Crocodile Farm

Sunbathing.

Crocodile pile (is that a pile of croc?).

What sharp teeth you have!

'laxing. . .

They're lurking in there.

First we fed them fish. . .

and then we fed them a live chicken. . .

which was one gulp . . .

and all that was left--feathers (and me thinking "$10 for 3 seconds")!

Saturday (pictures to come)

Sitting on the airplane in Bangkok awaiting take-off.

This Saturday will be two Saturdays long.

We had two car rides from Siem Reap to the Thai Border and from the Thai Border to Bangkok. Our driver found us $50 per night rooms and then drove us into the city for dinner. What a contrast Bangkok is to Phnom Penh. The hsopping area where he had dinner could have been in NYC or Chicago. We cruized a Nike store and an Adidas store and noticed Dunkin' Donuts, McDonalds, Outback Steakhouse, and other American chain stores and restaurants.

Funny thing. We asked for a 4:30 a.m. wake-up call so we could get to the airport by 5. At about 10:30 p.m., someone from the front desk called to inform us that we owe $7 more for our room. About 10 minutes later, Ben knocked at our door. He and Brittan were packed and ready to head to the airport (they had gotten a call, too, and thought it was our wake-up call). They got to return to their rooms for a few more hours of sleep.

Two other funny incidents in Siem Reap.

One night at dinner, I was still full from lunch and ordered only an Orangina to drink. When the food came, Ben was served his pepperoni pizza, Don was served his carbenara pizza, and I was surprised to be served an entire pizze, too--"original," it was called--that's close to "Orangina," I suppose. :)

The next morning, I was served the same breakfast Don had ordered, even though I had only ordered some bread and orange juice. Aw, the joys of communicating in a foreign language. :)

Thursday Journal (Floating Village/Crocodile Farm/etc.)

We stopped at a floating store and looked around for souvenirs--did NOT buy any of these.

Thursday. Out last day in Cambodia. Plans are to visit the floating village and the crocodile farm.

The crocodile farm was amazing with young crocs all together and then big, grand-daddy ones. We bought fish to feed them; and then we bought a live chicken to feed them. Surprisingly, the chicken was gone in just one chomp--that was $10 for 5 seconds! (See new post for crocodile pictures.)

I stayed in town for an hour of Internet time and then had a manicure and pedicure while Don, Ben, and Brittan went to check out aplacd where you can shoot machine guns. My fingernails have grown so strong over out past two weeks here--and now they feel so clean. My toenails have never looked better--took an hours for the manicure and an hour for the pedicure--and only $5 for each (another thing I can mark off my bucket list).

Thw shooters didn't shoot because it would have been $150 for about 5 seconds of shooting.

Later, after a late lunch, Don and I did some wandering around in the market together. Then, we went to see the new churh property and I met the sweet family living there. The husband has worked very hard clearing the land. I was so impressed with his wanting to do his part.

Wednesday Journal (finding pictures--to post soon)

Wednesday, Apri, 2011

Don walked and walked and walked and walked today--to the Wats, then to noe market, then to another market across town. He stopped for a mango smoothie. Since they were only 50 cents apiece, he ordered four of them. While he was waiting, a boy stopped by trying to sell bracelets and postcards. Don offered him a seat and a mango smoothie instead. Then, the boy's sister cam by, also trying to sell things, so Don invited her to join them. Next, their brother came along and also joined them. So, when the four smoothies were served, Don and his 3 new friend enjoyed them!

Don also took video of boys playing marbles--he was impressed with their accuracy.

Ben, Brittan, and I spent the day at Angkor Wat. First, we went to the Wat where the elephant rides are and Ben and Brittan rode an elephant around the Wat. We then walked and explored that Wat, then climbed teh Wat with the super-steep steps, then explored the Tomb-inator Wat with trees growing out of, over, and around the walls. Then, we hike a mountain and climbed that Wat (quite a beautiful 360 degree panaramic view from the top). Hot, hot day and past lunch time, so we stopped for an ice cream bar on our way to the big Wat. We spent a couple of hours enjoying that one--even got to climb to the highest part, which Ben said he had never done before because it was always closed off. And not all visitors were allowed to enter--only those with modest clothing (yeah us!).

Great lightening storm at night--read a newspaper article a week ago saying that 120 people in Cambodi per year are killed by lightening. Coconuts falling from trees account for a number of deaths each year as well.

Tuesday Journal (finding pictures--to come soon)

The above three pictures are of sisters in the Siem Reap Branch from the some the families that Don visited during the day. When he took the picture of the lady with the gray straw hat in the first picture and told her how pretty she looks, the lady in the brown shirt ran into her house and returned with a hat asking if he would take her picture, too!

At one of the markets Don perused in the afternoon, he snapped this shot. Makes me wonder if maybe I should start wearing hats. :)

Tuesday, April, 2011

Ben, Brittan, and I went to the silk factory where I tried to find blue silk scarves for my sisters. The only one close to what I had in mind was $139. So, I found some beautiful blue silk fabric on the bolt and bought three meters. It's one meter wide, so I will cut it when I get home and make 1/2 meter by 1 1/2 meter scarves for all four of us. Also found some beautiful placemats for JoAnn.

Found a great Mexican place for lunch, did a bit of shopping at a local market. It's Lincoln's (Brittan's nephew's) birthday, so Ben and Brittan found t-shirts for three nephews. After shopping, Ben asked our tuk-tuk drive his recommendation for a place for a massage. He used to work at a place that he took us to, and all three of us were in the same room and had a one-hour massage for $5 apiece. . . first massage every for Ben. So nice.

Next stop was the Cambodian Cultural Center where we watched two performances. One was of a traditional Cambodian wedding, with a teen-aged boy from Canada acting as the groom. Interesting details: parents of the bride ate small bananas and found rings inside them, parents wiped loose face powder down each side of the other one's faces. . . fancy, ornate costurnmes. Live music (string instruments that provided a whiney music reminiscent of the Cambodian music video music that we heard so many times on the bus rides).

Met Don back our guest house at 6. He had a good day--went tot eh land mines museum and then had Carolos take him to several members' homes. . . very humble homes. . . he ended up giving away all of the moon lights he had purchased at the factory we visited (5 left after the 3 he had given to Seiha earlier). One gifted moonlight was to a family he met on the property that's being cleared for the new church building here. President Loy gave them permission to stay on the property and several of the members helped put together a crude shelter for them.

When we were in Carolos's tuk-tuk heading to the Loy's last night, Carlos pointed out the one lone light in the darkness--the moonlight--as we passed by the property.

Mid-Trip Laundry Break

Saturday, April 20, 2011

P-Day. Relax, do laundry, buy bus tickets for tomorrow, set up fishing trip, Skype or gmail chat with Tori. Don had the seafood barbecue at our hotel (see previous pictures). I had the best one-hour foot massage ever (my first in my life--so, so nice), we saw a Wat up on a hill, saw the seaport, visited a local market.

Seafood Barbecue