Siem Reap--> BFC

A couple days ago I told Brad that I have been telling my friends that we are headed to "bumfuck Cambodia." He thought it more politcally correct to say BFC. Fine.

So Monday morning Brad and I hopped on the back of a couple "motos" (vespa-like scooters that run EVERYWHERE in this country) and headed for regions less traveled. For the not-so-modest price of $45 we were taken on a 5 hour ride, much of it on horribly dusty roads full of potholes. The road was bumpy to put it lightly which brusied my fragile posterio. The brown dust covered our clothes and skin, giving me that deep tan I've always desired, and we even blew a tube which I paid to replace. It was hot and my upper scalp- read newly exposed scalp due to my receding hairline- was burned, and blistered by the scorched country's sun and it pussed all over my hair. Luckily its not visible.

But for all that, I had an amazing time. It was exactly the type of liberating adventure I had been missing in the tourist overrun cities of Bangkok and Siem Reap. Finally we were out on our own, among the water buffalo, tiny villages, stilted houses and dirty-faced children waving as we passed. It was tremendous. Upon arrival in Tbeong Mean Chey (sounds like bong men chay) we got a hotel and set to work trying to move on from here. The only problem is, as we are on about a $20/day budget we decided we couldn't really afford to keep up this off the beaten track adventure. It would have cost us $80 apiece to make the next leg of our journey to Stroeng Treng (still can't pronounce it) across roads that about 75% of people we ask say don't even exist. Some people say motos cross between the cities, but most say nothing does directly and that our trip will have to be diverted hundred of kilometers south then back north. Ah that crossing woulda been sweet.

Instead, however, he and I took a couple of shared taxis south costing us a total of $15 each to Kompong Cham about 120 km northeast of Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital. From here, tomorrow we will catch actual buses (still haven't been on one here in SEA) up the 350+ km to Stroeng Treng and then get motos over to Ban Lung, the capital of the Ratanakiri province, our ultimate destination. We want to get up there and relax a bit after all this helter skelter travel and that seems like the out of the way place to do it. Lets just say I've read things including, gorgeous jungles, pristine crater lakes for swimming and waterfalls with strong vines for Tarzan-esque swinging. Brad will have to be Jane.

With any luck, we shall realize this dream in only a couple days and maybe even stay under budget for a day or two! Inshallah.