Just a quick note tonight because the internet at this hotel is lousy and I'm afraid that what I try to post won't work. Today we moved from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, an old city in northwest Cambodia. We said goodbye to Yoen about 10 am. It was sad to say goodbye to him again. I really wish that there is more that I could do to help his family. He was a godsend to us during this trip, making sure that we were safe, interpreting with birthfamilies. He is amazing and the hardest worker I think I have ever met. He'd be a great American, but despite his dreams that's probably never going to happen. I think we all left Phnom Penh with some sadness and some relief that the heavy emotional experiences that the girls had there over the past few days were coming to a conclusion. There will still be a lot for everyone to process as we return home.
We decided to travel by van instead of bus so that we could leave on our own time at 10 am. Good decision since by this morning Leanne and Mike were both sick in the tummy. Lower tummy that is. Deb is convinced it is food poisoning with both of them but we loaded up and were on our way. Hilary got carsick on the drive, Leanne was sick.... it was a lovely ride. We were in a decent sized van but we were a little crowded because we took on 2 extra passengers. The van driver (who spoke not a word of english) asked Yoen if his two brothers could ride along with us, both sharing the front passenger seat for the 5 hour ride. They have never been to Angkor Wat and he wanted them to see it. So we agreed to have them ride along and off we went. We passed other vans the same size as ours carrying at least 20 Khmer in the seats, on the floors, and on the roofs so I guess we can't really freel badly for ourselves.
The ride took us through lots of open fields and rice fields. Pretty, but not too exciting. We stopped for lunch at a lively restaurant. The menu was interesting.... one item was "Pork with Gas Hew Nuts." Go ahead, sound it out.... yep, pork with cashew nuts. Being the brave soul that I am I had french fries.
Siem Reap is a beautiful town, a stark contrast to Phnom Penh. The streets are relatively clean, the plethara of hotels are clean and beautiful. It's a great place to visit. Since 2005, however, the number of tourists has EXPLODED. It will be interesting to go see the temples and ruins tomorrow since I suspect it will be much more crowded than on my last visit.
This evening Deb, Marcy, Kaley, Julie, Hilary Sopheap and I went to the market for a while and then ate dinner at a place called Dead Fish Tower. It was built in layers sort of like a huge treehouse jungle gym. I had the spring rolls, which were good. I've been on the spring roll tour of Southeast Asia. I've eaten them almost every meal since they are relatively predictable and tend not to be as weird as pork with gas hew nuts. I'm going to write a book "Lisa's Guide to Spring Rolls." Look for it at a Borders near you.
Hopefully by morning everyone will be feeling better and ready for our busy day of ruins exploration. It's very very hot here. Even after sundown you sweat buckets outside. My bites have spread to my right arm now so I stopped in a pharmary to ask for a different kind of cream and fearfully asked the woman working there if she thought they were scabies. "No - not scabies. Squito bites,"she said calmly. Boy, I hope so. They'd better be gone by the time I come home or you'll all disown me.
Well, time for some sleep. Just wanted to let you know we were all OK.
Hugs -
Lisa & Crew
We decided to travel by van instead of bus so that we could leave on our own time at 10 am. Good decision since by this morning Leanne and Mike were both sick in the tummy. Lower tummy that is. Deb is convinced it is food poisoning with both of them but we loaded up and were on our way. Hilary got carsick on the drive, Leanne was sick.... it was a lovely ride. We were in a decent sized van but we were a little crowded because we took on 2 extra passengers. The van driver (who spoke not a word of english) asked Yoen if his two brothers could ride along with us, both sharing the front passenger seat for the 5 hour ride. They have never been to Angkor Wat and he wanted them to see it. So we agreed to have them ride along and off we went. We passed other vans the same size as ours carrying at least 20 Khmer in the seats, on the floors, and on the roofs so I guess we can't really freel badly for ourselves.
The ride took us through lots of open fields and rice fields. Pretty, but not too exciting. We stopped for lunch at a lively restaurant. The menu was interesting.... one item was "Pork with Gas Hew Nuts." Go ahead, sound it out.... yep, pork with cashew nuts. Being the brave soul that I am I had french fries.
Siem Reap is a beautiful town, a stark contrast to Phnom Penh. The streets are relatively clean, the plethara of hotels are clean and beautiful. It's a great place to visit. Since 2005, however, the number of tourists has EXPLODED. It will be interesting to go see the temples and ruins tomorrow since I suspect it will be much more crowded than on my last visit.
This evening Deb, Marcy, Kaley, Julie, Hilary Sopheap and I went to the market for a while and then ate dinner at a place called Dead Fish Tower. It was built in layers sort of like a huge treehouse jungle gym. I had the spring rolls, which were good. I've been on the spring roll tour of Southeast Asia. I've eaten them almost every meal since they are relatively predictable and tend not to be as weird as pork with gas hew nuts. I'm going to write a book "Lisa's Guide to Spring Rolls." Look for it at a Borders near you.
Hopefully by morning everyone will be feeling better and ready for our busy day of ruins exploration. It's very very hot here. Even after sundown you sweat buckets outside. My bites have spread to my right arm now so I stopped in a pharmary to ask for a different kind of cream and fearfully asked the woman working there if she thought they were scabies. "No - not scabies. Squito bites,"she said calmly. Boy, I hope so. They'd better be gone by the time I come home or you'll all disown me.
Well, time for some sleep. Just wanted to let you know we were all OK.
Hugs -
Lisa & Crew
Photos: Last dinner in Phnom Penh, Yoen's little boys, On the road to Siem Reap (notice the brothers sharing the front seat!)
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