A Holiday In Cambodia

Sorry for the serious lack of updates recently. I know our three avid readers are anxiously awaiting our latest adventures, but we haven't had much time to blog. Here's a brief recap:

We spent several hot days in Vientianne, the capital of Laos, and enjoyed ourselves quite a bit. I don't really remember much of what we did, mostly ride bikes around the city in the morning and evening and find air-conditioned coffee shops in the afternoons, but it was a good time and we had a nice room with AC. We also spent one day at Ban Pako eco-lodge, a place about 2 hrs. journey (by bus and boat) from the city center on a bend in a river and across from a protected forest area. We were hoping it would be cooler there and for some wild-life spotting, but neither occured with much frequency (save for some massive brown spiders in our over-priced bungalow).

We flew from Vientianne to Siem Reap, Cambodia, home to Angkor Wat (the largest spiritual structure in the world) and the temples of the ancient Khmer civilizations. We spent 5 days there, 2 exploring the nearby temples on bike, 1 day exploring the far-away temples by car, and 1 day exploring the city of Siem Reap. It was an exhausting experience, and with no AC to go home to, the 90-degree nights in our tiny room made it hard to sleep (but it only cost us five bucks!). Exploring the temples and ruins was an amazing experience, and we hope to have photos posted sometime soon.

We took a very short flight from Siem Reap to Phenom Penh, Cambodia's capital city, on 1.March. We stayed in a really grotty place, and promptly moved to a much nicer hotel yesterday. Today (3.March) we toured the city's Royal Palace grounds and the Silver Pagoda (so-named for the 6000 silver tiles that make up the floor inside). The Royal Palace here is kind of like the one in Bangkok, but much less interesting and ornate. We only spent about an hour there, whereas we spent nearly all day at the Bangkok palace! But also, the one here is much much smaller. This afternoon (everything in Cambodia shuts down from about 11am to 2:30 for lunch...) we're going to the National Museum and to a Folk Dance show in the evening. Tomorrow (4.March) we'll see the Khmer Rough prisons and Pol Pot's Killing Fields, before beginning a two-plus-day journey to Sydney, Australia (including 20 hours in Bangkok).

Hope you're all well!

-Mike.