Off to Burma - The start

Happy Saint Patrick's day !

Sitting in the boarding area at SeaTac waiting for the plane. It is delayed by half an hour and I think I have enough for my luggage to transfer from the SEA-NRT to the NRT-BKK airplanes in Tokyo. If not me 3 days worth of clothes in my carry on luggage should work as my luggage travels on it's own vacation. Regardless it will work out.

I picked up a rental car at home. I had requested a small economy model. I got a mini van. To my exes it was a maxi van. It was huge. Nine or ten people huge. Of course the weather did not co-operate worth a poop. It rained hard all the way to Seattle. Not quite the normal heavy mist we are so used to here in the Pacific Northwest. Big drops and a lot of them. The mist kicked up from the semis on the road gave me more than a few "Just keep the wheel centered and hope for the best" times. Until after the longest 10 seconds on record the wipers would catch up with the spray. Of course driving a large strange vehicle had nothing to do with my white knuckles.

I made it to my friend's home all safe and sound. He graciously offered to take me out to dinner. That was really unexpected and appreciated. I had anticipated f taking him out to dinner. Whatta guy ! We went to a big glass restaurant at the south end of Lake Union. The view was wasted on the day. With the overcast and the rain the view was flat and nothing was moving on the water. A little disappointing. Chris ordered the most expensive thing on the menu. In my summer I go with a friend who has a boat out to hunt for crabs. For me it is more time on the water with friends than the crabs, but the crabs do certainly factor into the scheme of things. I was floored at when I floored at the menu and saw what I get for free from Puget Sound to be for sale at the restaurant got $60. I can see mark-up for the view and paying someone to throw the sea bug into the boiling water but that was just "Highway robbery" as my grandmother would say. I guess a sandwich at Subway is in no way reflective of the cost of eating out now days.

The meal was very good and the service was so attentive it was embarrassing.

I dropped Chris back home and he made me a small goodie bag for the trip and was back on the road after dark. I was bitching about the drive down in the daylight, it had nothing on the bitching I did on those 20 last miles to the airport. But me and the bus made it safely and I was happy to dump the darned thing off at the rental return.

The room at the Radisson was exactly as expected. Fast check in, clean, too hot room, with a multitude of pillows on the bed. I watched tv for a little before lights out and really, really missed my DVR at home. You know they make you watch commercials ? You know that is you miss a line of dialogue that you can't skip back and hear it again ? It was sooo weird.

Morning came and so far things have gone smoothly. I hope I can beg/pay my way into a seat with more leg room. Obviously that will be a different post. So for now time to close and start chanting for more leg room.

Ommm......

Myanmar's Golden Rock

In looking through the Lonely Planet guidebook for Myanmar the Golden Rock at Kyaiktiyo Pagoda is a 'must see'. A long spiritual trek up the mountain or an easier 45 minute ride up in a jam packed truck. Then a 30 minute hard walk up hill to the actual site. You could hire 4 young men and a sedan chair to carry you Memsahib like up the mountain.

Sign me up ! Something out of the ordinary, an interesting way to get there, a spiritual feeling once you get there. Sounds like my kind of vacation excursion.










Once I started doing more research on this site I found out that women are not allowed anywhere near the rock. There is a platform on the grounds where women can view the rock, but no touching. Not even close enough that 'Girl Cooties' might jump of me and come in contact with their rock. Well I have been to places where women have to wear certain clothing before being allowed to enter. If it is a spiritual experience, I can swallow my pride and accept, what I think is a silly rule.

Then I saw this picture. It looks to me as peaceful and spiritual as Space Mountain at Disneyland.

I think I will find a different place to visit.

thanks - fineartamerica.com for the beautiful first picture.

2014 - Thailand for sure. Aiming for Myanmar.

Well I have the confirmation on the flight to Bangkok in mid March. I generally have all my visa's in my passport ready to go,  but this time I am going to hold off and apply for Myanmar's (Burma) in Bangkok. I understand that I can get it in one or two days there. I just don't want to risk sending my passport to Myanmar's Embassy in D.C. and having it get lost in the shuffle and not get back here before I am supposed to leave.

So Birdy Camp is set up. Airfare to and from Thailand is done. So far, so good.

Four hours of fun, food and banging

Easter 2013 - March 31

My last full day in Cambodia. I'm leavin' on a jet plane tomorrow at 12:50 enroute to BKK. The plane is 8 or nine times more expensive than the bus, but it is also four or five times faster and after the last experience with that border crossing, cheap at twice the price (not quite, but almost)

I did go out to the circus last night. In Battambang there is a circus school where orphans and other disadvantaged children attend. They have become well known in the world and now have nightly performances here in Siem Reap. There are no lions, tigers or bears. No elephants or horses, just a bunch of pretty talented kids. Acrobats, contortionists, jugglers, slack wire walkers. It was like a micro Cirque Du Soleil. For fifteen buck you got an hour of some very fine performances with the occasional dropped juggling pin or missed landing. But they kept doing it until they got it right. Remembering tht these are students after all. Some of the graduates have indeed moved on to Cirque Du Soleil in Montreal. Fun performance under the stars on a warm summer's eve, life is pretty good.

After the show I got some ice cream and headed back to the hotel. Watched some t.v. and lights out about 10:30 and awake at 4:30 finally giving up a little after five. Over breakfast I was looking through Lonely Planet for ideas on sights around town. Maybe some Buddhist temples and just cruise town in a Tuk-tuk for the morning. Then under classes - Khmer Cooking class 10 a.m. $13 (and you ate what you cooked). So a couple hours of class, lunch all for less the the circus - I'm In ! I got there around nine secured a spot in the class and went a wandering Pub Street for a bit before class, before most shops opened and certainly before most of the tourists were taking their first aspirin of the day from last night's visit to the Babylon of Siem Reap. I took a coule pictures, found a little shop that I want to stop back in after class and sweated a little.

Class met and there were more than I expected. We broke up into two groups of seven. Where the other seven went I have no idea, I never saw (or at least recognized) them again. One of the couples in the group had come from Battambang a day or so ago. The had decided to take the high speed boat up the Tonsal River to Siem Reap. I'd read and thought about it, but the book said 6 hours in the wet and 9 hours in the dry. The bus sounded the better of the two to me. Less romantic, more realistic. They said that it had taken the twelve hours. I am so glad I didn't sign up for that one. First since the water was low they were transported by truck over bumpy dirt roads to the place where the boat could reach. Then once on the boat it kept getting stuck and their time kept getting longer. Finally the boat's engine just gave up and stopped. Dead in the water (no pun intended) the sat there. She said that there was no chance of drowning because the lake was so shallow you could actually walk to shore. The locals who were on the boat, called over some of the fishermen and hitched a ride to dry land and points north. She said it was well after dark before they had the official picker upper boats come to their rescue and finally at their hotel in Siem Reap at nine p.m. (did I write a version of this earlier?).

Then there was the young British couple. They both worked for British Air. He on the ground, she in the air walking all the way as a flight attendant. That's all I got to know about them.

The final couple is French. His English pretty good, her's not so good. He could listen and understand better that he could speak. He said that his job had just finished and the the company had flown her out ot be with him for a couple weeks post work vacation. I asked him what he did he said he was a cameraman. I gave him my biggest smile possible. At least it got a laugh from him. He is/was a cameraman for French Survivor. This season's first episode opened with the usual jump off the boat into the water, down near where I was on the Gulf of Thailand. There was a very big man on the boat with his girlfriend. It was a Romeo and Juliette romance. He was white and she was black. Both parents said that they could not accept their child's life partners choice and the two kids told the respective parents to take a flying leap at a rolling doughnut and went ahead with the consequences. During the first challenge the young man (25) had a heart attack and died. Laurence said he had been filming the man when he collapsed. He asked if he was o.k. and the kid assured him he was. The director told Laurance to let the medics attend to him without the camera filming. Needless to say Laurance was still a little shaken up by the whole thing. Everyone at the table (except me) knew about the death. (Hey it wasn't on Facebook, o.k. ?). There were a few gently probing questions about the events I could see he was uncomfortable and I backed out of the conversation. He said the there had been deaths at other Survivor shows (India and Pakistan I think) but this one went viral. After the young man's death they canceled the season and sent everyone home or on a few week vacation. One day of shooting was all that they did.

Back to cooking class. We each picked an appetizer from the restaurant's menu and a main. No one had the same combination and very few duplicate dishes. I went for two things I knew I'd liked their Pumpkin soup and the Fish Amok. We seven giants following the minute Snow White went Hi-Ho'ing off to the market in search of vittles. We didn't actually buy anything, but she did point out to each of us the raw ingredients of each of our dishes. when we returned we were given plates covered in Saran Wrap that had all the vegetables we would need on them along with a peeler and cutting board and knife similarly wrapped. We were then told how to chop, mince and slice each of our vegetables and she made Gordon Ramsey look like a pussy cat. You were going to do it right of not at all. At least she didn't make me sit on a Jackfruit. After things were minced to her satisfaction we who were having Amok (2 fish 1 shrimp) put our vegetables into a large wooden mortar and were handed a large wooden pestle with the instructions "You make Bang-Bang". We pounded and pounded only to hear "More Bang Bang !" and pounded until all those onion garlic, turmeric, lemon grass and ginger had been pounded into a very thick paste. I have a machine that could so something similar in 30 seconds. If I lived in Cambodia, the family would only get this dish on Christmas ! The Pumpkin soup was relatively easy just chop up the vegies and simmer for 10 to 20 minutes. She then showed us how to carve carrot and tomato flowers and birds. I didn't do that, I still have a cough from the sniffles of a few days ago and didn't want to share that joy.

Then back into the kitchen. Have I mentioned it is hot here in Cambodia ? Add four wok burners open full and three students and one instructor in a room the size of my bathroom at home - well you see where I'm going with this. Vegetables, mushed spices carefully Bang-Banged a handful of fish and a couple ladles of coconut milk cook until thickened and the fish cooked. Add some water if necessary. Pour into banana leaf bowl and Amok ! Pumpkin soup went into the blender and then back on the stove with coconut milk and simmered until creamy.

My Amok rivaled anything I'd eaten this trip. Maybe the Bang-banging improved the flavor. It was really good. The pumpkin soup was good but missing something, maybe a little more garlic or ginger. A tweak here or there and it could be a great winter dish. Now Laurence's tomato soup was killer. It sounded so mundane on the menu, but the flavors really came through.

We had all entered our email addresses into her iPad and by the meal she said we could expect all the recipes to be in out inboxes. The boat person checked her email and there they were, along with pictures of us. I just checked they are in mine !! Way cool.

All in all a great final day. A fun four hours, interesting people and great grub not a bad way to wrap up a trip.

Milk and bombs

Saturday March 30th 2013 - 3 p.m.

After a power nap yesterday and a shower I changed clothes and headed out of the hotel to went my way through the night market and Pub street. My clothes were to sweat stained to wear in public there were sweat stains on my sweat stains.

I wanted to pick up a couple small trinkets for a few friends but they had to be small because as usual I felt the need when at home to pack everything in the house - just in case. I recently reviewed what I haven't used so far and I honestly could have saved 10 pounds of unnecessary

The Tuk-tuk driver got me to the most garish place east of Las Vegas. Lights blinked and huge neon signs over the roadway directed me to one side of the street where the night market  was situated. The other neon sign pointed the other direction reading "Pub Street". There were more tourists packed here than Angkor Wat on Christmas vacation. The Tuk-tuks were parked wheel hub to wheel hub and as soon as I alight from my Tuk-tuk I was instantly offered two or three more chorus of "Tuk-tuk Madame ?".  I stepped into the crowd and entered the night market. It wasn't exactly as I had pictured it. I was expecting some fruit and vegetable stands, maybe some meat stands and perhaps a stinky fish stand - with - the occasional tourist geegaw stand interspersed into the mix. There was nothing 'Cambodian' about the market except for the word "Cambodia" on the occasional T-shirt. Silk scarfs, cotton scarfs, sarongs, T-shirts, baskets of spices, carved Buddhas and on and on. Either the same owner owned all the shops or they all bought from the same vendor. Every T-shirt shop had exactly the same merchandise in the same sizes and the same colors. Ditto for everything else. The closest to anything real Cambodian was the foot massage and that was probably Thai in origin since the Khmer have such a foot abhorrence. I found (sort of) what I was looking for. Not the color or the perfect combination of colors, but there is something in that minute hole in my luggage. I did some dickering and know full well that I over paid if I had bargained harder. For me the price was fair and certainly only a third of the price I'd pay at home. Heck I overspent sooooo.... much that I spent twenty-five cents on a small bottle of water. I can get a pack of Marlboro AND 2 liters of water for a buck seventy-five all day long.

Then across the street to Pub Street - almost. At the curb I was stopped by the urchin with the infant on his hip holding an nursing bottle. "Pleeese I no want money I need milk" "I neeed  milk for the baaaybee" "Pleaaaseee miiilllllk". Thank you Trip Advisor Dot Com. Welcome to  "The Milk Scam". They kids are all stooges for the real thiefs the pharmacy (conveniently) next door selling the Enfimil (you know that formula that comes in cans?). The product is purchased at a very inflated, the tourist get all sorts of warm fuzzys inside and then the formula is returned to the store to be resold and the kids get a few cents and back on to the street to catch another big tourist fish. Even when you tell the kids "It's a scam !!", "Noooo Madam noooo scam. Miiillllk !" I did offer to buy the boy a sandwich from a cart that was right there but no. Only "Miiillllkkk Pleeeese" and I'll tell you they have that whine pitch perfect. They must go to whine school. Every other kid in on the scam had the same inflection and whine. I'm sure it works or else they would be doing something else.

Pub street was exactly what I had pictured. Restaurants and bars as far as the eye can see. Each place perhaps 20 feet in width all offering something different. On Pub Street you could eat your way around the world. Curry from India, lamb from New Zealand, Local fish, goat and crocodile, and even Ostrich and Kangaroo from the land down under.The narrow sidewalks jammed with tourists. So jammed that at times it was easier to step into the gutter or the street than to wait out the opening to appear. The paranoid in me was inside yelling "Get the heck out of here. This tourist Mecca is not my style, but is exactly the Bali bombing style of a few years ago." I travel alone for several reasons, one being that as a solo traveler I less of a target when there is a tour bus full of tourists nearby. I silenced the alarm bells and continued on.

The Lonely Planet had highly recommended a place called AMOK. Amok is a signature Khmer dish  of meat (generally fish) cooked in coconut milk and spices. It's kind of a stew. The sauce I've experienced has run the viscosity scale from soup to cream sauce. Amok (the restaurant) had an offering of five different Amoks. Beef, pork, shrimp, chicken and veggie. along with a side of rice i was a last you until the next afternoon filling. The sampling was good, though I do have to admit that the fish version I've had was much more to my liking, but it was nice to try them all and find out.

After the meal I stepped into the street and was hit with "Tuk-tuk Madame?". I tought he was a tout that directed me to a real tuk-tuk driver and got a cut of his fare. "Show me your tuk-tuk.". He walked me over to the rattiest tuk-tuk powered by the most underpowered engine I've seen so far. If there was even a speed bump in the road the poor thing struggled over it. The fare set was $2. That was the asking price and no one pays asking price. I wonder how far down he would have gone. When we got to my hotel I gave him the agreed upon two clams and 1000 Rials ($0.25). He thanked me, wished me along life and thanked me again (really). We have it so good.

I met Mr. Station at 7 a.m. and we took off for temples yet farther afield. Bantay Sarei is 30 Km out of town (18'ish miles) it's claim to fame is that it is carver out of pink sandstone, A smaller temple but with great lintels and walls. This is temple number eleven for me and they are all starting to run together a bit. Each has it's own personality atmosphere, but with the same basic architectural floor plan. Enter from the east, cross a moat or two or in this case three, most of them dry right now. four entrances at the cardinal points of the compass and four towers on the corners with a single taller one in the center representing Mt. Mereu the Hindu mountain to which we all seek to attain. I'm not sure that if you handed me photos of all the temples I have visited that I could pick out many of them from another. I'd like to describe it in flowing prose, but it is now 30 hours later and I'm a little fuzzy on the detail. The sun was low and the tourists not scarce, but not overwhelming either. I had moved to one side of the entrance with the sun at my back as waited for a few fellow gawkers to stop gawking at the front and go inside so I could get a photo of the temple without some place's advertisement on the back of a T-shirt. A woman walked near an stood and waited. The last started to go into the temple and then stopped. I said under my breath "Go, inside all ready !". She looked at me and smiled. Then she said "You pick the best spots for photo.". That made me feel good that I seemed to at least look like I knew what I was doing.

After draining my camera's battery enough we split for other pastures. I got a shot of a "Johnny Walker gas station" along the way. The next stop on the trail was the Landmine Museum. nIt was sort of small and had lots and lots of reading. Basically we all know how bad landmines are and that they never seem to just die. They lay there for 30 years plus and suddenly someone is an amputee or as widow. A farmer might have walked the same field a dozen times in the past and one day in the rainy season because the ground is softer steps a few inches different than last year and the rest we know. Most of the anti-personal landmines are designed to main and not kill because it takes more people to deal with a combat wound than a KIA. There are the occasional anti-tank mines where a huma n doesn't stand a snowball's chance of surviving that one.

There were (deactivated) mines there from about every first world country that you could think of including a very large contingent from my and most of your's homeland. UnExploded Ordinance (UXO) were another headache as well. There was a map on the wall with a red dot on it for each sorte' flown by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War. There were places that there was so much red that it looked like a wide red line with no white showing. Most were intended for enemy troops, but most fell harmlessly or on innocent villagers. That did surprise me nearly as much as the fact that nearly 20% failed to explode on impact. If most of us were only 80% effective in our jobs ghey would find either a better way to do the job or a different object to perform the job. Granted this was in the half century era ago, but I wonder how much better we've gotten in our vehicles for delivering death.

A pair of temples more on the way home filled with sun, heat and crowds. One was supposed to have a great view of Angkor Wat (if you had a 400 mm telephoto) that I decided could live without my foot steps on top of. Not because of the climb up, that I could manage, but the walk down just scares the heck out of me. No handrails, steps maybe 6 to 7 inches wide and 10 inches tall and no landings for the entire staircase. I misstep or a poorly placed heel and you get to find out just how good that travel insurance you bought before the trip actually is. Yes I am a wimp.

So that is that. Maybe the circus tonight. I kind of wanted to see a boxing match as well but they are only on Wednesdays. Right now finish my beer and take a nap.

Tomb Raider

 

Friday March 29th 2013 - Siem Reap

What was I bitching about yesterday ? Sniffles ? Gnarly tummy ? Well the sniffles seem to have abated at least the tiredness that came with them is certainly reduced. I had a 7 a.m. meeting with the Tuk-tuk and instead of one mug of coffee I had two. The caffeine jolt either killed the sniffles or maybe it was just time. It certainly chased away the tiredness.

Sleeping was a challenge last night. The poor A/C in the hotel couldn't keep up and there was one lousy stinking mosquito in the room. I tried to smash him a few times and send him on to his next life but he was alot faster than me. All that happened was besides the new bites were the red palm prints left where he was a millisecond ago. I woke around midnight and was hot but the top 'sheet' on the bed is two sheet duvet filled with a blanket. When I covered myself to hide from the 'skeeter then I was too hot to sleep. When I was uncovered my legs were a mosquito buffet. A little late I realized that if I put my lightest pants they would be cool enough to sleep AND make the mosquito's midnight snack a little harder to attain.

7 a.m., no breakfast I met Mr. Station and we headed for a big morning of Tomb Raider. Ta Phrom is one of the many late 12th century temples here in Angkor Wat. It is also one of the big 3 that are on everyone's must see list. Angkor Wat - Bayon (with the faces) and Ta Phrom. What sets Ta Phrom on the list is that it is the least restored temple in the complex. There are millennium old trees that have grown around some of the walls. They are now part of the infrastructure of the temple. So much so that if they were removed the walls they have engulfed would disintegrate. So they do serve a purpose beside adding real ambiance to the temple. I know this is not the way the temple was rediscovered but it certainly gives you an idea, albeit a very sanitized idea of what all the temples would have looked like in the 1850. That and vines that needed a machete

to access the room and probably a poisonous snake or ten, along with malaria and most importantly - No air conditioning. For about an hour I had the place almost to myself. I was even able to sit on a wall and just chill out while watching a strangled tree that was very popular with the photographers (myself included). But for those 15 minutes I owned the temple. It was a great feeling.

Tomb Raider was partially filmed in this location and there is an iconic tree that was in the film. I didn't see it on my way through and could see that I was past where I was expecting it to be by the way the architecture was changing. I asked a guide if he could direct me to the general area of the tree. He asked me if I had come from the East or the West. Well of course I came in from the east. A) that is the way the temple was ment to be entered and B) that put the morning's sun to my back and made the camera shots more dramatic. He said it was to the northeast back to where I had already been, but had overlooked. Then he asked if I had entered from the east or the west. I answered him, but thought it ann unusual question after he had given be direction. Whatever. I found the tree and waited through the rest of my fraternity and sorority brothers and sisters to get snapshots of themselves in the oddest poses. One of the all time favorites seems to be a big smile and  the right arm extended overhead and finger pointing at --------- nothing. Maybe if I saw one of the poses in an actual picture I'd understand better. I relaxed in the atmosphere in the of mystery what man creates, nature sets asunder. I'm sure someone else said it better, but you get the idea. I continued westward and as I was nearing the second western gate my first our bus group of the day was entering from the west. Then another and another. Then understanding of the guide's question came to me. Tuk-tuks park on the east, tour buses park on the west. He was judging the time he and his clients had in semi solitude as well and me.

Mr. Station was at the appointed time and place. Patiently waiting for me in a hammock that he had attached from his rear Tuk-tuk roof support the the opposite front support. This country is the hammock capital of the world. Almost anywhere you find people you'll find a hammock. Strung near the rear of small shops where the shopkeeper lazes until a customer walks up. As soon as the transaction is concluded, back to the hammock. I've seen lines of pavilions in the main square on nothing but platforms, roofs and hammocks. Generally filled by men, but women seem to get their 'lax'in time as well.

We then proceeded to 6 more temples. Each less picturesque than the last. Probably more from there being more and more people to get in my photographs and the sun rising higher and hotter to raise my discomfort and reduce the definition of the temples. I started to recognize the same Tuk-tuk' ers at the following temples. Some smiled back knowing we were on the same route and some oblivious to those and probably that around them.

By the time we got to temple number seven it was devoid of trees and shade and engulfed not by picturesque nature but tourists. We stopped in front of one shadeless typical Ankor'ian temple. It looked to me to be nothing except heat and the same thing I had already seen 5 times today. I opted out on this one. A combination of getting a little spacey from the heat and not having breakfast were the obvious culprets. "Back to the hotel, James" The guide books all suggest going out in the noon to four time period to avoid the crowds. There is a very good reason there are no tourists out the. It's bloody hot then !

Ry, the tour guide from the Pandaw said he was going to be in Siem Reap these few days I'd be back. I asked Mr. Station to stop by the Hotel Victoria on the way back. This is where I met the group for the cruise ship when I first arrived in town. The desk clerk didn't know who I was talking about, but the bell Captain new exactly who I meant. He told the deskman where to look in the directory and made the call. I'm not sure if I woke him of not but the conversation was certainly sluggish. Then he said "T*****a !! I remember you !" How could he EVER forget me, I asked myself. I had hoped he might be free to do a day or two of guiding me around, but he was already booked by some big wigs from the Pandaw company. Great idea that just didn't work out.

So back at my abode with a belly full of soup and a few fries. Think it's time to go see about a siesta to make up for last night's flying visitor.

Another bus ride

Thursday March 28 2013 - Siem Reap

Back to where I started this trip and I do mean back. I'm in the same hotel as before and the same darned room. A great room (If the hot water works tomorrow) 4th floor over looking the pool. Populated by mostly Westerners.

II never thought I'd say this - BUT - That was a pleasant bus ride. No speedometer of course. The driver didn't honk at every moto, or child or Mosquito to get out of his way. He kept the speed up there and he didn't stop and pickup the huddled masses to help augmant his retirement fund. I did get the nasty "You want to put you knapsack in the belly" look. But a dollar fixed that. Three and a half hours and a taxi would have made it in two and a half hours for eight times the price. $40 vs. $5.

Nicky's cousin (though how they are related might not be by blood. Who knows?) was at the bus stop with my name on a clipboard. I felt like such a rich bitch. "Uhhh.. YES. I am THE (insert name here)." He got me back in touch with my left behind luggage and then got me to this hotel safely. I asked him to pick me up at 3:30 and let's go take a look at the Shadow Puppet store. I have a friend with a seven year old and that might be the right gift for her. If I can pack it safely. I know she'd prefer a dinosaur but she may just have to settle for an elephant.

Today my quads are a little sore from 358 steps, but not too bad. Sniffles. Grumbly tummy. A beer on the veranda after the puppet factory should settle both problems just fine. I've really come to enjoy that at sundown. Well the first 2 or three sips. Then it is just another beer.

I really don't jhave a lot to say today. Certainly nothing as heavy as yesterday afternoon. I have a few things I'd like to pass on, but it is in the cutsie league.

The Vancouverites said that the average length of stay for a tourist in Cambodia is 2.5 Days. Plane loads of Chinese, Koreans and the rest of my former hotel's brothers and sisters land disgorge them. They spend a day and a half or two looking at Angkor Wat and then take off for someplace else. Let's see (9 + 6 + 6 + 12 + 5 + 3 = 41) I've spent nearly that long on buses and have yet to see much on the Angkor Wat complex. I guess I'm skewing the curve.

God, their Sprite's are sweet !

Nicky was showing me various fruits on the way around yesterday. He pointed of Pineapple, Mango, Papaya and Jack Fruit. Jack fruit is football size and covered in 1/2 to 3/4 inch spikes. When he was going to school he wasn't doing very well in his English class. The teacher made him sit on a Jack Fruit until he learned that particular lesson. It's a wonder he didn't switch to German.

The first day in Battambang we were driving to the 358 steps and two places had loudspeakers blaring away at 11 on the volume knob. It would be impossible to sleep when they were going. And one of them was just the pre-function announcing the upcoming wedding. I'd hate to see/hear it once the wedding got underway. In the hotel back in Battambang there were two sets of sponge earplugs with a note attached saying they were for weddings and funerals in the neighborhood.

That's kind of it for what was on my list. Mr. Station will be here in 30 minutes and I'm not sure that I want to risk  coma from the Sprite, but it does have ice in it.