Home Soil

Followers, we have returned home.

Our second to last stop was a delectable beach on the Southern Cambodian coast called Otres Beach. We found a mildly sketchy American retiree who ran an excellent beach bungalow operation and made the most of it. This was the closest we physically stayed to the ocean waves; when morning came and the odd hangover didn't leave Freeman debilitated, we were in the water with 12 steps down. Note there was a bristly palm frond bush that was to be dodged before making the final leap into warm waters.

Of many cool things, one that this beach had in spades was a glassy morning infinity pool effect on the water up until about noon. The nights and mornings were so calm that jumping in the water made bigger waves than any of those rippling on the beach. Picture being only shoulder height in the water and already 75 feet from shore staring across serenely level seas to marooned islands a half mile off. This was the second best beach scene we hit since our first in Zanzibar many months ago; fitting that it was our last.

From there we made a trek north to Phnom Penh by bus, meeting a lovely French couple along the way. The man in the couple was paralyzed from the waist down and had been traveling for three months through Asia and they had three months left ahead of them. Seeing him constantly amiable as he pulled himself from one vehicle into his wheel chair then as he was carried onto the bus put all of our little trifles in perspective. If he can do this kind of trip, we would say you should definite try taking the leap.

Phnom Penh was fun and a bit hectic. Since we only had two days there before our final flight home, we were realistic about how much to try and cover. One lasting image was of 30 leisure suit wearing ladies and men facing an amplified rock star of a dude leading aerobics classes off of a boom box in the wide public park between two boulevards. Even during our rainy second day, they were out there kicking and punching in step with the beat. We also passed a few dusty volleyball courts strung together beside the roads. Men played truly acrobatic hacky-sack style games in parking lots in circles of 6 to 10.

On our second day we went to the cultural genocide museum and had our psyches bruised for a few hours. The museum is housed in the minimally renovated torture and detention center at the epicenter of the Khmer Rouge's seat of power in the city. We felt a lightly palpable haunting in the place. Mix in land mine amputees begging at the front gates and it all makes for a pretty gripping day.

We couldn't sleep much that night anticipating our flight home, so we stayed up late and watched movies on HBO in our hotel room. The next morning we made a hasty dash to the killing fields to bear witness to the mass graves left behind there. As the rain pelted our pink and purple polka-dotted ponchos we strolled past stacks of exhumed skulls and plaques listing the grisly details the place contains. The mild irony of being sold a polka-dotted poncho at the front gate to such an austere place was not lost on us. That said, we were getting close to being late for our flight so we hopped back in our Tuk-Tuk to the hotel, hastily threw on our travel clothes, and made for the airport.

While there was some anxiety about transiting through the Ho Chi Minh airport without Vietnam visas, all went well. With a 12 hour layover in Seoul we cashed out on some reclining chairs and even assembled and hand painted small miniature desks at a Korean cultural exhibit in the airport. The 14 hour flight direct from Seoul to JFK was softened by the collected total of 9 movies we watched along the way.

Landing home was equally cold and hopeful. Since then we have enjoyed seeing friends again and telling our stories. We found an apartment to sublet in Chelsea and Jo has started her new work. Freeman is planning his new business and making a home while Jo is away each day. Jo will try out the daily 3 hour round trip commute to Trenton and determine if its feasible after a couple months and then we'll reassess our living situation. For now, we are pursuing our dreams.

We optimistically sign off from this chapter of the travel blog and wish you all many great adventures, both foreign and domestic.

Riding the New Year

We are now in Camboda, in the town of Siem Reap, just south of the temples of Angkor Wat. We arrived today after a pretty average border crossing. Though this was a bit more fun than normal, in that we got to walk for about kilometer to and across the border. As borders go, the line was rather thick. Thick enough in fact to hold nine casinos, where the Cambodians work but only the Thai and other tourists can play.

We leave behind one of our favorite places from the trip, Bangkok. In total, through two separate stints, we spent 18 days in Bangkok. It was on just about day fourteen that Freeman realized he is perhaps well into his metamorphosis from a small-town kid to a city boy. Jo always knew she was a city girl.

Our most recent romp in Bangkok saw us resting a bit at the beginning as Jo recovered from eating some too-raw meat at a Korean style barbecue in Laos. She perked up a bit to sing in the New Year at a jam-packed Kaosan road party. After that we watched Batman: Dark Knight on HBO about three times, before taking in the great Stalone face game that is Over the Top. With Jo healthy again in the new year, we soaked up the atmosphere at the enormous downtown Bangkok mall megaplexes. Just imagine eight to nine floors covering a city block and teenagers doing what they do best. Oh, and they serve food on conveyor belts.

After offices opened again in the New Year we buckled down on a surprising Visa quandary. Vietnam has all but closed its borders to Africans after a few Nigerian footballers and visitors were indicted on a slew of crimes. Why exactly this applies to Kenyan tourists is the subject of some speculation, but the bottom line is Jo wasn't going to get a visa to Vietnam any time this year. As our flight back to NYC leaves from Sai Gon/Ho Chi Minh, we were in a bit of a pickle. After repeated trips to the Vietnam and Kenyan embassies, and 4 different airline offices over about 3 days, we managed to nail down that so long as we don't leave the airport, it sounds like we can transit safely through Ho Chi Minh and onward to NYC. We remain a bit wary as we head into the final leg of our trip, but are well armed with folders of paper and flight printouts to verify our good intentions. When traveling on your honeymoon, always carry a copy of your marriage certificate.

After a couple more days of enjoying the nightlife and daily one hour massages for five dollars a pop we made plans to get to Cambodia. After Freeman's order of some custom tailored clothes came through, we were on our way.

The downside of the Vietnam quandary is we will not get to really see Vietnam on this trip. All told we will have spent time in six countries and transited through airports in five more before we get back home. Not bad for seven months on the road, but a bit shy of "seven countries in seven months" goal. Oh well, we'll just have to do another trip around the world some other time...

In the next couple days we'll visit the temple complexes of Angkor and then head south to Phnom Penh and perhaps the southern beaches of Cambodia. On the 20th we fly from Phnom Penh to Sai Gon and then we follow the moon home.

We are looking forward to all the things that lie ahead, but still enjoying the last stretch of our enduring honeymoon.