Good Morning Vietnam

Ok... so its not morning, but nearly 6pm... but hey, we're in Vietnam.

For all those reading the blog, sorry for not posting sooner. i'll try and give a brief summary of what we've done in the last few days.

more from Seim Reap. With Canadian friends lee and ulrik, we took a tuk-tuk 2hrs out of SR to tour Beng Mealea, really, just another old temple. However, it was one that the khmer Rouge bombed in the late seventies so its kind of falling apart, and if that's not enough, the jungle is trying to reclaim it. Bottom line, my favourite temple yet. it was absolutely beautiful and relatively free from tourists, and totally free from touts. A cute little old man guide took us through the temple, climbing up walls, sitting in tree swings, and explaining what different piles of tumbled stone used to be. It was great. I still haven't figured out how to download my pictures without too much trouble... so you'll have to wait for those.
On the way back to town, our tuk-tuk had a few problems. First it was a low tire, next it was an oil change, which led to the bike not starting. So we sat, in the drizzling rain for 40 mins. It wasn't until Lee starting cutting up her mango that the bike started working. They taste amazing, but are not great travel foods.

Back in Siem Reap, more great food was had, and we spent a great deal of time walking through calf high rain water (from the afternoon's rain). My favourite was watching the locals laugh at us, as they walked by on their too-wet motorbikes.

Next morning, we caught an early bus to phnom Penh, the capital. The ride was great, the touts at the end of it were not! They were almost clawing their way onto the bus offering rides and trying to get us to stay at their Guest houses (GH for my IRP staff :). It was unreal. We managed to catch the eyes of a Danish couple and "ran" away from the touts, Danish pair in tow, because they thought we knew what we were doing. kelly and i have noticed that we are really great for starting off not knowing where we are going, and it turning out to be the wrong direction. Don't worry, we quickly found our way, and began the long hike towards the lakeside. Along the way, Lee and Ulrik spotted us (they were on a different bus), and they had picked up a German guy, who knew the area. We stayed at a fairly reasonable GH, right along the lakeside, which offers some of the best sunsets in SE Asia, for free.

Next day (I think the 30th), the 4 Canadians rented bikes early in the morning, and set out for the Killing Fields. Adventure #1 was Phnom Penh traffic. Yikes. it was a bumper to bumper free-for-all. people going in the wrong direction, no signalling, bumping into the backs of our bikes as if to move us along. Absolutely nuts, but so worth it. And of course, 4 seems to be an unlucky number, as I managed to pick a lame bike. But with good determination we made it the 16km and toured the fields. it was a really heavy morning, taking in the sites and information about the atrocities committed against the Khmer people between 1975 and 1979. It is really beyond words, but i felt a sadness for all Cambodia. ON the flip side, I am encouraged by how resilient a people they seem to be. They have embraced the tragic past, and are moving beyond it, hoping that it never happens again.

Kelly was a great trooper, and took the lame bike on the way back (we even tried to double up and pull it behind or drag it beside to no avail). She just booked her all the way back to town, stopping 3 times to fill with air. It was a really hot and sweaty day. Yes, motorcycle mama, we're handling the heat fairly well, drinking lots of water, and eating fresh fruit to combat dehydration :)

We had a first real day of souvenir shopping, and Kelly became a pro at haggling with the vendors (the pocket book is still in good shape, as not much money was spent). The day was topped off with a beautiful sunset, and all you can eat Indian food by candlelight (the power went out...)

Final thing before moving on to Vietnam. We ate fried crickets!!! Best part, they were free, and worth every riel.

Today we left early for Chau Doc and the start of our Vietnam leg. Changing transportation modes, as we are sick of bad roads, we opted for a boat ride through the Mekong Delta. What a great choice. We traveled with a UK family, who currently live in Singapore. Their kids were pretty fun, and eager to impress a couple of foreign girls. The delta system is beautiful. The shores are lined with houses, boats, fish farms, and corn fields. You can really tell that they rely on the river system to survive.

What's next? We're not too sure, except for the longing for a day or two of lying around on the beach.

Adios,

A&K

Mysterious Angkor Wat et. all

Wow, what a day. We spent the day touring Angkor by bicycle, visiting many of the old and ruinous temples. It was beautiful, surreal and seemingly shrouded in mystery. I;m sure we could have dispelled some of the mystery if we had hired a guide and tuk-tuk... but really, where is the fun in that? We met up with our new friends from Canada at 5:45am, and took the grand tour (roughly 26km, not including the 12 km roundtrip to Siem Reap). One of the bikes broke down about half way, so we walked through much of the heat of the day. At the Me bon temple, Kelly and I got stuck in a torrential downpour... when things let up a little, we rushed for our bicycles and rode on with our umbrellas covering our heads. The locals thought it was quite a funny sight.

In all, it was a fabulous day! Angkor is a definite must see in one's life time... but take our advice, avoid the tour bus, and earn the experience on bicycle!

Sweating in places I didn't know existed

Hello Canada (and US and wherever else this blog is being read)

So very pleased to announce that our luggage arrived the very next day in BKK. Hooray!! Many prayers went up on their behalf.

We spent a lesuirely day wondering around BKK and making future plans. Kelly and I were both struck by how few white people we saw... then again, we were in the north part of the city, far away from foreigner territory.

on the 25th we started for Cambodia, leaving our GH at 5:45am. Caught a bus, and made it to Arunyaphthet around 10:30... then the fun began. We were sort scammed... but not nearly as much as some of our travel companions. We managed to cross the border with no trouble, then waited for 3 hours for the tourist buses to "fill up", as tons of tourists passed. We finally muscled our way onto a bus, and started to head east to Siem Reap. I promise I will complain about Saskatchewan's pot holes again... our bus ride averaged 20km/h and included numerous detours, a flat tire, food that we ordered never arriving, and kids begging everywhere. We keep reminding ourselves that these kids do not get to keep anything we give them.

The A/C quit about half way through the trip, and I swear I had no part of my body that was not glistening in that purifying salty sweat. We arrived in Siem Reap about 9... and again, were scammed into taking the first GH. Oh well... it was cheap, clean and relatively quiet.

Today, the 26th, we decided to set out for the old market (Phas Chaa, or something like it) on foot. Despite a couple of well worth it detours, we arrived, found another GH, and cleaned up.

We have met a couple of Canadians and plan to tour the Angkor Wat temples tomorrow. Hooray for new friends!

lots of love A&K

Has anyone seen 2 backpacks?

Hooray! we made it. Our flight from LAX to BKK was 17 gruelling hours, 24 hours in total. But decent food, and good movies. Cleared customs with no problem... and then learned that our luggage never left North America... so here we sit, not quite offensively smelly, well stocked with books, food, cameras and airline toothbrushes AND paste, and totally not worried about it. We met a nice banker from Nepal on the public transit (hooray for cheap!). So we may have to spend an extra day or 2 here... hoping it comes.

next adventure, walking in +35 morning heat, to find our guest house.
love you all
A&K

What's all that white stuff?

Woke up in Calgary this morning... to fluffy white snow. Ick... it's May, what happened to the spring flowers?
Hooray for leaving for hot tropical climates today! Everything is packed, we're checked into our flights, and are just killing time before take off. Am I excited? yes... but its not quite real yet... not until that plane takes off will it really sink in.

Can she post a picture?

Let's find out. We had a totally random conversation at work about durian... the King of Fruits. Rumours have it that it smells like hell, but tastes like heaven. All I can say, sweaty, onion-juice soaked gym socks, with the consistency of soft butter. yum?

Now... Dragon fruit. Completely different story. I highly recommend its addition to fruit salad. Its a definite conversation starter in North America.