Another update from Martin

Hey!
It's 2:14pm on Saturday, and we're in the city of Phnom Penh in Cambodia. We just arrived here a couple hours ago and checked into our hotel (The New York Hotel, which d/n resemble N.Y. at all.) Yesterday was an amazing day. Angkor is such a neat place, but it is also an amazingly hot place. It was around 95-100F during the day. I took around 350 pictures there, and I hope that some of them are good. The tour company hired a local English speaking guide that talked to us as we toured the temples. We were at the temples from around 7am-11am and again from 3pm until about 6pm. We went to Angkor Wat during our second session, and the sky was filled with storm clouds for most of our visit. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately since it was so hot) it did not rain.
I've learned that I am an amazingly horrible barterer, and that I just need to shop at supermarkets (I get the same prices the locals do).

We have a very friendly and fun group on this trip. There are only 4 other people on the trip besides us. A couple Vietnamese women around my age, a Vietnamese woman who moved to California 25 years ago, along with her sister who is from HCMC. They all speak pretty good English, so we're able to interact and joke around. One thing that's interesting here is the number of relief organizations that are present. There was a free children's clinic in Siem Reap where a long line of people were lined up to be seen. About 1 in 4 of the billboards are a piece of information by a nonprofit relief group. I even saw a Worldvision billboard.

Today we're going to tour around Phnom Penh at 4pm, go to dinner, and then stop by a casino for a short visit. I don't think any of us are too excited about the casino. Tomorrow the rest of the group is going to the market in Phnom Penh, but Kathy and I are going to get in a Tuk Tuk and go to one of the killing fields memorial sites. The round trip ride should only cost around$5. After that I think we're going to head back to HCMC. Hopefully we'll be able to get back in! :-)

-Martin

(Martin called me tonight - which is Monday morning from him. He returned to Ho Chi Minh City and will be there for a few more days.)