Catching up

I've done and learned so much since I last wrote in this space. I've also been sick with a cold and nasty GI stuff for over a month. Hopefully on the mend now, 3 doctor visits and 3 rounds of antibiotics later! I get triggered a bit by being sick for so long. Breast cancer likes to spread to the colon and I had polyps removed about 6 months ago. It's probably not that, but being so wiped out for so long, with such persistent symptoms reminds me of being sick with cancer. I know it scares Matt a little, too. Neither of us wants to have me go through cancer treatments again. But the health care in Vietnam is so inexpensive. I saw GI and ENT specialists last week it didn't cost any more than the co-pays would have run me to see them at home!

We left our cozy little apartment in Thailand in early January and flew to Siam Reap, Cambodia. There is a border dispute with Thailand and Cambodia so the land borders are closed. What we didn't realize is how much of an impact the border fighting was having on tourism. Angkor Wat is now usually so busy they have a lottery system to get in and so crowded you can hardly move through. We had the place practically to ourselves. I've already posted some pics to Facebook if you follow me there (Ella Elizabeth Thompson) and here are some of my favorites.

After spending a few awe-inspiring days exploring the ancient Angkor Wat temple complex, we made our way to a little town on the other side of Tonle Sap Lake, called Battambang. We spent two weeks in Battambang and then took a train to the capital, Phnom Penh and stayed there for a week. I was very ill for much of this time so don't have as many pics to share. I learned so much about Cambodia while we were there. I read "A Cambodian Odyssey" by Haing Ngor in my early 20s. His story of survival through the Pol Pot regime really impacted me. I never imagined I'd one day actually visit the country. I read "Stay Alive, My Son" by Pin Yathay while in Battambang and really recommend it as well. I have so many thoughts about Cambodia, I could write pages. Matt really liked Cambodia. I don't think I could live there for long term just because of the air quality. Cambodia is a place in so much need, with so much unaddressed trauma, with such kindness, with such a gap between rich and poor. You fall in love with the people, the beauty of the place, the softness of the lighting, the street dogs, the children and their shy waves, the rolling rice patties - and it breaks your heart at the same time - the loss of livelihood for so many because of the border skirmish, the corruption at the highest levels, the poverty, the orphans, the sex industry. They are still struggling to recover from the genocide, the murder of their entire educated class, the deep losses felt by every family. Since the Vietnamese ended Pol Pot's regime, they have struggled to regain control of their fate and re-establish a stable government. Vietnam and Thailand have taken much advantage of this, and now the country is terribly indebted to China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) for needed infrastructure development. A few photos below of our time there, from left to right:

Row 1: Pub Street a night, Siem Reap. Peace Statue in Battambang made entirely of weapons collected after Pol Pot's regime. A friend Matt made and his son fishing in Tonle Sap Lake

Row 2: Us! The art deco bar at the top of our Phnom Penh hotel (great views of the river). The new airport in Phnom Penh, beautifully designed and built (BRI project).