Stay true to the dreams of thy youth

Following a thoroughly depressing day in Phnom Penh, we took the following day to just enjoy our hostel. No- not by eating happy pizza, but rather by sitting on the deck overlooking the lake in the 95 degree weather. I finished reading a couple books, caught up on my journal, listened to some good tunes, and met a few other travelers.

One of our emerging traditions is that of BPS. As frequently as possible, we sit down together for Beer, Peanuts, and Sunsets. The sunset overlooking the lake was phenomenal, only interrupted by a Japanese couple shooting endless rolls of film (some stereotypes do hold true…).

Turkey Day!!! November 23, 2006. After catching another 6 hour bus to the town of Siam Reap in northwest Cambodia, we set out to find a Thanksgiving feast… shoot, even an emaciated chicken with cranberries would do. Unfortunately, after a thorough search we settled upon. *drum roll please* fried rice, spring rolls, French fries, and coconut juice in a Cambodian restaurant. Not quite a Thanksgiving feast, but we ordered twice the amount of food we normally do, (about $4 worth) just to make it feel authentic. Okay, a bit of a letdown…

The next day made up for the failed feast, however. We caught a tuk-tuk, a little carriage pulled by a small motorbike, to the famous Angkor Temples about 10 kilometers from town. Most people know of Angkor Wat, the beautiful Hindu temple pictured in every brochure of Cambodia, and juxtaposed next to every one of Angelina Jolie’s stories about her adopted Cambodian children.

Quick Side note: We are being followed by celebrities. Condoleezza Rice came to Beijing when we were in China, Bush came to Hanoi and Saigon, and Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt arrived in Phnom Penh the day we were there. In Saigon, Bush’s hotel was about two blocks from ours. We spent the evening harassing the security cordon outside…

Anyways, back to the story. The temples were enormous. Not only is there the Wat temple, but at least 20 other ancient temples. Seen the movie Tomb Raider? Angelina Jolie filmed a scene in one of the temples. Speaking of which, I really wanted to see her, umm, *cough* purely because she is such a good actress…

After 8 hours of temple viewing pleasure (actually after about 5 hours they all started to look the same), we took a seat at the top of Angkor Wat and watched an amazing sunset with a couple of our British and Irish friends we met along the way. It was truly breathtaking.

The following day, we crossed the Cambodia-Thailand border (my super-glued passport continues to persevere…) and arrived in Bangkok. It feels like we skipped 5,000 miles and arrived back in Europe. Bangkok will be a whole other story… but let’s just say I had an enormous smile on my face as I filled my extra-large big gulp with Coca Cola at the nearest 7-11 to our hotel…