Ban Lung, Cambodia (March 10-March 13)

We said goodbye to my mom in Phnom Pehn.  She boarded a bus to Bangkok and caught a flight home from there.  We took another bus 590 km northeast to the Ratanakiri province to a city called Ban Lung.  We rented a little motor scooter that night and were ready to go see the sights the next day. 

We took the scooter out to a few waterfalls outside of town on the first.  The drive was very pleasant and we passed through some smaller villages and a rubber tree plantation.  The first waterfall we visited was called Ka Tieng and had rock shelf Jeff climbed behind and a little swimming pond.  The other waterfall in the area we visited was called Kinchaan and was also very lovely.  On our way home, we stopped at Wat Phom Svay (the local Buddhist temple) and saw a huge reclining Buddha. 

The next day we drove out to Chaa Ong waterfall.  Its dry season here in southeast Asia so this waterfall just a trickle, but we took turns standing it and snapped a few good photos before jumping back on the scooter.  Our next stop was Boeng  Yeak Laom Lake about 15 km on the other side of town.  We had just turned down the side road towards the lake, when Jeff noticed we had a flat tire. Fortunately, the repair shop was just 500 m behind us and the guys were able to patch the tire within a matter of minutes.  The lake was a beautiful blue crater and we enjoyed swimming with the locals!  It was a refreshing break to take a dip after a hot day on the bike! 

After our swim, we returned to our guesthouse and it was time for my motor scooter driving lesson.  The street in front of our guesthouse was very quiet with little traffic and it was pretty straight.  I felt really confident driving up and down the quiet street, zooming by Jeff a couple of times.  Then Jeff complicated the lessons.  He jumped on the back and had me drive around a smaller, different lake by the guesthouse.  There was a little bit more traffic and I was a bit nervous, but I did okay.  Then Jeff complicated it a bit more… Between the two lanes of traffic in Ban Lung, there are cement dividers.  He had me driving along the cement divider and then turn at the end to go the opposite direction.  The goal was to not put my foot down during the turn.  It took me a couple of tries, but I finally made a turn without touching down.  There was a group of ladies at a roadside stall watching my driving lessons.  Once I made the turn without touching, they started clamping and cheering of me.  It was a such a great boost of confidence, that I actually drove towards the market and through a round-a-bout.  Once I got towards the market, traffic picked up and I was too freaked out to drive the rest of the way to the center of town so Jeff took over.  We returned the bike later that evening, and packed our things so we were ready to catch our next bus to Laos in the morning.   

Visiting the Recling Buddha

Riding on our 'hog'

J in front of the trickle of a waterfall

Swimming at the lake

Scooter driving lessons

Phnom Penh, Cambodia ( March 6-March 9)

We took a morning bus from Siem Reap to the capital of Phnom Penh.  The bus had to stop several times to fix some belts that ran the air conditioner.  The first time the bus stopped was in a little town where we could get some snacks, something cold to drink, and use the bathroom.  The second time the bus pulled over to fix the A/C was on the side of the road, with no bathrooms, no snacks, and nothing cold to drink.  My mom and I had out-voted Jeff about taking a boat to Phnom Penh.  We had heard since it was the dry season, it could take up to 10 hours to get from Seim Reap to Phnom Penh.  Although, the bus, despite all its breaking down, didn't take 10 hours, Jeff still gave us a hard time about the bus being quicker then the boat.

The driver/mechanic trying to fix the bus

No snacks! No batherooms! No cold beers! Big problem!

Phnom Penh is a charming city and easy to navigate (even for me!).  The first night we ate at a wonderful place run by an NGO that teaches former street kids about the hospitality industry.  Not only were we supporting a good cause, but we had some wonderful food and drinks!

During the Khmer Rouge rule, lead by a man named Pol Pot,from April 17, 1975 to January 7, 1979, Phnom Pehn was almost completely empty.  The Khmer Rouge's goal was to transform Cambodia into a peasant dominated cooperative.  The revolution set about wiping out intellectuals and the everyone else was to work 12-15 hours a day with very little food.  It still is unknown today how many Cambodians died during this time but the estimation is about 1.7 million.  We visited the Tuol Sleng museum which was a former high school used a prison (S-21) during the Khmer Rouge occupation.  The classrooms were turned into cells and torture chambers.  The Khmer Rouge took meticulous records of each prisoner that passed through and now on display in the long corridors are the haunting photographs of the victims.  We also visited the killing fields of Choeung Ek about 15 km from Phnom Penh.  Here is where the Khmer Rough transported about 17,000 prisoners from S-21 to be excuted.  Bullets were expensive so prisoners were often bludgeoned to death with hoes or sickles and there are horror stories of babies and children having their heads crushed againest trees.  The victims were then buried in mass graves.  Wandering around the peaceful orchard you can look down and see parts of bones or clothes sticking up out of the ground in some areas.  Our guide told us that after each rainy season, more bones and clothes are collected and preserved.  Ine the center of the complex, there is a memorial stupa built that displays 8,000 skulls of the victims.  In both the prison and the killing fields, there is are signs and visitor comments about how these things need to be remembered so they never happen again.  It's the same haunting message, Jeff and I saw in Krakow after visiting the concentration camps.  How can the human race be so cruel?  And why does it happen again and again? 

Some of the skulls on display

The memorial stupa dedicated to those who died in the killing fields

Despite such heavy thoughts and subjects we visited in Phnom Penh, we did enjoy the city.  We shopped around the Russian and Central markets.  My mom and I feed a really sweet elephant some bananas and we ate some great food.  All good visits must come to an end, so my mom had to catch a bus to Bangkok to catch a flight home.  Jeff and I caught a bus northeastern Cambodia to a town called Ban Lung.  It was wonderful to have my mom be a part of our traveling lives for a bit.  Thank you, Mom for joining us and building some great memories. We love and miss you.  See you soon!

Feeding the sweet elephant



Hope this wasn't a religious icon we were harrassing



No we don't need a tuk-tuk

Enjoying good food and good drinks at Friends

Thanks for joining us Mom!

Siem Reap, Cambodia (March 2-March 6)

We left our little beach sanctuary of Koh Chang to travel to Cambodia.  We made plans to meet up with my mom in Siem Reap.  My mom had been traveling in Africa the previous two weeks. So her plans were to fly to Bangkok and meet us in Cambodia.  Since neither one of us had cell phone service, it got a tricky playing email tag until we figured out a plan on where to meet and when. Jeff and I boarded a minibus that drove us to Cambodian border.  While standing in the customs line with hundreds of other people, I said to Jeff that my mom was either right behind us or right in front of us.  Just as the words were out of my mouth, I saw her walk through the customs door.  It was so great to see her after four months!  My mom, Jeff, and I chatted awaiting our turns to get our stamps and then separated ways until we arrived in Siem Reap.  My mom had arranged transport and a Cambodian visa through a travel agency, while Jeff and I had to apply for our visas on entry.  We had to apply for the visa, pay our fees (the border agent tried to charge us an extra 100 bhat apiece, but Jeff just ignored that), waited for approval, and then had to wait in the stamping line.  By the time we were finished with process and made it officially into Cambodia, we were informed by our transport agency that the bus had already left for Siem Reap.  We ended up splitting cab fare with a lovely French couple who were also on our minibus from Koh Chang.  Two hours later, we were reunited again with my mom in Siem Reap.  We found a lovely guesthouse to stay at and a wonderful tuk-tuk driver named Seth to take us around the temples of Angkor in morning.

Morning comes and Jeff’s tummy, which had been rumbling the day before, broke loose and he decided not to join my mom and I to see the temples.  Jeff had been in Cambodia five years ago and had already seen the temples and it was nice to have some time with my mom.  Our tuk-tuk driver, Seth, brought us bottled water in a cooler with ice and was very informative about the temples he took us too.  We visited the main temple Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom that first day.  Angkor Wat is said to replicate the universe in a miniature version.  The central spiritual tower, Mt Mera (which was covered in scaffolding when we visited), and its surrounding smaller ‘peaks’ or towers are surrounded by the continents (the lower courtyards), and the oceans (represented by the moat surrounding the wat).  The bridge stretching across  the moat is symbolic for humans to reach the abode of the gods.  Angkor Thom was once a fortified city.  We entered the west gate which was decorated with elephant trunks.  In front on the gate on the left of the causeway stand 54 statues of gods and on the right stand 54 statues of demons.  Inside Angkor Thom are the structures called the Bayon, the Baphoun, the terrace of the elephants, and the terrace of the leper king.  My mom and I spent the afternoon wandering around those structures.  Seth drove us back to our guesthouse and back to Jeff whose tummy was still upset.

The next day, we arranged for Seth to pick up at 5:30 am so we could see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. Jeff and his tummy were up most of the night so he decided to stay back again. The sunrise was disspointing as there was a lot clouds and we weren’t able to actually see the sun come up.  We spent the rest of the morning being driven around the temples we didn’t see the day before.  We wandered around Preah Khan, one of the largest complexes in Angkor.  We also saw Preah Neak Pean which was a temple surrounded by a pool of water.  Seth drove us back home so we could take a nap before adventuring out again.

Finding Mom at the border!

Standing in front of the west gate of Angkor Thom

The terrance  of elephants inside Angkor Thom



Standing by one of the many trees trying to take over Ta Prohm



Jeff looking cool in his sick bed

Seth came back in the afternoon and took us to a nearby silk farm.  Jeff was finally feeling better and came along.  At the silk farm, they breed the silk worms, let them spin their cocoons, and then take the cocoons and separate out the outer layer (raw silk) from the inner layer (fine silk).  The silk is then re-spun, dyed, and woven into cloth at the complex.  It was a really interesting process to see!

Checking out the silkworms

Mom standing in front of the basket of silk cocoons

Weaving of the silk taking place

On our last day in Siem Reap, Seth picked us (including Jeff) up, and took us to village of Kompong Phhluk.  On our way out to the village, we stopped at three more temple complexes of Angkor.  To get to the village we had to take a long boat up a canal on the Tonle Sap lake. During this time of year, the dry season, the village is built on stilts, but during the wet season the only way to get from one structure to the next is by boat. 

Entering the village of Kompong Phhluk by boat

Fisherman coming up a canal on the Tonle Sap lake

Floating out on the the Tonle Sap lake

Enjoying Angkor beers after a long day of sight seeing