Christmas in Victoria

I have had a wonderful time over the last few days. It has definitely been the most different Christmas I've spent, but not quite as different as I had been expecting. The weather here turned cool and wet shortly after I arrived. It was about 38 on Dec. 21 and by Christmas we weren't even able to break into double digits on the thermometer. We spent Saturday with the kids wandering around the local market and exploring the countryside a bit. We stopped at a couple of local wineries and sampled some of their fare. Also made a few purchases :-). Dinner was sausages for the kids and kangaroo steaks for us on the barbeque. Lovely meal.

On Christmas Eve, we went to Brian's father's for Christmas lunch. He is from a family of five and they all have spouses and at least two children, so it was a real houseful. They were very warm and made me feel very welcome, so it was a lovely Christmas celebration. I also got my traditional turkey and roast potato meal, as well as a surprise gift from the family, so all Christmas expectations were well met. We dropped the kids off at their mom's place and spent the evening watching some Christmas specials on TV and eating pizza washed down with good Australian wine.

Brian got up early on Christmas morning to go do the Santa thing with the kids. Later in the morning, we packed up a picnic lunch and headed out to the fire tower. The plan was for me to spend the afternoon with him there, diligently scouting out forest fires on behalf of the people of Australia. This was to be my good deed for the festive season. As it turns out, by the time we got there the weather had really deteriorated and visibility was virtually nil due to the rain and clouds. This also meant risk of fire was very low so Brian was sent home within about an hour of us arriving there. This turned out to be a blessing for me, as my fear of heights precluded me from actually climbing the tower. I made it up the first ladder (and have a photo to prove it!) but the last two were just beyond me.

We spent the rest of the afternoon driving around the national park and going for a walk in the forest. We ended up with some snow, so we built a snowman on the hood of the truck who guided us through the storm. We came across a young kid who had got his jeep stuck in a ditch and pulled him out with the winch on Brian's truck. We also took lots of photos of Brian in the snow - it is quite the novelty to see snow here at Christmas (akin to us seeing snow on Canada day). We cooked a couple of steaks on the barbeque and spent the evening/night drinking wine and solving the world's problems. It was a really lovely day.

Boxing day today and Brian has been given the day off. I'm about to make myself some lunch, but there's still no sign of him. I'm guessing that the kids' fever-pitch excitement over the last few days, as well as his Canadian guest's penchant for red wine has pretty much flattened him. Hopefully we'll get out and about this afternoon for another walk in the park. I think another winery visit may also be required as stocks are getting low.

Kinglake Australia

I managed to get a cold about 24 hours before I left Bangkok so had to fly with a stuffed up head and chest. I travelled well equipped with medication so it wasn't too bad. I had a 5-hour wait in Ho Chi Minh City on the way here. Interesting airport: you can buy everything from jewelery to designer leather jackets to souvenirs to high end perfumes and cosmetics, but you can't buy a book. Not one piece of literature in the entire building. I guess communism has a stronger hold there than anywhere else I've encountered. My decision to wait and buy a new book at the airport turned out to be ill-advised. I finished my other one on the flight from Bangkok and am still without anything to read. It feels like I've lost my right arm.

Brian met me at the airport with his daughter, Sienna, and we came back to his place. He lives about an hour outside Melbourne in a lovely bungalow in the country. It's almost like being at home for me, except they're in a bad drought at the moment so it's incredibly dry. And no lake in the front yard. That afternoon I managed to catch a nap while he went to pick his son, Jayden, up at school. The kids will be with us until Sunday afternoon and will then go to their mom's. Unfortunately Brian got a call that afternoon demanding that he work next week from Monday to Friday. Someone had just walked in and quit, and given they are so short-handed because of all the fires burning at the moment there is nobody else they could call. It means that he'll spend Christmas in a fire tower. I haven't decided yet what I'll do on Christmas and through the week - I'll spend some time today trying to figure that out. He has some plans for us for the weekend both with and without the kids so we'll do our celebrating then.

Today (Friday) I'm just trying to catch up on some sleep and trying to lick this cold. He has left me a car so I may get out and about a bit to explore the area. Of course this came with the warning that there's a lethally poisonous tiger snake living near where he parks the car, so I'm afraid to leave the house much less get into the car!

Back to Bangkok

My final day in Sihanoukville was largely spent on the beach with Katharina and Jens. I walked up to town in the morning to check it out, but there was nothing there except a local market that pushed my olfactory glands to their limit. After sunning ourselves all day, we showered and went back to the beach for our final sunset and dinner. The beach is really lovely at night as all the beachside bars are lit up with fairy lights, candles and bonfires. A couple of them had fire dancers performing which was great to see from a distance. Unfortunately we got a fairly short burst of hard rain so had to sit under a roof for part of the evening. We finished up the night in the bar at our bungalows having a last drink and playing a game of pool.

I returned to Phnom Penh the following day and checked out the Russian Market in town. This is a very busy market and is so named because the Russians shopped there when in Cambodia. It sells everything from food to clothing to souvenirs. In the evening I met up with Warren for a final night out. We had a drink on his awesome balcony and we then went by taxi to Le Royal hotel which is of the Raffles chain. On the way we passed a couple of really beautiful spots which I had not seen in my previous explorations of the city. I'm wondering now if perhaps I have short-changed Phnom Penh and need to revisit it. We also passed the American Embassy which is a really large and beautiful compound and was all dressed up in Christmas lights. It was very tastefully done - almost all the lights were white and it was stunning in the darkness of night. We had a drink for happy hour at the hotel and were able to see a bit of the grounds. It is a really beautiful property. We ended our evening with dinner at restaurant that specializes in Khmer food. It is part of a chain called Friends which has a few restaurants and shops in PP which support orphanages and other children's aid initiatives in Cambodia. Their restaurants are all teaching restaurants, so street kids can work there and learn about the hospitality industry and then move on to get jobs in the local restaurants. The setting was really beautiful and the food was fabulous. Needless to say, the company was also impeccable. Warren has issued an open invitation for me to stay at his place if I'm ever back in the area. Little does he suspect that I may just take him up on it, if not for the environment then certainly for the company.

I flew to Bangkok the following day and was thrilled to find a message waiting for me at my hotel from Patty and Angel, the Canadian couple I had met in Laos. They were staying in my hotel and it was great to see them again. We drank some wine together in the early evening by the pool and went out for dinner. Yesterday we did lunch and dinner together before they caught their flight home. They have been a great addition to my trip and I look forward to meeting them again somewhere out on the road. Given that they are flight attendants and they spend all their spare time travelling, I'm sure we'll find an opportunity to have our paths cross again.

Other than my socializing with Patty and Angel, I'm just tying up some loose ends here in Bangkok. I got laundry done, picked up a few gifts for my hosts in Australia, dropped some stuff in the mail and caught up on e-mail. I am leaving for Australia tomorrow, so my next blog will be from down under.

Impressions of Cambodia and Beyond

This post is just a collection of thoughts and observations from the last week or so.

Cambodians and their Plight:

It is really tough to know how to feel about the situation here. On one hand, you have to be sympathetic to the people and their situation. So many people are still so incredibly damaged by the effects of the war that your heart just breaks for them. On the other hand, virtually all good works in the country are being carried out by foreign interests. So many countries have come to the aid of Cambodia, but Cambodia itself doesn't seem to be making much of an effort. It just sits there with it's hand out. Having said that, so much of the "intelligent" people of Cambodia were wiped out by the Khmer Rouge that there's not a lot left to build with. The simple country people are certainly not equipped to make the required changes. There's also just so much corruption here. I really don't know what to feel, other than distressed.

Sex Trade:

As a woman, I have been blissfully excluded from the whole sex trade issue here. The sad fact is that male travelers are approached with offers of sex as often as I have been for everything else people are selling. Every time they get into a tuk-tuk or pass a vendor in the street, women are on sale as well as whatever other good or service is being publicly touted. There are a great many western males who are here for this reason alone. Women can be purchased for single encounters (for as little as $1) or for entire vacations. There are also bars where men can go and just have conversation (no sex) with women as long as they buy them drinks and food. As sad as it is for the women, you also have to feel sorry for the men who feel they have to come all this way just to find female company.

Safety:

Although I haven't really felt it too much, Cambodia (and specifically PP) are not as safe as the other places I've visited. I go out with very little money and no other valuables with me. People have been known to ride up beside tuk-tuks on their motorcycles and snatch bags off people's laps in the tuk-tuk. So far, I have not seen evidence of this, and even have been swimming while leaving my stuff unattended on the beach with no problems so far. Touch wood.

Restaurant Etiquette:
Service is great here. You never have to wait to get a menu or place your order. However, once your food is served, you'll never see a waiter again. You have to chase them down to order anything extra or to get a bill. While we consider this to be poor service, they believe it would be rude to come and bother you to see if you want something else. Likewise, they don't want to chase you away by presenting your bill.

Public Grooming:

People groom everywhere. You can get a hair cut or shave on the street. They will give you a wax in your lounge chair on the beach. I have seen women having their armpit hair plucked at a table in a restaurant. People regularly sit on the sidewalk and pick lice out of each other's hair.

Traffic:
These people are maniacs behind the wheel/handlebars (about 75% of the vehicles are motorcycles). The lines on the street are apparently just for show, as are the few traffic lights. Even though they are supposed to drive on the right side of the road, they drive pretty much everywhere. They do not use turn indicators, nor do they necessarily turn their lights on at night. You will be ready to step into the street, look left and see that there's nothing coming and step down only to have a near-miss with someone coming from the right. There is an almost imperceptible slowing at intersections but everyone just keeps going and somehow they all manage to make it to the other side unscathed. It's kind of like watching the ballet. Horns are never used in anger and there appears to be no road rage here. Horns are, however, used frequently just to make other drivers aware of your presence and there is a general yielding to the larger vehicle. The incessant horns make quite a racket, which Jens has dubbed the Phnom Penh motorcycle orchestra. I have to say that I'm getting pretty comfortable riding around on the back of a motorcycle (they also serve as taxis) but I'm still not ready to give it a try with my backpack on.

Food:

Phnom Penh has some really great restaurants and you can get whatever kind of cuisine you desire. The night markets are a different story. The going fare in the streets include cooked grasshoppers, beetles, roasted snails (in their shells) and all kinds of other insects. The food markets are pretty gross with all kinds of indescribable delicacies. I have to walk through holding my breath to avoid the smell.

Electricity:

Power is sporadic and in the case of Cambodia, entirely bought from other countries. Each hotel room is equipped with a bracket inside the door which holds either your room key (in the case of a card key) or a gadget on the keyring (in the case of a regular key). Once the key has been placed in the bracket, it turns on the power in the room. This way, there's no way to waste energy while you're out of your room - everything automatically turns off. Unfortunately this includes the A/C so you always come back to a warm room. It's really ingenious - we should be doing this at home.

Size does Matter:

What is it with men and the size thing? Angkor had me thinking about all the places in the world where an ordinary size building would have sufficed, but instead these massive structures were built: Chichen Itza, Machu Picchu, Angkok Wat, the Pyramids etc. All of these structures took years to build and cost hundreds of lives. All of this to stroke the ego of whoever happened to be on the throne at the time. I guess there are some things that just don't change over the millennia...

Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville

I got up early to catch a ride to the boat dock in Siem Reap. The drive out to the "dock" was an adventure in itself and provides good reason to take the boat. The boat is just run up on shore with a gangplank, so there's not really a dock. Siem Reap sits on the edge of a large lake called Tonlé Sap. There are many fishing towns around the lake and the dock sits in the middle of one. There is a sort of causeway that goes a kilometer or two out into the lake with people living along it's edges. The homes are either built on stilts beside the road or are actually floating on the lake. The water level changes quite dramatically with the season, so the stilts are necessary. Many of the homes don't even qualify as shacks - they are mostly built from bamboo and many of them only have a floor with a tarp draped over poles as a roof. Many are as small as about 6'by 6' and the largest aren't much bigger than that. They all house at least one family, and sometimes an extended family. It appears that cooking is usually done outside although I did see a fire in a concrete bucket inside one. There is vitually no space between these houses. An NGO has positioned a few pumps along the road to provide "fresh" water to the villagers. It is just a seething mass of people, animals, sewage, garbage and filth. At times our car couldn't get past because the village had spilled into the road, but this always managed to sort itself out. I have never seen anything like it and it was very disturbing.

The boat ride itself was in fact quite comfortable. I was sitting with a group of 5 hungover British lads who were very personable and provided some good conversation over the course of the journey. My arrival in Phnom Penh and subsequent journey to my hotel were uneventful, except for the fact that I got my skirt caught in backpack as I put it on, so was wandering around the very busy pier with my butt exposed for about 5 minutes before I noticed the draft and fixed it. I tell you, the Cambodian public has seen more of my backside over the last few days...

As hoped, my room was fairly high up in the hotel. I saw the room number, 308, and was pleased that I'd be a couple of storeys above the street. As it turns out, the ground floor was reception and restaurant, the next floor was "0" (e.g rooms 01, 02, etc.) the next floor was "1" (e.g. rooms 101, 102 etc.) so I was actually on the 5th floor above the street. Unfortunately, this didn't ensure a good sleep, as the noise from the city generally got up to fever pitch by about 6 AM and and given that nothing is insolated here, you could be on the 20th floor and still not be able to sleep through it.

Phnom Penh is a fairly small city (1.2 million)and while much bigger than Vientiane is nothing like the much more cosmopolitan Bangkok. It is quite ugly, run-down, filthy and stinky. There is a section along the riverfront near the royal palace which is quite lovely with a relatively clean park area and new buildings. The rest of the place is a dump. The streets are filled with garbage and smell like urine or worse. The city is much worse for beggars and touts than Siem Reap, although a smaller percentage of them have missing limbs. It's very annoying to be sitting in a restaurant eating a meal and being constantly pestered by small childrent to buy something from them or to dole out some money. As for the tuk-tuk drivers, I just don't understand their way of thinking. There will be 10 of them in a row on the street and every one of them will ask you if you want a ride. They have all watched you turn down the previous 5 offers, but they still insist on giving it a try. Do they really think that I really do want a drive but having been waiting for just the right tuk-tuk? Then just as get to the end of your rope and are about to scream at the next person who asks you for money or to buy services, some kid will call out hello and wave with no demand for anything other than a smile, and you just can't help but wave back and give them that smile. Cambodia is about as different from Laos as you can get, and it's like all your senses are getting a blast from a cattle prod.

PP has a large expat community who are all here trying to help the country get on its feet. Christmas is therefore in evidence here, with trees and Santas in store windows and hotel lobbies. I also was wakened to a muslim call to prayer on my first morning and thought I must be dreaming. It's a bit strange to have all this exposure to other religions after having been immersed only in Buddhism for the last 3 months.

My first afternoon in PP was spent wandering around acquainting myself with the city. On the second day I visited the national museum and the royal palace. The museum doesn't have much in it other than stone carvings and statuary from pre-Angkor and Angkor periods. It's interesting but somewhat repetitive and I didn't spend much time there. The royal palace is very impressive. The public is allowed into several of the buildings, which were beautiful, but even the grounds and compound itself is lovely. The Khmers are pretty extravagent with their gold and gems, and as the guidebook says, the gifts from other countries pale in comparison to the riches that come from Cambodia itself. On the grounds is what is known as the silver pagoda, as the entire floor inside is tiled in silver. Amongst some of the treasures housed here is an Emerald Buddha said to be made from Baccarat crystal (it stands about 2 feet high) as well as a life-size gold Buddha decorated with 9584 diamonds, the two largest of which weigh 25 carats each. It weighs in at 90 Kg. It's really spectacular.

My final day was an emotional roller coaster. I started by visiting the killing fields outside of the city. There is not really a lot to see here, other than the pits left from the mass graves as well as a memorial shrine filled with 8000 skulls of the victims. I was surprised at the size of the property which is only about one hectare (not sure exactly but very small). There are 129 mass graves on this site, 86 of which have been excavated and 8,985 bodies exhumed. It is a very sad place.

Following this, I went to the genocide museum at Tuol Sleng. This is a former school which was turned into a prison by the Khmer Rouge. Most of the bodies in the killing fields came from this prison. The museum is very well done - they have left many of the cells intact so that you can actually see what the conditions were like. They also have various instuments of torture on display. There are a couple of photography and art exhibits on the subject which are very moving, and in some cases absolutely gut-wrenching. Perhaps the toughest part of all is the display of all the intake photos which fill many of the rooms in one of the buildings. You see so many emotions in the eyes of these people: defiance, defeat, terror.

There are various estimates of the number of people held in the this prison. The records show a total of 10,500 with an additional 2,000 children, however other estimates put the number more realistically at about 20,000. Seven survived. No, that's not a typo and I didn't leave out a "hundred" or "thousand".

It was an absolutely draining day and my head was pounding by the time I got through it all.

Later that afternoon, I met up with a New Zealander named Warren. He is a friend of Nic and Jud's who I had met in Laos, and he teaches in PP. He picked me up at my hotel and we went back to his flat for a drink. I was a bit put off that he wanted to go back to his place as I was keen to see the city and to see where the expats go to socialize. We got out of the tuk tuk and I followed him down this dingy, dirty alley to a small cement staircase in the wall. I wasn't worried for my safety at this point as he had been referred to me by someone that I trusted, but I was wondering why he would choose to take me to the dump where he lived. After climbing the staircase he opened on the door onto what is probably the nicest flat in PP - it's absolutely massive and fabulously decorated. The whole front wall is glass overlooking the river and this opens up onto a beautiful balcony where we sat and had our drinks. As we looked down on the street some tourists took our picture - I'm not sure if they thought we were royalty or something, but I sure felt like it in those surroundings. I quickly came to understand why he prefers to have a drink at home to the noisy, beggar-infested bars of PP.

Later he took me to a party thrown by one of his colleagues from the International School. Many of the expats there were Canadian, and it was a Christmas party just like any that would be thrown at home. It was a bit strange to be listening to Christmas music and drinking wine in somebody's home. It was also weird to watch them all trying to recapture their experience of home at this time of year, when for the last few months I've been trying to do pretty much the opposite. It was a day full of conflicting emotions and one that I don't think I'll forget anytime soon.

The next morning, I left fairly early by bus to Sihanoukville. This a town on the coast of Cambodia which has lovely beaches. The woman sitting next to me on the bus was a Swiss woman named Katharina. We found out through the course of our conversation that we share a last name. I have to say, it was a very weird experience to run into another Honegger on a bus in Cambodia. She comes from a town which is only 2 kms from my grandfather's home town in Switzerland, so I suppose we may even be related. I've been referring to her as my long-lost sister :-).

I spent the afternoon on the beach which was another true Cambodian experience. The beach is swarming with kids and women selling fresh fruit, massages, mani- and pedicures, and trinkets of all shapes and sizes. In addtion, there are some incredibly badly maimed people who troll the beaches looking for handouts. Despite all that, it is actually possible to relax to a certain degree and that was lovely. The sea is beautiful, but so warm as to almost not be refreshing.

I had drinks and dinner on the beach with Katharina and a German fellow that she had met a few days earlier named Jens (sp?). We got to watch a beautiful sunset and had a really nice time.

This morning I finally got to catch up on my sleep. As usual I was wakened just before 6 AM, this time by a pupply that was tied up just outside my bungalow. He cried for over an hour which kept me awake, so I finally turned on my TV to drown him out. I was able to sleep with the TV on for a few more hours. It feels great to be rested. I spent a couple of hours this morning on the internet and then hit the beach for a few hours. I'm now having a beer and finishing up this blog. I'm also working on another post of impressions I've had, so stay tuned.

Angkor and Siem Reap

My final day of Angkor did not disappoint. We went about 80 kms outside of the city to a temple that has been left totally to the whims of the jungle. Much of it has been reduced to rubble as a result of trees and roots growing through, and then breaking down the walls. It is much more overgrown than the Tomb Raider one of the previous day. This temple was was used in the filming of the movie "The Brothers" about a couple of tigers. During the filming, they built a few wooden walkways through the ruins to accommodate the film crew and tiger cages, but Samso accompanied me into this temple and ensured that we didn't take the easy way through. I was glad I had him with me as I never would have found my way around the ruins without him. We spent the morning scrambling over rocks, climbing crumbling stairs , walking along perilously high walls and generally scaring me silly. I should have paid more attention to the guidebook which called this a "true Indiana Jones experience" and worn something a little more practical than a knee-length skirt. It was very comfortable and cool, but I think poor Samso got to know a bit better than he expected. I spent much of the morning with my skirt up around my waist or doing a Marilyn Monroe imitation as I jumped off of rocks - am very glad that I had chosen comfort over attractiveness in picking my undies that morning :-).

As Samso had promised, there were only a handful of people at this temple so it was very quiet. He was very patient about letting me stop and sit in particularly beautiful spots and just soak up the atmosphere. It was really special.

Following that temple we came back closer to town and visited a group of three temples which date back a bit farther than most of the others (9th century as opposed to 12th). They are entirely Hindu and built as shrines to Shriva. They are quite different from the others, and two are quite small, but they still held a real interest for me and I was entirely alone in the largest one of them for a while.

Samso took me for Cambodia's national dish for lunch. This is called amok and is a curry served in a fresh coconut. It was absolutely awesome and I don't want to eat anything else while I'm in Cambodia. Those Khmers can chisel and cook - what a great combination. Samso filled me in a bit on his family's history and his memories of the civil war. He lost several family members in the killing fields but his parents both survived. He suspects his father's good luck was that he was the youngest in his family. He was one of only two men in his village to survive. The stories here are absolutely horrifying and heartbreaking, especially since they are told with such nonchalance. I can't even get my head around losing a quarter of a country's population to civil war, but this is just a reality for Cambodians.

After lunch we went to my final temple. This is built on a hill so it affords great views. Because of this, it is the most popular spot to watch the sunset. I chose to be down from the temple by 4:30 when the sunset crowds began their ambush, which proved to be a brilliant plan on my part. I had the place almost all to myself and could see miles over the Cambodian countryside. There are great views of Angkor Wat as well as other points of interest in the area. As I was descending the hill, I fought against the tide of people on their way up for the sunset. I had a nice chat over a beer later in the evening with a Swedish girl I found in a market restaurant. No room in my belly for dinner after the amok at lunch.

I haven't been sleeping well here and was hoping for a nice late lie-in this morning. Alas, the street noises had me up just after 6:00 so I'm tired and cranky today. I'm doing my best to be polite and cordial to everyone, but am afraid I might have to punch out the next tuk-tuk driver to solicit my business. It's particularly frustrating here because they are just so aggressive but also so needy. Half the people trying to sell you stuff are either missing limbs from a landmine or are under 7. The guilt is enormous but you just can't give money to, or buy goods from everyone.

I wandered around Siem Reap this morning and found that once out of the market area (similar to Ottawa's market area) things got a bit better. I took a nice walk along the river and was left in relative peace there. I even stumbled into a totally non-touristic part of town where the kids all called out hello without trying to sell me anything. It's nice to know that that part of the country still exists, even though it's hard to find.

Tomorrow I'm off to Phnom Penh by boat. The ride is suppose to be somewhat less comfortable than the bus, but there is a lot to see along the lake and river so I think it will be worth it. It's about a 5 hour journey. I am hoping my room in PP is a bit quieter than the one here. I'm sure a little sleep would go a long way towards bolstering my tolerance for the touts.

By the way...Bill Clinton was at Angkor the day before I arrived and apparently made quite an impression on the locals.

Angkor

Made it to Cambodia safe and sound. I am staying in a guesthouse right in the middle of Siem Reap and was picked up at the airport by one of their drivers. I have engaged his services for the first three days of my stay here and he has been a godsend so far. There is so much more to Angkor that I ever imagined, even after several hours spent reading about it in my guidebook. It is absolutely huge and can't be attempted without transportation of some sort. Samso, my driver, has put together an itinerary for me, and it covers all the places I had marked with an asterisk in my book. I wasn't really planning on starting as soon as I got checked into the guesthouse, but start I did, and I haven't stopped since. I have just completed day 2 of my 3 day tour of the Angkor area.

I have to start by just saying "Wow". It's absolutely spectacular. Although the rocks used in the buildings are not as big as those used by the Inca, this certainly gives Machu Picchu a run for it's money. There are temples and towns and pools and carvings spread over an enormous area. There aren't any major structures that don't have some kind of water nearby - either a moat or pools. The moats are the size of rivers and pools are like my lake. There are two pools that have since dried up that each would have contained 71 olympic size pools. There is a mixture of Bhuddist, Hindu and secular influences in the buildings and carvings.

Yesterday I started with Angkor Thom which is an entire walled city. It housed 1 million people at a time when London was a city of 20,000. It took me about 4 hours to see most of the highlights - a temple, massive terrasses, palace, pools etc. Almost every inch of the buildings are covered in carvings. It's mind-boggling. In the afternoon I did the famous Angkor Wat which is the largest religious structure in the world. After spending a few hours there, I stayed and watched the sun set on it, which is something that just must be done although I didn't really see why. It nice but not spectacular. These structures are all open to everyone, so you can climb all over them (except in places which are under repair or dangerous). Their stairways remind of the Mayans' - steep, high and very narrow. Not exactly my cup of tea, but I wasn't going to leave without seeing everything. I often left my shoes at the bottom of these stairs as I felt I stood a better chance of living through the ordeal in my bare feet. In every case it was worth the climb for the views alone.

Today I went a bit further afield to a spot about 30 kms up the Siem Reap river from the city. There is a stretch of river (actually a creek at this point, and hardly that since we're in the dry season), that is covered in rock carvings. Some are on rocks along the river, but most are on rocks on the actual riverbed, so can only be seen when there is little to no water running over them. Very bizarre and really beautiful. This location was only recently reopened after the war, and it's a spot where sticking to the path is of utmost importance due to UXOs. The walk in through the jungle is about 1.5 kms and really beautiful, but there's no stepping into the bush for a quick pee here.

We went to a second site out of town which is said to be the most beautiful of the Angkor temples. It is a smaller site, but the carvings are much more spectacular. There is literally not an inch of rock that isn't carved and the carvings are very delicate and intricate. It's called the temple of women because they figure only women could have done such delicate work.

After lunch we stopped at another spot near to town that is said to have been a crematorium. It was also a pretty spectacular building, with many different "stove pipes". The last building today was used in the filming of Tomb Raider with Angolina Jolie. I never saw the movie so it didn't mean much to me but the other tourists were eating it up. This particular temple has not been rescued from the jungle, so there are massive trees growing through and around the buildings. It's very cool and I think my favourite so far. Unfortunately I showed up at the same time as several tour groups so I didn't get to really enjoy it as much as I would have liked.

These buildings all have that really wonderful energy and peacefulness about them that Machu Picchu does and it just makes me dream of spending some time alone there. Unfortunately that's just not possible without sneaking in after hours. One of the places I'm going tomorrow is apparently way off the beaten track, and Samso has promised me that I'll find some space and time to be alone there.

I have been really busy since I arrived two days ago, which I think is a good thing. I am totally enthralled by Angkor, but think that the rest of Cambodia might be a bit hard to take after Laos. It's like going from 0 - 60 overnight. Laos was so laid-back and Cambodia just isn't. As frustrating as it is to deal with the constant hassel to buy things, I try to keep remembering how tough these people have had it in the very recent past and that they are just trying to put some food on the table. The situation here is still really lousy and it will be awhile before many of these people can make decent livings.

Vientiane

Shortly after I posted my last blog, I was walking through town and bumped into the Calgarians. They are named Ross (aka Rossco) and Willy. As it turns out, they lost some some money on the river when they were doing the drunken tubing thing, as well as Willy's watch (and who knows what else). Given that I had found their money and used it to buy drinks for other tubers, I felt it only fair to buy them a drink or two. We picked up some wine and had a lovely time drinking in the courtyard garden of my hotel. We later went out for dinner and hit some bars. I'm not sure of all the details, but despite their tattoos and soul-patches they turned out to be perfect gentlemen and got me home to my hotel safe and sound. Since then I keep passing bars in Vientiane that look vaguely familiar and have to assume that I've been there before.

The following day, despite a somewhat thick head, I rented a bicycle and toured some of the outer reaches of the city. I also saw more of the downtown area and booked a few other trips. After dinner I went for a foot and leg massage (heavenly!) and to bed early.

Yesterday I took a hired car and headed south of the city to the Bhudda park. This is a park filled with statues of Bhuddas and Hindu gods, created in the 1950s by a guy who felt that the two faiths should be able to co-exist. It's really a lovely spot and the statuary is fabulous.

Following my return to Vientiane, I took in the market which is spectacular. I'm really having a hard time resisting the urge to spend, spend, spend here. There are aisles and aisles of silver and gold of varying levels of quality as well as all kinds of textiles. My biggest temptations are statues, carvings and other pieces of art which weigh a ton and would cost me a fortune to get home. I may have to come back just to shop...

I had a quiet dinner alone, went for a traditional Lao full body massage and then to bed early. Anyone notice that was two nights in a row?!?!

Today was also quiet. I had to draft our official complaint letter to our trekking company regarding the Bhutan trek, so spent part of my day on the internet. I also sent out a few postcards and otherwise got myself ready to leave. My flight tomorrow to Siem Reap is ridiculously early so will plan on another early night tonight (yes, 3 in a row).

My next post will be from Cambodia with news of Angkor Wat. I'm very much looking forward to that.

Vang Vieng to Vientiane

On my first day alone in Vang Vieng I went on a kayak and caving trip. The water is very fast in spots, but does not classify as class 1 rapids so I felt fairly safe. The kayaks are inflatable 2-man boats. Since I was alone, I had one of the guides in my boat. One would think that this was a bonus, but it was also a bit bothersome. We had to stay at the back to make sure everyone was okay, which made things a bit slow. One of the couples were the worst paddlers I've ever seen and just went back and forth across the river from shore to shore. They spent much of their time backwards or spinning in circles. The woman thought this was absolutely hysterical and laughed incessantly through the whole thing. Meanwhile, we didn't even really paddle, as the current kept us in line with them and we even had to stop regularly to let them catch up with us even though we were just drifting. Also, on the first "rapid" another couple got hung up on a rock, so the guide jumped out from behind me and went to rescue them. I had to finish the rapid alone, which I think I handled admirably and was even able to go back and pick him up. Fortunately by the end of the day, things picked up a bit and we actually got to do some decent paddling in the afternoon.

Over the course of the day we stopped at two places on the river to hike and do some caving. Both caves were large and went right through the mountain, so we entered and exited at different sites. The views were beautiful and the caves were amazing. Lunch was cooked and served at one of these spots - it was fabulous.

After we got back to town I went for a foot massage and had an early dinner then home to bed.

I enjoyed the river so much I decided to spend another day in Vang Vieng. My plan was to go for a nice quiet tube and then a massage before dinner. I thought I might even have time to hang out with my book at one of the tanning platforms by the river. Needless to say, along the way I met up with some people and ended up spending the entire day tubing. At least I made it back to town before dark this time, but just barely.

At one of the bars that has a particularly high swing, we ran into a couple of guys from Calgary. They were absolutely hammered and kept doing outrageous things on the swing. They would both take off together, and inevitably fall off the swing the minute they stepped off the tower. This made for a very long drop into the water where they landed on top of each other. I'm not sure how they survived.

Interesting note: As Vang Vieng exists mainly to support water sports, you can rent dry-bags at virtually every shop in town. At least half the bags carry the Mountain Equipment Co-Op logo. One more reason to love Laos.

This morning I hopped a van to Vientiane, which is the capital of Laos. Two of my traveling companions were the guys from Calgary, who turned out to be pretty decent conversationalists when they were sober. We had lots of laughs about the previous day's antics.

Vientiane is not really much of a city, but I will have to stay here for 3 more days as I couldn't get an earlier flight out. It is very hot here, with no opportunity to cool off other than to sit inside in the air conditioning. There look to be lots of really nice restaurants here so at least I'll be well fed. Unfortunately the national museum is closed at the moment, which is a big disappointment. I had heard really good things about it. There is, however, some kind of festival at the cultural house so I'll be able to check out some local culture.