Monday, June 30, Siem Reap, Cambodia Lazy day today. We have made no plans but to go on the internet and update our blog with the journal and photos. We laid in bed until around 7:30, threw some clothes and headed out for the usual breakfast. I must say that the poached eggs here are fantastic. I wish our poached eggs at home would turn out half as good, but they don’t. After breakfast we chatted with our Golden Banana buddies about our upcoming trip to Vietnam and Laos. The one gentleman Bill Tuffin lived in Laos for 14 years and now lives in Thailand. He is originally from Colorado. Through the suggestion of Mandy we decided to pick his brain a little bit about what we should do and where we should go. We have a flight that leaves Hanoi, Vietnam bound for Vientiane, Laos on the 19th of July. He suggested that if we only have 8-10 days in Laos we should skip the capitol city, Vientiane and continue on to the other cities. We arrive in Vientiane at 5:00 pm so we might have to stay the night and continue on the next morning to Vang Vieng. Apparently there is a younger crowd there and it is beautiful around there. He also suggested that we take a three day tour through this eco tour company. We would do whitewater rafting and home stays. It sounds pretty exciting but it is a little out of our budget. It’s like $160 a person for three days. So that’s around a $106 a day for the two of us with guides food lodging and the equipment. Not bad compared to what we would pay for something comparable in the U.S. except that we budgeted for around $50-$60 a day for Laos. We’ll just see how well we do with money in Vietnam. He also suggested that we go to this restaurant called the Boat Landing. He said that it is the best Laos food that we will probably have there. I would think that he might have a little in it for himself since he owns the restaurant, but there was this lady that checked in later this day from Austria who has been traveling for 11 months that actually ate there and she agreed that it was the best food she had in Laos. Oh yeah, he also worked for the company that does the tours. Hmmm. I wonder why he plugged these places. No, he seems like a pretty good guy. Angy and I looked him up on the internet and he has done a lot of good things for Laos. He has worked deactivated mines and unexploded ordnance and many other community projects. He started his work in the peace corp. and continued on working with UNICEF distributing supplies throughout the country. After our nice little chat we made it back to our room for a nice shower and clean clothes. Without much to do we started out in search for an internet café. We certainly weren’t going back to the first crappy one we went to before. One of the workers at our hotel suggested an area to try. The internet café’s are all over, but most of them look pretty crappy and have fairly old computers. Luckily we were able to locate a reliable and speedy location. After updating the pictures and typing out a few of the days we missed, we checked our blog and lo and behold, we had already had 3 new views on the stories we just typed. We would just like to say again that we love seeing that people are reading our journal and leaving little comments. Even though we can’t call and talk to you guys back home too often it is nice for us to know that there is a small connection to you guys through our stories. We would love to call you more and tell you about our adventures, but for money’s sake and sometimes for the sake of not finding a phone we are communicating through our blog. So of course the next thing after that would have to be a little lunch. We being the lame tourists we are stopped at a Mexican restaurant. I feel a little guilty every time we don’t eat at a local restaurant, but sometimes it’s kind of comforting to eat something that is familiar. The food was surprisingly good. We start the meal off very Mary Buffingtonly with a shot of tequila and a beer chaser. Then we had chips and salsa. The chips were really good. Angy got fish tacos with refried beans and I had a chicken enchilada with a little plate of Thai peppers on the side. Yummy. Oh yes and as usual we had to fend off the little rug rats trying to sell books and postcards. One of the kids was a boy that I had already played his little game with and bought two postcards. This one was very rude, after I had told him no numerous times, and asking him to leave he just stood next to the table pretending to watch the TV. at the restaurant. I got in his line of sight and told him to leave and then he asked if I wanted to buy his f@%#ing postcards. When the waiter came over I asked him to tell the kid to leave. Thankfully the kid listened to him because I was starting to feel like picking his ass up and put him in the street. We finally could enjoy the rest of our meal. I had overheard two girls and this other couple talking about Vietnam so after I paid the bill I asked them if they had already been there and if they had any suggestions or tips for us. Regrettably they hadn’t, but I did get to watch that kid come back to them for the third time. Unrelenting little shit. He should be in school, but unfortunately less than half the children in Cambodia go to school. Their parents put them to work pestering tourists. After a satisfying meal and a frustrating little monster on the side we started walking back to the hotel. But not before a little stroll through the old market on the way. Angy saw a table runner she liked in one of the stalls and I liked some of the chopsticks there. One of things I want to do is get a pair of chopsticks in every country we go to. So far, mission accomplished. Anyways, the guy told Angy that he wanted $12 for it. Angy scoffed at him, so he showed her a smaller one for a cheaper price. Of course the smaller one wouldn’t fit our table. So he offered both the tablecloth and two sets of chopsticks for $12. I agreed and Angy was upset because she thought it was too much. It probably was, but I got my chopsticks. Now we could really go to the pool. No distractions except for the fresh fruit, vegetables, and crickets on the side of the road. Crickets!! Yep, deep fried crickets. Mmmm Mmmm. I of course had just eaten so I didn’t get any. But they sure looked good. Lying on the side of the pool was very nice and relaxing. I cool dip in the pool and an ice cold cocktail was a perfect combo. Especially since it is in the high 80’s and like 70% humidity. We had a few more conversations with some people and headed to the room for a well deserved nap.
After our nap we got up and decided to head out for a little dinner. (Angy) Mandy had told us about this Khmer family restaurant just up the road that was really good, and they were the only white people there, and hadn't gotten sick from the food. So we decided to check it out. We didn't really know how to order, so we were somehow able to say beef and chicken, and of course beer. They put ice in our beer, so we fished it out afraid of getting sick. Then they brought raw veggies, which are a no-no to eat, tons of bacteria our bodies are not used to. The beef was not hot, so we couldn't eat that, the chicken and rice was hot, but the chicken was all bones, and barely any meat. Well we quickly finished our beer and went back to the hotel to have some "safe" food, they had stopped serving so it was back into town in search of food. We found a Khmer place, and ordered Yams and potatoes. This is where for some reason the travelling caught up with me. I started crying amd missing my cats! And sobbing to Kyle that they needed me. Oh I must have been quite a sight, Kyle took pictures of course. The food was really good which made me feel a little better. Then we went off to find a phone so I could call home! Such a baby! After calling my mom's cell phone like 5 times, then trying her at work (she took the day off!) Kyle finally got a hold of her for me, thankfully otherwise I think I would have cried all night! We talked for a little while about the cats, and how they ate pork for sunday dinner. Kyle was able to get ahold of his brother but not his parents right away. And even though we were calling from Cambodia, Darin kept talking to other people around him, Kyle was really upset by this. Darin is not even checking our blog, which hurts Kyle's feelings as well. Then Kyle got ahold of his dad, right away he asked how we were doing for money, hehe such a dad thing to ask! Then I was able to get a hold of Adrianne, and talked to her for so long I was dripping sweat in the little glassed in booth, well I was soaked in sweat! When the clerk rang up our bill he said we were on the phone for 68 mins total, then we thought that was how much the bill was but it only was $11! Thank goodness! Well I was ready for bed! We had to take a bus for 5 hours the next morning so we went back to the hotel and went to bed!
