Holy Guano, Batman !

Bamboo, Bamboo tubes, Rice paper.

Wednesday - March 27th 2013 - Battambong.

At the crack of 8 Nicky picked me up and we sped away for the real tourist excursion of Battambong. There are many cultural sites, but the MUST SEE for tourists is the Bamboo Train. When Disneyland first opened you would get a booklet with many coupons in it. an A ticket might get you a ride on a trolly, but the cool rides like the Matterhorn were all E tickets (not to be confused with the current E-Ticket for planes) Well let me tell you the Bamboo Train is definitely an E ticket. First the two axles and wheels are set on the tracks, then the bamboo platform is placed on them and a small lawnmower type engine in attached. I rubber fan belt is looped around the pulley on the motor and you now have a bamboo train. The operator pull starts the engine, pulls a stick back and the belt tightens and you are off.

I want solo so got any seat on the train I wanted. Up front of course. It (honestly) was scarrier that riding on most rollercoasters. At least with a rollercoaster you have some assurance the darned thing is going to stay on the tracks and not fall to pieces. As we started to roll it sounded like a jet warming up and the the roar became deafening and the wind in my face started as the tracks and ties started to blur. The tracks look like a serpent in places, there are gaps between the rails and the rsils do all meet at the same level. You are speeding down them at around 10 Mph, but it feels like 50. Occasionally you hit an exceptionally bad joint and for a half a second you wonder how come you aren't airborne. You night need a back surgeon when you get home, but for now you are still rolling and that is a good thing. If you meet another bamboo train going the opposite way, the one with the fewer passengers yields by removing their entire train and replacing it after the exchange. Now the bamboo train is strictly for tourists but in it's heyday it was used by the locals for transport and was most everywhere in the country.

Nicky advised me to avoid the sharks at the terminus and purchase my contribution to the economy from the people at the brick factory. A young girl (5-6-7 (I can not guess ages here)) latched on to me and she toured the brick factory with me with surprisingly flawless English. At first I thought it was the human audio tour (Just repeating the words, but not grasping the meaning) but I was buying a Coke from her mother and would ask the mother a question and she would turn to the girl to find out what I asked. She was really a cute girl. If I was Angelena Jollie I would have brought her home as a trinket from Cambodia.

Dad was away in Thailand for 6 months working and would return when the rains came and rice planting started. Lots of projects around Cambodia, especially ones run by NGO. But most of the NGOs use their own people and equipment so Thailand in the land of milk and money during the dry season. Where the NGOs aren't using their own people, then it is the old 'Open pocket' thing. You scratch my palm with cash and I'll scratch your back with a job.

Then the sticky rice factory. Well actually the sticky rice shack. The rice is mixed with coconut milk and a few beans and stuffed into a piece of bamboo. Then it is placed over a low fire, turned once and the rice turns into a hard thick mass. The burned part is sliced off and it's ready for sale. Since the bamboo is now posterboard thin you peel it like a banana and there is this stalk of rice sitting there. It is very tasty and very chewey. One of those would fill me up from breakfast to dinner.

Next of the trip was Wat Ek Phnom. A very Tomb Raider temple. Lightly restored but with large blocks strewn about, and some placed that the wall actually looks unstable. When you see a DANGER sign in Cambodia you'd be wise to heed it's warning, Clamber is not exactly how I would word my tour of the temple. Gingerly is a better definintion. I ain't no Lara Croft, except on the XBOX. I've not seen alot of writing on the walls, but the tourist ticket office did have a nice representation of the Angry Birds. It looks like everyone know Angry Birds.

Then came the fish paste factory. Take a bunch of fish, add a bunch of salt, toss into a big vat, cover and let sit and bubble for weeks in the hot Cambodian shade and you get fish paste which you use in soups and as a tangy accompaniment to any meal. Well any meal except one of mine. The Romans had a fermented fish sauce called Garum (I think) and I was lead to believe that Worcester Sauce is a couson to this. Regardless, I probably will not be having Hot and Sour soup anytime soon after this olfactory experience.

Last on the morning's Tuk-tuk tour was the Rice Paper factory (Again read 'shack'). Rice and water is mixed and the water is filtered through cheesecloth and the remainder is still very thing. Then it is spooned and spread like an omlette on top of cheesecloth over hot steamy water and covered. Then the previous one is  done and you spatula it off and place it over a bamboo plus sigh the spins where it is picked up again and placed on a drying rack and place in the sun until dry. The finished product is something like a very thin dried noodle. luke warm water brings it back and then you use it like a Burrito wrapper for fresh spring rolls. I guess you could call it a factory, certainly an assembly line for 2 people. But these people weren't getting rich doing this.
Miscellaneous ramblings.

A lot of doctors here in Cambodia. 25% of the people wear surgical masks.

According to my Vancouverite breakfast neighbors the Cambodians like the Muslims. The Buddhists in Cambodia have a saying to show they accept the Muslims. "We don't like killing. But we do LIKE meat"

The current King is just a figurehead. The prevoius king did all the work and got lots of things done. The current king is just enjoying his Kingdom.

I guess a real treat is to bring a Washington apple as a gift. It's IMPORTED !

I asked Nicky if he knew what salmon was. No. Red fish ? You mean the stuff that comes in cans ??  Ya, forget it.

-- Holy guano, Batman !

-- 7 p.m.



After an hour luxuriating under the A/C and the first part of this I met Nicky at 3:30 in front of the hotel. The heat was oppressive. Not comfortable as yesterday, nary a cloud in sight, just blazing hot sun. I almost told him to go on by himself and come back and tell me what I saw. But being the trooper I am I hopped on the Tuk-tuk and we headed into the wilds again.

This was to see a temple at the top of a very high mountain. 10,000 steps or maybe less but I was sure by the time I reached the top it would feel double that. I could see the mountain from a few miles awat and it was looking very, very daunting. I had read that there was a road you could walk up instead of the steps and so resigned myself to the longer and yet easier climb. At the base of the steps was what appeared to be a small villiage consisting of shops. Some selling handicrafts and some selling refreshments and some selling both. They were there strictly for the pilgrims and tourists trade. I got a 2 liter bottle of water and prepared myself for the worse. Nicky handed me a map and said this will help you - or - (OR ?!?!? What a magic word) you can ride on the back of a moto to the top. Moto ?? I had to ask how much just to be polite. Four dollars. A bargain at twice the price to my way of thinking. He said he would find me a cyclist who spoke reasable English. He might not understand the words but he knew the words by heart and could speak some more but it was iffy. It was sounding better and better.

So in a cloud of exhaust MapMap and I took off. After seeing the road I probably could have done it -- in a week. We cruised up about half way and stopped at a small cave complex. He walked me up a small hill and showed me a pit falling about 50 to 75 feet to the floor below. Stalactites held on to the roof of the cave below, This was where the Khmer Rouge in this area brought the condemned to get bludgeoned and their dead and not so dead bodies tossed into the maw. If they weren't killed from the blows I am confident the fall would have finished the job. Such a beautiful location and such a bad history.

We then walked down to the opening of the cavern below. Again a very beautiful grotto. Stalactites, verdant lush greenery, cool am ideal location for an afternoon picnic -- except. About 2,000 bodies were found here. The prison where the condemned were held before their one way trek in the woods is now a Buddhist temple. At the mouth of the cave, to the left was a smaller cave. This was where the babies were smashed against the rock wall by holding their legs and swinging them like  a baseball bat. Then their bodies were thrown in like yesterdays newspaper. To the right was where the adults fell. There is now a very nice reclining Buddha in front of a small stupa containing skulls and bones. Eighty percent of the bones were cremated and 20% were kept as a permanent reminder and give those left behind a place to grieve and remember.

I was still in a quandary as why the babies needed to be killed and he pointed out that child care takes away from the mother's ability to work the rice field and the building nearby lake where 10,000 are thought to have perished. He said that the workers at the lake were required to dig a two meter square hold 2 meters deep daily. If for some reason you failed in your task, it was doubled the next day and you still had to finish yesterday's task. If you called in sick you were excused for the day. Then a few days later you disappeared.

It was good to move on from that. The rest of the moto was totally anti-climatic after that.

There was the old temple at the top of the hill, built in 1964. Didn't seem all that old to me. It was flanked by three or four newer temples. There were the two heavy artillery guns that had foreign writing on them. One in German and one in Russian aimed across the valley at a nearby former Khmer Rouge stronghold. The view was spectacular. I think you could see the mountains of Thailand in the distance and could easily see Battambang 20 Km. away. We sat at the top of the hill watching the sun sink low on the horizon before slowly rolling down the hill and past the shopping mall that was now just poles and bamboo rafters.

I know it is sideways. It's the blog software.

Nicky and all the other Tuk-tuk drivers had moved back down the road towards town. They were clustered in front of another massive cave. we waited patiently and pretty soon a small cluster of bats flew out of the cave. Slowl they built in numbers until there was a continuous river of bats in the sky. and they kept coming. Millions of them. Absolutely millions of the little mammals. It like the bat alarm went off and everyone had to get up and go to work. We watched the parade and the other Tuk-tuks started to depart and we followed suit soon. Along the main road back to town we stopped and in the distance like smoke from a fire a black cloud moved across the landscape. Rolling like a wave some would overtake the ones in front and move towards the river where dinner of 'skeeters and other flying insects were on the menu.

It had been a very full day and it is very nice to be settled back at the hotel for the night.

Getting personal

Promise me you’ll always remember: you’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”
 - A.A. Milne, Winne the Pooh

Tuesday - March 26 2013 - Battambang

Well an very nice day, including the bus ride. It was an odd bus ticket. Ome without a seat number. Totally unexpected, every other bus had assigned seats. The mini bus picked me at my hotel at the crack of 7:30 and we took the tour of the city picking up other passengers along the way. By the end we were packed so many that they were literally sitting in the aisle. The 'shotgun' seat was packed nearly to the ceiling with back packs. The kids on a trek do not pack light. It looked like an Everest expidition by the time we got to the bus station. I was smart for once and only packed my little knapsack with two nights of necessities. A pair of pants, a couple shirts and undies. Of course laptop and all the wires and connectors for that. Somehow a two night pack ended up weighting 15 pounds.

The previous trips it has been, maybe not a law, but you sure get ugly a look from the loader if you ask to chack something that will fit in your seat. The overhead bins are too shallow to fit much more that a make up case. I handed the knapsack to the 'bus boy' (not the driver) and he gave me that look. I didn't back down and he stuffed it in the belly of the beast. Then I handed him a dollar. No more ugly looks. Big smile instead. I asked about the seat number and he sat me directly behind the driver. I guess the best seat in the house. I'm not so certain about that. My seat mate was a nervous nrider and watched the road the entire time. Every time it got a little dicey with oncoming traffic he grabbed the rail in front. He probably had a cramp in his arm by the time we arrived.

We drove almost back to Thailand before turning south. I started looking at mile markers to figure out how much longer it was going to be. Last bus trip was 300 Km. over 12 hours. Adverage speed well under 30 Kmph. (approx 20 mph (If my calculations are off please correct me)). So I glanced over the driver's shoulder to see what speed we were going while flying down the road. Tachometer, yes. Speedometer pegged at zero. well so much for that great idea. We made it in 4 to 4 1/2 hours. Schedued for 5 hours. That included stopping every town and sometimes twice in a town to pick up walk ups. I'm not entirely certain BUT I got the impression that this was all under the table money since a ticket or receipt was never ask or offered. Just my supposition.

The bus arriver in Battambang and we were the sugar cube and the Tuk-tuk drivers and hotel touts were the ants. It was a feeding frenzy - "Madame you want hotel?" " Madame you want Tuk-tuk" and the chorus continued. Some how I was seperated from the herd by one Tuk-tuk driver and made the bargain. Of course the hotel I had chosen was not to his liking. Too expensive they charge $70. He had a much more reasonable option for me. I stuck with my plan and found a lovely little hotel away from downtown for $55. Seems about the price I'm paying this trip per night. Nice courtyard, acceptable room WITH A/C and a decent Wi-fi in the room.

The Tuk-tk driver and I agreed to remeet at 2:30 and go for a drive 25 Km (in the Tuk-tuk) to a temple. We drove through the country side along the river and motored along at Goldilocks speed 'just right'. We passed a bunch of family run little stores that dot the landscape.They sell anything you could possibly need. Cigarettes, chips and I'm sure things that only locals can recognize. The also have racks of Pepsi 2 liter bottles and occasional small one liter plastic bottles and at the high end joints they even have Johnny Walker bottles filled with gasoline and diesel all of the bottles have been very well used. I gues if yoou need a little gas for your moped you stop and order a Johnny Walker. I'm not sure if the J.W. is Premium and the Pepsi regular or not.

There was the occasional huge trash bin that was in the shape of a vase here and there. Then the light want on and I figured out what thet were. They we tractor tires turned inside out.

While at the hotel it started to rain. A sprinkle at first then a deluge. Ten minutes, then it was over and back to normal. It did cool things off though. There were a few drops that hit me on the ride but it never did rain again today. We passed by grape arbors Nicky (Tuk-tuk driver) said they made wine here. I'm not so sure about the vintage, but with it staying hot all the time I don't know how the grapes and mature properly. We never stopped at the winery because it seemed there was no wine education going on there. They just wanted to get you drunk so you'd over buy their wine.

In a shorter time that I had expected we arrived at the temple mount (No, not THAT one !) Three hundred fifty eight steps to the top, and the same down. At the turn off from the road sitting idly under a tree was a hospital gurney. I didn't take this as a good omen. But being a trooper, remembering what my guide in Syria said as he sent me up to see a castle - "Slowly, slowly'. Up I trudged counting all the way. "OK Theresa  ten more steps and you can stop." was my mantra. Added as an after thought "Don't look up and don't look back." About half way up I saw on a tree my first "BEWARE MINES" sign. This area was used by the Khmer Rouge as their snactuary when Viet Nam invaded. They had some sort of sweetheart deal with the Thai Government that allowed themj to slip across the border when necessary and then slip back. So they mined the area to thwart their pursuers. Then the Vietnamese mined the area to kill and shorten the Kh,er Rouge. Then after Viet Nam pulled out the Khmer Rough came back and mined some more. Cambodia leads the world in land mine and unexploded ordinance deaths in the world. I stayed on the steps.


The climb was worth it, I think. The temples are reminicent of the towers at Ankor Wat except in a much greater state of disrepair or poor  restoration. Looking at them you can get a very good idea of what Angkor Wat looked like 100 years ago, sans the jungle swallowing it. The arch was not used by the Khmer instead the blocks were stagger stepped up until the sides met in the middle. Then if you wanted a rounded ceiling you chipped the rock away until it was rounded. The blocks by now were pretty cockeyed in places and had gaps in them wider that 'Arnold's' front teeth. My camrea clicked away as I looked.

The way down was not as bad as I expected because of this huge snake made out of concrete thst gave me a handrsil to use as a touchstone on the way down. I'm pretty sure it was more of a confidence builder than an actual safety rail. In one way the steps down were a little harder as my 6 decade old knees took the brunt going down.At the temple of Coca Cola at the bottom Nicky and I chatted for a bit. He explained that there are 5 towers ESNW (East being the the entrance) now, but from the air there are four more ruined spires at the corners, and that this was first a Hindu temple and morphed into a Budhist one over time. It all depended on what king was in power and what god he chose to believe in.

This conversation morphed into my favorite Hindu god, Ganesh. The god of knowledge. Elephant head with a human body. He said that Ganesh always has only one tusk because he needed something to write with and it was the only thing handy at the time so he broke it off to use as a stylus. I'm liking baby Ganesh more and more.
On the way back we took the back roads. No pavement for those 15 miles back to town. Little hamelets with nary a power line in sight. We follwed the river down stream and there was a view at a village that had several boats on the shore. He said it was a fishing village and the residents were Muslim. I questioned him why he pointed out that they were Muslim. He said they were great fishermen. Kind of the area's answer to the 'Fish Whisperer'. When the water was high they netted across the river and when it was lower they set hooks. As we were driving though the village the many of the women were full head scarved and a few were veiled.

We made it back to town and I've been sitting in the courtyard having dinner as I fed the 'skeeters. Now this is done and I'm a shade paler from blod loss time to call it a day.


------------

I guess I doth not be finished

People here must be great swimmers. Their feet are nearly as wide as they are long. I'll bet that most of the feet I've seen have worn shoes as often as most men in the U.S.A. have worn a tux. I was doing my footware survey this afternoon and everyone had a flop flop or sandal on. I didn't notice a single pair of shoes on anyone.

At the river stop I talked to Nicky. The temple we went to was near where he was born and most of the people who ran the Temple of Coca Cola were family. I asked him if that was where he lived and he said no that he lived in town with his daughter. That was an odd way of wording it I thought. So it perculated a couple hours and at the river I asked him how old his daughter was (7). I don't think I asked about his wife. He brought it up. He is a divorced single dad. His wife was a hostess (I was thinking she gave you your menu when you entered a restaurant - well DUH !!). He was talking Bangkok type hostess, bargirl. Get men to buy you drinks at inflated prices and then generally say good night to the now pooerer sap. All of her earnings went to fancy hostess clothes and alcohol beverages, until the fancy clothes were replaced by alcohol all the time. Paternal rights go to the mother here and support to the father in cases of divorce. He didn't want her to have custody, and it sounds like she didn't give a flying F either way. But the law is the law. So he went to his in-laws and explained to them that he wanted them to take custody and he and his daughter live next door. Of course the in-laws knew their daughter was not a drunk. She was their princess. They believed it until seeing her blotto a few times and then accepted his offer.

But now when he goes back to his village he is shamed and shunned by some. Not because of the divorce, but because his former wife is a drunk. I asked him for clearification and yes it is because of her and not the divorce. He said when he goes back to the village he walks around looking at the ground because of the shame. Wow ! Talk about a tough crowd.

Now I am done.

BTW. Thanks E. for reminding me that the world doesn't revolve around my bath habits and meals.

Anchor What ? No, Ankor Wat.

A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.
 - Lao Tzu

 Monday March 25th 2013 - Siem Reap




Ahhh.. a Phoenix like human rises from the ashes of terminal madness. Bus terminal madness that is. The bus left at the crack of 8 a.m. right on time. Scheduled time enroute 8 hours according the the ticket agent who was sitting next to a big sign that said ten hours. At the ten hour mark we have left Kompong Thom in the dust an hour behind where I had expected Siem Reap to be. Instead it was just a dusty town with a big open air restaurnt and vendors outside. The only thing of interest was that some of the passengers thought it was 'their' bus and made 25 people wait until they decided to return to the bus from their break. I'd have left them but the bus driver was a mensch about it. Oh and the vendors ? They were selling fried crickets and beetles. Maybe if I see them in my next town I'll give one or two a try, but I was in no mood for anything other than getting then F to my destination.

Yum. Beetles

Upon arriving in Siem Reap there were the waiting tuk-tuk drivers. I finally got the idea across which hotel I wanted and we got there after a fashion. I went to check in and no room at the inn. 200 rooms and every one occupied. The clerk called another nearby hotel and found me a bed and a shower. I grabbed a cold beer and snarfed down a Club sandwich and flagged a tuk-tuk for the next hotel. The clerk said 100 meters away, but lugging 1 suitcase and one knapsack in the 90/90 heat/humidity was more than I wanted and a couple dollars would save that. It was closer to 1 km away anyway.

The room is adaquate. The door locks, the water is hot. The bed is clean and the furnishings keep my stuff off the ground. The view absolutely stinks. A big flat open area that could hold tables and umbrellas, but just holds heat now. The internet - well my computer can sort of see it, but it can't touch it. I tried at 9 pm, 6 am and 1 pm and the story is the same. Maybe next stop will have Wi-Fi that actually works.

I went town to breakfast this morn and the large dining hall was filled. People leaning over their plates literally shoveling the food in. Not stopping to swallow before the next mouthful. I don't know if I've ever understood that mentality of 'getting your moneys worth' at a buffet. What really got me was (and this is no lie - I looked) that I was the only westerner in the place. I noticed alot of Asians in the lobby when I checked in, but the only one in a room of a hundred?

The desk said they would get me  a

bus ticket to my next destination tomorrow. Battambang. Where I'll spend 2 nights and return to Siem Reap for my final four nights (I have a hotel reservation here then). Only five hours according to the Lonely Planet. Well one can hope. You stick bikes, scooters, motorbikes, cars, trucks, busses and farm equipment on a narrow 2 lane road call it a national highway and it is slow going.

This a.m. after breakfast I called my tuk-tuk driver and we went to see the temples an Angkor Wat. Remember Angkor Wat ? The reason I came to Cambodia in the first place? Well today I thought I'd get an overview of the area and explore one or two temples. Angkor Wat is everything I had read. Huge, beautiful and an absolute work of art. Probably a kilometer of bas relief carvings and all the people pictured look individual, no cookie cutter people. I get the idea that no one got along with anyone else because every wall was covered in pictures of battles. Kings and princes - gods and goddesses everybody was fighting someone. My camera was smoking by the time I left. I was a sopping wet puddle. I actually drank about a gallon of water today and not all that much came out the traditional way. My shirt has salt stains. One of the ticket checkers asked for my ticket. I pulled it out of my neck pouch and handed it to him. You'd have thought it was a booger the way he handled that sweat soaked piece of paper. I've since then gotten a plastic ID card lanyard for it. The sun was not cooperating with my camera clicking, so it looks like a return trip at a different time of day and see if that works out better photographing wise. I know it is not going to get any cooler

After Angkor Wat it was 10:30 so we putted to Angkor Thom, the largest complex in the Angkor Wat area. It is so big that it too the tuk-tuk five minutes to drive to the first temple after passing the south gate. It was like driving through a Central Park, except there were no buildings above us. Bayon is the temple with 54 (?) towers each with 4 faces carved into it. All of the same king and all different.

We didn't get to the Tomb Raider temple with the huge roots encapsulating the temples. That is on my to do list.

Back at he hotel around one to chill out and send a postcard to a friend. Then back out at 4 to get some pictures of the western side of Angkor Wat at sunset. The sun and clouds conspired against me again. I got some photos, but some defined shadows would have been great. Then a short rie thorough and around town to look at he sights.The tuk-tuk driver knows where he wants to go and be darned if it's not where I want to go. Eventually he did cave and take me to where I wanted to go. The Victoria hotel. I wanted something other than Khmer food. I like it, but I don't eat the same cuisine every night at home. Escargot (I won't eat a cricket, but I will eat a snail? I kone, I know), a little duck and some fresh sliced tomato with a glass of French wine. Life is good.

Tomorrow I get picked up at 7:30 for the 8:30 bus. I'm going to take my knapsack only and leave my larger suitcase. It's just 2 days. I was looking at what to take and what to leave and I am floors by the total amount of superfluous junk I brought along. I'll have to make 2 piles when I get home - This I used - This I didn't. Maybe do better next trip.

Sorry I was very tired when I posted this.

Whew !

The wheels on the bus go round and round
 - Childen's song

Sunday March 24th 2013 - Siem Reap

Kep - Phnon Penh - Siem Reap --- 12 hours. That is all I have to say about today.

Everybody has crabs here

 You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take.
 - Wayne Gretzy

Saturday - March 23 2013 - Kep, Cambodia

It is a little after noon on Saturday and I'm in my room under the A/C. I have been a sweat machine for eight of nine days now. I've sweated so much that the clasps on my bra have developed rust (really).

After last night's dinner while watching the sunset I returned and caught up on my writing and sent out a couple day's of emails. Then lights out around ten to some very vivid dreams and being a late night snack for some local critters I never saw or heard until the itching started. Up and awake around 6 a.m. hoping to catch the sunrise from my balcony but the clouds obscured the sun. They didn't obscure the heat or the humidity, just a nice view of the sunrise. Last eve's sunset was very nice though.

The hotel has 100 + rooms and only 10 are currently occupied. Probably due to no pool yet and some ongoing construction. They say it will be done in May. Then I assume the prices will rise, especially for the 12 rooms like mine with balconies and face the water. Breakfast instead of the regular buffet was order off the menu. They had all the things to do a buffet, everything except clients.

A call to Mr. Tuk-tuk and we were off to see the town. First stop the crab market. What a busy busy place. Crabs, squid, fish all fresh. So fresh most of it was still flopping. They don't seem to differentiate between male crabs and female crabs as we do in out crab fisheries back home. If she gets in the pot, she gets eaten. Equal opportunity there. Some of the females were overflowing with roe. I hope they don't kill the fisheries with this policy. Lots of ucky smells and slippery parts. This market is for the locals and if a tourist happens to wander by so be it, but it is not there for show. Nobody appeared to be against having their photo taken, so I got a couple people shots, besides scenic shots.

Then we moto'ed around town looking at the abandoned villas. I guess I'm not the only tourist who wants to see them. One had a Tuk-tuk full of women from the U.K. looking at the same house Mr. Tuk-tuk was showing me. Some were vine covered, some were graffiti covered and some were just a mess. We did the decrepit house tour and made a quick stop at the pier and back at the hotel around 11:30. By that time I'd consumed a quart of water and perspired a quart and a half. So I decided to give the A/C a workout until later this afternoon. I have seen most of what Kep has to offer to me and dinner and an evening stroll is about all that's left. I haven't decided on fancy schmancy restaurant of basic fresh caught. Right now fresh squid on the 'barbie' is kind of calling to me. We shall see.

I saw my shadow today. Must be 6 more weeks of winter.

When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.

 - Clifton Fadiman


Friday March 22 2013 - Kep

I am sitting on a huge King sized bed letting the A/C waft over me as I type this in my very well appointed room overlooking the Gulf of Thailand. I'm not out on the balcony mostly because I am just too comfortable to move.

The bungalows at Jasmin Valley are mud brick up for 10 feet or so. Then there is a two foot  gap before the thatched roof begins. I assume it is for ventilation and so the mosquitos can have an easier entrance and egress. I had dinner, which I didn't think too much of. Maybe it was the minerals in the water, but it just tasted off to me. I was in my room laying on the bed listening to the dark surround me and fell asleep. I must have woken somewhat in the night because my pants were on the floor in the morning. Around 4:30 something big landed on my bed. I woke in a start and began flailing on the bed with my pillow. I fumbled for my flashlight and eventually found it and surveyed my bed to find - nothing. Absolutely nothing. I tried to go back to sleep but with all that adrenaline that got pumped into my body sleep just wasn't happening. I opted to get up and smoke a cigarette. Maybe the nicotine woud counteract the adrenalin. Next to my pack of cigarettes, which were next to the toy stuffed frog was a real frog. Cute little green Kermit about half the size of the palm of my hand. I looked at him and realized that he was probably the reason I was awake. I thought about picking him up and showing him the door, but some frogs have poison in their skin and most don't. I don't know which from which though. So I just left him, mystery solved. When I came back in he had moved on to other Lilly pads.

So breakfast and a phone call to another Lonely Planet recommendation. $75 a night. O.k., I'm on vacation "Do it". Mr. Chandra my tuk-tuk driver picked me up and when I told him my destination he said we would have to walk up the hill again. The Tuk-tuk just wouldn't make it. I rethought the plan and said 'Take me to a big hotel'. If it cost me more that I felt comfortable in cash, there was alswys those little plastic cards with the word VISA on it. As we passed one (it wasn't one listed in L.P.) he asked 'This one?'. Sure I'll ask. Brand new hotel (Rock Royal) so new in fact the pool isn't even finished. I took the stairs down tonight and there were four treadmills and a couple stair climbers still in their boxes waiting to be un packed. I asked to see a room and we came to this one. The price? $70. "$70 ??" - "Oh, ok (he probably said) $65" but I wasn't sure so I held five fingers twice and said "$55 ??" So now for $110 I am in the lap of luxury as far as my room goes.


I tossed my luggage in the room went down to talk to the tuk-tuk driver about sight seeing today. The place I wanted to see was 25 Km (15 miles +/-) away. That was too far to go on a tuk-tuk. Mr. Chandra, tuk-tuk driver mediocre, said he had a friend with a taxi (of course). So said friend arrives in a nice Toyota that runs on gasoline or LPG. Go figure.

First stop a cave temple. 203 steps up to the entrance. Around 175 I needed to stop and "Take a photo". After I recovered from my photo taking we continued onward. In the cavern was a small brick building. It was an old Hindu temple with a male and female fertility symbols inside. Of course I failed to bring a flash light.

Then we drove to the town of Kampot another 10 Km down the road. made a quick couple shutter clicks and back towards Kep. Where we stopped at a different cave temple. This one didn't have steps. It did have children with flashlights though. I enlisted the boy with the biggest light headed to the mouth of the cave. Over there is where the Khmer Rouge dumped the bodies of the people they killed. Over there is where the Japanese stayed in 1935 We walked a good way through enough darkness I'm glad Mr. Flashlight was along. Then the cave opened into a huge circular vault, except there was no ceiling. Maybe 100 feet of shear cliff faces in a 50 foot circle with blue sky above and vines climbing down. I'm not sure if the feeling was Tomb Raider or The Hobbit. In this cavern was a reclining Buddha as well as a Hindu god 'The Hermit;. We kept on going as the ceiling kept getting lower the kids were saying "Mind you head" just before I crashed into the ceiling. I hope my neck isn't too sore tomorrow.

Then it was to the pepper plantation to buy some of the internationally famous Kompot pepper grown in Kep. I picked up some white, red and black pepper. All the same pepper just processed differently. And finally the salt fields. They fill shallow basins with sea water and in a week have salt. Only in the dry season.

I hung out a few hours in the room and took a long needed and missed hot shower before calling Mr. Tuk-tuk for a ride to the Sailing Club. Reputed to have great food. They do. Mojito, bottle of water, grapefruit and shrimp salad (to die for) and 2 Kep Crab in green pepper sauce, all for $18. The crab came the same way Dungeness crab came to Chris and I when we went out to our birthday in Seattle's Chinatown a couple years ago. It arrived in this great sauce, cleaned but still in it's shell. I have not found a way to eat crab without using your hands. At least this time I was offered a finger bowl. Good food and good times.

Back to the hotel and the conclusion of today's entry.

And yet another bus !

Don't read too much into Lonely Planet's hotel descriptions.
 - Theresa Porter

March 21 2013, Kep (sort of)

Well it is the vernal equinox, maybe it is the other one. I am in Kep a small beach side community on the Gulf of Thailand. In the 1950's the French used this town as the get away resort from the heat and bustle of Phnom Penh. Beautiful villas lined the shore line, maybe villa is too small of a word to describe them. Mansions could be a better description. After the French departed the wealthy and powerful Cambodians acquired the villas. Of course during the Khmer Rouge time this place was virtually abandoned and the villas fell into disrepair. Now nearly 25 years after the Khmer Rouge and the Vietnamese war most of these villas are still abandoned. The few I spotted on the ride to my current residence were windowless with burn marks coming from the windows and doors. The town is slowly coming back, but slowly is the optimal word there. I came here for their famous crab and to sit near a sea beeze sipping a cool one after a day of exploring the local area. I don't quite have that at the moment.

My bus left Phnom Penh at 9:30 this morning. I awoke shortly before the sun rose and watched it's yellow orb blaze through the prepetual humidity haze that I've experienced this entire time. I don't think I've seen a blue sky or sharp contrast shadow this past week. No clouds in the sky, but just a continual haze. I think of the photos of the area with the bluest of blue skies must have been Photoshopped or on one of the two days a year when it's not hazy.

I returned to my room to take a shower and stuff my baggage and then go down to breakfast. The shower came on and wouldn't you know it. No hot water. It wasn't cold but nothing you'd want to stand under for more than a few moments. I decided a good scrubbing with a washcloth and soap would have to do after I shampooed my hair. Before I had finished working up a lather the water pressure dropped. It dropped so much that the little metal pull that you use to change from bath faucet to shower would not stay locked in the shower position. So it was one hand pulling up on the metal thingie and rubbing to rinse away the shampoo. Heck, it will be back up in a minute or two, so slathered some conditioner on. It never ever came on strong enough to hold a shower. This is from a hotel that cost $85 a night, not some backpacker hostel. I think I'll title my Trip Advisor review "A pig in lipstick" it will probably get past their censors better than "The transvestite of hotels - It looks real, but it isn't".

Now service I have absolutely no problem with at that hotel. It was par excellence. They made the arrangements for me and got my ticket. This morning the desk man made several calls for me to book a hotel in Kep that were recommended in the Lonely Planet. The Jasmin Valley Resort  was the first phone to be either answered or not in service. A bungalow was $39 and a tree house was $59. I decide to go with the cheaper option I was only going to use the room to sleep and hold my valuables while I explored the countryside.

The little bus arrived to drive myself and another couple to the big bus and in short order we were fighting city traffic enroute to then open road and points south. The ride was a ride. Estimated time enroute four and a half to five hours. This trip took six hours. there was some sort of mass of people blocking the road in one town and they would not yield the road to us. The truck in front of us made it through and we were stuck behind a wall of people for an hour before we were able to snake our way through them and continue our journey. I don't know if it was a protest, or perhaps the celebration of the equinox as it was around noon, but I never found out. The driver tried to nudge his way through them and we were hit with a bottle. Fortunately it was a plastic water bottle, but none the less it did make me survey my surrounding for the emergency exit - just in case a speedy exit was necessary.

We got into Kep and all the passengers were surrounded by tuk-tuk (remork moto drivers ( a motorcycle pulling a four seat covered cart)) drivers. What is your name? Where are you from ? where are you going ? Okay I know that place. You come with me. Five dollars. I decompressed from the bus ride and waited. The most aggressive driver kept telling me how hard it was to get to my hotel. How it was on a bamboo trail, Yadda-yadda. Ya, I've heard that crap before. Finally one guy dropped down to $4 and I gave in as well. At which point the pushy guy dropped his price to $4 and didn't understand why I hired the first four dollar offer.

One thing is for certain. The five dollar guy didn't lie. It was a bamboo trail. Pavement, gravel, dirt, rutted dirt, big holes and finally - "We stop here and walk rest of way." WTF ?!?! Why ? "The moto no make it." We each grabbed a bag and trudged up the hill for about 200 yards. He was a little winded when we did make it reception. I gave him a $5 bill and he said "You want dollar?". No thank you, you earned it buddy.

The resort is billed as eco friendly. That means a bit of a premium to the cost for those three letters 'eco'. No 220 electricity. No 110 electricity. 12 volts D.C. power from a battery in the room. No hot water (at least I was smart enough to ask this time.). No curtains. No wi-fi,  but you could use their iPad that had a SIM card cellular connection for checking mail. The pool is a great shade of jade, because it is naturally filtered, meaning it think - not. It is set high in a rain forest and surrounded with lush green plant life. The staff and guests whisper then communicating. If you want to get away from it all and let your leg hair grow this is the place. It is not what I was expecting. Maybe if I had been husteling from Wat to Wat and tuk-tuk to moto for the past week I'd be raving about just how wonderful it is, but I did my chil-lax'in on the boat. I planned to stay here three nights, but think it's back to hotel hunting tomorrow. Back in the land of 220 volts and maybe hot water - with free Wi-Fi of course.

Yesterday afternoon I took a nap and then went to Foreign Correspondents Club for dinner. It is a must for tourists I doubt a foreign correspondent has been through the doors in decades though. I had a bar stool on the top floor overlooking the river and the corniche below. The menu had several potential offerings that looks enticing, but the Fish Amok and the Duck Curry were my quandary for the evening. I asked the waitress and she resoundingly said the duck. Boy was she right. It was excellent. It came with rice and I ordered a local Ankor beer and a bottle of water. The entire bill was $12. View, great meal, a little alcohol all for the price of a couple latte's. Now that was a score.

I dodged and wove my way back to the hotel through the incessant calls of the tuk-tuk drivers and took advantage of the free Wi-Fi by sending the journal entries that I couldn't while on the ship and updating my blog with a couple pictures as well. Lights out a bit after ten and up at six.

That is my life for the previous 24.