After Hanoi, things got a little bit rough photography-wise as I lost our work-horse camera somewhere in a taxi or along Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi. The other reason for no posts is that our trip is winding down and how many more pictures and accounts of hotel rooms, airport lounges, and duty free shops can one person see? Well, the good news is that we have purchased a spiffier, newer model of the old Canon called an S80 for about the same price as its offered online but the Japanesew instead of the American model. Also, with more airport shots, I had to get this one in of a Fokker 70, haven't seen one of these planes in the US for maybe 15 years, but don't worry, they are still flying the 30 minute puddle jump from Saigon to Phnom Penh.
Which brings me to our latest adventure, Phnom Penh. Both p's are aspirated, by the way. We were pleasantly surprised by the wonderfully kind people and the delicious food in this re-emerging capital city. Travel just one hour and you are in what the old colonial scholars called Farther India. More curries, elephants, and sarongs. Here we are getting fanned with our friends Ms. Dany and Mr. Piset. Dany is interested in doing a PhD in History at UCR and Piset is her hometown boyfriend, now working with the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces. They grew up in Banteay Chmeas, a town on the other side of the country near Thailand. Piset picked us up in his government issue 4x4 and we drove out to this mountain with some stupas (Buddha relic shrines) on the top. It was the 22nd day of the 7th lunar month and Piset was bringing food for his ancestors, a traditional Buddhist practice that also coincided with the death anniversary for both of his parents who were murdered by the Khmer Rouge on the same day. Piset and Dany along with every other person we met in Cambodia, taxi drivers included, were mellow, reserved, generous, and just exceedingly kind. The little boys fanning us were trying to make a little extra change before they go back to school in two more weeks. They followed us up the 1-km trek of stairs, giving us fan-power, though after the first thirty minutes, they too got pooped out.
So, what is there for a wife and almost-2-yr-old to do in P-p-phnom Penh for a week while I go to the archives, which were by the way fabulous by local standards. None of the red tape and hassle as encountered here in Saigon or Hanoi. There's the hodge podge of temples and gold leaf at the Royal Palace, a complex left mostly vacant since the old king still keeps his other residence in Paris. But I imagine as Cambodia's economy picks up, and there are signs this is happening, we'll see the palace get the same sort of workover royal palaces the world over get. Anyways, it was a lovely day for birdwatching, especially these pidgeons perched up on one of the roofs.
And like all good palaces, this one had ice cream carts to keep kiddoes happy. Here Scuppy shares her ice cream sandwich with one of her many monkey friends, who has a place in his hand also for holding the occassional ice cream sandwich. Nice monkey...
The other thing to do in Phnom Penh is to eat! This town has amazing foreign restaurants decked out in amazing gardens and attended by the large community of foreigners working here in NGO's and embassies. However, because many ingredients are imported, you pay top dollar. Lunch here will set you back $20, and everything is paid for in US dollars. There's something unsettling about paying for everything in another country's currency. They don't even give you the Cambodian Real equivalent in most cases. Anyways, this restaurant featured an outdoor fountain garden and here Xuan Anh and Hongie play with the flowers put in the hands of this hybridization of a Buddha and King Jayavarman VII, one of the great kings of Angkor in the 13th Century.
I leave you with yet another in our Towel line of haut couteaur. Scuppy's taken on this new look too, very charming.
We're actually on our way out after one wonderful week on the island of Bali. We scheduled this from our free stopover on Singapore Air at Singapore. Got a cheap flight to Denpasar from SIN and then stayed at a resort we got on the internet for relatively cheap. While the food was nothing to write home about, the people and island life was amazing! Here Scuppy gives me her monkey face while one of the many primates hanging at Uluwatu Temple scope out sunglasses and watches ripe for the plucking. Uluwatu is one of the sacred points on the island, its southernmost point. Thus its also an incredible spot for waves, throwing up one of the world's best lefts. Pictured below is the new swell that just started coming in here yesterday and is ramping up today as we get on the plane to go home.
Thanks especially for Jaya, Puji and Kai for showing us a great time this week in Bali! Jaya (Randall) is an American who has been living here for 10+ years. Jaya is an old surf buddy of (weathered) Alex (with Hanoi Hanh), and he took me out to a few spots with good faces on Wednesday and Thursday. This beach is Sanur and the sand is black from the volcanic runoff. In the distance is the little island of Lembongan. I'm happy to say I was inspired by the waves in Bali, though the fast tubular faces were a little much for my novice surfing self. Needless to say, I'm inspired to hit more waves in Cali upon our return and come back to Bali when I'm ready for some big barrels.
So, as the sun sets on Uluwatu, it also sets on our journey. We head back to Singapore then return to California tomorrow (Monday). Imagine our jet taking off across the seas to the sounds of gamelans and ukeleles...
