Rest Stop

Much of today was spent on the bus on National Highway 6 going from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. Our last leg of the trip, the next two days, will be spent at Angkor Wat.

On the way here we stopped twice, once for a bathroom stop and once for lunch. Everytime I think we had the ultimate experience of Something Completely Different another one pops up, more surprising and/or unusual than the last. At our rest stop, we got off the bus to a teeming crowd of vendors. They were more insistent than any we've seen so far. There was great fruit: tiny bananas, mangoes and pineapple. There were fried and live insects and arachnids: tarantulas, crickets, and something else that I couldn't label. The fried ones were flavored and spicy. One boy tried to put a live tarantula on Joel's shirt. Was it an attempt to sell one or a desire to annoy the tourists?

The bathrooms were the squat kind -- and guarded by a woman who didn't intend to let us out without paying. Most of us had not changed money to Cambodian Riels, but she allowed us out with a one dollar bill for everyone.

Andrew bought several fried tarantulas (he seems determined to try everything new) and he willingly shared with any willing taker. We tried them. That's not the royal we -- I really did try one leg of tarantula.

I got on the bus with a bag of delicious peeled mangoes. One little girl sat on the steps of the bus, peered in at me crying, "Why you not buy from me? Why you buy, but not from me?"

Our lunch stop was much calmer at a restaurant by a lake. The food was delicious. I had sour soup with fish. I might have to find a Cambodian cook book.