Winged through security only to be met by our crew, a crack team of fun-loving, hard-working folks who happen to be totally bonkers nuts, my kinda people

Another quick little seven hour flight and we arrive to pouring rain and sweltering heat. Siem Reap is a bustling city (read that as “a place where traffic rules do not apply”) of warm people and withering heat, have I mentioned the heat ?

In keeping with previous stops, our living arrangements are, um, well, nice.

The feeling of hanging with Grahame Greene, Hemingway and that crowd washes over me and I quickly order up a Gordon’s gin and tonic and retire to the pool…

We dine informally in the hotel that night on Cambodian food that should be illegal it is so good. I have learned to love these informal dinner nights as they allow us to spend time with a variety folks in the group on a closer, more intimate basis. As stated before, our group is wonderful and engaging, and some of the most traveled people I have ever met. I am met daily with such asides as, “When we were in Israel last month…”, “…just loved being in La Paz last fall…”, “Isn’t Moscow beautiful in the spring”, and “On our last trip around the world…”. I mumble something about my time in Poughkeepsie and slip off for another Gordon’s.

Up early to a colorful and tasty breakfast in preparation for our day of visiting the temples. Actually, am finding that I am up early most every day/night, but on the whole am sleeping well (a real big surprise according to C). As we always do, we go out in small buses, each with its’ own guide. This allows us to be more agile during our tours, and to have more intimate interactions with these local experts.

This area is filled with several temples, but is highlighted by Angkor Wat, one of the largest religious structures in the world. It was originally built as a Hindu temple, but evolved into a Buddhist temple. Its’ construction is so massive that the quantity of stone used is more than that of all the Egyptian pyramids- combined

It would be easy to overwhelm you with pictures of these temples, but that would provide no context at all, so here are some that hopefully allow you to feel the majesty of these structures. A quick note on that; it is easy to see/feel the importance and power these buildings once held. I could almost here the sound of bare feet slapping on the rock halls and stairs. The engravings on the walls are beautiful in the stories they tell of the history. Sadly, they currently they look as if they were bombed last week.

The extensive decay is due to hundreds of years of neglect and use by only a very few people for hundreds of years. The jungle took over, and in many cases it is the trees that are holding the walls up.

The day we were there, the temples were packed with tourists, people who live on the lands surrounding, and photo opportunists…

Other full time residents include the monkeys who have become advanced enough that they can now get their driver’s licenses…

Beauty surrounds the area…

The vendors came in for their day’s work…

Again, did I mention the heat ? Now I have lived on the tropical island of Guam, and the southern statues of NC, SC, and VA in the US – all places known for humidity & heat but I am here to tell you they pale in comparison to the wet wool sweater of heat you wear in Cambodia. The only option in this dire situation was to retire to the hotel for a 90 minute massage followed by a Gordon’s G&T.

Dinner by the pool that night was…wait for it…wait… out of this world fantastic! It was accompanied by music and followed by a dance show…

Once again, it was time to move on. A key part of this trip is to keep moving, either to the next lecture, tour, or location. We are all becoming excellent packers/repackers, and we live by the daily agendas we are given detailing all of the above. We take our eave from this beautiful hotel and head for our real home, the plane.

Nepal and Tibet are where we are headed and this boy couldn’t be any more excited.