Bye Thai

My all too short a stay in Thailand ended with a private bus ride to the border. The border crossing was uneventful which is a very good way for border crossings to be I think. Though uneventful, it was colorful what with a hugh market place buzzing. We had to leave the bus, exit thru Thai immigrationand walk across the No Man's Land bridge to the Cambodia immigration office. There is a two sided flag in the middle of the bridge, one side displays Thailand colors and the other side Cambodia. From Bangkok, we (I'm with a new Intrepid Tour group now) went to Siem Reap via the Dancing Highway. In recent years due to highway improvement projects it's a slow dance most of the way now but gets a bit more lively the closer to the city we got. Siem Reap is a very lively place and I'm thinking the tourist trade is what livens it up. There are lots of fair complexions in the market places. I had a 70s flashback when we stopped at a small nightclub after browsing the night market. The singer was doing covers of old Eagles stuff and some other things I recognized from my days at ACC!



Today was a full day at some of the temples in the Angkor area and included an elephant ride around Angkor Thom. I thought I was templed out after my recent tour through India but the Cambodian temples live up to the standard set by the Reclining Buddha I visited in Bangkok. They are extensive and although they are ruins they are in a good state meaning they are looked after now and there's some restoration going on. Of course there are the ever present hawkers and one guy in our group is a kid magnet so that gets the rest of us off the hook. We also have a great local guide for our Angkor temple visits. She's one of the few female guides and has all the kind of guide info you'd want but doesn't sound like she's stepford guide. In fact, after today's official touring was complete, she took me back to one of the temples to do a little bit of letterboxing! Woo hoo-it was a success, too. I found a letterbox in Cambodia!