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I'm posting from Bangkok, finally, two days until I fly home. Tia and I arrived late last night after an all day marathon hell-mission from Sihanoukville, in south-western Cambodia. The first leg of the journey to the Thai border included 4 river crossings and a broken accelerator in our minibus in a large expanse of Cambodian jungle (read: the middle of nowhere). Luckily, we had an old mechanically-minded Frenchman (Jean) traveling with us, who rigged up a pull-string to the accelerator. So for the next 2 hours, our driver handled the steering and shifting, and Jean did the accelerating. Interesting, to say the least. Crossing the border was a cinch, as was the border-Bangkok ride, and my passport is now entirely full. Gotta get some filler pages when I get home...

Sieburg and Mike are in town as well, flying out soon, and we're hoping to rendezvous again sometime today. Maybe we'll see Hero tonight?

Awe yeah, the Sony Ericsson Clicker!!!

I'm posting from Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital, where Tia and I arrived late this afternoon. The rendezvous with Sieburg and his buddy Mike (a compadre from GDubya) in Siam Reap went as planned. We spent the past three days seeing the awesome ruins of Angkor, and we're gonna meet up again in Bangkok in about a week.

Angkor was incredible, easily one of the most amazing spots on Earth. Think "Indiana Jones," "Tomb Raider," etc., immense crumbling ruins the size of small towns surrounded by Cambodian jungle...

It's on with Sieburg, we're rendezvousing Thursday evening in Siam Reap. Marietta, OH, USA, representing in rural southeast Asia, boo-yah!

Thai food is, hands down, the best food in the world. This is one of the reasons why. We're eating there almost twice a day, costing $2.50 per person, tops. And that's for a serious meal, including dessert. When we get back to Bangkok, Tia and I are gonna take a cooking class with May- morning starts with a trip to the market to buy the days' food. Then we dig in, taking notes, working in the kitchen, all day. I've heard it's pretty intense. But after one has spent a day there, you can return anytime you want and help out, hang out, etc. We _can't wait._ The food is just heavenly!

Posting again from Bangkok, the 8-day Vipassana course up north was most excellent. There are about 8 of us from the Yatra still hanging out together, doing group sits, meals, etc., but that's coming to an end tomorrow. Tia (an American girl from the Burma trip) and I are heading to Siam Reap, Cambodia at 6:30am. If all goes well, we'll get our visas at the Thai border and be there by early evening, to meet up with Sieburg. Angkor Wat should be incredibly cool, folks are saying to spend a minimum of 3 days there. No plans yet after that, but we'll likely head south to Phnom Penh then maybe further south to the beaches.