Carla Kroft - Tomb Raider!

Random! We're in Cambodia for a week, at Meric's request. He has always dreamed of seeing Angkor Wat so here we are, in Siem Reap. Did you know one of the temples here was the famous Lara Kroft Tomb Raider set? It's the "jungle temple" officially called Ta Prohm, but who can remember that? We had a blast, posing like Angelina Jolie complete with boobs and lips. The bus trip out here was quite an ordeal. Supposedly we booked a "VIP" bus trip but it was the bus from HELL. It broke down a number of times, the last time being the AC and it felt as hot as a sauna in there. We made it to the Cambodian border 10 minutes before the passport control office closed. Then we got on the oldest minibus in the world and proceeded down a dirt road that looked like it had been cleared of land mines only recently. The potholes were so large the girl behind me dented the roof of the van with her head when we all were airborne. I've got a rather large bruise on my back as well. We traveled down this yellow brick road for about 7 hours, in the dark, crossing bridges that I was glad I couldn't see. The funniest comment was made by a Dutch backpacker sitting in front of Alison, "Oh my God, I don't know how, but I must've fallen asleep for a minute there because I was just dreaming I was a basketball."

We are here though, and are much stronger in character for our experience and having a great time climbing the temples in Angkor. We got up this morning to see the sunrise over Angor Vat and also hiked to a waterfall that had a submerged temple and gibbon monkeys calling down to us from the treetops. The best part is we get to cruise around to all of these things in a Tut tut (called for the sound it makes) driven by our friend Chi. I tried to convince him I could drive the motor bike and he cound ride, but he wasn't convinced and I got NO SUPPORT from Alison on the topic.

Well, we're hoping to leave Cambodia on Saturday and head up to Chaing Mai to trek with the hilltribes and build a raft out of bamboo. I think I may burn some insense to the Buddha for a functioning minibus to bring us there.

Love, Carla