Today we took a bus from Siem Reap to the Tonle Sap River where we met our boat. That entailed an approximately 6 hour bus ride (with 2 stops) through rural Cambodia. I was able to take a variety of “drive by shooting” pictures while on the bus. We stopped for lunch at Prey Pross, eating a decent boxed lunch by a lake. We later stopped at Skun, which is apparently called “spider town” because of all of the local tarantulas. Our guide said that the locals not only eat them, but they also will cut off their fangs and carry them around. Paul had a kid come by to see if he wanted to hold one of them. There was a market there with all kinds of fried insects, spiders, and scorpions along with eggs and deep fried whole quail and what appeared to be small chickens. There also were fruit and vegetable stands. This area is know for growing cashews as well.  At some point we drove by a tiny town where Pol Pot, the leader of the genocidal Khmer Rouge, was born and grew up.

By mid-afternoon we made it to the boat. We are starting out on the Tonle Sap River and will go to the Tonle Sap lake before heading out on the Mekong River. The Tonle Sap River is unusual as the direction of the river changes twice a year. We are starting out going upriver based on current currents.  We managed to be here during the 1.5 weeks out of the year that the Tonle Sap River is covered by water hyacinth. It looked like our boat was floating through a field. Very pretty. We also got to see “everyday life” along the river with houses, ferries, fishermen, kids, water buffalo, etc.

We are sailing with AMA Waterways. We have done one other cruise with them and the service was excellent. So far, no change. The cruise director, who we spoke with for a total of about 3 minutes over 2 days, referred to Paul by name tonight. There are about 110 people on this cruise. Our room is beautiful and has a balcony. We are looking forward to the next few days on the boat.