Happy New Year!!!! Today is officially Chinese New Year. It is explained as '"our Christmas''. The tradition brings with it an expectation that all families be together for New Years. No matter where you are in the country, the world, you are expected to make the pilgramage back to your hometown to spend the two weeks, or a month if you are richer, with your family. In China that meant 188 million train trips were trying to be booked the week I was there and the rush was on to facilitate that many travellers. I heard it is the same in Vietnam and all the foreigners take their vacations at the same time because schools, businesses, even market stall types, shut down and everyone hits the road to head home or go on vacation if you are not of Chinese origin. They call it ""Spring Festival" It is big. It can be felt here in Cambodia - the banks are closed today for a few days, some schools are closed and there are lots of tourists. I think there are lots of tourists anyway - but holy s**t. considering China is at 1.3 billion and neighboring countries also have huge Chinese communities, when they travel - this side of the world is affected. It is pretty busy here - lots of fireworks and firecrackers last night. For the locals it means big feasts and lots of offerings to their gods. On the second floor of my hotel was a huge alter with cans of pop, beer, tins of crackers, flowers and a whole deep fried baby pig and a tray of cash - some real and some pretend. You have to realize people are very poor here yet they put out huge fancy meals and fruit and cash outside their homes and businesses as offerings to their gods. Yesterday, starting at noon, people came out into the street and started burning cash in little tin bowls. I was thinking it is probally really bad karma to grab an abandoned mango or a sleeve of cookies. I am frugal but not so frugal as to mess with thousands of years of karmic deities.

I love this town!!!! Not at all what I expected - thought it would be a small town supporting the Angkor Wat tourist trade. Actually it is a really big town/city with a huge expat population , many NGO's serving the poverty and medical issues of the Cambodians and a huge wealthy tourist scene. The town is booming - lots of very nice construction, huge Vegas style Hotels catering to the very wealthy package tourists who fly into the international airport, stay a few days at fancy Country Club style Hotels and Spas, bus out to see Angkor Wat, and take in dinner theatre and shows and all is very nice. A lot of the tourists are Japanese and Korean, Chinese, Thai, German and Swedes. Their currency exchange makes this an incredibly cheap vacation with 5 star service and fab food and accomodation.

Then there are the backpacker/flashpacker types - travelling SE Asia on its own or part of an around the world trip. Lots of us in that category....Funny though, seems most of ""us"" seem to be 20 somethings and most of the other category seem to be my age!!!! Hmmmm. I don't think they are having as much fun or meeting any locals. A 5 star hotel pretty much looks the same anywhere in the world, but good on them for coming to Cambodia.

This town reminds me of Bangkok 24 years ago - just new to big tourism, finding their way, or even Puerto Vallarta 30 years ago. More charming now in its early stages then the generic feeling some resort places take on. I am grateful to see this now as I bet in a few short years it will look much more polished.

Angkor Wat - one of the seven wonders of the world????, or the eighth? we have been debating that.....is truly up there with the Grand Canyon, Great Wall or Niagra Falls. A must see. It is waaaay bigger than I thought. The protected site with all off the ófficial' temples is the size of Manhatten!!!!!! Not Central Park, which I would have guessed - all of Manhatten. You have to be driven from temple to temple. Haven't seen Angelina or Brad yet but I did see elephants and wild monkeys. I like that part - a lot.

I bought a three day pass $40.00 for the temples and did 2 days - one with the woman I met on the bus here - Rachel, then she went on to the Thai islands, and one day today - starting out pretty early today with my tuk tuk driver, Samsun. As amazing as they are - and they are huge and it takes a fair bit of physical prowess to climb up most of them, they become kind of temple. temple, temple, temple.....just like the ruins in Rome or the temples in Egypt did. I wish I was more sophisticated or had a longer attention span but......I don't. I liked riding around in the tuk tuk best. The breeze cool, out of the staggering heat, and seeing water buffolo and cows and kids trying to sell you stuff everytime you slow down. That part is going to get tiring quickly. Yesterday I spent in town - picked up a band of tiny outlaws and taught them spelling for a couple of hours while I had lunch. The rest of the folks in the restaurant were less then midly amused as I am sure they thought the little urchins were going to rob them. I am not sure if they would if they could, but I had my stuff all locked down and accounted for nonetheless. The other tourists were on their own. The kids are really samrt - have learned the angles as do gypsy kids worldwide. Survival of the fittest and that is true in every aspect of life here where it is difficult to scratch out a living. They say öh Canadian - Steven Harper is the prime Minister, Ottawa is the capital, you have both French and English, French if you live in Quebec - do you live in Quebec, do you know French? It is winter there now? Where are you going? etc etc. They have background for all the countries presented and can chat up a pop can. Cute but you have to watch your stuff.

Then I went back to my hotel and spent the afternoon above the deep fried pig, on the 3rd floor balcony, sucking in the incense that fills the air everywhere and even more this week because of the holiday, and watching life in my laneway. The house across from me is the pig frying place - seems to run about 20 hours a day - frys little pigs and ducks and geese whole. Then a motorbike comes and picks them up and they probally head to a rich hotel. Also across were three boys who spent hours string fireworks together, kids and dogs playing in the dusty lane and women doing endless buckets of laundry. They do everything out in the yard - cook, clean - all done over an open fire that needs to be tended and restocked. All wood - no coal here. Saw lots of coal being used in China - big hunks of coal under the open cooking vats.

When I came into town yesterday - the market crowd was so huge - traffic, nearly all motor bikes and scooters - me on the back of a bike, rubbing up against the rich tourists in their air conditioned chauffeur driven range rovers....wild....one women in front had mega chickens strung to the front handle bars and I went to get out my camera when I noticed.....they were all alive! Strung upside down by the feet, looking around the wild traffic and wondering, - who knows?

I had hoped this trip might bring me thin thighs in thirty days but........might not come true. If it was for the meat part - that is easy to not eat chickens, ducks geese, eels, fish, clams etc when you have just seen them alive seconds ago but the rest of the food?????? French pastries and lots of gelato. maybe smaller towns will be easier.

Ok, this is long enough. I actually have, for the first time, a keyboard with all english letters so it is easy to send this note. No excuses for spelling.

Thanks again for the notes - it has only been two weeks since I left - that is mind boggling - three totally diverse countries in 2 weeks. Seems impossible to put the sights and sounds and smells I have witnessed in two weeks into words. At home, two weeks can go by with a blink. Here - not so much. I am savouring the moments and relishing in the absolute diversity of experience. Each place has been a study in contrasts. Great wealth and great poverty. But not poverty in the way I normaly would imagine. There is true joy here and in Thailand. Life is simple, gritty yet filled with community. Everything is shared and there is lots of laughter. The simple life looks physically ugly in many cases - litter, open fires, shanty type shacks with cows and buffolo and chickens and roosters and dogs and cats strolling through, but I see mostly happy laughing people, enjoying their days. After all it is New Years Day - the Year of the ox and that means hard work will bring riches.

I got the message about the Bass dying. Kind of like that Frank Sinatra song - he did it his way. If I could I would have a pepsi, a crispy crunch and a number 13 pizza today in his honor - oh yeah and maybe a couple of smokes. I think Gary always knew he wouldn't last long enough to worry about those petty things like RRSP's or bank savings. He squeezed a lot of something into his years.... and spawned all those nice kids......who woulda thought???? Seems like we are all way too young to keep discussing who is dying and who has just died. What will we save to discuss at the home??????

My plan is to stay here for a couple more days at least - the Hilton is very compfortable and I am getting a cold - sore throat and sniffles. To be expected I think after sucking in a few pounds of dust and grit on the road from hell. Hell, but fun - surprising how attached a group can get in 12 hours together under adverse conditions. We taught the young, new to the road, kids a bunch of scam busting things and things to watch out for. They were so sweet and grateful. Age/wisdom - has to be some sort of payoff for the wrinkles.

Jan - I am going to call your friend tonite and hopefully hook up. I wanted to wait until the New Years festivities were over just in case they had the days off to celebrate. Maybe I will be at the orphanage if that works. The lineups for the pediatric hospital are unbelievable - obviously parents bring their kids here from all over this area of the country and just wait outside hoping to be seen. Two girls who were typing beside me are heading over there wanting to volunteer a few days as they have no money to buy things from the street kids and want to give something back. I took their email so maybe your friend can help out with that. Look at me - always organizing something!!!!!!!

More about that later.

Oh yeah - seems I left my camera card reader in Bangkok at the last internet cafe. Maybe I will have to wait til Phon Penh to get another one, or at least until businessed here reopen post New years. I will try to select just a few photos as I am sure the huge chunk of them I sent got a little dull.......come over and they won't seem dull at all.

Love and hugs.
Deb