Our last stop in Cambodia included the floating fishing villages near Kampong Chhnang located on the edge of Tonle Sap Lake. And how do you visit a floating village- via a boat, preferably one that is floating as well. The villages were more complete versions of what we had seen on the way to Battambang and included markets, shops, gas stations, and restaurants. It was amazing to see such a large community attach itself so inextricably to the ebbs and flows of th...

Often times it is the journey and not the destination that provides the big wow. Such was the case on our slow boat from Siam Reap to Battambang. It was an opportunity for an up-close look at some Cambodian communities that rely on the Tonle Sap Lake and the Sangker River for day-to-day life but at the same time have to endure the eccentricities of those bodies of water. During the monsoon season, the flooding of the Mekong actually reverses the flow of the river...

Visiting the Full Tummy Farms Orphanage near Siem Reap was a wonderful experience for us but I wanted to add a cautionary note for anyone thinking of doing something similar. Cambodia has lost a whole generation of parents through horrific wars, ongoing struggles with AIDS and a poor health care system, as well the devastation caused by landmines every year. That said, there have been a number of bad dudes move in to take advantage of well meaning foreigners. Mos...

We have had the good fortune/bad fortune to have seen some of the big wows of the world without having to share the experience with large crowds. We were in Egypt just after 9-11, visiting Machu Picchu, Peru during a cholera outbreak, in Fes, Morocco after a restaurant bombing, in Timbuktu, Mali after high profile kidnappings... (you get the idea). Avoiding the crowds at another wonder of the world, Angkor Wat, was simply not going to happen. Not only is it on t...

I usually don't comment on the hotels we stay at as long as they offer up the basics of cleanliness, running water, and a reasonably comfortable bed but our introduction to Phnom Phen hotels was somewhat unique in that the lobby had been cut in half by a flimsy divider and and small parking garage was set up on the other side. This space obviously used to be the hotel restaurant as our breakfast was served out on the street- not sure who the business tycoon w...