Day One

So, oh boy, was that an incredibly long combination of flights. All told it took us about 25 hours to get here to Cambodia, most of which was in the air. I am here with Cyndi and Bruce Gueswel, my occasional travel partners. But we are safe and sound, albeit a little worse for wear from the journey.

We are in Phnom Penh and last night we got here late enough only to drink some wine on our porch. Those guys promptly fell asleep, while I woke up once every hour it seemed until dawn. The tropics are amazing with the excellent constant humidity and temperature combined with excessive variety of flora and fauna, and it was this fauna that woke me up now and then with lizard click-clicks, bug chirping, and then in early morning with a riotous cacophony of birdsong. All of this was actually not unwelcome at all. It was glorious, coming from relatively simple urban-winter in Denver, the only activity of fauna being the scraping of windshields by homo sapiens.

So, on to the food. Last night, we had a handful of what I think are rambutans, a spiky, red little fruit with a translucent white edible center. Then for breakfast, some incredible fresh baguettes with butter, pineapple preserve I think, watermelon, pineapple, banana, and dragon fruit. Throw that together with a fried egg and some exquisite coffee and unknown juice, and that's probably one of the tastiest breakfasts I've had in some time. Then for lunch at some random street restaurant, I had fish in coconut and spice and of course the local Angkor beer.

In between breakfast and lunch, we journeyed by foot to the National Museum, with tons of Angkor and other era statuette and figurines and jewelry. Then off to one of Pol Pot's notorious former prisons/way stations to extermination known as S-21. Unfortunately, so little information was available at either this or the subsequent local Killing Fields (reached by tuk tuk) that the message of impact and genocide would have been muted if not for the astounding glass tower filled completely with human skulls. That made for a somber end to the morning sightseeing, but beer can cure all.

Now amazingly after a hot and sweaty journey and nap, we are blessed with an out door swimming pool at our hotel, later to be followed by dinner on the river, and perhaps a few more
libations.