made our way Psarchaa area. Looked around and found a lovely guest house for 4$ a night, brand new, clean, lovely, with AC!!! We are quite pleased. We ate at a pizza place, and the family who ran it talked to us, and the girl was shocked when she asked us how tall the runway models we were watching on tv really were , and i stood up and put my hands quite a few inches above my head. Even we are giants here. There was a bit of a downpour (every afternoon here apparantly during monsoon season), and now were at a aircon internet joint. I find myself absolutely in love with the cambodian people, all so friendly, all so excited to show that their country isn't just a horror story, that they have wonderfull things to offer, and they seem so genuinely pleased to prove to us that they are a foreward looking nation. The government here is VERY strict. You will be sentenced to life in prison or execution if you are caught with a fire-arm or with illegal narcotics. They are really trying to prove to themselves and the west that the evil khmer rouge didn't klill their spirits, and that even after years of civil war, the cambodian peopel haven't given up. Tommorow well hire a car to explore the temples. Well get a 3 day pass and the next two days explore by bike and by foot. For those of you lacking on history, but up to date on movies, these are the temples from Tomb Raider (ie. how Angelina ended up falling in love with cambodia, adopting a cambodian child, and buying an entire cambodian villiage). We might go by riverboat to Phnom Phen when we are through here (its the jump off point for Ho Chi Minh/Saigon, Vietnam... but still not sure.
till next time... love to all!
lily
