I was already loving Siem Reap before Thursday

Okay, so where to begin.

Sorry that I've been out of touch for so long. I've heard the yelling all the way from the States. Where is he? When is he going to start blogging again? I've been checking everyday and nothing from him. Well here I am, back maybe not better than before but here none-the-less.

Apology up front. Some of the writing below was written in my journal days ago while in Siem Reap and then re-typed here on Sep 11th, 2008 in Koh Samui days and in some case a week or more later. Other writing below I'm doing on the fly. As a result I've noticed on the reread that I'm jumping back and forth between past and present. Hopefully it's not too confusing. I'm too lazy to make the corrections so that all is correct. Okay, happy reading.

A lot has happened since I've last blogged. I've been to Kuala Lumpur, Siem Reap, Cambodia, Bangkok, Thailand and Koh Samui, Thailand. Currently on the island of Koh Samui. Okay in all honesty Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok were just to get connecting flights but I can still say I was there. The island of Koh Samui is very cool. It would be a lot cooler if the darn sun would finally make an appearance and stop hiding behind cloud cover. Just as well I'm not feeling up to it anyway. I think I have a sinus infection. I've had a sinus headache for the last three days. Guess now would be a great time to use those antibiotics I have with me, huh?

I knew when the plan touch down and literally pulled up to the tiny airport in Siem Reap that this city in Cambodia was what I was looking for. Leaving behind 20 some odd million chinese and the glass and concrete high rise buildings that is Beijing my body and soul breathe a sigh of relief when I saw greenage after greenery after greenichness! What! The tallest things that I saw on approach were trees then the air control tower. Sweet! I knew I'd done the right thing by not going to Chengdu then Li Jiang then Laos. May still make it to Laos at some point in this lifetime because I hear it is very nice, but not this trip I've decided.

My tuk tuk driver Mr. Sophal was waiting for me with a sign. I'd never seen a tuk tuk before so I didn't know what to expect (think scooter pulling a two wheeled roofed compartment behind it and you have the basic idea of a tuk tuk. My backpack conveniently tucked in its travel thingy weight more than Mr. Sophal so I couldn't let him lift it in good conscience or conscious (too tired to figure which one it is. ) Me, my backpack and my travel guitar put some added weight on that tuk tuk to be sure but it made it to Golden Temple Villa in one piece. On the ride in we passed barefoot young kids walking their cows home or to fields. Blue skies, the smell of grass and cows and outdoors. Heaven I tell you, heaven!! Once on the main drag the overriding sound that you hear is not that of cars honking and beeping at you it the sound of small cc motorbikes all over the place. Motorbikes outnumber cars 20 to 1 here. I've seen a family of SIX (6) all riding on one small motorbike, think those small cc bike that are appearing all around Manhat these days. One of those with six people on it. I'm amazed.

I know that I made the right decision coming to Siem Reap. It feels really right.

I've decided to stay in SR for 8 days. When I checked in the folks at the front desk were like "wow, that's a long time." I told them to shut up and mind there own business. I've come to dislike them most of them at the front desk anyway. There are not a nice bunch with the exception of one girl and one guy the rest can burn in hell. Seriously, that's how much I disliked the front desk staff.

So I was already loving SR before Thursday rolled around. The past three days I spent exploring the temple ruins of Siem Reap. The temples are abosolutely amazing, some more so than others. Of course these is Angkor Wat, the biggest of them all. Angkor Thom which includes a number of temples my favorite of which is Bayon. Bayon has temples temples inside of it all of which are topped with a huge head with 4 faces facing North, South, East and West. Very cool. See pictures below. Then there is Ta Prohm which if you are Lara Croft Tomb Raider fan you would recognize in an instance. Tree growing right up out of and totally surrounding temples and walls. Plus the place is kinda spooky because the forest has not been cleared away and vegetation allowed to grow wild makes it really mysterious. Glad I didn't go at night because I would be freaked out. Another of my favorite temples is Banteay Srei. They call this temple the womens temple because the craving are so intricate and detailed that they believe it was done by women. No proof to that but a good story none the less. Many many many more temples all of which begin to look very alike after a while. The last day of temple hopping was sent first at Tonle Sap like seeing the floating boat village there (more pics below) and then thankfully seeing on three small temples. By the third day I had had my fill of temples. If I never see another temple ruin again in my life I will be very very happy. Imagine if you were alive centuries from now and someone took you all over Manhat looking at all the ruins of the various churches on the island. Some churches like St. Patricks and St. John the Devine you wouldn't mind seeing because they are so different from the rest with their grandeur and majesty and while others might be cool one church starts to look very much so like the next after a while. Well that's what I did for three days. You take that with incredibly hot days, and insects biting and buzzing you and little kids and people trying to sell you stuff at every single temple you visit it becomes a bit much. So the third day on the lake and just being around water was a big relief until those last three temples, again, thankfully there were really small.

Despite its laid back appearance SR has a jumping night life. Lots of obligatory bars to visit, lots of places to get really good food, lots of people hanging out. Fortunately, I arrived in the low season not so many people like the numbers that will be there next month, so it was even more laid back. I met a local who took me to a Cambodian BBQ restaurant on my second night. The place was called X Sky Restaurant, not to be confused with X bar which is a popular bar in the heart of the pub street area. Huge place where a stage took up most of the front of the place. Entertainment consisted of staffers singer cambodia songs to band accompaniment. My host who apparently has some vocal talent was asked to sing a song by the head singer as well as the manager who came over to eat with us. He declined both times. They asked me to sing as well and I declined as well thinking that they band wouldn't know anything that I know, elsewise I would have knocked it out the box. The food was really good. Didn't know that cambodian bbq consisted of using tons of butter to cook the food and veggies. Overall a really good night at a very interesting place.

So I was already loving Siem Reap before Thursday. I'd just finished my ruins tour and didn't have to get up at 7am to meet my driver so I could take it easy and finally have a breakfast and relax. As I was finishing up my breakfast one of the women that checked in after me came down and sat at the table next to mine. I spoke and introduced myself and met Simone from Hamburg, Germany. Simone said that they had been looking for me since I checked in. I explained how I was temple hopping myself to death for the last three days. She went on to tell me how she and Nadja her travel partner were working with two orphanages in the area and asked if I would like to visit with them today. I jumped at the chance. I'd been looking to do some volunteering anyway. This was perfect. She asked if I could bring my guitar, she'd seen it when I checked in, and I said of course.

My introduction to the orphan kids would begin later that morning and what an introduction it would be.

Pictures to be added soon.

To be continued....