Siem Reap, Cambodia (Angkor)

Ah - after hectic Hong Kong, which feels as if Chinatown ate New York City, Cambodia is refreshingly rural (I am biased towards less developed destinations, I suppose). We have a guide, So Tay, who is younger than Zawji and me and has the long pinky nails that are a sign of male vanity in much of the world - I remember them from Syria. My father-in-law asked him last night :Are you married, So Tay?: :No,no,: he demurred. :Do you have a girlfriend?: :I have...some,: he smiled.

We visited several temples - Angkor Wat is just one, largest and most impressive on the face of it - in the humid heat. The rainy season is incipient, but we've been blessed with clear skies when we've been out. Yesterday it rained just while we took a midday siesta and cleared up in time for our afternoon outing. We saw the temple with huge spong trees growing from it, with snakelike roots invading the stones, the visual impression I'd had of Angkor. We only saw one group of monkeys, though, on the side of a road. Water buffalo graze roadside as well.

Saffron-robed monks walk along the streets, ride on the ubiquitous motorbikes, and wander the temples. I saw one holding a yellow umbrella, gazing at bikinied girls on a beer ad.

This morning we visited a floating village on the country's huge central lake. Chickens and pigs were kept on the boats, and fenced in fish farms with catfish and crocodile pens. Instead of dashing around on bicycles, children paddled between boats in tiny washtubs, waving to us.

Tonight we fly back to Bangkok - we were in the airport there just long enough to leave bags - and go to the home of former colleagues of my father-in-law, now working there with ING.