Hi Gram,
Today was so packed with action, it felt like two or three days rolled into one. Despite doing so much, we never felt rushed or overwhelmed. It was just a smooth flowing day of one wonderful thing after another. I set my alarm last night for the first time in a few days, so this morning I woke to it, reluctantly. After a couple of snooze buttons, I remembered that I wanted to get a walk in before breakfast. Nattiya decided to join me for the walk, although for a few minutes there, I wasn’t sure which way it was going to go in her mind between walk or sleep. We got up and got dressed, then headed out through the lobby. We aren’t super familiar with this town, so I just guessed on a right turn out of the parking lot, then a right turn at the first intersection. This put us on a calm street with very little traffic at 6am. We walked for a little over a mile through some interesting scenery before we came to a Tee intersection with a temple in front of us. I felt like we hadn’t gone far enough, so we turned left and immediately saw a giant ferris wheel off in the distance. I couldn’t really tell if it was a few blocks or a few miles at first, but as we walked a couple of blocks, the scale became apparent. Less than half a mile later, we could see the spoke and legs probably another few blocks away.

At a major intersection, we decided to turn around and head back to the hotel, having gotten to a little over a mile and a half in, which would put us around 3.5 miles when we finished. We reversed our steps and headed back the way we came, which is when it became apparent that we had chosen the wrong initial direction. The sun wasn’t up yet when we started, but now it was directly in our eyes. I regretted that I hadn’t brought my sunglasses – after all, the sun wasn’t up yet when we started, why would I need them? – but we made do with trying to walk in the shadow of buildings as much as we could.

Back at the hotel, I took a shower while Nattiya insisted on taking her fourth or fifth bath since we got here a couple days ago. This woman LOVES to take a bath, something that I don’t understand the appeal of but am glad that our room has a deep soaking tub for her to enjoy. Once we were clean, we headed to the hotel restaurant for another luxury breakfast experience like we had yesterday. There’s just something about having the doors pulled open by the staff as you approach, being escorted to a table, then choosing from a variety of foods from the fancy buffet and omelet station. We chose to dine out on the veranda (I mean a table out by the pool instead of inside), which felt elegant and meant that the staff opened and closed the doors for us as we walked in each time to get our next small course. Full and happy, we headed back to the room long enough to fill a day pack and grab our stuff, then headed to the lobby to wait for our driver, Ben. We enjoyed the couch in the lobby for a few minutes, then climbed into Ben’s van when he pulled up.

Cool bottles of water awaited us, the AC pumping, and soon we were off on a drive through the countryside. Our first stop was the Angkor Wildlife and Aquarium. The parking lot was practically empty when we arrived, so we parked up front. Ben ushered us to the ticket line, got us squared away, then we agreed to meet him in a few hours when we were done. He had suggested that it would take about an hour and a half when we arranged it the day before, but that felt like we would be rushing it. I told him to give us a few hours, and I would call him if we needed more time. I’m jumping ahead here a little, but an hour and a half later, we walked out, sent him a message, then waited on a bench out front for him to come pick us up. It turns out, when the professional driver tells you that an attraction will take an hour and a half, it’s probably from experience. Anyway, we got our tickets and headed inside.

Everyone was friendly and helpful when we walked in, and the empty parking lot was reflected by the near vacancy inside. We had the place almost entirely to ourselves, which honestly felt a little VIP. We meandered through the exhibits, gawking at the huge or colorful fish, and stopping to read the descriptions and signs. That is something that I really enjoy – I will read some little factoid about this fish or that animal, be amazed, feel educated, then immediately forget what I’d just read. I know myself, and I’ve learned that it is not the data, the information, the factoid that matters to me. It’s the memory of being awed or enlightened that makes a new memory and relights old memories. As I’m reading, I remember having a similar experience before and can recall the environment, sometimes the people, my mood, and the warm feeling from before. I added plenty more of these memories to the bank as Nattiya gawked at things, took selfies, and – I later learned – pictures and video of me gawking and reading.

We exited a hallway of surround-you-on-all-sides-and-above aquarium into a cafe area and I thought “that’s the whole aquarium?” I quickly found out that this was just a manufactured break so people could feed their kids or take a break. Past the cafe area, we entered another aquarium that surrounded us on all sides.

After many pictures of and with fish, lots of factoids and good feelings, a cool glowing octopus made of discarded plastic that educated everyone on why single-use plastics are bad, and some pointing and gawking, we exited the aquarium for real this time and headed out to the wildlife area.

Ben arrived with our air conditioned chariot, so we climbed in to head back to the hotel. I asked if he could suggest a lunch place on the way back, only to find out that there was some miscommunication about timing on a few things. I thought we were just doing the wildlife today, then heading back to lounge by the pool. I was wrong, though. Ben took us to a nice little lunch spot (which I’m sure he was compensated for steering us toward, but I don’t blame him) then on to see a floating village. More about the village in a minute. First, a word about lunch. The place was quaint, full of tourists who’d been brought there by their tour drivers, and had a reasonably priced menu of fresh delicious food. They catered to our every request and added another nice memory notch to the belt.

After lunch, we headed toward the floating village. I’ll be honest, I had no idea what this was other than one of those things that tourists go see and take pictures of, but seeing as we’re tourists with cameras and some time to kill, I was in. The road turned to gravel, then to dirt. It was well groomed dirt, not bumpy and potholed, but definitely red dirt. We drove past probably a thousand little stands on the side of the road selling knick knacks, food, or drinks, then stopped at a hut where I was escorted to a window to trade 210,000 Cambodian Riel for two tickets for a boat ride.

Just an aside here, Riel is sounds just like “real”. Prices are often quoted in US Dollars here, a fact that I was unaware of when I withdrew money from the ATM. So I’ve had the experience many times over the last couple of days where I’m quoted a price in dollars and I say, “no, what’s the RIEL price?” then giggle internally. Anyway, after this exchange, I was escorted back to the van to be driven to the boat. Before we took off, someone opened the van door, took the tickets from me, handed me different tickets that looked the same, then Ben started driving. That was weird, but no harm so who cares, right? We stopped on the side of the road, got introduced to our boat captain, then followed him down a narrow, steep rickety plank and onto his boat. Ben joined us a couple minutes later, which made me happy that he was going to get to enjoy the boat ride too.

We spent the next couple of hours slowly cruising past houses on stilts, houses on boats, lots of boats going to and from wherever, and so many eagerly waving children that my smile and wave got tired. We saw fisherman back with their haul, emptying their nets with a spool system that wound up the net and ejected the fish.

Then we stopped at a riverside boat/restaurant/ building thing and disembarked. At first, I thought they were going to try to feed us and wished we hadn’t just eaten lunch. Instead, they offered us a bathroom – a squat toilet with a bucket of water to flush it with – and a chance to go for a ride through the mangroves.

For only another $11, we were soon stepping into a flat bottomed canoe/gondola where we sat on small cushions on the floor. We were shoved off, then our friendly young lady navigated us between trees and fish traps, pushing the boat along with her oar. At first, I thought “ok, another hokey add-on to extract some more money from the tourists” but you know what? I enjoyed it. Here I was, on the other side of the globe from home. The sun was shining, but we were shaded by the mangrove trees. The temperature and humidity were comfortable, the bugs were hiding out, charging up their batteries or something for later. I had my beautiful, caring, funny girlfriend cradled in my lap, my arms wrapped around her while a local woman steered this little boat so we tourists could “ooh” and “ahh” at the beauty all around us. I left my cynical thoughts back at the dock and just thanked the universe for this experience. It was pretty friggin alright.

Back at the dock, a guy hooked the boat and pulled us back up to the steps. We climbed out and were soon back on the motorboat that we’d started on. The captain shoved off and got us headed down the river. Soon, the river emptied into a lake, where the captain asked me if I wanted to drive for a while, maybe do a loop around the lake. I appreciate what he was doing here, but I had no interest in driving and neither did Nattiya. He laughed and took us on a lap around the lake and back towards the river when, what do you know, the engine died. He headed back to the back of the boat to poke around at it when, conveniently, a woman in a small boat loaded with drinks, snacks, and assundries pulled up next to us and asked if we wanted anything.

Now, I’m smart enough to know how this works. That engine is going to fix itself a whole lot sooner if we buy some bananas or soft drinks. Still full from lunch, I asked if I could buy a banana. 4,000 riel ($1) later, I was the proud owner of the whole cluster of bananas. Before Nattiya even had the first banana peeled (she insists on opening my drinks, peeling my bananas, and doing all the little things that make me feel like a king), the engine fired up and we were soon on our way back down the river, past the floating village, and at the dock. I tipped our captain for the memorable experience, then Ben escorted us back to the van. Tired from building all these new memories, we laid the seats back and napped a bit on the 45 minute drive back to the hotel. I thanked and paid Ben, sent him on his way, then we found ourselves back in the hotel room giggling and sharing stories from our wonderful day together.