banditas si, polvo no

cambodia. let's review. powerful ancient empire. controlled most of southeast asia as we know it under many successive god-kings. built the largest temple in the world. this period of greatness was followed by many periods of invasion, colonization, civil war and some of the most horrifying moments in history, revealing the absolute worst in human beings. pol pot. khmer rouge. killing fields. the united states played a very nice supporting role in many of the finer moments in this country's history. then it was 2007. the previous five years or so had brought an influx of tourists, looking to learn about cambodia or maybe to capitalize on the shock factor of the killing fields and other terrible things, as evidenced by the constant invitations to visit said places. mari, tara and corey showed up in phnom penh. dusty, friends. real dusty. so we got ourselves some scarves and turned into banditas. the scarves are good protection against emphysema. for real. we feel fine. really.

our tuk-tuk driver (who eventually told us all about his sordid past) took us to the famous angkor wat temples, and for three days we roamed through the magnificent ruins. it's true. everything you read. giant faces of serene tranquility. steep stone steps, giant halls of ornately carved columns and reliefs for 10,000 dancers to please the ancient king, stone elephants guarding bridges, grand gateways welcoming us to a ruined kingdom. only one problem: a zillion tourists taking photos. here is the sunset from atop the highest peak. here are all the people admiring the sunset. fortunately we made friends with some cool kids who taught us some khmer words and made us laugh.

the kids in cambodia are the most serious hustlers i have ever seen. they will work you, flatter you and bother you until you buy something. anything. postcards, t-shirts, bracelets, coconuts, water for your poor tuk-tuk driver. it's relentless and confusing. simultaneously understandable, heartbreaking, annoying and just exhausting. we bought a lot of postcards. hopefully you got one. at angkor wat we climbed some serious steps. let's take a look at those steps. now let's take a closer look at mari irizarry as she braves and overcomes her morbid fear of heights. she's a ninja.

angkor wat is a serious climb and deserves the "seventh wonder of the world" allocation it is trying to achieve. matacodotcom votes for it and you should too: http://www.new7wonders.com/

because the trees are taking over. check it out:


that is all. soon we will tell you all about our travels in vietnam. but i have to pee.

love, corey