Blue river

Left early in the morning. As I was waiting for the ferry to cross the Mekong to get to the road to the border, I sat and watched the sun rise over the water. It had rained last night so the clouds and water made a spectacular showing. The road from Strung Treng was either paved and pretending to be gravel, or gravel pretending to be paved. I couldn't decide. It was fairly green near the river, but then as I got further away and closer to the boarder, I could see more and more of the red dirt, now grateful for the rain. There were craters waiting to be lakes and ponds and a village of 6 houses. (is that enough to be a village?). I got a flat about 1/2 way to the boarder. I tried to pump it up, then my pump broke. Fortunately a van that was to pick up some tourists from Lao stopped. I had to pay 15 dollars, but I not only got to the border, but to a town on the Laos side (the driver of the other van going home.)
I found a person to fix my tire, then took a boat on to one of the islands (of the 4,000 island fame). I am now at a Internet cafe after spending some time at a small riverside restaurant. I watched some logs drift by, some fish dart across, and a tree that looked rather like a picture dictionary entry for tree, with its branches outstretched over the river. There was a rock just under the water that reminded me of Shrek's face before it was quite finished. Why do we always want to put a face on things I wonder? The pace here is beyond slow.
Tomorrow I'll head to Paxie, but it will probably take about two days.
Till I post again, be good, be happy, and have fun

blah

I'm in Strung Treng. I took the bus, and I'm glad I did, the road was a) boring, b) long, and c) there was nothing, no where to stop and get a drink, let alone find a place to sleep.
Then in Strung Treng I caught a cold. I don't know if I''ll head to Laos tomorrow morning or the next day. It depends on how I feel.
Blah
Till I post again, be good, be happy and have fun.

pigs and dogs and cats oh my

The main road is paved, but the rest of the roads aren't. I was exploring a bit when I came to the funniest sight. Three dogs were trying to harass a pig, but the pig was nonplussed and continued rooting around in the garbage bags. This seemed to upset the dogs quite a bit. They were jumping up and down, barking. The pig ignored them. I had to laugh.
I'm going to Strung Treng tomorrow by bus (actually the overcrowded mini-van) I am anticipating 3 hours of hell. I'm pretty sure I can't do it by bike. I will also be volunteering for one hour at a school, teaching English. That should be fun.
Till I post again, be good, be happy, and have fun.

a take on two cities

Leaving Kampoog Cham on highway 7 to Memot was very pleasant. Except for the heat. It is oppressive to say the least. However I did have a very pleasant reprive when on the road, two monks stopped me and asked me some questions. They then invited me to their "pagoda" (it wasn't really a pagoda, it was a very nice temple, with brightly painted walls depecting the life of Budha) He was very proud of the new ceiling. And I learned that Buddha didn't attain enlightenment until after he ate rice. I like that story. I also learned that a lot of monks become monks to be able to study. It is a system like the Catholics in previous centuries. After the pleasant repose, I traveled on to Memot. A very pleasant city. I found a nice guest house, that was clean and pleasantly furnished, and had dinner at a very nice resturant around the corner. (I had rice and two dishes, for only 2,000 reils-- a fact that becomes important later.)
The next morning I started early, and went to Snol. Now, I arrived in Snol quite early, only 11:30, but, I knew I couldn't go 80 more kilometers that day, and that is how far Kraitie was. I could have gotten a bus to Kraitie, but I decided to stay because I didn't know if I would have to get transport from Kraitie to Strung Treng (Strung Treng is 130 km from Kratie) -- ok in Snol there was only one guest house, and it was dirty. And became scary when I found a largish ugly bug crawling out of the drain in the bathroom. I know I've been doing this for too long because I didn't scream, and I didn't stop what I was doing. When I'd finished my business, I took said largish scary bug outside. No muss no fuss. I went to dinner. The place wasn't nice, but I was hungry. I had rice and two dishes for 4,000 reil. When I said something the woman became very unpleasant. Now keep in mind this was the worst time since I've been here, and it wasn't that bad. Plus Snol is a bus stop town. The only industry that I could see is the bus stop. But still.
I left as early as possible.
The road to Kraitie was long. And there were fewer villages. And only two sugar cane juice stands. I hope this doesn't mean that in Laos there won't be anymore sugar cane juice.
Although the road was flat flat flat, and dusty till now, it is now getting more hilly. Not anything huge, but not flat either. Plus it is getting green and junglish. And the villages although farther apart are looking quite prosperous.
I am staying here in Kratie today and tomorrow. I have to decide what to do about getting to Strung Treng. I don't know if I can make 130 km, and there are no towns big enough for a hotel on the road. There may be temples though. And I might be able to push myself.
Right now there is a sudden storm. I look out the door of the cafe, and the wind is blowing the awnings and non-tied down things all around the street. But the wind, feels soooooooo good. It has a touch of chill.
I should probably get off the computer now.
Till I post again, be good, be happy, and have fun.

rolling by the river

I'm in Kompoong Cham now. Prey Veng was the smallest big city I think I've ever been in. So far the roads are good, the bugs are huge, and you can still get some pretty nice sugar cane juice. I'm such an addict now. I think because it is cold and sweet and they add salt to it, so it is probably like the sports drinks but tastes sooooo much better.
The villages are very friendly but in one, the kids didn't quite get the concept of begging. They knew they were supposed to ask for money, but they just didn't quite get it. They would yell Hello!Dollar!Hello! while waving. They didn't even try to get near.
It isn't the same green as Vietnam, and the scars of war are still visible, and sometimes they are still bleeding. But there is hope, the road is very new, and I see a re-forestation project (the shade was so very very welcome.)
With the new road, there is no longer boat service to Kratie, or Strung Treng, but that is ok. Although, I was kinda hoping that the road from Kratie would be too terrible and I would have to take a boat. The highway 7 going up from here is the long way, and it doesn't follow the Mekong, so I asked at one of the travel places, and there is a road that follows the river. But.....
it is very bad. And there is no place to stop. And my only fear really is that I won't find a place to stay before it gets dark.
So the highway it is. The road to here had no shoulder to speak of, but that was ok, because there was no traffic to speak of. Most of the traffic are these vans that serve as long distance buses.
They are so packed that you have 10 people more than is comfortable in the van, and about 20 more people on top of the van. I think the top would be a bit more comfortable, if only for the wind.
Till I post again, be good, be happy, and have fun.

dusty roads, take me home

I arrived in Bavet, the first city from Moc Bai. (The border crossing) at 9am this morning. Bavet is kinda boring, mostly a bunch of casinos on the side of the road, then dusty little shops then nothing. The road isn't nearly as bad as I expected. I'm on the road to Phenom Pehn, but I'll turn off when I reach the Mekong and follow that to Kratie. I've found a mildly frightening guest house, but it feels fairly safe because it is run by women. Most of the scary is because there are small holes in the upper wall where I know creepy crawlies can invite themselves in. (it is part of the structure, not from disrepair.)
The road itself seems almost finished, but they left the very last smoothing layer for later. It isn't as green as Vietnam, and it is more dusty, but the people are friendly. The only problem I had was when I stopped for my sugar cane juice. I was surrounded by lots of kids, and several old women and two younger women. We were talking, and I said I came from Vietnam. This enraged the drunken uncle (who was about 90) and he decided to come to where I was sitting. All the girls & women leapt to my defense so I was not even mildly perturbed.
So far so good.
Until I post again, be good, be happy, and have fun.
PS the reason I didn't answer any e-mails today -- the Internet is very very very slow