Travel to Cambodia, South, Kampot.

I spent a week in Siem Reap, half with the girls and the rest on my own, also catching up with a friend from my Africa trip on my birthday. On the second day there, the girls and I spent a full day exploring the Angkor temples, including Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm (an amazing site, with the ruins gradually eaten over by the jungle) and another large temple, with some stopovers at smaller ones inbetween. I’d thought about getting a two-day pass but to be honest, after all the temples in Thailand, I was feeling well and truly templed out.

On my birthday I went to a spa for massage and manicure, then had a short-lived night out at Angkor What bar, after which I didn't feel too good. I was meant to go on a bicycle tour the next morning, but ended up cancelling it because I still wasn’t 100% the next morning. Instead I stayed in bed most of the day, slept and watched some television. I had bought a bus ticket for that night to head to Kep, on the coast, so I wanted to be as healthy as possible for the bus journey that was going to take 10 hours.

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Travel to Middle East, Jordan, South.

Aqaba was a beachy holiday spot compared to the rest of Jordan. I ended up spending two nights there, and was intending to stay longer but (and normally this wouldn't deter me) I was so annoyed by the mosquitoes in my room at night time, I decided I would either move to a hotel closer into town (my hotel was further out, overlooking the South Beach) or go somewhere else.

Because I am headed for Egypt soon, I thought it would be easier to just stay in Aqaba and catch the Jett bus on Friday back to Amman - about a five-hour drive. Then I started thinking about Wadi Rum again, and how it would be wonderful to camp in the desert. I couldn't make up my mind, so I spent my full day in Aqaba at the downtown (eating, of course!) and then went to get a coffee. While at the cafe I called my guide from the camp in Wadi Rum and asked what we could do for a camping trip. It wasn't expensive, so I decided to go back to Wadi Rum, camp, and then head back to Petra the next day where I could also get a bus to Amman.

In the afternoon in Aqaba I went snorkelling off the south beach. You only have to walk out a few metres there and you start to see fish and bits of coral. So I took a snorkelling guide from the hotel and he took me out to what I would call 'the deep' and showed me all sorts of fish, urchins and different types of coral. In some parts the water was freezing, so a hot shower was very welcome afterward!

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Travel to Cambodia, South, Sihanoukville.

We said goodbye to Phnom Penh and started our drive out to Sihanoukville. Once on the toll road it was very smooth and we quickly travelled in to the country. Unlike Vietnam there was little ribbon development probably because there are less people here. There is a wide variety of crops grown not so much rice as Vietnam although they do export rice, however more fruit and vegetables.
We stopped at a cafe for a drink but decided peeled oranges were best. There were Buddhist monks outside with their bowls, all we had were sesame seed crunch which we gave away but they did not look too pleased to receive it. Continuing for about two more hours we then came to the river estuary and boarded a boat with the park ranger. This was the heart of the Ream National Park. It was a low tide but after getting in to the water the ranger and the driver managed to push us off. We saw sea eagles soaring and white Cranes feeding in the shallow water. There were a few houses built at the side of the estuary but not many. People were ducking low in the water and fishing out
Typical home on the riveroysters, others were bent double catching shrimps by hand. Normally we would have walked over the hill to the beach however the water was calm so we continued to the beach by boat. As we did this a shoal of flying fish emerged from the water, frightened by the sound of the engine they propel themselves in to the air.Getting out of the boat was a major challenge for me but with everyone's help I ended up knee deep in the warmest sea water I have been in for a long time, I so wanted to swim in this sea but how? The sand was white, the sun was shining the beach almost deserted except for the Chinese restaurant and 3 holidaymakers. We ordered some seafood fried rice then got into swimming costumes and headed for the sea. Steve went for a swim but all I could do was wade in holding my arm.

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Travel to Cambodia, South, Phnom Penh.

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One of my students just left my office. She's had to miss her midterm exam last week because of work. This isn't uncommon. She's an unusually bright young girl with an intense face and a stout, but not overweight, frame. She's curious and an eager learner who always sits in the front row and she goes by the name Kimmy, which is short for Ong Kimheang. It's unusual for Khmer people to take on Anglo names like so many Chinese students do. She is way more engaged as a student than just about any of the other young girls. She's not a vampire girl. Vampire girls are a description that Sam and I have given to the young women who are from wealthy Phnom Penh families. They dress very Korean chic, color their hair, are rail thin, and have a skin tone that is scary white because of all of the use of skin bleach. They look somewhat like they've just been drained of all their blood, hence the name "vampire girl". Kim is very well kept but dresses simply and has kept her beautifully rich natural brown skintone.

I wanted to give her an A on her midterm. She's an ideal student who participates, prepares, comes to class early and asks great questions. Her English is exceptionally good with a very easy to understand accent. She missed the class before the midterm which would have added at least 10 points to her exam. She scored a 68 which was right around the class average, perhaps even a little higher. After her exam I explained to her that with the curve she will have a solid C and she still has a big part of her grade ahead of her so she can easily get a B and maybe even an A. And then something magical occured that happens all the time--I get her story. She's not from Phnom Penh, she's from the provinces and her father died when she was young. She described her mother as a wonderful mother who survived an abusive husband and brought her family to Phnom Penh when she was in eighth grade. She dropped out of school to sell ice cream to try and help support the family. After some years she went back to school and graduated in one year and then started college

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