I’m back in the capital, waiting my Vietnam visa and hanging out with my excellent host. While in Battambang I met and hung out with a fellow San Franciscan. Tried to rent a moto (was denied because it was too dangerous). And rented a bike and had a most excellent countryside exploration. I went out of town and took as many turns down tiny dirt roads as a felt like until I was good and away from everything. I stopped at the only soda stand, and scared little kids by my pressence and I walked in on a tiny scale rice threshing operation.

Last night, hanging out at Anja’s house, I cooked an enjoyable dinner and we hung out and relaxed. Today I visited the killing fields (skulls, bones, holes in the ground) and the russian market. Then I had dim sum, walked around, and drank some bubble tea. All in all a very relaxing day. I also ran in to a group of people that I met on the boat to Battambang three different times. That was a little strange.

I’m gearing up for a few days in the south and then crossing in to Vietnam where I think I’ll go to Phu Quoc Island.

So today I sat on a boat. Took 8.5 hours. It was good. And it was a ride that in a normal “western” boat at higher water levels would take 3 hours or less.

I sat on top. The views were great. I can’t fathom living in one of the many floating villages along the way. Our boat’s wake sent multiple people falling off their little boats. I felt guilty about that. I was very glad for my sun umbrella today.

I went with the hordes off the boat on to vans heading to one of the hotels in Battambang. Man those touts did well today! Virtually the entire boat ended up in the same hotel. At least it’s good.

Today I:

– Hired a moto to take me to two further away temples for $11 (a good price, both ways).

– Went to Bentay Srei, the further temple. Had an awesome time. Told the teenage boy moto driver to slow down four times over an hours time. Told him a fifth time that if he kept ignoring my request I’d be paying him less. Then told him to stop. I instructed him that I was canceling the rest of the day, and that he would be paid $5 if he brought me slowly back to my hotel because he had brought me 80% of the way. He didn’t like that so I handed him $2 and walked away down the country road. So he agreed to the $5 for bringing me back to my hotel, and he finally went slowly for more than 30 seconds. Nice kid, but drove like a reckless teen.

– ate lunch in town at a chinese restaurant with two americans who are here volunteering. One of them is a Backroads employee out of St. George! Small world story #1.

– hired a moto driver for the afternoon to go visit the last temples (Rolous Group) for $4. They were ok, compared to the others.

So, prices that are regularly being paid for services like moto and tuk tuk rides in this town are astronomical. People are way overpaying and it’s creating expectations or ripoffs. A moto driver can routinely squeeze double the fair. Same with simple things like water. Everything small is quoted as “one dollar”. um, no. One restaurant had three menus. The rip off menu that all white people get first. The cheaper menu that white people get if they object to those inflated prices. And the local menu that I don’t expect to have access to. This dive was asking for $4.50 for what locals would pay a dollar for. The menu that I got finally had reasonably expected prices of $2.50. I rode out to Beng Maelea for free with the guy that I met. He talked to drivers out there to see how much they had been paid. It was: $30 for a moto, $45 for a tuk tuk, $80 for a car. Many people here make $20 a month (I’m told, seems hard to fathom). So for a moto driver to pull $27 bucks for the day after gas, that is some serious money. Short rides to locals here are twenty five cents. So a day of work would likely pull less than two dollars without tourists. And that my friends is why the teen moto driver came here from thailand to work.

The Khmer temples including and around Angkor Wat are so totally awesome.

I’ve seen enough to make my eyes bleed. I imagine that I’ve seen around 18 so far. Tomorrow will be a light day with only about five. And it’s not like I’m visiting trash. These things are really cool. This easily ranks towards the top or world archeological sites. It inspires me to visit the Mayan and Aztec Ruins.

What else? I’ve been riding a bike all around and now my butt hurts from the plastic seat. I’ve had more long, educational and stimulating conversations with locals than with tourists. Had three great ones today. Including one with a woman who was 27 and looked like she was 14. Strange. One with a police officer who works from six am to sunset, six days a week

Saw sunrise at Angkor Wat. It was fun to watch the hordes of tourists. And hilarious (before it got miserable) to watch the swarms and swarms at the “Tomb Raider temple”. There were Asian tour groups of 30 spaced ten seconds apart for a good 45 minutes. That’s a lot of people passing through a 15×20 foot room.

I’m coming in way under budget most days. And I’m not traveling nearly as cheaply as I could. I think that I could do this trip on ten bucks a day if everywhere is about as cheap as Cambodia.

Ate my first western food of the trip tonight. Besides breakfast, because I absolutely don’t feel like rice in the morning. The pasta was delicious. And I am indeed eating meat. It’s disgusting and unappealing.