Day 11 – September 28 –Vientiane, Laos – Phnom Penh, Cambodia

We are paying for our incredible day yesterday. We both woke up groggy and miserable. The warmth of the previous day’s experience was little solace to our pounding heads. We packed and prepared to check-out of our hotel, on the way to Cambodia. Unfortunately, no one at our hotel spoke much English, the credit card machine was acting up, and the car to take us to the airport had a dead battery. After I showed them how to correctly charge my visa card, Robin and I threw our stuff into the back of the car and got ready to rush to the airport. However, the driver explained the dead battery and asked us to help him push the car back a few feet so that he could jump it. We pushed the car, but this fool was steering and kept pushing on the brake. We kept smacking into the front grill of the car. Great. Eventually, after a long waste of time, he called another car, and we got to the airport.

The flight to Cambodia was uneventful, got through the visa process quickly ($20 for a single entry) and grabbed a tuk-tuk for the ride to the Bodhi Tree Umma hotel. We were very pleased with the hotel. It was small, set back amongst some trees with tables set up outside for their adjoining slow-food movement restaurant. It was also across the street from the S-21 prison, where Pol Pot’s genocidal regime imprisoned and tortured his own people. It is now a museum.

We got our stuff together and drove to the Palace and Silver Pagoda. The city of Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital, has a much larger population than anywhere we went in Laos, with poverty visible almost everywhere one looked. Kids were playing in the gutters, trash was everywhere, and the begging was much more prevalent than Thailand or Laos. But there was also a gritty realism that made me admire the city. These people had been through 30+ years of civil war, genocide, and decay, but everyone we actually interacted with was kind, with a smile on his or her face. I was legitimately moved. One of our tuk-tuk drivers asked us where we were from. After we told him the US, he turned around, smiled generously and yelled “Obama” with big thumbs up. We smiled and nodded. He pointed to his arm and said, “We like him because he is the same color we are. We think he will do well for all of us!” I’ll continue with this thought in a separate “Random Musings” so will not bore you with my thoughts here.

The Palace and Pagoda were closed by the time we arrived, so we walked up and down the river, enjoying the views. An elephant was walking among the traffic, with ecstatic children throwing him peanuts and popcorn. Cars, buggies and scooters were swerving around the mass of gray, honking and shouting. The elephant cared little for the circus going on around him. He just enjoyed his popcorn.

We stopped at a local restaurant suggested by Lonely Planet. It was, eh. Robin had the local specialty, Amok. First issue is the name. If I were going to name a national dish, I wouldn’t start with a name resembling a mess to be wiped up. But, hey, what do I know? It was local Mekong river fish steamed in banana leaves. It was not so great. I had a local curry with potatoes, which was fine. Nothing to rave about, so I won’t. We walked around for a little bit before grabbing a tuk-tuk back to the hotel. At the hotel, we decided to write in our journals and read a little bit in the patio area outside. Lanterns were hanging from the trees and the different levels of seating created a cozy ambiance. We decided to splurge a little and get smoothies (ice made with purified water, no worries) and dessert. The smoothies were great. After a pleasant end to a day of travel and car pushing, we dropped into bed, ready for tomorrow.