Happy Happy Joy Joy Happy Happy Joy Joy!!! August 9, 2008

28.July.08

And then we left Battambang via bus to Phnom Penh, the capitol, where excitement awaited. Hailed by another cacophony of “Lady, Mister, Tuk Tuk?” and the drivers pointing at themselves like apes “me, me, you ride with me!” We picked one driver who seemed chill and willing to give a fair price (because the hostel we let him bring us to gave commission!) It was a nice hostel, but the cheaper rooms all taken or smelly. So, we splurged a whopping $7/night for a surprisingly nice room…with a big comfy bed, hot water, and an even better TV! Oh the small things… We dropped our stuff and walked up to the quay where Phnom Penh first started to impress us. Huge flags of every country (many we didn’t know) ran along the Tonle Sap River and behind a long line of fancy hotels and clean, nice looking restaurants. We decided to take a chance and try Mexican food again; good, but just not California good, and the excitement of guacamole was diminished by the very conservative use of avocado. I don’t know why we even try anymore. After lunch we stumbled on a miracle, FAST INTERNET. We used for a bit, then headed back to our room for some TV and early sleep.

29.July.08

We walked a long way trying to find bicycles to rent, the Tuk Tuk drivers have the backpacker districts by the balls so no motos or bicycles are for rent anywhere. It was hot and miserable and the city and traffic were wild. It was great seeing some of the city, but we walked way farther than hoped not finding any rental places. Finally after asking around we found a huge market where thousands of bicycles made their home, and all of course, only for purchase!!! Seriously annoyed after spending 20 minutes trying to find one place to rent us bikes we almost admitted defeat until finding an awesome place called Lucky Lucky who took care of everything. They gave us a good price to get our Vietnamese visas ($32) and an awesome price to rent a really great Honda motorbike, $4 a day! Of course Jessica posed a problem; renting a motorbike meant actually motor biking in this unbelievably insane city. I assured her of my awesome driving skills and promised to be painfully slow and safe, and soon thereafter we were driving through chaos. Imagine every driving law you know being not only broken, but almost treated as if it was the correct way to drive. I’m not kidding here, one of the worst things we saw, which is actual quite a normal thing to witness, was an SUV driving on the opposite side to bypass the queue at the red light and turn across all lanes of traffic, while motorbikes just swerved around him as he sped through . Red lights and stops signs are suggestions, helmets an inconvenience (not for us), roundabouts a conundrum with no rules or direction, etc. In other words; it was AWESOME. We saw many close calls, but we always stayed super slow and off to the right, not a problem whatsoever and a really crazy experience to be in the thick of it all.

Anyways then we biked to S-21 detention center, ate lunch at a great café outside during heavy monsoonal rains, and then entered the horrifyingly depressing compound. S-21 was a high school turned by the Kmer Rouge into a prison/re-education center (AKA; torture, rape, starve, & slaughter center). Haunting pictures and testimonials from both victims and guards alike, room after room of tight-quartered brick walls, victim mug shots, post-torture pictures, chains, knives, blood stained tile floors, and a gut-wrenching set of rooms with a picture in each of how the prisoner was found when the center was liberated by the Vietnamese…it all sort of felt like visiting Disneyland…without “It’s a Small World.”

After getting pummeled in the face by the cruel realites of the world, we used internet for awhile at an even cheaper and faster internet center where only locals go. Go figure, tourists pay more for less. We then biked to the original restaurant of our favorite in Siem Riep “Tell.” We sat in it’s even greater ambiance and had a delicious 5 star German meal. Oh how we’ve missed you sauerkraut!

30.July.08

We found a breakfast place with unbelievable bagels and cream cheese, thereby curbing a painful craving we’ve had. Delicious pastrami sandwich; I can still taste it. Then we decided to make the day a bit more fun than yesterday and headed to the Kmer Rouge Killing Fields…maybe it’s not the normal idea of fun, but what is normal? The drive there was probably the most insane experience we have ever had on asphalt. First we went the wrong way and ended up over a traffic packed bridge into a dodgy slum which we quickly turned out of and got back on path. Then the other bridge we needed to take outside of the city was under repair, so we went to a little dirt road thrown together over the river where all the traffic bottle-necked down a scary narrow trail. Fun times. Then we took another wrong turn and discovered where all our products “made in Cambodia” are manufactured; in a MASSIVE factory the size of a small city with thousands of people marching the roads like lambs to the slaughter, wearing little plastic tags. As if that wasn’t depressing enough we finally ended up at the Killing Fields and were instantly faced with a tower of thousands of human skulls.

So much for NOT being depressed today.  The walk around the Killing Fields consisted of human bones protruding from the ground along the trails, a bin where you are asked to place any teeth/bones you find, massive craters which used to be mass graves, and lots of useful history on the genocide, one particularly good synopsis comparing it to the Nazis. The atrocities of the Kmer Rouge are completely insane, and I’ll skip the more gruesome details for the feint of heart.  Lets just say take everything you know about the horrors of the Nazi regime and the Kmer Rouge did the same and often worse (just not to as many people (Pol Pot killed over 2 million people or 1/4 of the entire population of Cambodia, namely the educated, city dwelling, and wealthy citizens, all in the name of flipping the social order for a more agrarian communist utopia).

Now questioning why we subject ourselves to such madness, (probably our curiosity and insatiable thirst for knowledge and understanding), we left the fields and finally on to something happier; a pretty lake lined with more hostels and villages. We had lunch along the river, and enjoyed some reading (Jessica now reading “First They Killed my Father” after I finished, an incredible book by a survivor of the Kmer Rouge).

Then we headed to a quaint Wat on a hill surrounded by a nice park right on the middle of the city. The Wat was mediocre on the outside, but quite gorgeous within and in the park we found monkeys, dogs, children, and an elephant. After that we went to the hotel for a bit and off to dinner in another district where we completely randomly met Darren, the friend we made in Battambang who lives there and works in Phnom Penh. He had work with his theatre workshop early so he didn’t hang out for long, but it was cool chatting with him. We also met a married couple of Peace Corps workers nearing the end of their 2 ½ year shift. We learned some pretty interesting stuff from them about rural Cambodia.

31.July.08

We had another excellent breakfast at a French restaurant frequented by ex-pats and foreign dignitaries. Terrific pastries! Then we said goodbye to our wonderful motorbike and made an offering of thanks to the motorbike deity for our safe return through two days of utter bedlam! We walked to the Grand Royal Palace which really wasn’t that grand in comparison to all the other royal palaces we’ve seen.

We headed then to the National Museum which was surprisingly astounding. The artifacts are mostly priceless relics from the Ankgor temples, lots of gold and jewelry which used to adorn statues of gods, and many perfectly preserved statues, carvings, and frescoes. Moreover it was all enclosed in a gorgeous structure with a very pleasant courtyard filled with ponds and pleasant flora. Kind of a diamond in the rough, though Phnom Penh is not all that ugly of a city.  When satisfied with the museums, temples, and palaces, we walked again to Lucky Lucky and got out passports back with our beautiful Vietnamese visas, whoo hoo! We booked a bus to Vietnam for tomorrow and met Darren at a restaurant for some beers and conversation. Later took a Tuk Tuk back home and slept.

Photos of Phnom Penh:

http://flickr.com/photos/flufflebuns/sets/72157606565239768/

We Miss Laos… August 7, 2008

25.July.08

Our bus ride from Siem Reap to Battambang was dusty, bumpy, cramped, and long. We got stuck behind a political parade for some party paying thousands of people for their vote with blue T-Shirts and White hats. It took an hour longer than necessary driving on a very bumpy dirt road behind the mass of politically brainwashed. We passed the beginnings of some very nice concrete bridges over the little flowing monsoon streams, and the first lays of asphalt. A work in progress which as we later found should have been finished years ago, but for a bribe put in the right place by a Thai airline company not wanting the smooth road to compete with flights!!! Yay corruption! But alas we arrived, and to the usual cacophony of “Mister, Lady, Tuk Tuk?” No misters, we replied and walked around in the drizzling rain to find a hotel. The room we settled on was mediocre, except it is the first time in months we have had a TELEVISION!!! Whoo hoo, HBO, Showtime, BBC News, Animal Planet, now we can just become vegetables again after the last four days of insanity…and that we did, for the rest of the day, aside from some tasty dinner at a Kmer restaurant comically named “Smokin’ Pot” where we randomly bumped in to this English guy Darren who we met on the bus. He works in Cambodia with a theatre workshop so we had a lot to talk about.

26.July.08

We wanted to make today our big sightseeing day, but we guessed a storm was a brewin’ and we were right, it poured all day. So we read, used crazy slow internet (read two blogs back for reason it is slow…Yay corruption!) and watched TV really loud trying to drown out the sounds of constant political parade (voting is tomorrow which is the day we wanted to leave, but got stuck as all buses stop). The rallies are insane, consisting of thousands of people packed into trucks, and riding around crazily on motorbikes, all with matching hats, and blue shirts. The main party is “The People’s Party,” and is lead by a man who used to be a high ranking Kmer Rouge official who “defected,” YAY corruption! Every slightly educated person we speak with hates the People’s Party because they are awful, and basically pay and intimidate for votes…scary shit; so why are we in Cambodia for elections? We asked that question many times. A true day of absolutely nothing, but the food is good and Jess drank a delicious fruit smoothie or two. The following picture perfectly sums up our day:

27.July.08

THE BIG DAY…or not. We got on our motorbike we rented the night before, and drove out of town hoping it would get less boring…it didn’t really. Some green fields, people walking around the villages flanking the road, most with dye on their fingers (showing they voted), nothing too gorgeous. We got to our destination; a small hill of caves where the Kmer Rouge had a base and brutally murdered a bunch of people, there is now a temple on top. We biked through the restaurants and souvenir stands and up the steep hill where we met our unofficial “guide.” Felling like we’re in India again this guy followed us around “practicing his English” by telling us about the caves; we acted indifferent and prepared ourselves for the “Tip, please sir,” as we left. We wandered the caves and glimpsed the pagoda of human bones and skulls, eerie shit. We saw the cave they just dropped children in to starve and die, complete insanity, we learn more and more the atrocities of the Kmer Rouge just in the 1970’s, and it is unbelievable. Anyway I won’t go in to too much detail. We went to the temple on top, got a nice view, and on the way back were stopped by a “tourist police” guard who tried to force us to pay a two dollar “entrance” fee; of course this would have been nice upon entering! So we left very annoyed, and told them if they wanted to scam people at least make a sign. YAY Corruption!

That was it; we were both completely fed up with this country. We miss Laos; where sanity, cleanliness, beauty, and friendliness reigned supreme. We rode around a bit more, seeing some small sights and more people with purple dyed fingers, then headed back to book our bus tickets tomorrow to leave blahtambang (I know, it’s not that funny wordplay). We found out that the “People’s Party” won the election again (to the disappointment of the educated) and the ex -Kmer Rouge leader’s 30 some odd year reign continues. YAY CORRUPTION!!!

Here are just seven lame pictures of this city. Sorry this blog sucked everyone…we’ll make a more fun one next time.

http://flickr.com/photos/flufflebuns/sets/72157606550061987/

“YOU BUY COLD DRINK LADY!!!!!!!” August 6, 2008

19.7.2008

We wake up around 7am to catch our 8am bus a short walk from the hotel. The bus ride is quite comfortable and a big relief after the past couple of not so transport experiences. Assigned seating so we don’t have to worry about overcrowding or getting a seat…good good. So we board the bus and it leaves on time no problems…it does stop a few more times then necessary but this is all normal in Asia. Around noon we stop at a random town to switch buses and the food vendors are a little extra aggressive, reminding us a bit of India…and they were selling a few crispy creatures as well…worth a picture.

About an hour after arrival we were on another bus and on our way to Siem Reap, after having a little lunch and fresh fruit at the stopover. The rest of the ride took about 4 hours and a fairly easy trip aside from the t.v. up front blasting badly done local music videos and movies. When we arrived in Siem Reap the bus became surrounded by tuk tuk drivers ready to give us a ride into town for the bargain price of $1 but of course they want to take you to their friends place…luckily his friends place had been recommended to me by a fellow traveler so we agreed to take a look. The prices of the rooms kept changing but with a little haggling and help from our tuk tuk driver we got a huge room (talking studio apartment) for $5 a night. So we threw our stuff down and headed out to look for a place to eat dinner…but on the way out bumped into a group of American University students who are currently studying in Bangkok, so we talked with them for a while and then followed them to a place that has a special today…dollar margaritas and tacos. We were far from convinced that it would be anything near real Mexican food but it has been so long its worth a shot and while the food wasn’t exactly authentic it sure whet our appetites and the margaritas were spot on. After a few margaritas we headed to the night market and had a look around…lots of beautiful silk scarves, cheesy t-shirts, opium pipes and cheap DVD’s.

20.7.2008

Today was a very uneventful day just as we planned it to be. Woke up late and walked into town for some breakfast and then headed back to our guesthouse to hangout. We talked with the American crew some more and one of them lent Dave this tiny little laptop for the afternoon as they explored the city and we bummed around. Dave spent the rest of the afternoon falling in love and playing around on the new gadget. In the the late afternoon the crew came back from their cycle ride and Dave had to say goodbye to his new best friend….he was very sad. We had a late lunch/early dinner with them at the hotel and then they took off to catch a flight back to Bangkok…it rained hard for the rest of the evening

21.7.2008

Today we started our 3 day tour of the Angkor Wat Ruins and hoping that we wouldn’t be absolutely sick of temples by the end. We woke up a bit early and had breakfast at the hotel and today I fell in love….with an adorable kitten that mews constantly….not out of fear but sheer excitement.

After breakfast we had to head out and find ourselves a decent tuk tuk driver and arrange a fair price…we walked through myraid of drivers and headed for town hoping to find a better deal away from our hostel and we didn’t have to walk too far before we met our man and agreed on a price of $12 for a “Grand Tour” of Angkor Wat, Angkor Tom and some surrounding temples.   And as a  bonus he spoke  some English and  seemed to know some history of the Wats…think he is practicing to be a guide.

It took about 15 minutes to get to the main entrance and we then had to hop out to get tickets, which includes a picture of you so other people can’t use the ticket later…felt a bit more like Disneyland than ancient ruins.  Our first stop was Angkor Wat, which is the most famous of all the Wats in the area.  As we were dropped off at the temple we were accosted by a tag team of young girls selling cold drinks, scarves, books and other random souvenirs and even before the tuk tuk stops we are being yelled at, “YOU BUY DRINK MISTER/LADY” ….not the most pleasant experience.

It is already like a sauna outside but we trudge through the heat and are greatly rewarded…the details of the carvings of Angkor Wat are amazing!  It is truly a behemoth structure and takes at least an hour just to do a brief walk around all the different rooms. We take longer, taking lots of pictures and admiring every little detail. Anyway we could go into a description of each individual temple we saw, but the pictures will do justice, especially with how many pictures we put up! Each Flickr picture is named by the structure it was taken at. So I’ll just write about the highlights.

First we passed under a massive archway flanked by like a hundred huge statues of demons and gods pulling the snakes to churn the milk sea thus making the divine Amrita (this is a common theme and from the Hindu holy books). We drove through some pretty jungle swamps to the next temple The Bayon, a personal court and library for some king who was really into himself, so much so that he had his face put N,S,E,&W on 30 some pillars. Truly an incredible sight, and over all the temples we saw in three days probably our second favorite.

After wandering to some nearby structures and having a quick lunch we drove around to some lesser Wats.  All day we have people, mainly kids, trying to sell scarves, books, cold drinks, bracelets, etc, but at some point we heard a really funny line, “Lady, you want buy history,” she was of course referring to a book about the Angkor civilization; we got a big kick out of that line.  Although it’s not always fun, these vendor can get extremely pushy and very angry at you sometimes for stupid reasons.  We have hundreds of stories, but I’ll give one example.  Jess wanted to buy postcards so she was inquiring from one little girl, then another little girl came and started pushing her cards on us, and they kept saying “you buy from me, I was first” and quabbling amongst themselves making it all the more annoying.  Then a third little girl came trying to sell scarves and tell us which of the two girls to buy from; what should have been a pleasant purchase ended in us getting stressed and annoyed and driving away without buying anything to them screaming “Fuck you, you’re bad” and other filth.  We don’t know where they learn such shit, but similar events happened all three days, not fun, and certainly doesn’t make us want to buy their souvenirs. Anyway, everywhere we drive is filled with jungle and temple remains, in this small area alone, Angkor Thom, one million people lived 1,000 years ago, and built these massive stone buildings. After some smaller Wats we hit Ta Phrom, a massive stone labyrinth being choked by a dense jungle of trees. It was seriously incredible wandering the dense humid jungle seeing these ruins consumed by roots and branches.

We then went to the “Sunset Temple” Wat Phnom Bakaeng where tons of automobiles from Tuk Tuks, Motorbikes, Bicycles, Busses, Vans, etc, sat parked with a flow of hundreds of tourists filing out and up the hill along a forest path to a small Wat atop which gave a pretty great view of the surroundings, and Angkor Wat in the distance. After awhile the place was packed every inch with tourists ready for the sunset. We got bored however and didn’t anticipate the sunset to be that great, so descended before the crowds and got a great golden reflection off the Wat and statues.

Upon our return we were exhausted and read in our guide book about a good German restaurant, Tell, down the street. We headed there and were completely blown away by the food. It wasn’t just good German food for Cambodia, it was simply good German food! The Sauerkraut was spot on, my schweinebraten was unbelievable and the brown gravy and potato dumplings just mouthwatering. Jessica’s Thuringer sausage was extraordinary and came complete with real German mustard. This may not sound exciting you all reading this, but try going 7 months without your favorite food! We fell asleep exhausted and fully satisfied after a terrific day!

22.July.08

We woke up around 7am again for round two, met our driver after a great breakfast with our new favorite kitten and headed for a very dusty and bumpy hour and a half ride to the outskirts of the Angkor area. We arrived at a path heading uphill for about an hour where we reached a mildly disappointing set of carvings and shrines carved in the river rocks called Kbal Spean. We gave points for uniqueness, but it wasn’t really worth the hike.

Then we headed to Bateay Srei. It was significantly smaller than most temples, but made of gorgeous blood red stone, with the most stunningly intricate carvings we have ever seen. It became instantly our favorite and remained so for the whole tour of temples. It could take just 20 minutes to briskly walk around the temple grounds, but we spent well over an hour truly admiring the glory of this flawlessly preserved temple. Enjoy the photos, but none of them could truly capture how awesome each detail of this place was.

We went next to Banteay Samre which was most amazing for its architecture. It wasn’t extraordinary, but its layout was really neat. Then we ended near sunset at high temple, Pre Rup, with great views over the jungle. We got back a little earlier than yesterday and I convinced Jessica to eat again at my new favorite restaurant, Tell. The schweinebraten was just as good the second time around, and a mouthwatering schnitzel with another liter of Anchor Draught (local pilsner) and a decanter of wine…heavenly.

23.July.08

Same routine. Woke up early, played with kitten, ate, met Mr. Bean and rode the Tuk Tuk to a TON of ruins today. The first Preah Ko was a nice blood red temple with some interesting carvings, but the second was really monumental. Bakong probably takes third place on our favorite temples list. It is a massive structure and very simple with lots of elephant and lion statues. We luckily got a terrific shot void of people as we came just between massive Japanese/Chinese/Korean tour groups. The rest of our time there was packed with people so we really cherish the shots we got of it.

The third one Lolei was boring, and then we stopped at the Leper King’s platform. This was another of our favorites as it was a series of curvy little mazes with unparalleled carvings and statues along the labyrinth of walls. It was wonderful just wandering through the passages and the lighting was perfect for pictures.

The next, Preah Khan, used to be a Buddhist university. It was massive, but other than that not particularly amazing. It was difficult to decide where to walk because there we so many little passageways and they all kind of looked the same. One little courtyard was very nice, and upon exit I saw the freakiest little neon yellow spider thing. No one had any idea what it was. I think the ruins may have been a genetic or nuclear facility a thousand years ago.

The next two were Neak Phan and Ta Som. Neak Phom would have been even better with water in the lake because the temple was just in a big crater with no water. I’m sure it was nicer long ago. Ta Som was a quick walk through with a nice tree at the end consuming the entryway. We got back and unfortunately didn’t eat at Tell, but instead had delicious pizza at Café on the main “Bar Street.” I used internet for a bit and Jessica went to the room for a shower. We met back nearby at a terrific massage parlor where we had awesome Swedish massage which was very relaxing after a hectic three days. We slept like babies.

24.July.08

We had a full day of relaxation today. The most exciting thing was give blood at a local hospital for children hemorrhaging from Dengue fever who need it more than us. It seems to be something that a lot of tourists do and they advertise for it throughout the city. Jess is a veteran, but it was my first time giving blood, but it was great and easy and I learned my blood type for the first time; A negative. We got free Coca Cola, Cookies, and Free T-Shirts, whoo hoo! We then wandered about the extensive market area looking at trinkets and going on a small souvenir shopping spree. We had dinner at a delicious burger joint, used some internet, and just hung out.

Here is the link to the massive collection of the best of the best of Angkor Ruins.  Like I said before each picture is named for the ruin it was taken at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/flufflebuns/sets/72157606463750368/

…and Cambodia is okay too. July 27, 2008

17.July.2008

…but on the Cambodian side they weren’t so nice and it led to a slight scuffle. (picking up from last blog) I took down the info of the Cambodian border officer stamping our passports and asking for $1, when another officer grabbed my pad of paper from my hand and ripped out the page I was writing on, I went to grab it back and voiced my anger that he was taking my property…he made some threats about not letting us in to the country & I dropped it…but it was better than doing nothing…all of the other backpackers we were travelling with were to scared to pursue it, but if even half of the tourists made a little fuss they would probably stop or be more reluctant to continue extorting us. (Jessica didn’t mention either that she grabbed the guards arm and scowled at him, and I laughed with terror, gave them their $2 “stamping fee” (extortion money) and we were thankfully allowed to enter after being given the stink eye). So after all this we waited an additional two hours on the border for who knows what reason. Eventually we get going and drive for about an hour and a half and get to another city where we all pile out and they say we have a half hour lunch break which turns into an hour and a half.

Then our ‘luxury’ van pulled up and oops not enough room, but no worries they easily bribe a couple ditsy Americans and Australians with free beer to sit on the roof of the van…yeah anyways…for the amount of money we were paying this was all completely ridiculous but what can you do? So the ride was hot and uncomfortable and by the time we arrived in Kratie (Kracheh) we were already ready to leave Cambodia…so we took the same hotel they dropped us at because it was cheap and clean. We immediatly took showers and collapsed on the bed for a bit and then walked around town and found a place to eat. We found a great little restaurant called Red Sun Falling, run by a fabulously gay man orginally from Chicago who instantly cheered us up; the delicious food helped out with that too. The place was jammed pack so we invited a Dutch couple, looking for a seat, to sit with us and had a great time chatting with them and then later a Bosnian/Swedish couple we had met earlier in the day showed up. We drank a ton of great beer with them and they enlightened us on the entire conflict between Bosnia, Serbia, and Croatia. They were refugees (to Sweden) from Bosnia and had crazy stories of their lives that were very similar to reading The Diary of Anne Frank. All the talking, good food, and great beer (Black Panther and Anchor all the way!) definitely helped us feel a little more relaxed and excited to explore Cambodia…hopefully tomorrow will be a better day!

18.July.2008

Today we had plans to meet up with the Bosnian couple to rent motorbikes and go check out a few things. We rented bikes from the hotel and then headed out in the direction of the Irrawaddy dolphins hoping we might see some. These are extrmely rare fresh water dolphins and being that the water of the Mekong is so muddy you can pretty much only spot them when they are breaching. The ride out there was quite pleasant with lots of small children waving and saying “hello” (yes they simply said hello) excitedly as we road past. The scenery was also very lovely and a relaxing ride, despite the road construction. The ride to the dolphins wasn’t more then 40 minutes and when we got there it was pretty deserted….tickets cost $7 each and includes an hour and a half boat ride to search for them throughout the brush in the river.

I spotted the first dolphin but it was quite far away and only saw if for a second. We kept going and stopped a couple times with the engine off and just drifted…after about an hour one breached for air quite close to the boat which was exciting. After that we didn’t see anything till the very end and this is when our luck kicked in…for about half an hour we floated along and a crew of 3 dolphins sort of circled our boat and got quite close, we really got some good glimpses of them…not as cute as a salt water dolphin but really amazing to see something so rare! They are a bit longer and thicker and have tiny stumpy looking top fins, not stunning, but fun to see in a river!

From there we went in search of a Vat on a hill and got a little lost and even had to turn around but finally found it and got some great views of the surrounding area and some very gruesome depictions of Buddhist hell which Dave thoroughly enjoyed and documented for all to enjoy…see below. It was very hot at this point and all feeling in need of a break so we headed back to town, returned our bikes and retreated to our rooms for an hour. We met up at our favorite restaurant for an early dinner and some cheap, delicious beer. Great day!

Internet in Cambodia goes SUPER SLOW (it should be faster, but a few years back some corrupt asshole in government demanded a bribe of $1 Million to allow an internet cable to go through Cambodia from Thailand to Vietnam, of course they didn’t pay him, so they just ran the cable around the border, leaving Cambodia still with all it’s internet hubs based on satellite). So I haven’t gotten pics up on Flickr yet, but I have them on Facebook. Here’s the link:

(Update:  To make matter even MORE annoying we are in Phnom Penh and motorbiked just 5 minutes away from tourist areas to find internet 5 times faster and 1/4 the cost, does anyone see logic there?  We kind of hate Cambodia at this point.  So, in 15 minutes of good internet instead of the usual 2 hours with crappy tourist internet I got these pics on Flickr finally).

http://flickr.com/photos/flufflebuns/sets/72157606430165732/