Money DOES buy happiness.

We survived the 9 hr bus trip from Bangkok to Siem Reap. They were old busses and the a.c. didn't work real well and it was very hot. They stopped for an hour for lunch and 30 minutes for dinner and it took longer than an hour for immigration so we actually weren't on the road for the entire 9 hours. FYI they drive on the right in Cambodia and left in Thailand. Right in Burma. The scenery through Thailand and Cambodia was rice fields, rice fields and more rice fields. Green and pretty. Some rice was ripe for harvesting and they do it by hand, no monster rice harvesters like in California. I'm pretty sure they don't have airplanes for seeding and fertilizing either!

I had emailed a hotel the night before we left to ask for a room and they emailed back but I didn't get it until after we arrived here, that they were full so we arrived with no place to stay. The tuk tuk driver suggested a place and it was nice, we stayed there. Of course they charged us more for the tuk tuk drivers commission but at least we had a place to stay. It was nice except the bed was as hard as a rock so this morning we decided to look for another place and found this one, Terrasse des Elephants, right on street smack dab in the middle of town. We are so lucky. I went exploring after I went swimming and there is a large indoor market on the street next to the hotel. About two blocks away is a sign for the night market and I'm sure we'll go there tonight. Couldn't have found a hotel in a better location.

On the way to the bus station last night the bus went down the main street where the 5 star hotels were and it was like driving down a major hotel street in any city USA with all the beautiful Christmas decorations. I was so surprised that a Cambodia city was so advanced.

During the trip through immigration (leaving Thailand and entering Cambodia) it was very hot and tiring. I can see why people use airplanes instead of busses! But people up in the air don't see all the interesting things we people on the ground see. Anyway when we bought our bus ticket we didn't expect to have a guide to guide us through the entire process. He was Cambodian and spoke English quite well and having him was wonderful, it would have been difficult without him for sure. From Cambodia immigration to the bus station they had us get on a free for tourists Cambodian government bus. It took about 5 minutes. Our guide was a mid 20 something. Of course we all know the terrible history of Pol Pot but I was quite surprised to hear him ask if we had heard of Pol Pot. We all shook our heads yes and then he said, "We don't know why he did what he did. Maybe he wants to be some kind of fucking god. That's all we can think of, some kind of fucking god." His language was harsh but understandable when I've read that it will take generations for Cambodians to recover from the shock of what happened to every single family in Cambodia during the reign of Pol Pot and his henchmen. Our guide said that before after the war the population of Cambodia was reduced my many million people. Tortured terribly and killed. I can hardly bear to even think of it. I walked by several bookstores today and there are many books on their terrible time and I just could not even read one. It seems like maybe the people don't want the world to forget their sadness. Maybe by not forgetting it can't happen again?

Anyway, I'll post some pictures of our hotel. Like I say, Money does buy happiness, but actually, this hotel is not expensive compared to U.S. prices. Our room includes breakfast, which we haven't had here yet so can't report on that. We have a flat screen television and internet in the room. As you'll see, a very unusual bathroom area.

Well, I will post some pictures next.