i left mom for the temples of angkor

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and so i was torn about leaving mom...but i tried to change my flight out of vietnam for another week to find out that all the flights on my airline (EVA) leaving vietnam for the states were booked and full through march 20th! i couldn't get out and i didn't want to stay THAT long as much as i loved it. my bag was getting too heavy and i wanted to reconnect to home. i didn't want to miss cambodia's temples of angkor...so i booked a flight from hanoi to siem reap. at first i thought it was a mistake so i made a conscious effort to observe if i was going with or against the flow....

turns out....i was RIGHT in the FLOW!!

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mom + the aunt + uncles headed to a day trip to halong bay. 3 hours journey each way. once they got there they took a boat ride in chilly november-like temperatures. no way. glad i passed.

instead i took a plane to 80+ degree temps to cambodia. i read the travel book that stated no ATMs in cambodia. published in 2003. i figured by now they had them. oops. nope!

i arrived at the siem reap airport with only vietnamese dong in my pocket. phew! just enough to pay the $25 entry tax...they let me pay in dong! i looked around. no atm's. i had no reservations for a hotel, no money (now that i spent my last few dongs), no sign of an atm, and it was 9pm (no banks open for credit card cash withdrawals).

did i freak out...no way. i went with the flow.

....in front of me was a couple for the states. she had left her backpack open...i was standing behind her in line as we waited to pay our entry tax. they thanked me. i asked if they had a suggestion on a hotel...they had been there a week before for 4 weeks. they travel to siem reap 2ce a year for at least a month. they foster a cambodian woman that they met 2 years ago and have been coming back ever since. they were totally wired to the scene. they offered to give me a lift to their hotel to see if there was a room available. SCORE!

so we drove to their hotel, no room. we went to 2 other hotels until we found an amazing hotel with a pool, tropical gardens, and the most amazing restaurant offering local cuisine and beautiful presentations of the food...all the way down to the fruit ornamenting the plates! jan + chris (married for 23 yrs) totally hooked me up...even giving me much needed mosquito repellant as we met for dinner under a full moon and coconut trees! wow huh!!? talk about flow!

they even called their local driver to set me up with a driver and (separate) tour guide for the next two days to visit the temples, and a first thing's first morning trip to the bank to take out US dollars (their preferred currency everywhere there). SCORE again!!

two days of visiting the temples....which i cannot even try to explain in words their beauty. see website below.

a "coincidental" run in with another group of australians that i had also met on the boat trip in nha trang when at angkor wat temples....dinner with jan, chris, and their foster daughter the next evening, 2 days of temple tours including the temple where angelina joli filmed a tomb raider scene on location at the "jungle tomb," and ending my last day in cambodia by joining my 21 yr old temple guide at a friend's wedding (600 guests, lots of food, music, and so much fun trying to speak english to cambodians who didn't speak english (and vice versa)). not to mention the outstanding "abc stout!"

flow flow flow! i was in it and soaking it all up!
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website: http://images.google.com/images?q=angkor+wat&hl=en&lr=&sa=N&tab=ii&oi=imagest

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