Welcome to Cambodia

I've got 10 minutes until Sarah and I leave for our second day of Angkor trekking, so here are the highlights from the first couple of days, with more detail to come later:

-Flight was smooth as silk. We slept lots, everything went on time, and we arrived better rested than we'd ever imagined possible. It came in handy dealing with a scene in which a Cambodian customs agent accidentally gave my passport to some other traveler and had to go find him in baggage claim. To say those were a few stressful moments would be a gross understatement.

-From the air, Cambodia is a nation of water. It covers everything in a combination of green and brown that's biblical in proportions. We got to see that first hand on day one with a boat ride along the channels of Tonle Sap, a giant freshwater lake that provides fish to a million Cambodians every day and is home to a variety of floating villages. We toured one of them, and even got to go into the village school and interact with the children.

-Earlier that day (Thurs), we bought a box of school supplies and delivered them to a school for deaf and blind children, which was an amazing experience. I'd post a photo of one of the kids, but the list of technical issues I'm having, which range from a melted electrical converter to a hard-drive crash (!) are too numerous to list.

-Also that day, Sarah and I took a Cambodian cooking class and made spicy shrimp salad, shrimp fried rice, mango salad, spring rolls, amok, fried pork with pineapple, and a few other things, ultimately sitting down to a delicious meal of our own making.

-Yesterday (Fri) was a 12 hour day of trekking that started with sunrise at majestic Angkor Wat, a grand temple that provides a window into the opulence and power of the Angkor leaders, continued with haunting towers of faces at Bayon, a self-reverential masterpiece constructed by one of Angkor's more insane kings, and concluded with the mesmerizing Ta Prohm, a temple that was reclaimed by the jungle, with fig trees growing right out of the stone and the roots seemingly strangling the structure. If I were 12 years old, I'd never have wanted to leave. Hell, I didn't want to leave at 42, if not for the torrential tropical downpour that arrived and persisted, growing stronger with each passing moment. We had to trudge the half-mile back to the car in a scene that was something out of Genesis, with relentless hordes of children, undeterred by the deluge, peddling their bracelets and shirts and soggy postcards to us all the way.

-After getting back yesterday evening, we collapsed, unconscious, and awoke at nearly midnight, very hungry, which sucked since the gate of the hotel was locked and thus we couldn't go out for late-night eats. Don't ask. It's the one mark against the hotel, which is otherwise wonderful. (It's called Hotel Borann if you want to look up its elegant web site.)

-Wildlife has been abundantly visible, too. We've seen tree monkeys, tiny and brilliantly market frogs (one of which joined us for breakfast this morning--not on the plate), grazing cattle, crocodiles (alas, in pens), rodents, and the biggest freakin' spider Sarah or I have ever seen. (Again with the inability to share a picture!)

I'll try to find time later today to expand on some of this...but know that this is an amazing country of people who have emerged from more darkness than Americans can conceive of with a spirit of kindness that leaps out of every one of them, whether they're trying to separate you from your dollars or not. Being here amongst them, when I think about the things we Americans complain about and take for granted, I'm embarrassed for all of us, Obama or not. (And the whole Prop 8 thing isn't helping matters.)

Time to head to the car, where our driver, Jet, and guide, Rataa, await. Today we visit Banteay Srei--look it up if you've got a minute. A temple that is rumored by some to have been built in part by women because of the fine detail that is beyond what men's level of attention to detail can handle.

Until next time...