I'm still alive!

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Hi everyone:
I'm not really in Phnom Penh anymore, I'm actually in a smaller city called Siem Reap. It's about 300 km from Phnom Penh and home to one of the great wonders of the world, Angkor Wat. Check it out on Google images!. I want to download some of my pictures, but the last time I did it took a long time for them to download and I think I picked up some kind of virus or something. Some of the pictures I took in Vietnam are no longer on my memory card. One of the guys in the tour group says they probably are still there but I am using a new card and will not plug my card reader into a computer until I know the computer is safe.
So you'll just have to listen (read) me instead.

Last time I checked in I was just going to meet up with my tour group and begin a tour of Cambodia. Everything went smoothly and the group I'm with is awesome. There are two young couples - one from Calgary and the other from Winnipeg, two ladies around 60 from Vancouver, two couples from Great Britain - one couple are newly weds although Karen has 20 year old children and the other couple are in their 70's. There's a single retired fireman from California and another retired woman from Madison Wisconscin. We all get along terrifically and there are no whiners! Everyone is up for anything and we've had some great fun. Our tour guide calls himself a tour leader. He's from Cambodia and his name is Bo. He's 29 and a swinging guy who makes us laugh everyday. So great to have someone who loves his country so much to show us around. He took us out for dinner twice already, once to his friend's house and once to his mom's house. We sat on the floor on colorful mats and ate traditional food Cambodian family style. What a treat! Cambodia is dirt poor but the people are the most wonderful I've met so far. Huge smiles and they try so hard to make you feel welcome. Travelling in a third world country is very different from what I've done before, but it doesn't take you long to ignore the poverty and focus on the positive - the people. Considering the brutal history these people have endured, they are so optimistic, proud of their culture and anxious for you to enjoy their hospitality. I have told Bo that I'll be a good ambassador for him back home and encourage any of you who are considering an adventure to include Cambodia.

Internet access is always suspect, so I'll have to keep it a bit short for now. What have I seen, you ask?! Where do I begin? Speeding down the Mekong River in a "fast boat" at 20 km/hr - a sort of cross between a speedboat and a ferry for 6 1/2 hours, seeing the most amazing kings palace I have ever seen in my life in Phnom Penh, visiting an outdoor market where a couple of the guys in my tour group sample roasted bugs and I did see huge baskets of roasted tarantulas that kids and adults were munching on. I've haggled with vendors in the huge "Russian Market" - which has nothing to do with Russia. I've gone Geocaching with one of the ladies. Geocaching is an online scavenger hunt where you can look up a city and they have hidden something somewhere in the city and you try to find it. What a hoot!! We found two items, one in the Russian Market and one in Siem Reap. I've spent one whole day at Siem Reap and seen the most amazing temples I've ever seen. We stayed to watch the sunset and will be up before dawn tomorrow to see the sunrise. Do you watch Amazing Race? I went to the echo chamber at Siem Reap and it really does echo! I fed monkeys today too. Tomorrow we will also visit the Tonle Sap lake - largest in Asia - and explore the floating village by boat. This was also on Amazing Race. I'll be bidding adieu to my tour group tomorrow night as they continue on to Bangkok and I'll stay in Siem Reap until next Friday. Our tour guide has already organized my own private tuk tuk driver (look up tuk tuk on google images) who will hang out with me all day and take me whereever I want for 15.00/day. Food is unbelievably cheap - 2.00 to 6.00 and very tasty. No problems whatso ever so far but I will miss the group.
Anyway, when I find a guaranteed virus free computer, I'll post more photos and perhaps a video or two.
Love you all and love receiving your email messages. Take care
Flo

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Comments

[Robin Cheyne]

Tres Tres Cool
Flo, Just a quick note to say how wonderful your travel blog is and how much I look forward to reading about your adventures. Robin