Hello Cambodia

Sour sdei! (Or, hello in Khmer.)

Alas, I've found a computer I can get onto my blog with a signal. Our laptop is upstairs but not receiving the wireless signal very well so just pretend I'm sending you photos with this messages. It's 8:37 pm and both Tom and Max are passed out in bed. Sound asleep. I was too but the doorbell of housekeeping staff woke me up and I decided to make an entry on our blog.

Just to recap where we've been since my last entry and where we are now, our trip leaving Dulles was absolutely uneventful, mercifully. The 4 a.m. wake up call was a tough one though, having had two hours sleep the night before. We put Max in the car that picked us up at 4:30 a.m. and he woke up in the brightest of moods. He loved watching the sun come up and was just full of monkey chatter. Sweet monkey chatter. "Mama, I just love your garden. The flowers are so beautiful." Or, "I am just so excited to go meet Gopala. We'll have her soon Mom."

At JFK, we were somewhat naughty (but very smart) and made a last minute upgrade to Royal Silk Class from premium economy on Thai Airways. No first class on this 17-hour flight from JFK to Bangkok but the business class was a welcomed relief. Especially after walking around the airplane several times and seeing the other passengers crammed in snug like sardines. Lots of gratitude going on here.

Despite the fact that we were on the plane for 17 hours, the flight went remarkably well. It was just barely tolerable. The clock moves much slower at that altitude but the service was wonderful and I would say for about the first 7 hours Max was full of Maxness. He was just the chatterbug. Fortunately we all had a computer screen in front of our seats and he liked watching "Lady and the Tramp" and "Happy Feet" - in English with Japanese subtitles.

As a brief aside, the entertainment choices on a 17-hour flight are nearly enough to convince my husband to take a trip like this just so he can have his own personal film festival. There were about 30 good films to choose from, excellent documentaries (on photography, Wimbledon etc.)and great musical selections. Not only that, they whet my international tastebuds b/c there were offerings in Japanese, French, Italian, Chinese, Thai, English, Korean etc. A mini-UN via entertainment. When I first boarded, I remember thinking I'd watch about three films and ended up not watching one. I'm not even sure what I really did to pass the time - read magazines, minded Max, stayed glued to the flight's progress across the world, slept and ate.

For the pilots out there, the flight plane included heading north to Albany, Montreal, Hudson Bay, THE NORTH POLE!!!!!!!!!(no sign of Santa), and then down through Siberia, Mongolia, China, Irkutsk (names from the Risk game, and then to Thailand. Speaking of the North Pole, I looked out the window so hard absorbing all that I saw. Soaking up my porthole perspective just as I did when I flew over Mt. Everest.

Max was a great traveler. He ended up sleeping for about 5 to 6 hours and Tom and I drifted in and out as well. Tom also got food poisoning from eating salmon on the flight. Luckily he made it to the loo before having to pull out his barf bag. Aside from that, it was an excellent flight. Very calm, no turbulence and a great landing. FYI, it was bright white outside for the entire flight b/c in the summertime, it never gets dark on the north pole.

We landed in Bangkok and hung out in the transit zone for a couple of hours - much to Max's delight where he could watch the flights coming in and out. Then it was on to a very smooshed in Bangkok Airways flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia. We flew through a nasty dark storm, hit some turbulence and had a very rough landing. But believe it or not, I only took a HALF a xanax for the entire flight (including coming from Dulles) which I thought was amazing.

So here we are in Siem Reap. Our minds have yet to catch up with our bodies and frankly, it all just seems very surreal. Cambodia, as seen through the perspective of the Raffles Grand Hotel d'Angkor. It's a lovely hotel, though undergoing restoration, and a busy little town. Lots of motorbikes zipping around and tuk tuks (half motorcycle, half rickshaw) farting and sputtering around behind them.

Max had his first tuk tuk ride today and was in heaven. It's so much fun to see the world through a child's eyes. No doubt that $2 ride to the very uneventful butterfly gardens (a visit in honor of the butterfly-loving Guinness family) will be among the most memorable moments of his trip. He just laughed and laughed, big full, jolly belly laughs. "Look at that Momma"! "A bridge - just like the Bay Bridge." (Hardly, I say, as it was smaller than the Tunis Mills bridge and spanned a coffee au lait Siem Reap river.

We wandered around town, mostly in the area of the Old Market just absorbing the world around us. It's stinky, tropical heat hot and humid. We actually had sun today which was nice and then heavy rains this afternoon. It seems just about everywhere we go we're greeted with cold, menthol-infused washcloths. So refreshing!

We had a yummy little snack at a funky restaurant called the Blue Pumpkin. French bakery downstairs and upstairs we went to the Cool Lounge. White beds and pillows all over where we drank fresh fruit smoothies and Max dined on his favorite, french fries. I also indulged in the very best fresh spring rolls I've ever tasted.
Back to the hotel it was for a swim for me and Max and a long nap for Tom.

We met a fascinating family - American expats living in Singapore. They were traveling with their daughter (one of three biological ones) and also had their three and a half year old adopted daughter with them. The adoption has not become official yet in the eyes of the Cambodian government but they've been coming up every weekend from Singapore to spend time with her. She lives in the orphanage when she's not staying with them at the Raffles. What a contrast. The mother is on the board of a great organization called Caring For Cambodia - a fabulous non-profit devoted to helping the Cambodians build schools etc. for the children in the community.

(This is, of course, in response to Pol Pot extinguishing the educated during his holocaust a decade or so ago.)

My wrists hurt from typing so I'm going to sign off. We are happy, we are well and just loving the friendliness of the Cambodian people we've met. They are a beautiful people and I only wish we had more time to stay here. This country is hardly developed as a full-fledged tourist destination though signs of it are seen everywhere.

Max has been excellent - if not a little too chatty. Telling people he's 16 or 22. Ordering hot chocolate for breakfast without asking us and telling the tuk tuk driver how to put the stroller on the tuk tuk etc. A bold young man.

The only scary thing is that there's been a bad outbreak of dengue fever. The hotel guest relations manager informed told us this morning. About 400 to 500 are getting it a day and the hospitals are so full that they've ahd to close!! Someone told me if we had an emergency he would help us get in. But it's scary - nothing we can take prophylactically except preventative measures. So lots of Deet it will be tomorrow before we head to Angkor Wat and the other temples tomororw at 8 a.m. Sometimes I just want to keep Max at the hotel as Dengue Fever wasn't part of the picture we ordered.

Life is good. We are truly blessed and so glad we made the trip a little early to acclimate to the time change. Jetlag and Siem Reap combined make quite a hazy cocktail. I see fellow travelers (I used to be one in some of my previous lives) and pine for those backpack-laden budget traveling days. And I'm also tremendously grateful to be right where we are right now.

I can't believe we're going to meet Gopala in a few days. Indeed, in a few days she will be ours. The time is right and we are ready. Monday is our G&R date, when she officially becomes ours in the eyes of the Vietnamese government. And Monday is only a few days away.....

Will report from the jungle tomorrow. I'm about to pass out. I love you all and thanks for reading this and writing coments.