Travelin'

A Cambodian lunch stop.  Don't be alarmed by the raised hood, its standard practice for better engine coolling.

It was a mostly paved road deadly shenanigan type morning. With a bit of a bribe (Hey, its Cambodia) I cadged the front seat in the mini-van from Kratie to Kompong Thom. Because in Cambodia there is no such thing as a mini-van that is too full, the front seat is an amazing luxury. The only drawback to the front seat is that you have a ring-side view of your own mortality.

Did you know that you can strap a very dead 300+ pound pig onto the back of your scooter and ride down the highway without anyone thinking anything is out of the ordinary. I am here to tell you that you can, provided you have the jury-rigged dead-pig-scooter-rack accessory. There it went, feet straight up in the air, sailing down the "highway" all the while easily outweighing the scooter pilot by a factor of one-point-five.

Five hours and one Cambodian lunch stop later, I was the only one getting out of the van in Kompong Thom. While the tourist trail to Siam Reap and the temples of Angkor does run through this town, it doesn't stop here. This place is a dusty, beaten at the edges, provincial town. This is the gateway to the North of Cambodia, a region seldom visited and with very few "paved" roads.

After a lovely afternoon spent in the shade along the river, and followed by one of the best walk-abouts ever, I am holed up in my seven dollar fan room, taking a break from the sun.

Life is good, and dinner at the Night Market isn't going to hurt anything. I have already spotted big trays of tasty insect treats!!