Robert Durrette

Pave your roads, Cambodia!

Spectacular lady

How the other half lives.

The largest lake in Cambodia (as well as in Southeast Asia)

There may not be e-mail, but there sure is 8-ball

There's a lot to this picture...

The aqua-nomadic residents of the Tonle Sap

The short hop from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, across the Tonle Sap

I'm back, for the third time in 2 months. And I can't deny it: I love it here. Sure, it's super-touristy, but it doesn't take much to still take in plenty of "Thai-ness," something that a person could only understand if he or she visited here.

After my last update, we spent three spectacular days in Siem Reap, (which incidently is Khmer language for "Defeated Thai") home of the timeless ruins known as Angkor Wat. In fact, Angkor Wat is only one of several magnificent temples in and around Siem Reap--all of which should be visited, if time were not an issue. Even though it was for me, we managed to squeeze in as much as possible into 3 days. My pictures will reflect as much.

We spent all day yesterday on a long march back to Bangkok. The bus, an old piece of second-hand Korean junk, somehow survived the trip. I believe we only lost 2 or 3 stragglers along the way which, I am told, is better than average (just kidding). But, to be more serious, the road from Siem Reap to the border is not a road at all. It varies between one of two options: bog of mud or dustbowl. Again, see the back-to-back pictures of the road. It was more-or-less unbelievable. But, we made it. For a look, see the map I hastily made on MSPaint here at the internet cafe. It shows where we traveled inside of Cambodia, including the boat trip to Phnom Penh.