We're off to Cambodia! Wow.

We will actually be staying in Siem Reap (not Phnom-Penh as the weather map says) for the next two nights, and visiting Angkor Wat.

I don't have much time to write now, but I just wanted to post that we are here in Cambodia safely. Yesterday we toured the "minor" temples of Angkor. They were absolutely unbelievable. Today we will do the main Angkor Wat, and return to Bangok tomorrow. So far, the little get-away has been unbelieveably amazing and fantastic. I'll fill in the details when I get back.

Today was our second day at Angkor Wat. We actually saw the real "Angkor", as well as a motorcycle ride through the countryside (some of which in a downpour), and a hike to some waterfalls with rock carvings from the 11th century.

Perhaps one of the most amazing things that happened today was that I saw a friend from San Francisco on a random back road outside of Siem Reap, Cambodia. I had no idea he was even in Asia, and then there he is, all of a sudden, riding a tuk-tuk down a dirt road in the middle of NOWHERE!

Our time here continues to be AMAZING. I have so many pictures I don't know how I am going to go through them all. But time, again, is short, so I will stop here and wait to write up details when I get back to Bangkok tomorrow.

We are back in Bangkok safely. But before we left, we visted a floating village on Tonle Sap, the biggest lake in SE Asia. Again, lots of pictures and memories I hope to share when I get a chance (soon, I hope!)

Our third and final day in Siem Reap started early. We had a 1 PM plane to catch, and we wanted to see as much as we could. Our drivers picked us up at the hotel and we headed in the opposite direction from Angkor to a floating village. Siem Reap is near the largest lake in SE Asia, called Tonle Sap. Every year during the rainy season, the lake doubles in size. Since the rainy season had just started, the lake had begun its annual rise.

We turned of the main road onto a dirt road, and near where the road disappeared into the rising lake, we got off the motorcyles and boarded a long-tail boat. We were accompanied by a crew made up of a Cambodian guy, his little brother, and the brother's friend. For the next hour or so we traveled down a stream that was flanked on both sides by house boats. We watched as Cambodians on the left and Vietnamese on the right went about their daily life. Some were fishing, some were spreading out shrimp on the boat decks to dry, some were bathing the children, some were just laying in their hammocks. We made it out to the lake and tied our boat to one of the half-submerged trees. The two young boys with us (they were 16, but they looked 10) immediately jumped barefoot into the tree and began climbing it. It looked like great fun, so of course I had to join them. For the next half hour or so, the three of us sat in the very top of this tree, rocking in the breeze 20 feet above the 20 foot deep water.

After we made it back to the submerged road, we got back on the motorcycles and headed back into town for one last lunch and a ride to the airport. Luckily we got to the airport an hour before our flight was scheduled to depart, because it took off 30 minutes early!

As we flew into Bangkok, Mark and I were both amazed at how civilized and modern the city is, compared to the adventure that was Siem Reap.

On the second day in Cambodia, Mark and I slept in, even though we had gone to bed early the night before. Our motorcycle drivers from the day before were waiting in front of the hotel when we stepped outside. The agenda for the day was to take a 35 km ride through the countryside to see the "River of a Thousand Lingas" with some waterfalls and stone carvings, and then to head back to see Angkor Wat itself.

The 30 km ride took us an hour and a half, as the road turned from a paved one-laner to a potholed clay one-laner. Again, words failed us as we tried to think about how to describe what we saw. Grass huts on stilts lined the road, naked babies played in the clay mud at the side, men bathed in their sarongs from a big cement container in their front yard, chickens, pigs, water buffalo, fields of rice as far as the eye could see, tuk-tuks and trucks and bikes and motorcycles and tourist busses all making their way down the narrow road.

When we finally got off the motorcycles, our drivers explained to us how the road we had been on continued on north to the Thailand border, and as few as 3 years ago was controlled by the Khmer Rouge and was a dangerous journey if not outright impossible. But now the people are free to move about as they wish. They went on to tell us that as few as 6 months ago, wild tigers roamed the mountain jungle we were about to hike through. But now that the mountain was open again to the public, the tigers were gone.

An uneventful 20 minute hike brought us to the waterfalls. The waterfalls were not that impressive themselves, but what was impressive was that the entire creek bed and the rocks around it were carved with Hindu figures from the same time period as the temples of Angkor. In the river bed iteslf, thousands of lingas had been carved (hence the name of the river). Again, the attention to detail and the beauty of the reliefs in the natural setting was overwhelming. The fact that no one was allowed to see them until only 6 months ago added to the thrill.

On the way back to town, we stopped at a small temple called Bantay Srei, and then went to Angkor Wat itself. It is billed as the largest temple in the world, and I believe it. Again, words failed us as we climbed the extremely steep and extrememly old carved stone staircases to the top. Un-imaginable. Phenomenal.

That night our motorcycle drivers took us to a Cambodian restaurant and left for the night. We walked back through town as motorcycles flew by and tuk-tuks pulled up and asked if we wanted a ride. Ahhh, Siem Reap: small but loud. Chaotic and dusty. Struggling to build and repair and turn itself into one of the greatest tourist destinations in the world overnight.

After a 30 minute flight and a 30 minute line for the Cambodian visa at Siem Reap International Airport, Mark and I were on the backs of motorcycles headed for our hotel. Right away we could see that a great revitalization was going on -- everyone seemed to be working on building construction. Most of the new buildings were hotels that lined the road from the airport to the "downtown". In fact, it seemed as if every single building that we saw was built in the last two years. We later learned that our observations were correct.

Our motorcycle drivers offered to show us around the ruins at Angkor Wat for $7 for the day, so we took them up on it. It turned out to be a wise decision, as the same two guys drove us around for the next 3 days.

The entire rest of the day was spent climbing over the ruins of temples from the 11th - 13th century. Mark and I tried to think of what one word would describe what we saw: Unbelievable. Awesome. Fantastic. Phenomenal. We finally decided on "Un-imaginable". The shear scale (in number and size) of the ruins were mind-boggling. It was without a doubt one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.

That night we went to bed early, tired from scrambling over huge carved boulders, with anticipation of seeing the actual "Angkor Wat" the next day.

I finally posted my favorite photos from last week's trip to Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

I have been able to make a few changes to the look and feel of the site, and the navigation, but I feel like I still have a long way to go, so please bear with me. I thought you might like to see the pics I have posted in the meantime, though. Let me know what you think about them.

Life in Bangkok is still good. I started looking for apartments today, and hope to start my job hunt next week. I am also starting to plan a trip to Northern Thailand -- to Chaing Mai and Chaing Rai sometime later this month.