We’re Coming Home!!!

Day Twenty-three: 3/5 – Travel: S to EUG
Title: We’re coming home!!!

This final installment of the Asian Adventure 2008 blog is being written to you roughly from Hawaii. The plane has individual TV screens and I currently have it set on the “map”. We aren’t flying directly over Hawaii but in terms longitude we are just about equivalent to Lihue. This flight has approximately 3:30 hours to go.

I am pretty excited to be coming home. I have a lot of work to catch up on and strangely I am looking forward to it. I actually have quite a list of things I am looking forward to. Below please find my Top 10 Most Missed List:

10. Trustworthy and Good Tasting Milk- The milk in Asia is sketchy because one never knows if it is pasteurized. If one does decide to drink it, he or she has a 50% chance of it tasting nasty.

9. My Bed- Most of the beds we slept in were surprisingly comfortable. However, my bed is super comfortable. I look forward to reacquainting myself with it for a very long time.

8. My Closet- I am pretty sick of the clothes I have been wearing for three plus weeks. I look forward to having a little more variety in choice, particularly in the footwear department.

7. Non-Asian Inspired Food- I really like Asian food but I’m ready for some Mexican, Italian, or American. For those of you like our guide Dat, who feel there is no “American” cuisine, what I’m really saying is I want some Mucho, pizza and a burger.

6. A Max of Two Showers per Day- In the hot and humid climate of South East Asia, I felt like I needed a shower every time I stepped outside. I won’t miss that “not-so-fresh” feeling.

5. Driving- I like to go where I want, when I want. I also like to drive fast. Busses in traffic aren’t too conducive to that… even if they are Mercedes.

4. Fountain Sodas with Ice (and potable water in general)- The bottomless soda is non-existent in Asia. I can’t wait to get a bottomless soda with a mountain of ice. A really cold beverage of the non-alcoholic variety sounds pretty awesome right about now. For that matter, so does getting water in my mouth while showering or using tap water to brush my teeth.

3. Sonicare Toothbrush- I used a new toothbrush on this trip and it sucked. The bristles kept getting stuck in my braces and ripping away from the brush. I can’t wait to use my electronic toothbrush to get my teeth super clean without leaving any bristles behind!

2. My Own Space- I love my daddy. We got along very well for spending 98% of the last 23 days together. However, I am looking forward to having my own space. In particular I will enjoy having a dry bathroom sink edge and a quiet environment. I don’t know if there is a man in the world that makes more noise than my father.

1. TNC- The number one thing I missed most while gone was the Thursday Night Crew! This includes honorary member Bailey Stokes, and specifically Mom and Mia. Of course it also includes founding members Joel, D-Nelly, R2 and J2 (even though half the J2 wasn’t a founding member). I even missed baby Smitty! I am also very thankful that baby Smitty didn’t decide to come early because I wouldn’t want to miss that for the world.

I want to close this final installment by thanking you all for reading the blog and sending me emails. Traveling for an extended period of time serves as a great reminder that the people in my life are what I cherish most in this world. Each one of you is very special to me and I hope you know how much I appreciate your friendship. Thanks for all of the emails and updates from home. I hope you enjoyed reading the blog as much as I enjoyed writing it. I haven’t even begun the slideshow yet, but if you’d like to see it when it is completed just let me know. If you live in town, we can get together to watch it. If you are elsewhere, I’d be happy to drop a DVD in the mail.

Until the next adventure!

God Bless,

Katy

We Spent Many Million Dong today

Day Twenty-two: 3/4 – Saigon Day #3
Title: We spent many million Dong today

Today was our last full day in Asia. Dad and I scheduled a “free” final day because we knew that we would want to do some shopping. I think that the shopping may have been better in Thailand, but I wasn’t allowed to grow my bags during the first week of the trip.

I was pretty excited about the shopping day until I woke up. As I blogged yesterday we went to a nice restaurant last nice. They served my Diet Coke with ice. I drank it because it was nice to have something genuinely cold. That was a bad idea. I woke up a couple times in the night and the morning was not particularly fun either. I was really disappointed about this, not only because it delayed shopping but also because I had big plans for a big breakfast. I had been really good the whole trip only eating eggs and fruit for breakfast. I was planning a final morning splurge with waffles and pastries. Eventually my drugs kicked in and I could leave the hotel… but it took a while.

You all will be very impressed to know that I only purchased one Nike item during our entire trip. It was a t-shirt. I didn’t buy a single pair of shoes. I am pretty proud of myself ;~> I won’t bore you with all of the other stuff we bought but I’ll be happy to show it to you when we get back TOMORROW!

Katy :~>

PS Here is the Dr. P. fun fact of the day. Our day of shopping made me wonder what was the most expensive thing dad had ever purchased. I excluded land, home, and car purchases. Dad had to think about this and finally decided that it was the piano he bought himself as a 50th birthday present. I now know what it cost… but “I’ll never tell” (insert scary Brittney Murphy voice here).

AK 47's

Day Twenty-one: 3/3 – Saigon Day #2
Title: AK 47’s

The first item on today’s itinerary was a trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels. The tunnels are located roughly 70 km outside of downtown Saigon. Saigon traffic is insane, so it took us a little under two hours to drive that distance.

The first Cu Chi Tunnel was built in 1948 as a way to hide from French attacks. At this time the tunnels covered 17 km. During the Vietnam War the tunnels were greatly expanded. Currently it is estimated that they cover over 250 km.

The park surrounding the tunnels was very interesting. There were ample displays showing the guerilla war tactics that the Vietnamese used against the Americans. They were really quite brilliant in their simplicity and resourcefulness. The Vietcong recycled much of what the US used against them and used all of their natural resources to perfection. I can’t begin to imagine what it would have been like to be on either side of this battle. The poor US servicemen were destined to fall into the traps set by the Vietcong. The Vietcong were living in tunnels, many of which were literally narrower than my shoulders. And this says nothing of the fact the tunnels were pitch black, filled with endless insects, and lacked adequate bathroom facilities. Dad and I climbed through roughly 50 meters of tunnel. I think that was probably enough to last a lifetime.

The darkness and depth of the tunnels is very hard to appreciate without venturing inside them. The underground community was set up with meeting rooms, workshops, and kitchens, all connected by an intricate pattern of tunnels. There are three levels of tunnels. The deepest of which is roughly 30 feet below ground. It is absolutely crazy to think that all of these tunnels were dug by hand. To read more about the history of the tunnels click this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cu_Chi_Tunnels.

My favorite part of our Cu Chi Tunnel visit may have been the shooting range. When you first enter the tunnel grounds you hear a lot of gunfire. I was wondering if this was for affect or if live rounds were actually being shot somewhere. It turns out that there is a firing range on the tunnel grounds. I have always wanted to shoot a gun but I have never had the opportunity, until today. I shot five rounds out of an AK47. I am not a very good shot. The gun was set up on a wall that was a little too high for me. I had to shoot from tiptoes. I am confident that’s why my aim wasn’t better ;~> If any of you who are reading this go skeet shooting, I’d love to join you sometime.

On our way back to town from the Cu Chi Tunnel we stopped at “Handicapped Handicrafts”. Evidently the use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War has caused a significant number of birth defects in the last 30 years. Many of the people’s defects are such that traditional employment would be very difficult. Someone (I am not sure if it is private or government run) started a factory where the Agent Orange victims can work, live, and find purpose for their lives.

After returning to downtown Saigon we went to lunch. We ate a restaurant called Pho 24. Pho noodles are like the national noodle of Vietnam. I don’t think that they taste any different from any other type of Asian noodle. I actually have found Vietnamese food to be a little bland, especially compared to the amazing Thai food we had two short weeks ago.

After lunch we took a “cyclo” tour from the Central Market to the Chinese Market. A “cyclo” is basically a tricycle with a big old chair in the front of it. Riding around in this thing was quite an experience. There is no place for a bike (or cyclo) to ride other than in the street. As I’ve previously mentioned the traffic in Saigon is crazy. Traffic laws are mere suggestions and accidents aren’t the exception but rather the rule. I thought I was going to lose a limb at least a few times on the ride. I took a short video on my still camera. I haven’t watched it yet but I imagine it will be able to convey the experience much better than I ever could.

After wondering around the Chinatown market for a few minutes we took our van back to the hotel. I am still fighting a bit of whatever cold or allergies I’ve developed, so I took a short nap before cleaning up for dinner.

Dinner tonight was within walking distance of the hotel. We went to a rather fancy place called “Mandarin”. Evidently it is one of Condoleeza Rice’s favorite watering holes in Saigon. There were pictures of her and the restaurant’s employees all over the walls. Our meal was fairly good but I resented the fact that a Diet Coke cost $3.50. I know Joel would ask, “Why didn’t you just have water?” Well you can’t drink tap water here and a bottle of water was the same price. I did my best to drink slowly. I drank only two twelve-ounce cans during the two-hour dinner.

One downer in regards to dinner was that it was our last evening with the Purdon’s. They are off to visit to one of their kids in Santa Barbara tomorrow. Dad and I really enjoyed getting to know them over the last two weeks. I am so thankful that they were such cool people because this trip really could have been miserable if we didn’t like them.

Saying farewell to the Purdon’s got me thinking about goodbyes in general. This brings us to our Dr. P. fun fact of the day. Dad thinks the hardest goodbye he ever had to say was when his father’s casket sunk into the ground. Dad says, “It is so final. You can’t say ONE MORE WORD.” He says his father’s priest was some comfort. Dad remembers the priest saying, “ ‘Death is the ultimate mystery’ and for some reason I (dad) found that comforting.”

After dinner we walked back to the hotel and said our goodbyes to John P. and Sigrid. I now have a standing invitation to visit Ontario, Canada, so I may have to make the trip I’ve been wanting to take to Toronto sooner rather than later. Dad and I went for a quick walk to pick up some groceries and then went back to the room for good. I am currently writing this from my bed and my eyes are getting very heavy. I think I’m going to call it a night. Tomorrow’s blog will likely be short because dad and I plan to spend the whole day shopping. If there are any last shopping requests please send them over ASAP and I’ll do my best to get what you want.

I miss you all and am looking forward to seeing you soon.

Katy

Siestas are a Good Thing

Day Twenty: 3/2 – Saigon City Tour
Title: Siestas are a good thing

Today on the schedule was a city tour of Saigon and its biggest sites. We met the Purdon’s in the lobby at 9 am. Shortly thereafter we were met by our guide, Dat. Dat is crazy. I think he has a serious case of ADD or something. His English is great but he is all over the place. I actually like the fact that his pace is much faster than every other tour guide we’ve ever had. However, I think he may be wearing a little thin on the old people.

Our first stop of the day was the Saigon History Museum. This museum was more enjoyable because, as previously stated, Dat moves quickly. I think that Jon P. and Sigrid actually liked the pace. Dad, on the other hand, probably wished he had all day to spend there. I’m trying to remember the coolest thing we saw, but I was pretty darn tired, so I can’t really come up with anything worth noting.

At 10 we attended a water puppet show inside the museum. It was actually kind of cool. I have never seen this advertised anywhere else in the world, so I think it may be a Vietnamese thing. There was a stage, which was basically a pool with a few set elements. In the back of the pool there was a pagoda looking thing with curtains. The puppets would come in and out from behind the curtains. Each puppet is connected to a long green pole. The poles have strings attached to them, which allow for the finer movements of each puppet. If you picture a marionette, attached to a pole, being manipulated in and out of water, then you’ll have a fairly accurate picture of a Vietnamese water puppet show.

Our next stop was the Reunification Palace. It was a your typical stately complex filled with gigantic rooms. I’m certain the tacky yellow dining room could have seated fifty at its table. The interior was dated. It was like a time capsule straight out of the sixties and seventies. Evidently they have left the Palace in its original operating state for the historical effect. The coolest part of the building was probably the basement. It too was left unchanged from the sixties and seventies. At this time the basement was used as the war room or war command center. I would not have wanted to spend any more time in that basement than we did. It was a little claustrophobic down there.

The French influence can still be felt in much of Saigon. For instance, many of the government run museums and buildings take a one and half hour break from 11:30 to 1. We finished touring the Palace around 11:30, so we decided to take a break for lunch before visiting the Vietnam War Museum in the afternoon.

The Vietnam War Museum was quite an interesting place. I’m sure all of you who lived through the war remember the sites quite well. I, on the other hand, had not seen many of the actual pictures taken from the war. The pictures filled me with emotions. The emotions ranged from sorrow, anger and grief to adrenaline, happiness and pride. The museum had a definite overall anti-American sentiment. I don’t know enough about the history to know if this was justified. I look forward to researching the subject so that I can have an informed opinion on the matter going forward.
After the museum we went back to the hotel to freshen up for dinner. Originally the itinerary had us going to a traditional Vietnamese restaurant with traditional Vietnamese music. I told dad that it was fine if he wanted to go to this but I had no interest. I didn’t really want to listen to any more cows die. It turns out that dad, John P. and Sigrid all wanted to bag the traditional dinner, so we asked Dat if he could change our reservation. After a couple more rounds of vetoes, he found the perfect place. Upon initial inspection the place seemed slightly sketchy because it was totally tucked in off of an alleyway. Sigrid had specifically requested that we have an air-conditioned room to eat in. They had set our original table up outside so they had to find us a new spot. We ended up sitting in a conference like room upstairs with just the four of us. It was really quite pleasant. The food was a set menu with eight courses. Each course was very good and the fried bananas for dessert were the best that dad and I have had during our time in Asia.

After dinner we returned to the hotel and called it a fairly early night. Dad had said that he wanted to go for a walk but he fell asleep before that happened. Speaking of sleep…

The longest Dr. P. ever went without sleep was 40 hours. He can’t remember if this occurred during residency or med school but he remembers it happening. He says during his training he often had to work 36-hour shifts with little to no rest. In the event that he did get to lie down it was only for 20 minutes or so. He says, however, that he would awaken from these naps refreshed and ready to go. It saddens him that today, at 65 years of age, 20 minutes sleep no longer cuts it.

I am tired and going to call it a night. Day 20 is in the books. Home is a mere three days away and it is sounding pretty darn good. I’ll write again tomorrow.

Katy

Is it Possible that I am Sad the Boat Trip is Over?

Day Nineteen: 3/1 – RV Tonle Pandaw Day #8 and transfer to Saigon
Title: Is it possible that I am sad the boat trip is over?

Do you want to hear (read) something crazy? I think that I am actually a little bit sad the boat trip is ending. As you all know I was extremely nervous about this trip. Going in I thought I was going to be stuck on a boat filled with old people, for nine days, without diet soda and in a 100sq foot cabin with dad. Turns out the trip was only eight days, the people were old but not super old ;~), the boat had diet soda and the cabin was actually comfortable.

I have spent a lot of time thinking about what made this trip a 1,001 times better than the cruise in China. There are a lot of possibilities, including the things mentioned above, like diet soda. The boat was also way cleaner and didn’t smell. However, if I could only pick one variable, it would be the people. Both the passengers and the crew were downright enjoyable. Out of the 43 passengers on board there were really only four that I tried to avoid (OP, WOP, Napoleon and his wife). I truly enjoyed everyone else. I think there are likely a few reasons for this.

This cruise was more “active” than the one in China, so I think the passengers were generally in better health than those on the Yang-Tze. To afford a trip like this a person (or person’s dad ;~) must have some level of financial independence. Generally speaking, financially secure people have worked hard at their careers and often done interesting things. I think that was very much true for the passengers on this boat. Additionally, on the whole, the people on the cruise had very good senses of humor. That makes all the difference in the world. Finally, Nicole specifically made a huge difference as well. While she was not the hot young man I was hoping for, she was a lot of fun. Having another English speaking person on the boat in the 20-30 demo made ALL the difference in the world.

The Pandaw portion of this adventure ended with a final two-hour bus ride. The water levels were such that the boat couldn’t sail to downtown Saigon, so we had to settle for the bus transfer. Upon arrival in downtown we were left at a centrally located hotel. The final goodbyes amongst the English-speaking passengers took place there. Those of us who weren’t staying at that hotel were met by new guides and taken to our individual hotels. Shockingly… I sincerely hope to see many of our fellow passengers again.

We arrived at our Saigon hotel (The Legend) around 11 am. Our room wasn’t ready yet so we decided to take a stroll around town and look for some lunch. Once again we are sharing a tour itinerary with John P. and Sigrid, so we went to lunch with them.

Across the street from the place we chose to have lunch there was an Internet café. I hadn’t been on the net in five days and I needed a fix. Dad decided, after we had paid the bill, that he wanted dessert. I took that as a sign that I was supposed to go get on-line. I ran across the street to quickly check email while the old folks finished up.

Checking email was REALLY great. Like seriously great. It is probably sad how much I miss the Internet when I don’t have it for five days. I feel totally disconnected from the world. George Bush could have been assassinated while we were on the boat and I wouldn’t have known the difference. I don’t like being that disconnected. I also don’t like going weeks at a time without seeing attractive men in my age demo. I am not sure what I liked better about the going to the café… the fact that I got to reconnect with the world or the fact that were at least ten different young men that came and went while I was there. Regardless it was a good time.

After I finished up computing dad and I walked back to the hotel. I was pretty darn tired and starting to get sick. My skin, eyes, and sinuses were super irritated. Dad believed this irritation was caused by the pollution in the air. I don’t know if he was right but I do know that I was kind of miserable. I took a three-hour nap upon our return to the hotel. I also used Afrin, Rhinocort, eye drops and lotion. Needless to say I felt some better when I woke up.

After nap time dad and I took another walk around the city. We wanted to acclimate ourselves to the Saigon and get some dinner. We strolled for a half-hour or so before we wandered in to a shopping mall. Traditionally shopping malls in Asia are weird and this was no exception. They are almost all built with many floors (which makes sense since space is very limited) but the strangest part is the collection of stores. This one was pretty random. It had a few clothing stores, a book store, multiple toy stores (lots of Mickey Mouse), multiple furniture stores, a kitchen store, a supermarket and a silk flower store. It wasn’t a Care Four but if you put it all together you would get something similar to Wal-Mart with higher end furniture and better food. Maybe it would be like Target ;~>

For dinner we ate in a place with a vast menu and a colorful red interior. I was getting pretty sick of Asian food, so I decided that cheese pizza would be an excellent choice for dinner. In actuality it was surprisingly good. Dad had some type of Vietnamese something or other that he “oohed” and “ahhed” over for a long time. My favorite thing on the menu, which I did not order, was the Mickey Mouse Sundae. Mickey really is an extremely popular fellow over here.

After dinner dad and I walked the streets of Saigon for a solid hour. We saw all kinds of crazy stuff. I think in all of the traveling I have done, utter disregard for traffic laws may be the greatest here in Saigon. There are scooters EVERYWHERE and they just go when they feel like it. There are few traffic signals and those that are in place are not really respected. Crossing the street is quite exciting. You feel like the frog in the old school video game “Froger”. Speaking of games…

It is time for the Dr. P. fun fact of the day. The first game dad ever remembers playing was Chinese checkers. He used to play it at Auntie Peg’s Holiday House. This was a summer home for underprivileged kids (that in itself is kind of funny… dad had his first tux when he was six… he was not underprivileged… at least not financially). Barbara and John would get sent there every year for two weeks when their parents went to the Pocono’s for vacation. According to dad those two weeks were a highlight of every year.

I am still feeling a little crappy and I am definitely tired. I am going to call it a night but I’ll be sure to write again soon. I miss you all.

Katy

Is That a Dying Cow?

Day Eighteen: 2/29 – RV Tonle Pandaw Day #7
Title: Is that a dying cow?

Day seven on the Pandaw started with a small boat excursion in Cai Be. This was kind of fun. Our first stop was the floating market. In this floating market, unlike the floating market we saw in Thailand, a person needed a boat to shop. Each boat or “store” advertised what it was selling by hanging a sample product from a large bamboo stick. We saw mostly fruits and vegetables but there were some clothes and other products as well. It is crazy to think that in 2008 this is Cai Be’s main shopping area.

The second stop of the day was a bonsai garden located on Binh Hoa Phuoc Evergreen Island. The garden itself wasn’t that wonderful but there were some ancillary things that I enjoyed. For example, the bonsai garden had two pet pythons.

The first time I held the python I was a little nervous. I am pretty sure that the guide said the snake weighed over 100 pounds. I suppose it may have felt kind of heavy but I was little too nervous to really notice. The snake was on my shoulder for a good minute or two and I was beginning to get comfortable with him. Then he started to investigate or sniff (can snakes sniff?) from my waste to my chest. His tongue began to protrude and that freaked me out a little bit. I asked to have him taken off of me. The handler and I put him back in the cage. I don’t know what dad was doing when I was playing with the python, but when he found out that I had held it, he decided he had to hold it as well.

After completing his fresh fruit and tea snack dad and I went to the python cages. He held it by himself first and then we held it together. I don’t know that many westerners have father and daughter python holding pictures, so I am sure he will force most of you to look at them after we get home.

The final stop of our morning excursion was a brick and pottery works factory. This was fine but probably lasted about 20 minutes too long. The clothing of one of the factory workers was probably my favorite part of this stop. A gentleman who was stoking a kiln was wearing a shiny DKNY jeans baseball cap. It looked like it had been bedazzled with a bright assortment of rhinestones. I think Bailey would have been proud. The other big question from the factory was what comes first… a brick… or a brick? Nicole and I spent considerable time thinking about this question because the kilns that they use to make the bricks are made of bricks. We wanted to see how the VERY FIRST bricks were made but no one could show us that.

Speaking of bricks, here is today’s Dr. P. fun fact. When my parents first started building their house, they knew they wanted a brick exterior. Bricks are not particularly prevalent in Oregon, so they went to Texas to pick them out. I’ve always wondered how many bricks are on our house. Counting them would take an extremely patient person and we all know that is not me. So I asked dad today if he knew the number. His answer… at least 100,000… Boy am I glad I didn’t try to count them ;~>

Post lunch, our afternoon excursion included stops at a French Gothic Cathedral and rice paper and pop rice factories. Dad’s and my boat from the morning was full by the time we made it down to the departure deck, so we hopped on a different boat. It was actually really nice because there were only six of us as opposed to 20 plus on the other boat. This made us a quick and agile group, which I really enjoyed. On the 15-minute ride over to the Cathedral I had a nice chat with another passenger named Carlos.

Carlos used to work for Ely Lily in their research and development. Clearly he is a brilliant man. Sadly he is also afflicted with Parkinson’s disease. He left his work at Lily recently to start a stem cell research company. The nature of what they do is really quite incredible. He is very hopeful about the promise stem cells hold for curing a bunch of different diseases. It would seem that his favorite type of stem cells to harvest are of the umbilical cord variety. I was happy to hear this because there should be an adequate supply of those and acquiring them clearly doesn’t destroy life. His company was started with two other men at IU. It is privately held but if it were a public company I would definitely rate it as a buy.

The Cathedral was kind of entertaining. Many of the statues inside were accented with florescent lights. The statues afforded this special treatment included both Jesus and the Virgin Mary. These lights were mixed with old school beautiful and ornate stained glass windows. This combination cracked me up but I must admit I did enjoy going into a Christian church again (as opposed to a pagoda or mosque).

The best part of the Cathedral was its collection of live monkeys. They had gibbons, orangutans and the other kind of monkey that is naturally all over Vietnam and Cambodia. I am pretty sure that we should have monkeys or other exotic animals at Faith Center. Evidently this church has the monkeys to drive membership (that’s no joke). Parents tell their kids that if they come to church with them, then they can see the monkeys. I think that is brilliant. As a matter of fact, I am going to tell Pastor Steve that we should get some monkeys when I get home.

Next, the small boat took us up a canal to a traditional rice paper making facility. The facility consisted of one very old looking lady who makes rice paper all day. Evidently her output is 700 sheets a day. I tried to make one with her help and was not very successful. It is a very delicate procedure and we all know delicate is not the first word anyone would use to describe me ;~> Dick likened the process to free throw shooting. He was positive that with practice I could become an adequate rice paper maker. I, on the other hand, am not so sure.

The final stop of the day was a pop rice factory. I enjoyed this place. I didn’t know that one could make rice kernels pop like popcorn kernels. The finished product looks a lot like rice puff cereal. We saw the process they use to make a few different flavors. I think the best tasting one was the coconut caramel.

This evening was our last full night on the boat. There was a cocktail hour on the sundeck, followed by dinner in the dining room. The Green’s asked us to eat with them and we accepted. Peter the German also joined us at our table. Dinner on the final night was quite good. The highlight, in terms of food, may have been the tiramisu. I am not sure if somehow Ivan got really lucky and tiramisu was already planned for the menu or if he somehow collected the ingredients to make it especially for Gerald. Regardless it was impressive.

Another highlight of the dinner was the introduction of the entire crew. The service on the boat was nothing short of remarkable. The previous night Sopha had told Nicole and me that there were 23 crewmembers on our ship with us. That works out to a ratio of a little less than two passengers per crewmember. Each one was a model of hard work, professionalism and courtesy. If I could get them a visa to work in America, I would hire each and everyone tomorrow. After dinner we went up to the sundeck for a live performance.

(This was blogged live) Oh my goodness… I wish just one of you could be here to hear what I am currently listening to. It has to be worse than a Japanese game show. I am not sure whether to laugh or cry. I believe it is supposed to be “traditional Vietnamese performance”. It is time for new traditions. As Cathy so succinctly and accurately put it, “The musicians look stoned”. They seriously do. There are four gentlemen playing Vietnamese instruments including a flat guitar, performance guitar, violin and banjo. It is truly awful instrumental music only surpassed in horridness by the singing/acting. I WISH I had a video to show you. Cathy snuck over to sit by me and asked how we could get out of this. I said I had “puter”, so I thought I could make it. She felt it might be rude to walk out and that maybe we should do what dad was doing. She described this as fully concentrating on the music. I would call it sleeping. How he can sleep through what sounds like a dying cow, I am not really sure.

The last night on the ship once again concluded with Nicole and me closing the place down. We chatted with Sopha and Vathy well into the night. Vathy is a deck hand and doesn’t speak very good English but he is one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet. At around one we called it a night because disembarkation began fairly early the next morning.

Speaking of calling it a night… I need to get some sleep. I’ll write again tomorrow.

Katy :~>

Good Morning Vietnam

Day Seventeen: 2/28 – RV Tonle Pandaw Day #6
Title: Good Morning Vietnam

Good Morning Vietnam! Our first full day in Vietnam must have been fun because I am just getting time to write about it now (and it is two days later!). The day was scheduled with one long excursion in the morning and a lecture in the afternoon.

We departed the Pandaw at 8:30 am on a smaller local boat. We rode it for roughly an hour from our mooring location through the Tan Chau Canal. Once again the sites were quite interesting. While everything was beginning to look the same, every few minutes there would be something so foreign or so cute that it made the hour fly by.

Upon arrival at Chau Doc we took a local city tour by rickshaw. That was really fun. A rickshaw is basically a hard, one seat, carriage like thing pulled by a bicycle. To get into a rickshaw you stand on an upside milk crate, sit down and then swing your legs into the carriage. I was off before dad climbed into his rickshaw but I bet it looked like poetry in motion ;~> I felt very sorry for the little man who had to peddle around WOP. He looked terrified and rightfully so. Seeing Napoleon in his rickshaw was also quite entertaining. I was just waiting for him to start barking out orders.

Chau Doc is a pretty typical looking midsize city in a third world country. On all of the stoops there were people pushing their wares. Rabbit ears were atop many TV’s visible from the street. There were smells both good and bad and lots of nice fresh looking produce rolling down the street in carts. Motorbikes or scooters were everywhere. Every so often I spotted one with a load that defied the laws of physics. I have some pictures of this that are pretty cool.

Upon conclusion of our rickshaw ride (it was 20 minutes or so) we walked around the big pagoda in town and then went to the local market. My goal for this shopping time was to locate some blank CD’s. Some passengers on the boat had requested that I burn them some pictures and a few of the crew on the boat wanted American music. I asked our guide to help me find a place. Within ten minutes we had found and purchased the discs. I was a happy camper. The rest of the time dad and I wandered around the market.

Bailey would have been a fan of this market because there was a ridiculous amount of fabric for sale. I have seen markets with large concentrations of fabric at other times in Asia but this was the first time I had seen it on this trip. We didn’t purchase any but dad took lots of pictures to show the vast color, material and pattern options.

After the market we visited a local fish farm. If I’m being honest I wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention to what the guide was saying about the farm. I was having too much fun with the little boy on our boat. He had a mini battery operated fan and thought it was the coolest thing in the world. I would guess he was about three years old. He didn’t say anything but his smile could have lit up a room and his eyes definitely had some stories to tell. His mom was the driver of our little boat that we took from Chau Doc to the fish farm. She was the only female motorboat driver that I saw in all of our travels on the waterway. One other thing that I found interesting was that the little boy didn’t wear any kind of life jacket. I doubt that he knew how to swim but clearly both he and his mother were very comfortable on the water.

Our final stop on the extended morning tour was at the Cham Village. It is the dry season in Vietnam and the water level in many places is fairly low. In order to get to the start of the village we had to walk across a very cool bamboo bridge. I am pretty sure that our guide was convinced that all of the fat westerners were going to break it. He kept very politely trying to get the group to move along. He was not very successful but fortunately the bridge held its ground.

In the Cham village, like every other village, little kids accosted us. The product of choice in this village was a baked good that looked like a waffle. They appeared kind of good and were evidently coconut flavored but I feared my intestinal track might not like them, so I didn’t purchase any.

Our stop in this particular village had two main purposes; to see a mosque and view the Vietnamese and Cambodian border from the Vietnamese side. This was my first visit to any type of Islamic holy center. I’m not proud of this fact but I couldn’t help but wonder how the little kids who were trying so desperately to sell us their waffles felt about westerners. I am not sure if preconceived notions played a role but the kids in this particular village seemed less friendly and frankly less happy than those in all of the Buddhist villages. I didn’t ask anyone else on the trip if they sensed this… but maybe I will before the trip ends.

On our way out of village I took one of my favorite pictures from the trip. There was a little girl (maybe eight years old) hanging out the window of a fairly primitive house while her seemingly ancient grandpa looked on. I took two shots of this composed in different fashions. I can’t decide which I like better. Maybe I’ll put it out to a blog viewer vote ;~>

On our way back to the Pandaw we were served snacks by a crewmember that had come along with the expressed purpose of feeding us. Because the morning excursion was longer than usual our lunch was scheduled for an hour later than every other day on the trip. The cruise director feared that we might get hungry, so he sent along one of the dinner waitresses to serve us beverages, cakes and bananas on our 35-minute boat ride back to the Pandaw. The service and professionalism on the ship was really quite remarkable.

I was pretty darn tired after returning to the boat and eating lunch. The only activity scheduled for the afternoon was a lecture by our guide on Vietnam. Obviously dad is on this trip with me, so I decided it would be best to just hit him up for the Cliff’s Notes version after my extended nap.

Post nap I took a shower and went down to dinner with dad. The dining room was pretty full upon our arrival. The only table with two open seats available was with WOP and OP. Dad and I decided it would be best if we split for the night. I didn’t mind. I had eaten 51 straight meals with him, so a break was actually almost welcomed. I ate with the Green’s (Nicole, Dave and Caron) and Joan and Gerald Schwartz. Joan is originally from the States but lives in Hamburg, Germany with her German husband Gerald. I enjoyed the dinner company and hope that they did as well. One thing I know for sure is that all of us did not enjoy the “dessert”.

Dessert on this particular evening was Asian fair. It was called “green been and coconut soup”. I am not even sure how to describe it. Normally I like anything and everything with a coconut base. I suppose this is the exception that makes that a rule. It was truly dreadful. No one at our table ate more than a few bites. Gerald teased the food and beverage guy (F&B), Ivan (who had just boarded our boat a day earlier), that dessert was horrendous and we should have a dessert (tiramisu) from Ivan’s country (Italy) the next night. Ivan left the table as the “F&B guy”, I left it “F&disappointed” ;~>

On the way out of the dining room dad came over and asked us all how we liked dessert. Clearly we all said it was gross and that we only had one bite. Dad on the other hand said he kind of liked it. Needless to say he licked his bowl clean.

I don’t know that I have ever seen my dad leave anything on his plate. This got me to wondering about the worst meal he has ever had. According to Dr. P. his worst meal occurred in Venice, Italy at an outdoor café. It was a gondolier’s lunch and it was black rice and raw squid. The squid was pink on top of the black rice. According to dad it smelled like bait. He says he couldn’t eat it. He must really mean it too because he followed that statement up with “and believe me… that year in Europe I ate all of anything I bought.” For the most part… I would say that last statement (“I ate all of anything I bought”) is still true to this day.

After dinner Nicole, Cathy and I played another game of Scrabble on the sundeck. Post game Nicole and I stayed up chatting with one of the bartenders named Sopha. We had fun learning new things about Cambodia (that is where he is from) and teaching him things about America. As much as anything I think Nicole and I enjoyed spending time with another person under 30 years old.

Katy

Today Dad Turned 65

Day Sixteen: 2/27 – RV Tonle Pandaw Day #5
Title: Today dad turned 65!

This morning we left Phnom Penh a little later than scheduled. Some of the workers on our boat are new and their papers were not in order for the border crossing. Once those issues were resolved we got on our way roughly a half an hour behind schedule at 8:45ish.

We only had one excursion planned for today. It was scheduled to be a short visit to one final Cambodian village. As we approached the shore little kids starting coming from everywhere. It seemed as though the visit from the foreigners is always the highlight of their week (I think one of the Pandaw ships stops there weekly). As we disembarked the boat the children were ecstatic. English is not taught in this village, so we couldn’t communicate with them well. They did, however, want to hold our hands and walk with us everywhere. We strolled with a guide for roughly 20 minutes and over half the passengers had a kid taking each step with them, hand-in-hand.

As I walked around the area smiling at the kids it became obvious, yet again, that my braces were very amusing. Each kid who looked at me would grin and cover their mouth. I was tapped more than once by a little one who wanted to see the foreign objects on my teeth. I tried to draw my usual picture and explain the purpose of the braces, but this proved impossible since none of the kids spoke any English. Eventually I made one of the older kids go over to our guide with me so he could explain in Cambodian their purpose. The boy immediately understood and ran off to tell the other kids. From that point on I had a little bodyguard telling all of the other kids about the objects on my teeth.

After returning from our little adventure lunch was served. As usual the food was very good and the company was even better. My favorite food item was the pineapple tempura. It was seriously amazing. We ate with Karen, Dave and Nicole again. We also ate with Peter, a German man in his early 70’s, who is traveling by himself. He is a former physician so dad enjoys his company. I have also had fun discussing photography with him. In fact, after lunch we met for an hour and went over our best shots thus far on the trip. It was really fun and interesting to see the sights through someone else’s lens. Peter let me keep a copy of all his photos so I can share his work with you when I get home.

Border crossing into Vietnamese waters can evidently be challenging. Because of this the cruise allocated the whole afternoon for just this purpose. I think Vietnam requires almost all visitors, regardless of nationality, to obtain a visa prior to entry. The crew collected our passports when we embarked on our journey so they were hopeful that everything was in good order for our entry. I think that our tour director, Neville, may have left our boat early in the morning to tend to the crossing details because I didn’t see him until the afternoon. Eventually the boat started moving and we were yet again underway. I saw Neville shortly there after and asked him if there were any issues. He said no, then grinned, and told me he had taken the gate keepers a bottle of “good whiskey”. Nothing like a bribe of alcohol to get things done ;~>

In the late afternoon after Peter and I finished playing with our pictures I joined the cooking class on the sundeck. The boat’s chef taught us how to make California spring rolls. After the lesson we each had the opportunity to make (and eat) our own. It was kind of fun.

During cocktail hour on the sundeck I played Scrabble with Cathy and Nicole. It made me think of you, Pete and Jane, because when I play Scrabble on vacation it is almost always with you guys. When Cathy was putting the game away she dropped a tile through the deck floor. This wouldn’t be the end of the world but the game was not any of ours. She didn’t think there was any way to retrieve it but I was convinced that there had to be.

The area below the sundeck floor is actually the roof of the third level of the boat. After a little investigation I found that there was clearly enough room for a person to fit between the roof and deck. Cathy and Nicole did not want to ask anyone on the staff to get it so I told them I would. I am pretty sure I mentioned in previous writings that I made friends with Roath who works in the “front office” which happens to share space with the “saloon”. I went downstairs and told her that we lost a piece to our game below the floor of the sundeck and that we were hoping we could get it back. She said, “yah… no problem… I send someone up.” And she did. In less than five minutes two of our deck hands came to the deck. I showed them what they were looking for and they divided to conquer. One guy jumped over the rail and pulled a Spider Man like move sliding under the deck. The other took the long way and crawled down from the stern (the piece, of course, fell just about smack dab in the middle of the boat). Within a minute or two they had saved the “Y”! Nicole and I were pretty darn impressed. When I relayed to dad the success of the mission he asked if I rewarded that men accordingly. I said I had not because I didn’t have any money. Colin, the older British guy, suggested that I should have just given them a kiss. Instead I opted for a shower… by myself.

After my shower and before dinner I went to the saloon to write dad’s birthday card. I had not told anyone, other than John P. and Sigrid, that it was his birthday. I had only told them because it came up in conversation earlier in the week. As I was writing the card Roath came up to ask me if it was dad’s birthday. I said that it was and asked her how she knew. She said it is standard operating procedure to check the passenger manifest to see if anyone is having a birthday while on the cruise. I was really impressed. She told me they had a surprise for dad at dinner but that I was not allowed to tell him.

We ate dinner this evening with John P., Sigrid, Tom and Linda (the couple from the first night). In honor of dad’s birthday John P. and Sigrid bought him a bottle of nice white wine (wine and hard alcohol are not included in the price of the cruise). The cuisine this evening was Indian in nature. I enjoyed it. There was a particularly good chicken curry that I think would have made Mercy proud. We were having a lovely time chatting and waiting for dessert to be served when all of the sudden the room went dark. In marched the entire kitchen staff, led by Neville and his guitar, singing happy birthday. Dad was very surprised and quite happy. He likes to be the center of a good surprise. After the song and blowing out of the candles Neville introduced each of the staff members to dad who all wished him a happy birthday. Roath also gave dad a present. The gift was a very nice Pandaw polo shirt. Overall I think that dad would rate his 65th birthday as one of his best. Another noteworthy birthday was his 21st.

Tonight at dinner Tom asked dad what he did for his 21er. After first describing his 22nd birthday (I think the wine had sunk in) we learned that the majority of dad’s 21st was spent at a happening nightspot in Lancaster, PA. Dad turned 21 during his senior year of college. Most of his fraternity brothers (Lambda Chi Alpha) turned 21 before him, so they wanted to properly welcome him to the legal drinking age. Dad and the boys spent the evening at Hildie’s. They played darts and he played poorly. Then they played table shuffleboard and he played even worse. During their games the winner had to drink and the loser had to drink more. Clearly this resulted in dad drinking a lot that evening. Fortunately, Hildie’s was located fairly close to the frat house so his buddies didn’t have to drag him too far home. His overarching memory on the 44th anniversary of his 21st birthday is that beer tasted better after he turned 21.

Katy

I Want to be Like Her When I am 82

Day Fifteen: 2/26 – RV Tonle Pandaw Day #4
Title: I want to be like her when I am 82

I made it past the halfway point! Up until this morning the trip really has been fantastic. I hope things aren’t turning for the worse. This morning’s excursion was my least favorite part of this trip thus far. We had to get up early (6 am) after a night of not particularly good rest. They dropped the anchor at 2 am (which is really loud) and dad was snoring. I REALLY was not ready to get out of bed.

The morning’s activity was titled a “Phnom Penh city tour by bus”. Phnom Penh is a pretty nasty city. It smells, is very dirty and there are beggars all over the place. There may be a nicer part of town but we didn’t see it this morning.

Our first stop was the National Museum. I was bored out of my mind. I spent 20 minutes checking out the displays and signs. I read 80% of them in that time. The additional hour we spent in the museum was painful. The majority of the stuff was a similar style to that of Angkor Wat. I would much rather wander around the stuff in its original resting place, than in a museum. The guide was also highly annoying. The Pandaw is not allowed to use its own guides in the museum. Instead, a museum provided guide must be used. The lady’s English wasn’t very good, which can be forgiven. What was utterly obnoxious was she answered her cell phone five times in an hour and twenty minute tour! I eventually got fed up enough that I just gave myself my own tour and tried to wait patiently in a chair. Fortunately John and Sigrid were bored out of their gourd too, so we entertained ourselves by mocking WOP.

The second stop of the day was the Royal Palace. It looks like most other Royal Palaces. I would say it has a little more European influence than most in Asia because of the French occupation… but it was still a lot of the same. I am getting a bit tired of the temple and palace scene.

Our final stop of the morning was the central market. Ughhh it was dirty. I was pretty excited though that we found our dictionaries for Raksmei. I didn’t really feel like fighting the dirt and crowds after that so dad and I set out to find an Internet shop. We found one and I checked my mail to make sure nothing important had happened at home. We only had 15 minutes, so I haven’t written back to you guys yet but I certainly will tonight. The lunch gong just rang, so I am going to go eat it.

I just had lunch with PG (Parkinson’s Grandma). I no longer believe that she has Parkinson’s. She is a real hoot. Her husband, whom she married after knowing for 40 years, passed away five months ago. She is 82 years old and on this great adventure all by her lonesome. She told me all kinds of cool stuff. She traveled to Afghanistan in the 50’s for an archeological dig just because she could. Back in the day she was a Macy’s sales girl in San Francisco in the wallpaper section (who knew they sold wallpaper?) This was quite remarkable because she lived(s) in London, not in the US. She is rather dramatic in both her prose and her facial expressions. I so do love this ;~> One of my favorite lines of the lunch was when she told me that she had to evacuate London for Whales during the war. She was ticked about this at the time and clearly still is today, roughly sixty years later, because “Whales is sooooooo bloody boring.” I just loved hearing this coming from an 82-year-old woman!

I don’t even know where to begin in describing this afternoon’s excursion. We went to the S. 21 Genocide Museum. I am not sure how familiar all of you are with Cambodian history but not much of it has been good. The worst occurred in the 1970’s when Pol Pot was in power. One of our guides said it is estimated 20% of Cambodians lost their lives during this regime.

S 21 is a school that was converted into a detention center by the Khmer Rouge during their regime. Basically all educated members of Cambodian society during that time were murdered. Doctors, lawyers, teachers and religious leaders were the first to go. Many of these people were considered “VIP Victims”. Because of their status they were taken to S 21 to be tortured for “information”. It is still not clear to me what the Khmer Rouge was trying to learn from them. I think more than anything they were trying to locate any other undiscovered educated people so that they could murder them as well. Part of the facility was left as it was during this time so that visitors to the museum can see how the prisoners were forced to live. Out of 20,000 detainees who stayed in S 21, only seven made it out alive.

I think the feelings one experiences when walking through this place are the same as one might feel wandering around the grounds of Auschwitz. It is impossible to imagine the horror that the prisoners must have felt and the hatred that consumed their captors. I pray God took pity on all of the Buddhists who were murdered in S 21 (and the killing fields) by letting them into Heaven because they truly had experienced Hell on earth.

After S 21 no one in our tour felt like doing anything other than returning to the boat. Dad and I decided to venture out for a while and search for an Internet connection. You know that I found one because I have already sent you the blog from the last three days. When I finished dad and I strolled back to the boat for dinner.

We had yet another nice meal. The food wasn’t anything to write home about but the company was great. We ate with John P., Sigrid, Cathy and Dick. Dick is a cool dude. He was the quarterback at Michigan State way back in the day. He served in the Marines with former NFL coach Jim Mora. They are still best of friends to this day. For those of you who can’t place Jim, he is the coach on the current Coors Light commercials who says “Playoffs? Playoffs? You want to talk about playoffs?” Dick and Cathy have two sons in their 20’s. Man I wish those boys were on this boat. They are sure to be tall, dark and handsome ;~>

After we finally stopped socializing around 9:30pm I made dad go back out to the Internet bar with me. I wanted to take advantage of my last opportunity to play with puter for the next few days. We stayed out until roughly 1am.

Our return to The Pandaw was not without excitement. The bar we went to was approximately a ten-minute walk from the gated pier where the boat was docked. During the walk dad was commenting on the fact that he felt fairly safe. Safe was not the foremost thought in my mind. I was thinking things more like dark, smelly, dirty, sketchy, etc… We were propositioned for a million and one tuk, tuk and scooter rides. We declined each because dad wanted to walk. When we finally arrived back to our gated pier we realized that the gate we exited was now closed.

The people on The Pandaw told us that we could come and go as we pleased so long as we returned by 8am when the boat was scheduled to depart. Needless to say we were a little dumbfounded by the closed gate. I thought I might be able to slide it open far enough for the two of us to fit through. No dice. As I continued to mess around with it a security guard who couldn’t have been more than 17 came over. Dad did his usual accented English, “We waaaaaaant to get on boaaaaaaaaat.” The guy shook his head up and down and yelled to someone else. A man who appeared to be in his 40’s came over. Dad again explained, “Paaaaaaaaaassenger on Paaaaaandaaaaaaaaaw”. The older security guy looked unimpressed.

As we were negotiating with the guards a tuk tuk driver pulled up behind us. “Tuk, tuk”… “no thanks”… “no you take tuk, tuk”. I felt like any second we were going to be forced into the tuk tuk and taken away as hostages. A good four minutes later the tuk tuk driver finally pulled off. I felt slightly safer at that point but I was still annoyed that after six minutes we had gotten nowhere with the gate keeper.

Dad continued to point to the Pandaw and pull stuff out of his pockets that had the ships name it. Eventually the older guy said “okay I call” and made a phone gesture. He took something out of his pocket that looked like a phone or a walky-talky but he didn’t appear to say anything into it. We stood outside of the gate for another few minutes. I was beginning to wonder if we’d ever get back on the boat, when all of the sudden the older guy just pulled a key out of his pocket, opened the people gate and let us through. He didn’t say anything when he did it and no one called him to say to let us in. Neither of us understood why he FINALLY decided to open the gate when he did. Maybe he realized we were not going to go away. It didn’t dawn on me until now (a day later) that he might have been waiting for a bribe. Regardless, dad and I were both happy to back on the Pandaw will all of our stuff safe and sound.

When we returned to our room we were both ready for bed. I was nearly asleep when I heard dad ask me, “Would you prefer Pulpy or Bless You”. I knew I was tired but I thought I heard him correctly so I asked “What are you talking about?” He said, “It’s time for a toilet paper change and we have Pulpy and Bless You.” I picked pulpy, which leads us to our Dr. P. fun fact of the day.

Dr. P. is obsessed with toilet paper. Any of you who have ever spent any time with him probably know that his paper product of choice is Charmin Ultra purchased in MASS quantities at Costco. One of his biggest fears in life, and sadly I am not kidding, is running out of toilet paper while on the john. I was curious as to where this weird obsession, and it is an obsession, came from. He thinks it is rooted in his history as a boy scout. He can remember having to search for leaves and always being concerned that he collected enough of the right kind of leaves. The poor boy, his mother really did mess him up ;~>

Have a good night,
Katy

The Children of Cambodia are Wonderful

Day Fourteen: 2/25 – RV Tonle Pandaw Day #3
Title: The children of Cambodia are wonderful

On the first excursion this morning we went to see a temple/monastery. One of the buildings predated those of Angkor Wat. I believe it was built in 700 AD. That is a pretty darn old building. Probably the oldest I have ever seen in person. The newer temples built on the property were very similar to all of the other temples we have seen… crazy bright colors and ornate designs in honor of a multitude of gods. The complex is on top of a “mountain” (we would call it a hill). To get there you could take the “easy” route (a long winding path), “hard” route (291 stairs), or the deaths doors path (ride in a van). I chose deaths door. Just kidding. I walked up the stairs with about six other people. Dad went up the stairs too. He is in decent shape for a guy who turns 65 in two days. He also has really nice calves and manicured feet for his demographic. That might seem like a strange thing for a daughter to write, but if you could see the nastiness below the knees on this boat, you would better appreciate where I’m coming from.

During our two-hour walkabout I made another friend. Her name is Raksmei. She is 13 years old and lives about two kilometers from the monastery. Every Monday and Thursday morning she rides her bike to the ships landing place so that she can practice her English with the foreigners. Her initial attraction to me, besides my gorgeous looks and charming personality, was once again my braces. The braces really are a big hit in Cambodia because of their novelty. She was there with two friends and they were all pointing and whispering. When I saw this I knew they were talking about my teeth. I walked over to them, asked if they spoke English, and then proceeded to draw my now perfect dirt drawing of braces and what they do. Raksmei caught on WAY faster than Dané and her friends yesterday. She explained what I was saying to her friends and seemed delighted.

As we were looking at the 700 AD building one of the boat guys, Voata, was talking with Raksmei. It was clear by the way he was looking at me that she wanted to chat more. I invited her over. I told her that she was welcome to wander around the monastery with me. She seemed thrilled and proceeded to walk with me for the next two hours. We had a very nice time. I taught her the following words; braces, carbonation, chat, ally, prime minister, dialogue and battery, among other things. She was truly like a sponge. She wanted to learn anything and everything. It is crazy how much responsibility Raksmei has for a 13 year old. Evidently she is already teaching English to those in her village who can’t afford to attend classes. She also spends a lot of time taking care of her siblings who are all younger than she. Both of her parents work on a farm, so she often has to care for the little ones. She said after our boat left she was going to go home and make her two little brothers and sisters rice and soup for lunch. My favorite thing about Raksmei is that she never asked me for anything. She didn’t want money and she didn’t want to sell me anything. Raksmei just wanted to talk to me. I am pretty excited. I am going to try and find an English dictionary (neither she nor her teacher has one) in Phnom Penh. The guide told me that he would give it to her next week if I can find one. Let’s hope I can.

Dad and I ate lunch today with a couple from Battle, England. I love them. Their accents are so dang fun. The woman’s name is Jane and the man’s name is Colin. These are easy for me to remember because I just think of Jane Austin and Colin Firth. She has a great sense of humor and Colin seems to be a typical well-to-do English chap. I hope to get to know them better over the next week. I would guess she is in her fifties and that Colin is in his sixties. When speaking with them everything is “brilliant” or “lovely”. Jane dropped so many good lines. I wish I could remember a few. I’ll try to come up with some for a future blog. Another fun fact I learned from Colin was that a “lorry” is a semi-truck.

After lunch we stopped at Kampong Cham, the third biggest city in Cambodia. It didn’t feel all that big to me. Our itinerary included a trip through a local village (Cheungkok), a stop at a mountain top temple and a visit to a local orphanage.

The village stop was interesting. In this part of Cambodia the soil is only suitable for one harvest per year. This means that six-months out of the year the people have nothing to do and no income. Some non-government organization (NGO) has come into the town and taught them handicrafts so that they can sell their wares and make some money out of harvest season.

The village was packed with little ones. They loved having their picture taken and then seeing themselves on the camera. I think the Pandaw brings people through almost weekly, so whities aren’t rare, but they still seemed to really enjoy our visit. It was funny watching the little kids compete with each other for our attention. At times the competition got to the point that pushing and shoving ensued. Speaking of fighting it is time for the Doctor P. fun fact of the day.

The worst thing Doctor P. ever did to his sister was throw a flowerpot at her head. Dad says it was a little red clay pot. He was four or five years old and Barbara made him mad. He doesn’t remember what she did but does remember that they were playing in the sandbox. He got angry, picked it up, and chucked it at her head. Thankfully he missed his mark and the pot shattered against the house. Baba… do you remember what you did to tick him off?

The temples of Phnom Pros and Phnom Srei were more of the same. The grounds of the temples had a decent sized monkey population. I mostly played with them while the others on our tour heard the details of what the god of so and so did. I am really starting to get “templed out”. You can really only see so many before they are all the same.

Our final stop in Kampong Cham was an orphanage. I was expecting this to be almost unbearably sad. Surprisingly the kids in the orphanage seemed pretty darn content. They appeared to be well fed, clothed and had nicer accommodations than many of the other kids we have met thus far on our journey. Additionally all of the kids in the orphanage are receiving an education. That too is more than can be said for many Cambodian children. When we returned to the boat Jane and Colin asked me how many kids I adopted from the orphanage. I am gaining quite the reputation as the child enchanter. In all honesty I don’t know why everyone on the boat isn’t making friends with the people we are meeting along the way. I find my interaction with the kids is quickly becoming the highlight of my trip.

The coolest part of the orphanage, with the exception of the basketball court, was the painting room. Many of the young men and women are learning to paint both watercolor and oil based paintings. These kids were amazingly talented. I few of their works looked like photographs from Angkor Wat. I was really impressed. Dad actually ended up buying two paintings that he plans to use to decorate his new office. Both pictures contain palm trees, so I considered them to be great choices.

When dad and I returned from the afternoon excursion, we immediately went back to our room. On the way we noticed that a bunch of the patio furniture located outside of our rooms was being moved to a small long boat that had pulled up along side our ship. Our cruise purser was on the long boat, so we assumed that they had either swapped out some old furniture or were completing some kind of cleaning process. We continued to our room, left off our stuff and headed for the sundeck.

The ship departed our mooring and set sail for Phnom Phen. After about 30 minutes of sailing a few of us on the deck noticed that we were heading directly towards a sand island in the distance. The river bent the opposite direction. We figured it must have something to do with the channel or preplanned river traffic. As we got closer, it began to look like there were chairs out on the island. The boat continued to move closer and we realized they were OUR deck chairs on the island!

The crew decided to surprise the whole boat by throwing us a sand island cocktail party. The joy that ensued was “brilliant”. All of the passengers were really excited. The backdrop to the set up was a “lovely” Cambodian sunset. The crew created the scene with absolute efficiency. We had music, dancing, homemade tiki torches (pieces of bamboo split at the top with Sterno cans placed in them), a full bar, appetizers, tables, chairs and a bonfire. The second we walked the gangplank off of the boat we were handed a tropical beverage of some sort. Within very few minutes the entire boat was well lubricated. This includes my father who was very happy.

The craziest thing about the cocktail party was that this the first time in the history of the Pandaw that they had ever attempted a sand bank cocktail party. You would have never known it. My favorite element of the evening was seeing the pure joy that it seemed to bring the crew. Many of them are shy and reserved on the boat, so seeing them let loose, enjoy each other and the passengers was really nice. One service guy, who is considered one of the shyest on the boat, serenaded us with a few songs on his guitar. The party concluded with the kitchen staff letting off roughly 100 bottle rockets. Kudos to the staff on the Pandaw, I never knew I could have so much fun with a bunch of old people ;~>

Upon reentering the boat we were served our usual four-course meal. I will never know how they managed to throw a party and still prepare and serve a delicious meal. Everyone was pretty tired after dinner. I blogged a little on the sundeck, talked with one of the Frenchman and then called it a night. Tomorrow we will be in a Phnom Pen for the day. They have scheduled some free time for us. My first priority is finding a dictionary for Raksmei. My second priority is sending this to you!

I hope all of you are well and I will talk to you soon,
Katy

Monopoly = Wealth

Day Thirteen: 2/24 – RV Tonle Pandaw Day #2
Title: Monopoly = Wealth

Greetings from the Tonle Wild! I made it through our first night on the ship! One down, seven to go ;~> I slept pretty well for the first four hours last night, then the captain started tooting our horn. There is a fair amount of river traffic. Every time we approach another vessel we honk at them to move. Clearly we are the top dog. Either that or our boat isn’t agile enough to maneuver around the tiny little guys in front of us. I think that in reality it is a combination of the two. It is kind of funny to watch little fishermen that wait until the very last second to move their boat. Our captain honks at them unmercifully and the horn is really loud. I may sleep with my headphones on tonight to prevent awakening every 10 minutes or so from 5:00 am on.

Our first “excursion” of the trip was to a small little fishing village named Kampong Chhnang. We departed our boat (again it is called the Pandaw) in little local boats that took us around their village. Much of the village is “floating”. It is pretty strange. The homes and shops are built on floating pylons that rise and fall with the water levels. In a lot of ways building a home in this manner makes sense because the river level is extremely variable in this part of the world. Clearly they have no cars but instead travel by boat. There is a part of the city built on land. Our guide told us most of the people that live on the water are Vietnamese and most of the people that live on the land are Cambodian. I’m not sure if that is an economic, social, or cultural divide.

The little local boat also took us to see a big (that is a relative term) fishing operation. Evidently portions of the lake (I believe we were on a lake at this point) are owned by individual families. They have sweet bamboo gates that block the end of the channels that lead to their property. I gate keeper sits atop the gate and only opens it for those who have permission to enter. Our guide said that basically just the family who owns that water way and farmers that live on the other side are allowed to enter.

The effect of monopolizing a stretch of water for business (fishing) purposes is exactly as one would expect. The house of the people who own the fishing business is by far the nicest one we saw this morning.

Our final activity on the morning excursion was wandering around the local market. Paulie showed us how to eat a baby duck egg. It looked kind of nasty. We also saw pottery, endless produce, a “gas station” (you’ll like the pictures of this Ryan), great looking bread, a “traditional” pharmacy and a barber shop. The similarities between an American and Cambodian barber are striking. I can’t wait to share that picture with you guys! ;~>

After returning back to the Pandaw we relaxed on the sundeck with John P. and Sigrid. I played with pictures and watched the scenery go by. It really was quite beautiful. We then ate lunch and I took a two-hour nap. After waking up I tried to snag an Internet signal, which I wrote about in real-time below.

You all would enjoy and appreciate this. I am currently sitting on the deck outside dad and my room. We are passing through Phnom Penh City. We are not stopping there today but I was hoping that I might be able to snag an Internet connection as we floated by. Many wireless signals appeared but unfortunately they were all password protected. The one positive from this is that I am fairly certain I will actually be able to get a signal when we stop in Phnom Penh in a few days. I have to go get ready for our afternoon excursion to the Chong Koh Village. I will write about it when we come back to the boat.

One of dad’s main reasons for liking riverboats is their ability to go to places unreachable by car. Today’s stop at Chong Koh Village was our first such experience. There were a few motorbikes but I didn’t see a single car. There were, however, still numerous people pushing their wares.

I was sitting outside our cabin when our boat pulled ashore. A cute little girl on the shore began smiling and waving to me. I smiled and waved back. When we disembarked the ship this little girl came up to me. She asked me my name and I asked her hers. Dané was quite the little sales girl. She walked with me throughout the course of our entire hour tour around the village. I enjoyed learning about her life and teaching her English words. She is 13 years old and has only been studying English for five months. I was shocked by this because her English in incredibly good. What impressed me most about Dané was her quickness of thought. She seemed to be advanced in that regard for a 13 year old anywhere in the world. Her dream in life is to be a doctor. If she can’t afford medical school, then she would like to be a teacher. I think she would be great in either profession.

My braces (on my teeth) seemed to be a big hit in Chong Koh. I do not believe that any of the kids had ever seen them before. I think the only foreigners that ever visit the village come off of the Pandaw every ten days. As you know this crowd skews toward death, so not many of them are wearing braces. In fact, I may be the first visitor in the history of the Pandaw to have them ;~> I was asked by a group of about five girls why I had stuff on my teeth. The word “straight” was not in any of their vocabularies, so I resorted to drawing pictures with my fingers in the dirt. The light bulb finally went on in one of the girls minds (I am not a good artist ;~) and she rapidly spoke in Cambodian to the other girls explaining their purpose. In the end they all smiled and one told me my teeth “were very pretty”. I think they really liked that I took the time to explain something to them and that I was willing to get my hands dirty.

The women in Chong Koh are weavers. One of the stops on our walking tour was with an 86-year-old woman. She didn’t have any teeth but her smile could light up a room. She no longer weaves but she has taught the trade to both her daughter and granddaughter who now support their family. I have a cute picture with both the old woman and Dané that I will be happy to share when I get home.

Dinner this evening was very pleasant. At breakfast this morning Sigrid brought over the other young American girl on the boat that I referenced earlier and introduced me to her. Her name is Nicole. She is on the cruise with her parents and a few family friends. She currently resides in D.C. but has lived all over the place. Her dad is a retired executive from Elli Lily. Nicole wanted a break from her parental units, so she joined John P., Sigrid, dad and me for dinner. We talked about travel, politics, and pop-culture. It really was a nice time.

Dinner concluded around 9:30 pm. I wasn’t very tired so I grabbed my laptop and headed up to the sundeck. That is where I am currently writing. I just finished watching two episodes of LOST. I think LOST must be in the top five best-written shows of all time. It is extra fun to watch LOST on this adventure because much of the scenery on the show looks very similar to our current location. It is truly amazing that I can be floating down the Mekong River, drinking Diet Coke, passively observing a lightning storm in the distance and watching a one week old episode of LOST on my laptop.

The first day on the Pandaw is rapidly coming to a close. I must admit that I had a very nice day. I believe today was better than any single day I had on the Yang-Tze. A combination of things likely contributed to this: the Pandaw is very clean; unlike the boat in China it has no smell; the food is pretty darn good; and the people, with the exception of OP and WOP, are quite enjoyable. It is my sincerest hope that on the ninth day I feel as good about the river cruise as I do at this moment. Thanks for all of your prayers for a good trip, I think that they are working ;~> I’ll leave you with the Dr. P. fun fact of the day.

When dad was a boy he used to go to Eagles games! I never knew that he liked football prior to Jason and my interest in the game. He attended the games with his Uncle Walter who had season tickets. During this time the Eagles played at U of Penn. Dad claims this was in the 57’ to 59’ range. I didn’t know “The Eagles” had been around that long but he assures me they have.

Nighty, night…

Katy

OP and WOP

Day Twelve: 2/23 – Transfer to the Pandaw River Boat (day #1)
Title: OP & WOP

The geriatric portion of the journey has officially begun! This place is worse than ECC (Eugene Country Club)! Tim picked us up with the Purdon’s this morning and took us to another hotel. We are meeting all of the other passengers here, loading up in buses and driving to our embarkation point. We have an hour to kill at the hotel before all of the other passengers are required to show up.

I know I need not point this out but I CLEARLY am the only one in the meeting room with naturally NOT gray hair. I am in a conference like room where all the passengers are set to gather. The room is nicely appointed. It is probably 10 feet by 20 feet. So it is not a huge room. I would liken the room to hell. One guy just walked in who is clearly going to be the most obnoxious passenger on the ship. We are going to call him OP. I was alone in the room at this point because I want to be blogging this stuff “live”. OP just came over and introduced himself to me. The fact that I was clearly typing and not interested in him didn’t seem to dissuade him from coming over. He is from Canada. That’s all I really heard.

Clearly it is a small world. He left to go find his wife somewhere and John P. just walked back in the door. We are the only two people in the room. He looks like he was just punched in the stomach. He knows OP from back home! He used to work with his wife and can’t stand them! This clearly does not surprise me. I have a pretty good tool detector. Oh man… OP has competition for number one obnoxious passenger. His wife really is a handful. Please pray that they are located on the opposite side of the boat from us.

OP just greeted another guy with a “hello fellow tea drinker”. The other tea drinker looks like an 80 year-old Frenchman. He clearly thinks OP is a tool as well. OP feels compelled to teach everyone in the room how to create instant coffee. Clearly he is the only guy smart enough to figure this out without assistance.

Watching the door open each time with the arrival of the next passenger is an interesting experience. My stomach is actually turning a little bit. I don’t know what I did to deserve EIGHT days with these people. I think I am a fairly good person. God clearly does not.

A miracle just happened. Someone under the age of 60 walked through the door. Unfortunately she is a female but I’ll take any youth at this point. I think she is an American… maybe here with her mom and aunt? I’m sure I’ll figure that out later.

I wish I could take a picture of all these people without being painfully obvious. You all would appreciate it. A man just sat in the seat next to me. He was clearly trying to read what I am writing. I think he may have gotten a little offended by my geriatric comment… but that is his problem for reading my private writings :~> And he looks like he is 75, so he can’t really argue with the truth of the statement now can he?

Most of the people getting on this boat to seem to be fairly overweight. I think old and fat people like cruises because they are often all you can eat and don’t require or even allow for a lot of movement. It really is amazing. One fat woman after another keeps walking through the door. I must admit that I kind of like it because I feel like a super model ;~> If only there was a single male on the boat under 65 to hit on! I am sad to report Mikey… I don’t think your prognostication of me meeting Mr. Right on the boat trip is going to come true :~<

OP’s wife has the most obnoxious piercing laugh you have ever heard. I can see why John P. doesn’t particularly care for her and I have only been sitting across the room from her for ten minutes. I have a feeling that she will become a common character in the blog for the next nine days. From here on out I will address OP’s wife as WOP (wife of obnoxious passenger).

Our first severe case of Parkinson’s just came through the door. You know I love you Pop, but I don’t think this is the type of trip where our pace of movement would be compatible. I want to go on trips with you (Pop… he is my grandpa) where we can talk and you can teach me, not action packed adventures. I don’t know that I will be able to adhere to the “no man left behind” motto. PG (Parkinson’s grandma) just might have to go ;~>

We are now on the bus and WOP has directions for everyone. She thinks that the music needs to be turned off. She just announced that to everyone on the bus. Now OP just walked up to the driver and told him to turn the music off. Unfortunately the driver did it. WOP applauded loudly. No one else on the bus made any noise, instead they all just looked at her. This is REALLY going to be a long EIGHT days ;~>

It was just announced that the bus trip is going to be four and half hours long…. blah… I have nice Bose sound canceling headphones. Those plugged in to my ipod at full blast are not loud enough to block WOP’s voice. This is going to be a VERY long four plus hours.

The bus ride is bumpy and a little warm. Mom surely would have thrown up by now. The scenery is kind of interesting but a little monotonous. Lots of farmland (rice fields), houses (many of which are made of bamboo and average probably 300sq feet) and the occasional cow wandering down the highway. I’m sure this is supposed to be a two-lane highway but if another bus like ours tried to pass us, it wouldn’t fit.

We just completed a fifteen-minute stop at a bridge, Spean Praptes, which was built more than a thousand years ago. It is still in use today. Pretty amazing stuff. Overhead door should have asked the guys who built the bridge how to make an electronic gate work properly.

Have I mentioned that I don’t like squatter toilets? Picture this scene: We stopped at the 1000 year-old bridge. Our bus director, Paulie, announces there are nice bathrooms. Very close to the bridge there is a sign with an arrow that says “W.C. 500”. This of course means that for 500 Riel you can use the “water closet” aka toilet. The outhouse building was located in the back of a very rustic house. While waiting in the queue two little girls and their mom, who I presume live in the house, walked up with a basket full of creatures from the river. Most of the things looked like regular fish but there were a few that looked like some type of eel. The biggest fish was probably a pound and our guide identified it as a catfish. There was a cow wandering around in close proximity (i.e. I could have touched it), lots of chickens and a few ducks. When it was finally my turn to use the facilities, I discovered that it was a squatter. Men are so lucky. I tried to go for a good minute or two but I just couldn’t make my muscles relax. The combination of sounds and smells were too much for me. This wasn’t a ginormous problem because I didn’t have to go tremendously bad… but I did waste 12 cents trying ;~>

After another two and half hours of driving we arrived in Skuon. This is a very tiny place with one main attraction, SPIDERS. Joel would love it. The second you step off the bus you are accosted by people trying to sell you deep fried spiders and crickets. Our guide ate a few for us (she is a native Cambodian) and confirmed that they do in fact taste like chicken. She prefers to eat the legs. I wanted to try a leg just to tell Joel I did but dad suggested attracting a bacterial malady would not be a good idea. He won and I didn’t try it. I do think, however, that everyone on the ship heard that OP and WOP tried the spiders. I’m actually not surprised. I think WOP has eaten anything fried ever placed in front of her.

Dad just dropped a gem. He said “when in doubt, don’t eat it”. I don’t believe he has spent one day of his life living by that motto. I think my family would agree that the opposite tends to be true ;~>

I am now writing from my bed. One hundred square feet is small. Mark off a ten-foot by ten-foot square on the ground with tape. Don’t worry I’ll wait… Now call your dad and invite him over. Okay, now both of you get in the box. You may leave the box three times a day for one to two-hour excursions. All sleeping must occur in the box. Preferably you will have marked off your ten by ten space immediately adjacent to the bathroom because I wouldn’t want you to miss out on any sounds that may come from there. Also, no closing the bathroom door, I want your experience to stay authentic. Please repeat this routine for EIGHT consecutive days.

(I just read that paragraph out loud to dad… he thinks it is unfair because in his opinion the room is bigger than 10 by 10… he is now measuring the distance with his fingers and an umbrella… he wants you to know that the room is actually 11.5 by 10. I stand corrected. Pleas adjust your box accordingly ;~)

My initial impressions of the boat are actually not terrible. With the exception of being pretty buggy it is very clean. I don’t really think there is anything they can do about the bugs because, after all, we are in the middle of a river in Cambodia.

Upon arrival on our boat, the RV Tonle Pandaw, everyone took off his or her shoes for cleaning. Evidently it is easier to clean people’s shoes than all of the boat decks after each excursion. The washing of the shoes gets them pretty wet, so I am happy that I brought two pairs to rotate.

After a short briefing on the sundeck dad and I went to our room. As noted above it is SMALL. I’m certain it is smaller than any bedroom I have ever had. Fortunately it is fairly clean and has well designed space. The bed seems pretty comfortable. There is no Internet on the boat. While not surprising it is slightly disappointing.

The dinner gong, yes there literally is a dinner gong, rang at 7pm. I went down to the dining room. John P and Sigrid were sitting at a table with two empty seats and another couple. I joined them. At the table I met Tom and Linda from British Columbia, Canada. I would guess that they are in their mid fifties to early sixties. They are very friendly and have great senses of humor. Tom uses the phrase “eh” to emphasize many of his points. I like that. I think it is fun. All of the tables in the dining hall are set up for parties of six. I hope that we eat with John P., Sigrid, Tom and Linda for the rest of our trip. I think that I could get along with them for 24 straight meals. Also they can protect me from OP and WOP. A single meal with them may leave me contemplating suicide.

The food at dinner was very good. Breakfast and lunch are buffets and dinner has a set menu with three choices. I had some kind of chicken. My favorite thing about dinner, however, was that they had DIET COKE! That is a most fabulous development. Better yet is that it is all you can drink and included in the price of the trip! I may have trouble drinking $100K worth of soda in eight days but I think can do it ;~>

Our wake up call is early tomorrow (6:30), so I am going to call it a night. I am not sure when my next chance to send this to you will be. We have an excursion in Phnom Penh in two days. I hope at the latest I’ll be able to send it to you then.

Goodnight from the Khmer River,

Katy

P.S. Doctor P’s. favorite color is blue. He thinks he likes it because it reminds him of tropical waters. He also says that he likes blue shirts and blue pants. I’m not sure what Thai food has to do with the color blue but he wants you to know that he likes that too ;~>

Indiana Polansky

Day Eleven: 2/22 – Siem Reap (Angkor Temples) Day Two
Title: Indiana Polansky

Today Dad decided that he wanted to spend our free day exploring more of the Angkor temples. The one he was most interested in visiting was roughly an hour car ride from our hotel. I have my computer and my iPod with me in the car (that’s where I am as I write this), so I don’t really care how much time we spend in the car. It is actually nice to have a chance to blog today before midnight ;~>

It is clear based on the roads that there is great business potential for the Papé Group in Cambodia. I think Uncle Randy should come here immediately and start selling steamrollers. The hindquarters of millions of tourists a year would appreciate it. There are some paved roads but of course what dad wanted to see wasn’t on them ;~> It got so rough that I had to put puter away. Typing was just too difficult and the violent bouncing seemed to be disagreeing with my screen.

The first temple we saw today was Banteay Srei. This is a temple made for little people. It is seriously a miniature version of a temple. Cambodian lore suggests it was likely built BY women because of its exquisite detail. It is also thought that it may have been built FOR women because of its small size. More specifically, some of the doors are only three and half feet tall. It was fun to wander around the place and feel like a giant. (I’ve always wanted to be taller ;~) The details in the sand stone carving are absolutely incredible. Like the Palace in Bangkok, it is mind boggling to imagine how long it must have taken to hand make each detail. I would be shocked if anyone lived long enough to see the project through from start to finish. The pictures will certainly demonstrate this better than my words ever could. One other differentiating thing about this temple is that it was built with red (as opposed to a grayish color) sand stone. This detail causes many to believe Banteay Srei is “the most beautiful temple”.

Our second stop of the day was The Cambodian Landmine Museum. What a sad place. As I am sure most of you know Cambodia has historically been very war torn. Much of the fighting was territorial in nature and land mines were often a weapon of choice. One of the first signs I read was very poignant in describing a sad truth of land mines. They are designed to maim, not to kill. The philosophy behind this is that a wounded soldier is more strenuous on an opposing army’s resources than a dead one. Sadly in terms of battle strategy I think this makes a lot of sense.

Initially when landmines were used in wars they were mapped so that when fighting ceased they could be removed or the areas containing them could be avoided. Unfortunately over time that practice was discontinued, creating unknown mine fields all over rural Cambodia (and many other countries). Children throughout the world are inherently inquisitive. They like to run, play, dig and see what they can find. Cambodian children are no different. Unfortunately for them this has often resulted in lost eyes, hands, feet, legs and arms.

An amazing man named Aki Ra started the Cambodian Landmine Museum. I encourage you to read this brief background on him http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aki_Ra. The museum has grown from its humble beginnings to the point that it now includes a school and residences for children effected by landmines. All of you should add Aki to your list of prayers. He certainly has a heart of gold and is undoubtedly doing a GREAT work.

The Banteay Samre temple was our third stop of the day. This may be my favorite temple of the trip thus far. I think I probably enjoyed it more because there were very few tourists. There were also much fewer restrictions on where we could tromp around. We climbed up ledges, walked on narrow paths, hung in windows and jumped off walls. I felt like Indiana Polansky in this place. And I liked it ;~> Today’s attached photo was shot in this temple.

We concluded our two days of touring Angkor by viewing West Baray. This is the biggest fricken manmade reservoir you have ever seen. It is rectangular in shape and roughly 8 by 2.1 kilometers. That’s roughly 5 by 1.3 miles for those of you scoring at home. According to Tim it is more then 20 feet deep in most places. Imaging digging that sucker by hand!

As with all tourist destinations the West Baray had a row of shops and lots of people pushing their wares. However, this area seemed a little bit more local oriented than most of the others. There was a barrage of food stalls cooking things that westerners would clearly not eat. One of the classic delicacies, cockroaches, was present. I tried to talk dad into eating one but he was having no part of it. We stopped to look at some fruit in front of one stand and the two girls behind it started giggling at me. This was the fist time I had my iPod on me outside of the van, so I thought their giggles may have had to do with that. I took my earphones out of my ears, smiled and said “huh”. They just giggled more. It was clear that they didn’t speak any English. Later Tim told me what they were laughing about was how much they wanted beautiful white skin like mine. Clearly my plans of getting a tan are not going well ;~>

On our way into town after the temple touring I spotted a great basketball hoop. I had been looking for one throughout our two plus hours of driving to no avail. Had I been looking for a volleyball court (I use that term loosely), I would have had no trouble. I was really surprised that more kids seemed to be playing volleyball than any other game, including “futball”. I am pleased that even though I didn’t get to sleep in today I did accomplish my goal of finding a Cambodian hoop.

Once we arrived in town we took Tim and the driver, whose name I finally learned is Oneway (at least phonetically ;~), to a late lunch. Tim picked the restaurant. We ate in a little a Chinese place with lots of flies but really good food. We had fun picking Tim’s brain one last time about Cambodian culture.

After lunch Tim took us back to the hotel. I took a nap and dad got another massage. He paid a lot this time… $22 for an hour and a half ;~>

We decided to explore the downtown with our last night in Siem Reap. The night market was the smallest we have seen on this trip. Interestingly enough, most of the shops were closed by nine and it is Friday night. I don’t know how that constitutes a night market… but whatever.

We had a great meal in a place called “The Warehouse”. Dad ate more Cambodian curry and I had a fabulous fruit and pork sandwich. The bread is surprisingly good here because of the historical French influence. For dessert we shared a crème brule and a fried banana dish. Fried bananas are uber popular in both Thailand and Cambodia. These were more fritter like and I think they were my favorite that we have sampled thus far.

There is a surprisingly happening alley filled with pubs. I was really pumped with one thing in particular that I saw on this street. There was a very attractive tall dark and handsome man walking with what appeared to be his mother down the road. Everyone please pray that they join us on the boat tomorrow!

We have had a GREAT trip thus far. I know you all think I am joking or crazy to be nervous about the start of the boat trip tomorrow… but I seriously am. The size of the cabin and ship are of particular concern, along with the age of the other passengers and the EIGHT day duration. I don’t care that much about the food because I still have a small army’s supply of Luna Bars that can get me through if necessary. I assuredly will keep you posted on the developments. It is my sincerest hope that I will be able to report my three-months of premeditated cabin fever were unfounded.

I am not sure how my Internet access will be the next eight days, so you may hear from me sparingly. I will continue to write about our adventures. In the event that I can’t send the blog throughout the duration of the cruise, you may want to schedule some free time for March 2. Undoubtedly I will have written a novel by then!

I’m going to close tonight with what seems to be one of the most popular segments of the blog: The Dr. P. fun fact of the day.

The first plane trip my dad ever took was in 1951. He was eight years old (yes now you can do the math on how old he is… in fact I will tell you… he turns 65 this week). He flew with his family (mom, dad and sister) from Philadelphia, PA to Seattle, WA. Not surprisingly it was on United Airlines (I think that is when his first love affair started ;~) It was United’s Main Line Service. The aircraft, or “equipment” as they call it in the biz, was a DC-6. He remembers it seating roughly 35 people. Flying at this time was a big deal. He and his dad wore suits and his mom wore a hat (evidently that was dressy then?) Planes didn’t have the long-haul capability that they do now, so they had to stop four times. Refueling stops were made in Detroit, Chicago, Denver and Portland. A meal was served on every segment and the drinks were free flowing. They sat two by two but faced each other. I am not sure who flew backwards. If I know my grandma, it was probably Barbara and dad. Fourteen hours after leaving Philadelphia they finally made it to Seattle. Thank goodness for the invention of the jet engine!

I’ll write again as the connections on the Mekong River Delta allow.

Be blessed,

Katy