so far, cambodia and i are in love

sorry i haven't been very good about updating this! i could make a bunch of excuses but the real reason is that, until yesterday, there wasn't very much going on. ariel and i took a few days to get on our feet in bangkok. we walked around through the neighborhoods and back alleys, but for the most part, we were getting over some wicked jet lag like none i have ever experienced. we snaked at cafes and laid out a basic plan for the month that we have here. once we did all of this very hard work we rewarded ourselves by going to the beach!

koh chang is an island in the gulf of thailand, east of bangkok. it wouldn't have been our first choice for beaches, we'd both like to get back to the andaman coast, but it is on the way to cambodia. it has the requisite coconut palms, white sand and turquoise waters so i guess we couldn't have asked for much more. we spent a number of days there in the sun, relaxed and content. we had a lovely little bungalow and in the evenings dined at tables in the sand. one night we had dinner right at high tide and the waves went past us and we found that we were having dinner in the ocean! the surf was really gentle so there was no reason to move and it was nice to have our feet cool. our tables and chairs sunk deeper into the sand with every wave and by the end of the meal we rose from a little kiddie table.

yesterday we finally got the real traveling underway. on previous trips to thailand i'd always appreciated the tourist infrastructure. i'd come for a week here and there on vacation from china and it was nice to have a tourist district and everyone speaking english. now, it is frustrating me and i want nothing more than to be far away from it. the prices are so high, ariel and i are really burning through our funds and we are surrounded by westerners. i find it suffocating. unfortunately, we do want to do some of the most touristy things around - visiting angkor wat and halong bay in vietnam. the trick of the trip is going to be getting away from the southeast asia backpacker's circuit.

we are currently in cambodia, having crossed a lesser used land border from thailand yesterday afternoon. i was thrilled to be using local transportation and have long hours spent with no other westerners in sight. we are traveling in monsoon and while there is plenty of sun, there are huge thunderstorms in the afternoon. all day dark clouds were gathering, and as we skipped away from the border with our beautiful cambodian visas tucked into our passports the wind started to pick up. the moment after we checked into our hotel the clouds broke with by far the most impressive monsoon rain i have ever seen. it rained in sheets for more than an hour. at our hotel the thunder shook the wooden floorboards of our room. off the back deck the family running the hotel had gigantic jugs, both ceramic and plastic, that they rotated under the downspots until filled. tubs with laundry were thrown into the courtyard when the rains started to let the power of the storm do some of the work.

cambodia is magnificently beautiful. when we got up this morning we boarded a bus headed for the capitol, phnom phen. we planned to head for the beaches of cambodia, but we do have limited time and we are both feeling the pull of vietnam. the road was in wonderful condition and we had a magnificent ride. cambodian houses are built on stilts, of any building material available. a single house can make use of wood planking, courregated metal, bamboo and thatch. the huts we passed were in the middle of rice paddies and fields, with dogs and water buffalo wandering near by. we saw a number of waterfalls off the side of the road and swollen rivers that looked remarkably lazy and still. the mountains were covered in dense jungle, the kind that once you step into it, all light is blocked out within 5 feet. dark, dark jungle.

as we were arriving in the outskirts of phnom phen another brief monsoon rain fell. again, in sheets, and every moped on the road retreated to the overhangs of gas stations and small shops to wait it out. we passed on gas station that must have had nearly 100 people gathered around the pumps waiting out the rain with their bikes outside. once the rain stopped, like an army, they all hopped on and took to the roads again.

tomorrow we are going to hit the museums in the morning and take a bus to siem riep (to see angkor wat) in the afternoon. we've been told that it is amazing, but we have been also told that we can skip it. i expect the experience will be similar to visiting the taj mahal or the great wall, so i am excited, but i know what to expect in terms of commercialism and tourists. no romantic jungle explorer fantasies here, we know we are going to be in the middle of touristville.

tonight we are going to hot pot. yes, that is right, HOT POT! i am addicted. when i was in western china it seemed to me as if i had a 6th sense for finding hot pot, and my luck has carried to cambodia. we were walking from our bus to the hotel, i look up and see the familiar chinese characters. i nearly jumped out of my skin. ariel and her family had hot pot with me a number of times last winter, and so i know she is just as excited as i am!