On the Road~ One Month

I find it hard to believe a month has gone past.  One third of our trip.  Of course if I think in terms of five flights, six different hotels, three countries...it begins to make sense.  Some of the high lights of the trip include meeting up with Luci and Mark, first in Bangkok and then in Chiang Mai.  One day we Vibered one another while we were in Chiang Mai and they were in Luang Prabang.  We were all in our respective beds, wearing all our warmest clothes and down jackets, trying to stay warm.  We laughed and laughed at the absurdity of being so cold in Asia.  Who knew there would be an Arctic Blast!  Walking down a Soi and running into my sisters' goddaughter!  Laying in bed sipping a vodka and lime writing my last blog from Luang Prabang when at ten p.m. the phone on the desk rings and actually startles us.  It was Ivan, our host at the hotel, inviting me and Ron out for drinks at a bar down the street.  Turns out he and his wife and visiting French friends were going to meet up with a friend of theirs in town named Khun Root, who owns the most beautiful hotel in Chiang Mai, where we have stayed twice before.  I got out of bed, put on my newly purchased dress, and walked down to the small French bar and joined them.  And it was wonderful to be remembered by Khun Root!  Having the girls at our resort in Siam Reap make us Mojito's each evening and each night they made them stronger and stronger!  Giggles and smiles on their faces.  Walking amongst the ruins in Angkor and passing a young man sitting in a crude wooden shack along the dusty walk.  He was playing an instrument kind of like a xylophone called a "kum" with a little girl of perhaps six or seven with finger cymbles accompaning him.  It was such a haunting melody, I had to sit down on a log bench and listen with tears streaming down my face.   He only had one leg.   Talking to my sister via FaceTime walking around the restored colonial French villa we were staying at, and the young waitress coming up and looking at my iPad screen and having such a look of wonder as she said "you are talking to yourself"! And even more laughter when I said "sister" and she said "twin"!   The childlike innocenence of some of the young people is such a treasure to behold.  Especially when you consider it has not been that long since the Cambodians suffered horribly at the hands of Pol Pot and the customs, dance, art and ancestry was almost wiped out.  I love riding in the back of the tuktuks, wind in my hair, dust in my eyes.  I love the offerings placed everyday with devotion and prayer.  I love eating!  The food is so delicious and incredibly nuanced with flavors, spices and herbs.  And on that note it is time to shower, get dressed, spray on mosquito repellant and take the tuktuk to town...