I am happy to report Troy and I are both all right. There was an unfortunate coincidence of our bus to Phnom Penh being late, not arriving at our hotel, and our internet passwords being stolen in an internet café. This created a very alarming, hypothetical scenario for my mom, one I hope never happens, and thankfully, she acted quickly to ensure our safety and whereabouts. THANKS MOM! We love you and Doreen, Robin, Father Bernie, Lauren and all the people at World Access. Its nice to know we have a large, fast-acting village who can help us if we ever need. xoxoxoxo

Now to more entertaining matters…..

In giving sufficient light to our efforts in Phnom Kraom, I’ve neglected other personal adventures/experiences of Cambodia, stories that must be told! Let’s start with the bus trip from Bangkok to Siem Reap. I want to preface this by telling everyone that the Cambodia we experienced for the past month is natural, beautiful, full of incredible people and both Troy and I's favorite place on our trip so far. The border town I describe on this entry, Poipet, is one of the dirtiest cities I have ever seen, but by no means representative of the rest of the country. Please remember YOU should consider visiting this amazing place. It has changed our life, forever. Our new friends Heang, Sonlin, Lyda, and Sarun will welcome all of you warmly! More on them in the next post...

Shortly after realizing we were on the same double-decker as those who purchased their tickets on Kao San Road ( buses to Siem Reap from KSR agencies are notoriously, without exception, riddled with unlicensed kamikaze-drivers, scamming employees, haggard jalopies substituting for buses and 12 + of acute discomfort; how else can they operate on such minimal fares), we kicked ourselves for paying 3 times more from a “reputable” agency in Hua Lampong station and getting the same, damn thing.

I was highly suspicious when a 1960s, fuchsia, double-decker bus arrived 40 minutes late, at full capacity, save two rear-row seats under a tube leaking caustic, orange liquid. To add token insult to injury, the entire sweaty bus smelled of dirty skin and onions. After stuffing our back-packs on, I stupidly decided a verbal protest to the chemical-shower would yield satisfactory results, or at least, seats on a later, more tolerable bus. Instead, the “usher” shouted to sit down, and I lost my bargaining ability as the bus pulled away with us in the aisle.

The polite man obviously thought we didn’t understand, so he physically pushed us back into the seats. I was momentarily startled by this brazen move, and Troy, forever the engineer ( thank God never the instigator), decided to tear part of the curtain from the window( patterned like the carpet in old-casinos) and hang it between the two broken ceiling tiles to catch most of the drip.

Fortunately, a few Thais’ destination was an hour out of Bangkok and after they left, we moved. I asked the girl next to me where she got her ticket. Kao San, of course. Fabulous. For the next five hours, our trip would proceed, unexpectedly, as planned, save the pungent aromas of bodily odor wafting from the tattered seats and curtains.

Then we got to the Thai/Cambodia border.

This was an interesting crash course in 3rd world hustle and bustle; heavy emphasis on hustle. Our lungs gave in, inevitably needing air, to the sickly-sweet stench of rotting garbage and fish in every breath we took. There were seemingly endless rows of wooden stands erected along the littered dirt road, selling strange fly-covered meats, gasoline in old soda bottles, sacks of rice and dried squid. Underneath a blanket of fine, red dust, we saw hordes of aggressive beggars, barefoot 6 year olds running to offer shade umbrellas while reaching into pockets, 10 year olds with pick-axes working construction, teenagers sniffing glue, and touts a-plenty claiming we needed to pay them for various scams like SARS examination certificates, and “expediting” our crossing.

All of this activity festered around us while we hauled our 40lb back packs in the stifling, noon-day heat and humidity. For the first time on this trip, we were completely out of our element. Thankfully, we’d done our research, and knew to move quickly through this place. We didn’t stop walking or fall for any of the scams. Unfortunately, many others with us fell hard and fast; poor bastards. What’s that saying about not needing to outrun the bear, just the other campers? :-P

Because we knew the KSR bus scam tactics included a 7 hour journey ( advertised as a mini-bus from Poipet to Siem Reap) in a flatbed truck stuffed with a dozen people, once we crossed into Cambodia, we began to look for a private taxi. We did not want to experience the journey with 12 other people and their luggage, catapulting out of 3ft deep potholes. And did I mention it’s the rainy season? Many of those who know me can take a moment to enjoy picturing me on a trip like that...hehehe

Ok, back to the story. Amazingly, the touts with the bus company did not let us go so easily. First yelling, then chasing, they eventually radioed their counterparts who intercepted us before we could hail a taxi. Apparently, we had bounties on our heads; they don’t receive if we are not delivered. We shook them by pretending we didn’t speak English and asked a helpful Cambodian by-stander to hail us a cab.

I know we got screwed on the taxi fare, at $45US, but we just wanted to get the hell out of there. It wasn’t until we drove away ( after picking up another sweet Cambodian guy and his 7 yr old daughter) that we realized our driver speaks no English. Thankfully, this guy was a great find and other than a 1 hour detour ( where several mechanics dismantled the entire dash while we sat, clueless, in the backseat) at a garage in Sisophon, a pile-up at a collapsed bridge, and animated charades for “bathroom”, we had an un-eventful, air-conditioned journey to Siem Reap.

The first picture is in a pagoda in the Royal Palace. It is covered in real gold, and looks so much more amazing than my photo shows. The second shows a few vendors outside the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh. They are very sweet women who obliged to pose for a quick photo. The third picture is the Royal Palace, where we actually saw the Royal Family leave in a motorcade of black Mercedes. The last is of Troy eating a large locust at the bus stop. He took the advice of the Cambodian insect vendor, and tore the wings and legs off, as otherwise, “they don’t taste so good.” If you zoom in, you can actually see the things eyeballs on his tongue. Apparently, it tastes like salty chicken.

Tomorrow we leave to HCMC, or as it was infamously known, Saigon.
We love you all!!

PS. The newest pump pictures were uploaded to fotki in the 3rd Phnom Kraom album
www.fotki.com/visceraltext