Well, after two weeks in Cambodia, here are Tien’s Rules for Surviving Cambodia:
(1) Moto drivers are *not* hitting on you. 1/3 of their approaches will be stylistically indistinguishable from Western come-ons, but honestly, they just want you to hire them, and are of the mistaken opinion that following you for half a block [...]
..umm, there *may* be some in Cambodia, but if so I haven’t noticed them yet.
Today, after five hours in an Internet cafe uploading my Website (I said it had a *faster* connection…I didn’t say it was *fast*!), I decided to go see the Royal Palace, in hopes of getting a glimpse of [...]
First, happy Yule to everyone, and I hope you enjoyed Solstice! …if you celebrate it, that is. (Happy Christmas, Hannukah, and other winter solstitial holidays if you don’t.)
That said…you folks have absolutely NO idea how lucky you have it. I’m not just talking about your miraculous access to hot water , but [...]
I have finished up five days in Siem Reap, touring the ruins of Angkor (which are amazingly impressive if also amazingly overrun by tourists), plus a side trip to Les Artisans d’Angkor’s silk farm, where I got a good look at Cambodian weaving and looms. This morning I took a boat from Siem reap, and [...]
Sorry about the radio silence, but the last few days have been physically exhausting–touring the Angkor temples. (The temple complex is generically called Angkor Wat, after the largest temples, but technically there are 38-odd temples in the area.) I’ve now taken over 200 photos, but since I haven’t been able to connect up my laptop [...]
…and welcome to the Third World.
Yesterday I made the border crossing at Poipet, then took the bus to Siem Reap. It’s about 325 miles total, 14 hours with a two-hour stop at the border. The Thai side (250 miles) took 4 hours. Covering the 75 miles in Cambodia, well, that took 8 hours. [...]