from 107 down to 52 degrees Fahrenheit

That's 42 C down to 11 C for the rest of the world, the difference in temperature from flying from Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Taipei, Taiwan where we spent the last few days of our trip. I thought I had some drafts saved, but they must be on the Taiwanese server, so I can't post them. While we're safely back in Seattle (malaria pills and antibiotics aside), I'll take the next little bit to catch the blog up as well as begin uploading pictures from the trip, and still pretend that we're on the road.

I've gotten Southeast Asia out of my system in a rather brutal "Been There Done That" finale. Phnom Penh's cemetaries were full of elaborate stupas. Everyone from our driver (lone survivor of a family of 13) lost everyone one in their family or paid for it with a limb and an eye. Unlike Siem Reap where everyone is a foreigner, Phnom Penh's an odd mix of very young and the almost moved in. Our hotel was on the walled side of town. Much like Florence, Italy, you drove around between tall stucco or stone walls topped by concertina wire. Then the neighborhood opened up to the road running along the Mekong. That area came alive at night, made me think Phnom Penh might have a soft belly.

Our first night in Phnom Penh was a power outage. We stepped out the door of our hotel garden onto a dark street. A strange tuk-tuk driver approached and we said "no" we didn't want to go with him. We'd received directions to a "good restaurant" down at the end of the next block. We looked up & down the dark road, turned left & started walking through the pitch. Our eyes adjusted before the block which was our hotel wall ended. The street there is actually closed off and guarded. The next block was just as dark and as we were walking along we realized we couldn't see any lights ahead. At the end of the 2nd block was a guy with a gas air compressor filling tires. Traffic was flowing like raindrops, charcoal braziers were still cooking satays of pork or chicken. All the storefronts were dark, but the wide doors were open and people were moving in and out and about.

We hadn't realized there was a power outage until we passed beyond the hotel's thick wall and down a block. A dark road didn't seem too odd, the 2nd dark road ended at what was obviously a functional retail road. That being dark clued the dumb tourists in.

Now, seeing as how Davie & I get lost in cities like Hanoi & Milan when we're carrying maps & the streets are lit, I opted to turn our fat (well, only my butt would classify) butts around and head back to the hotel tuk-tuks. We got there & I popped out the first restaurant I remember reading about in PP - the Foreign Correspondent's Club.

What I know about the FCC in Phnom Penh is this - it had electricity. No one else around had it, but they did. This appears to be a chain a la Planet Hollywood, except twisted to relate to the brutal expereiences of SEA. It's not autographed pictures of stars in their roles which great you as you climb the stairs to their veranda, but pictures of fox holes, bleeding children, and missing photojournalists. We hung out on the 3rd floor veranda watching the street activity.

Now Dave's ultimate goal in Phnom Penh was to eat at "the cow BBQ place". We'd read about it on line @ Chowhound, I believe. There was no English sign, just a crossroads, 19th St & 148th. It sounded like "just down the road" from us. This night with the power outage, after the 7 hour drive from Siem Reap with the driver who kept falling asleep at the wheel, I wasn't up for such an adventure. So, we had a cardboard pizza & cardboard quesedilla at the FCC club, which I finished off with some expensive Mojitos. The best I can say about the FCC club is that it had power on a night when I was too tired to try the street food.

After we fed ourselves, we were early to meet our tuk-tuk driver. We'd agreed upon 8pm, so we still had 15-20 minutes to walk the park along the Mekong river. The government in Cambodia might have corrupt officials, or police. We saw the latter, but we also so a lot of public works taking place. There was actual construction occurring. In Phnom Penh, they were completely redoing the waterfront walk and it's going to be gorgeous.

As I said earlier about Siem Reap (or maybe I didn't, but I meant to), the women's toilets are clean, spacious and have a seat. They beat the Vatican's bathrooms on 5 out of 7 points. The Vatican toilets had a door, and if I remember correctly, they could be held closed. The 7 point Andrea Scale of Toilet Grading is:

1) availaiblity of toilet paper
2) having a toilet seat which can be sat upon
3) having a clean toilet seat
4) having a door which can close
5) having a door which can be locked, or at least hold themselves closed without having to be the physical means of holding the door closed.
6) having a dry floor so one does not have to worry about bunching one's pants or skirt up to avoid getting the hem in the bathroom floor muck
7) having a stall wide enough so that legs can be spread for the necessary wiping of the nether-regions

I would also add as "niceties"
8) the availability of a flush handle or button (as opposed to a bucket with a scoop) used to flush said products down the chute
9) In the case of trench based toilet areas, I do prefer having the little bricks upon which one places one's feet to lift keep them out of the muck and to avoid over-balancing the squat.

But anyways, the advances made on these toilets are a sign to me of the Cambodian government's efforts to funnel money back into their country, not just line their pockets. I also heard that schooling has gotten cheaper now, that people only have to help pay for the teacher when they send their children to school, not just pay for both the school and the teacher.

So, not all is corrupt in Cambodia. In fact, I saw much that was positive, much that indicated that the government was working both by itself and with the NGOs at least in those areas where the tourists were. And tourism is going to be one of the cash cows for this country. And here's one of its biggest assets, the Cambodians are investing in their cultural heritage, in their arts. Many of their artisans were killed or exiled, however, one program seems to have successfully taken root in Cambodia - Artisans of Angkor. Sponsored by the European Union, they began training people over a year's period of time in traditional Khmer arts, such as stone work, silk weaving & painting, carving, an basketry. Once a person is trained, they're sent back to their village to teach & share. This is the source of so much wonderful souvenir work throughout the country- from roadside stands, to children hawking their goods at the temple sites. This country is brimming with artwork.

Like Vietnam, labor might be cheap, but the craftsmanship is high. They also don't appear to be reproducing as much Western art, but their own. Good stuff and a decorator's dream.

Anyways, back to Phnom Penh and our first night. We walked through the park area (I did walk on the grass, but David begged forgiveness from the Park Cop who was whistling at me to get off) to watch a group of Cambodian young people practice a line dance to some pop music. Then we walked back along the Mekong night, sat on the balustrade overlooking the river and let some little girls try to sell us some post cards, or something. I tried to tell the little girl, that I'd give her a star for a smile. Her baby sister nodded & liked that. One Cambodian girl sitting to the right of me gave me a kiss on the cheek as we got up to walk to our tuk-tuk driver who met us exactly on time.

Then all the lights in the city came up. Honestly, there wasn't much difference as the Cambodian night was so rich in its darkness.