Cambodia II – Day 7

Work officially ended by 9:00am, so then it was off for a day of fun at the temples.  Todd & I went out with our guide, Nary, to Bantey Srei, an older temple farther out from town.  It’s kind of a precursor to Angkor Wat, built 200 years earlier.  Flooding was evident on the grounds and as we toured more rain fell.  We had to seek shelter in a hut the guards use for cooking.  One of the building at this temple had to be completely reconstructed after the french dismantled it and tried to move it to France. 

Next we drove closer into town to see some restoration projects Nary and his team have been working on.  Once again a big downpour appeared and we sought shelter under a tarp with a giant lion statue.

We took the scenic road back to the hotel and bid farewell to Nary.  Once packed, we met Bill & Steve for happy hour on our way to the airport.  The waters had started to recede in town but the roads were a mess in the wake of the storm – potholes and crumbled roads everywhere. Sadly Angkor What? was still cleaning up from the floods and closed, so we had to go across the street for our 50 cent beers.  Our waitress was fascinated by Bill’s size, questioning him about his height and weight.  Once he told her (2 metres, 128 kilos) she was in disbelief and wrote it down to share with her friends later.  As we got up to leave, she exclaimed “wow!”

Our flight back to Saigon was uneventful, despite the lighting storms I could see flashing around us at times.  Our last evening was spent doing a little more shopping and hitting up the Temple Club at dinner time for Hue style spring rolls and more.  In addition, Arnaud had told us the place next to it (Fanny) served the best ice-cream in Vietnam, so down the stairs we went for dessert.

Afters 4 hours of sleep and a 3:30am wake-up call, we began our long journey home.  The flight to Tokyo had to swing south to avoid typhoon Parma – I was expecting the worst but it was a pretty smooth flight.  Tokyo-Seattle however was bumpy at times.  Landed home safe & sound Monday morning.

Movies watched on the way home:  Land of the Lost (thumbs down), My Sister’s Keeper (Thumbs Up)

Estimated spring rolls eaten during the week:  33