taiwanese schools had a month off for chinese new year this year. i joined my friend steph in cambodia for half of that time. during those two weeks, a whole world opened up to me. i came back to taiwan with a shifted perspective, new eyes, and strange new pains in my belly...
steph is a fantastic person. she and i met way back in the midwest, when i lived in minneapolis. our bond was initially cemented over antibalas, and then put to the test and exalted when we walked 500 miles of the camino de santiago together. steph is a spanish interpreter in a pediatric hospital; needless to say she has a soft spot for los ninos. cambodia was a hotbed for sweet, savvy, and occasionally sassy youngsters. steph had a knack for drawing a crowd.
along the way, we experienced some very strange and wonderful modes of transportation. the aisles of my first long-distance bus (center) were crammed full of families, livestock, bulging bags of produce, and 3 motorcycles. armrests came in handy for the obstacle course of getting on and off. we also enjoyed the built-for-25, filled-with-70 river boat (left; not pictured) that finally ground to a halt on the banks of the sangkae river after a valiant 10 hour struggle. before it got stuck, it gave us an unbelievable view of floating villages where children boat to school and bodegas bob past. tuk-tuks (right) proved to be the most comfortable and reliable public transportation around. motorcycle drivers hook their bikes up to rickety carts and then drag passengers around town (or take naps in back).
the best, very most special part of cambodia was not the fresh peppercorns, or the lychee-flavored fanta, or tiny from kep, or the wild irrawaddy dolphins, or the jungly temples. mr. sinan and sarom's wild ride was by far Le Top. through a distant connection, we met these two gentlemen who took us on an extraordinary tour of cambodia's most remote, backroad, unbelievably difficult to reach temple ruins. thanks to them, we saw not only angkor wat, but also sambor prei kuk, preah khan, koh ker, preah vihear, and beng mealea. no ox-cart trail was too bumpy, overgrown, or sandy for them. 4 dusty days, 3 nights without electricity or running water, 2 jugs of palm wine & beer, and 1 crucial drinking mantra later, we emerged from the outback covered in red dust and saddle sores. "drink for drunk. drink not drunk, drink for what?" -- sinan from kompong thom
photos: the queen & king of motocross (steph & sinan); steph's kids at sambor prei kuk (l) and on the road to kampot (r); boat kids in prek toal floating village; bus to kratie from kompong cham; batman (who beat spidey, fyi); sinan & sarom at preah khan; a high-end road; sunset before ta seng homestay; apsara dances; bayon faces; blissful elephants
