Attn: Angelina Jolie (posting from the road)

Up before the roosters. Just me and 500 other tourists making the trek out to Angkor Wat to see the sunrise over the main temple. It's the shot you have seen a thousand times...the sun slowly peaking out from behind Angkor Wat which is reflected nicely in a pool of still water. Well good news...I won't subject you to that shot again. The water was full of weeds and didn't really reflect too much. Plus, after getting there at 0445, fighting off many vendors of books and coffee, I held my breath - waiting for that magestic sunrise over the magical temple...well the sun did come up...and revealled...that Angkor Wat was under construction.

Disheartened, exhausted and dehydrated I refused to snap any photographs that revealled the renovation projects and scaffolding. I trapsed through the rest of that early morning, near collapse and somewhat disenchanted (I think that 90 mg of lasix from the other day had caught up with me - I was very dehydrated). We spent our first few hours at the site, just exploring the main temple, and don't get me wrong, it is pretty spectacular...just not what I had envisioned. Plus with no water or electrolytes in my system I was pretty darn useless, I had the same mental and physical abilities as a clump of Play-doh. Food and water became essential to my survival pretty quick that day.

There are tons of little kids all over the place, trying to sell postcards and scarves. They chase you all over yelling 1$ (The US currency is the 'unofficial' currency of Cambodia) and ask where you are from. The reason they ask...they have memorized facts about all Westernized coutries including capitals, political leaders, common sayings and unusual tidbits. Intrepid strongly encourages you to purchase anything from a child under the age of 14, so while it was sad to do so, we climbed in the van and drove about 1.5 km away for a breakfast stop. About 2 min after we were seated, a breathless little boy came running up. The poor guy had chased our van in the hopes that we would by postcards. Still unwilling to bend on the not supporting of children begging rule, I invited him to breakfast with us.

With the help of Dino we were able to learn about the life of Phan, and other boys like him. He was a little nervous a first but opened up after a bit. Paul Phan Na is a 12 year old boy (he looks 8 if that) whose family lives near the Temples. He wasn't in school that day because the classroom space was needed for the 'highschool' academic competitions. Phan normally attends school in the am (there is not enough classroom space or teachers for the kids to go all day) and then sells postcards to tourists in the afternoon. His best earning day ever - $3. I asked what he did with the money; he takes it home to give to his mother. He has two older brothers who also sell souveniers and two younger brothers at home. His dad works as a tuk tuk driver and his mom stays home with the other children, except at lunch when she brings food to Angkor Wat for Phan and his siblings. Phan is in grade 5, he should be in grade 6 but he wasn't physically big enough, so they kept him back a year. His dream job when he gets old enough; tour leader. He told me that he would like to go to Canada so he could play - he once saw a photo of young boys throwing snowballs at each other and thought it might be fun, but was very nervous of the cold. I tried to get his address so I could send postcards, stupid me...no addresses to shacks. He, like all the kids there I suppose, could recite off the name of the Prime Minster of Canada, the names of Obama's kids and dog and tons of facts on the British Royal Family. He even gave Scott a G'day mate that sounded like Crocodile Dundee himself. After breakfast, he thanked us with a little bow and skipped away, off to try and break that $3 record I imagine. An amazing kid.

The rest of the day we saw just a small portion of the temples of Angkor, with the occasional monkey stop tossed in. You would apprechiate the absurdity at the monkey stop. A gaggle of tourists from India were trying to feed one of the monkeys, the monkey, a rather clevere species decided that it would rather have a toy. With that, he grabbed this man's cell phone and took off up a tree. I would have just called it a day there, clearly you have just been outsmarted by a primate, best just to scurry off in shame. But no - this guy dedcided that there was no way a monkey was going to beat him and retaliated by climbing the tree after the monkey! Just picture an out of shape Indian man, in 35 C heat, about 4 feet off the ground and trying, with much effort but without success to make it further up the tree. I guess the monkey realized that this could go on all day so he decided to end it. He smashed the cell phone in to bits and pieces and then dropped them down on the 'climber'. The remaining monkeys and toursits shared in a good laugh together that day.

It took us a total of 13 hours in the gruelling sun and heat to squeeze in the 'highlight' temples of Angkor Wat. The monkeys are entertaining. The temples are astounding, no words I type will ever do them justice. However, despite these centuries old ruins all around me, I was more impressed that day by a 12 y.o Cambodian wonder. Angelina or Brad - if you're reading this...do you have room for one more?

A-gun for reading!

p.s. Jason - you're right...