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.