Laura Croft and Indiana Jones romance

We have been in Cambodia now for almost 3 days, and have seen nearly 10-15 large historic temples. We've whizzed through 2 days of temple exploration with a private driver and a guide for less then a room in San Francisco for a night! My favorite was the "Laura Croft Temple, Ta Prohm," which was built in the late 12th and early 13th centuries,
 has trees growing out of it and it's surrounded by jungle! Actually, the movie, Tomb Raider, with Angelina Jolie, was filmed in this temple! Tonight, I had a drink "commemorated by A. J. in 2000," at a restaurant called the "Red Piano," made of lime juice, tonic water and cointreau, mnn, good....

This is Angkor Wat, the 7th or 8th or 11th wonder of the World, depending on who you are asking. It is the world's largest religious building! And it's beautiful!! We walked from around 8:30am til about 4-6 each day and climbed a billion (yes, a billion) stairs that were striat up! Actually, in 2007, they closed Ankor Wat because a tourist slipped and fell from the stairs and died. Now there are wooden steps with a hand rail, still optional are the steep, high stone steps, which James took, of course!! He has yet to sprang his ankle, but he has tripped several times. Unfortunately, he has had a head cold now for 2 days, and finally let me get him some antibiotics today. He had a fever last night and possibly bronchitis, but he would not stay in the guest house to rest, determined to see everything here in Siem Reap, on our short stay. We leave tomorrow back to Bangkok, for my birthday. But we've been watching the news and the Red Shirts and Yellow Shirts have started protests again. (per Wikapedia; "Since 2008, there has been an ongoing political crisis in Thailand in form of a conflict between the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and the People's Power Party (PPP) governments of Prime Ministers Somchai Wongsawat and Samak Sundaravej, respectively, and later between the Democrat Party government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and the National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD). It is a continuation of the 2005–2006 political crisis, wherein the PAD protested against the Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The PAD's followers usually dress in yellow, called 'the yellow shirts', the royal color of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. The UDD's followers dress in red, widely called 'the red shirts', known as the supporters of the deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra....) And our hotel is somewhere in between.... Not to wory as they are protesting different things this week, not against eachother... for now. The protests seem to be peaceful. But, we plan on leaving Bangkok on the 30th, ASAP! 

 Cambodia life is harder. We feel the push of the poor to sell, sell sell. They use the dollar here, but it seems like a rip off when you pay in dollars and they give you Ream (Cambodia money) for change. You loose more in the conversion. But the prices seem cheaper here. Unfortunately, the post office is less reliable, and sending things home is not a great option. So, we aren't buying lots of souvenirs. We rode in a scary "tuk tuk"which here is a trailor with seats hitched onto the back of a motorbike. We drove in a strait line, to be safe... and it only cost $1 to get about 1-2 miles.. We lived. But, I think this country has the most dangerous tuk-tuks around. In Thailand, I will feel safer because they are attached to the front of the motorbike. Night, night. Hope all is well in the States.

-C