A Gallop Through the Rice Paddies

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Well, this has got to be a first. Jeremy is out on a lovely sunny afternoon, our last in Siem Reap, shopping and getting a massage. I am sitting in our nice cold hotel room, exhausted, worn-out, and fighting (possibly) another head-cold. And before you ask, "That jerk! Why isn't he there taking care of you?" let me assure you that I sent him out willingly after barely staying awake through lunch. I'm not the best of company today, I guess, and I wish I had more energy for our final day here. But alas, I think road-weariness is finally creeping up on me...

But enough of that. You didn't open this blog to listen to me mope and complain. We had a fantastic two days prior to this one (hence the reason I'm so worn out!). Thursday was our last day touring the temples; though we actually didn't see too many. Our tuk-tuk drove almost an hour north of town to an isolated and restored temple way out in the middle of nowhere - unfortunately we hit it first thing in the morning and it was swamped with people, so many in fact that after about five minutes we gave up and headed back. We drove another twenty minutes or so to the side of a large hill, where we hiked for half an hour through dense trees and enormous boulders to a pretty waterfall (not exactly Niagara, but you know...nice). After lunch we headed for the "Land Mine Museum," a sobering testimony to the dangers that lurk underground. It's quite a touching story, though...the museum's creator spent his childhood and young adult life making land mines and fighting in various combats throughout southeast Asia. Now he has spent the last 10 years dedicated to DE-mining his country; to date he's personally removed and deactivated over 50,000 land mines. He now has an entire not-for-profit foundation set up to remove more land mines and other undetonated explosives, as well as provide assistance to the many, many victims of land mines (mostly children and poor farmers, dozens of which now live on the museum's grounds). I was shocked to learn that there are still 13 countries in the world that produce and export land mines - and the U.S. is one of them (along with not-so-surprising ones like Cuba, Russia, and China)! It's so sad to see what atrocities man is capable of committing against his fellowman.

On our tuk-tuk ride back into town, I somehow managed to get stung by a wasp on my belly; I never saw it but felt a searing sting and started screaming my head off. Poor Kong probably thought I was having a heart attack or something and immediately pulled over. I lifted my shirt to find a large red welt that felt like it was on fire; I'd even managed to scratch myself while swatting it away and was bleeding. After a few moments the stinging subsided - I've never been stung by a wasp before and luckily I'm not allergic! (Though I have gotten ill from fire ants - actually landed in the emergency room once from them - so I'm wondering if maybe that's why I'm not feeling so hot today). At any rate, the welt is now barely visible so no lasting harm done! But note to self - getting whacked by a stinging flying insect traveling at 40mph hurts - A LOT! I don't recommend it.

One thing I do recommend, though - very highly! - is the half-day horseback trek we indulged in yesterday afternoon. "Happy Ranch" is apparently one of the only western-style ranches in southeast Asia, owned by a very nice native gentleman who lived in California for thirty years and fell in love with horses there! The ranch is managed by (funnily enough) a young girl named Lucy...from New Zealand! She was our guide for the day as Jeremy climbed aboard "Ronaldo," and I was given a 4-year old stallion (I thought they were joking at first), a half Cambodian, half Thai horse named "Mexico" (how's that for confusing??). Mexico rocked, though! We had the best ride I've ever taken anytime, anywhere, (not on my own horse, that is). Mexico is young and green and tried a couple times to prove what a stud he is by picking fights with poor Ronaldo (squealing, biting, kicking, that kind of thing)...but Lucy sadly informed us that this would be Mexico's last breeding season (he has many babies back at the ranch) before he gets "snipped." Poor guy!!

But oh, the ride! Four hours of vibrant green rice paddies, soaring palm trees, temples, little villages full of kids (who are quite cute when they're not trying to sell you something!), water buffalo, ducks, geese...Lucy held our camera and took lots of photos for us, and of course shared lots of info on New Zealand, too (she came to the ranch to help out "for a few weeks"...two years ago! Loves it here that much!). We had a blast, lots of lots of long canters and even a few gallops (Jeremy did AWESOME, by the way, considering he'd never gone faster than a trot!). It was just the three of us, riding quite literally into the sunset. Awesome, awesome, day - the perfect end to a great week!

Tomorrow we have a six-hour bus ride back to the capital, Phnom Penh, followed by an early morning 3-hour flight on Monday to Singapore! Catch you guys from there, our last stop in Asia before rejoining the western world...

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Photos

My Ridiculous Attempt to Climb a Vine
Jeremy was too busy laughing and taking this photo to help me untangle myself!