Woke up early and actually had a dream about going to starbucks even though I don't drink coffee. Ran and got some tea and food from starbucks before heading off to the aiport for our flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia. The flight was only 30 minutes long but we got a meal. God bless the thai airlines. I'm not sure what we expected in Cambodia. We saw rice fields as the plane landed and pictured quiet dirt roads with modest accomodation and family run restaurants. Instead we saw 5 star golf resorts and spas, outdoor cafes and beautiful tree lined parks. We were very surprised that absoluetly everyone speaks English. Also, the main form of currency is American dollars. Every single price everywhere you go from food to cab rides are in US dollars and its all you can get from the ATM.

Our guesthouse is nice and after checking in and taking a short rest in the hammock on the balcony, we "tuk"a tuk tuk to Angkor Wat to watch the sunset and take pictures. Afterwards we went to a free cello concert at one of the local childrens hospitals given by the head pediatrician Dr. Beat Richer. He would play a short song and then speak for a few minutes about the healthcare system in Cambodia and how the children are affected. He noted that when there were 50 cases of SARS in 2003 it was all over the news but no one cared that 23,000 children were hospitalized in shock from Dengue Fever in Cambodia because it is of no political or economic interest to the rest of the world. He offered a lot of historical background on the demise of the Cambodian healthcare system in the 1960s and 70s from war. Cambodia got its first CT machine in 1996 and to this day the WHO still says that the CT's are too advanced and expensive for use in Cambodia because the standard of healthcare should correspond to the economic status of the nation. Dr. Richner plays his cello every night to raise awareness and encourage westerners to adapt a view that all people are entitled to the highest level of available healthcare.

A very informative first day in Cambodia.