Slum Dong Millionaires

We arrived in Sihanoukville by bus in the early morning hours in a downpour.  The bus driver unloaded our luggage into a puddle while tuktuk drivers argued over who had the right to take the tourist to the far reaches of Otres2 beach and squeeze every dime out of them.  Loading our wet backpacks into the taxi we started down the potholed, rain soaked road and we were aghast at the garbage strewn  ditches that lined the way. The bungalows we had rented were tiny worn out places at the farthest end of Otres beach supposedly a 30 second walk to the ocean but it had been raining for 6 days in a row and the short walk to the beach involved walking through red clinging mud knee deep.  Our Australian friends who had stopped in Phnom Penh to see the killing fields were due to arrive later that day and we didn't look forward to explaining that our choice for a rest up was a disaster. The deck behind the bungalows right on the river Note the BBQ where we would cook e...

It always amuses me when you order a coffee at Starbucks and the 'barista' says; "awesome".  My standard response is "really, you think an order for 'a tall pike for here' is awesome?  What if some day something awesome actually happens then you'll be stuck to find an adjective to fit." Usually the kid looks stunned and I say try "far out" like I did at your age[That is 1965 PB. pre barista] that will leave you some slack later on. I've used up my list of superlatives describing our experiences to date so that when Angkor War appeared out of the rising sun it left me almost speechless,  Angkor Wat is quite simply staggering. Angkor Wat is a temple complex in Cambodia and the largest religious monument in the world, with the site measuring 402 acres. It was originally constructed as a temple to the god Vishnu, gradually transforming into a Buddhist temple towards the end of the 12th century.  It was built by th...