i guess that i better start off by saying that i am doing much better now... i guess i caught food poisoning from that incredibly tasty lobster i had on the beach on my last day. i had a sneaky suspicion that it might get me sick but it tasted so divine... the bad part of it only lasted 24 hours really but my stomach still feels fragile. regardless, i am back at eating delicious foods because i can't resist them. for example: pumpkin ravioli in a ricotta and basil sauce with shaved parmesan; panini stuffed with roast beef, roasted peppers and swiss cheese; and tonight the best vegetarian pizza yet with a greek salad. yum! i swear i'm doing a gastronomic tour of asia (although eating not so much asian food since i've arrived in indochina).

we are now in siem reap, the city closest to the world famous angkor temples. we arrived today after a 6+ hour bus ride to a pretty unimpressive city... ie, as we pulled into the bus station, i told myself "this can't be it". a hole! ha! but we are now living in a charming backpacker area close to the center of town, which is beautifully decorated for the water festival that starts tomorrow (full moon). the festival celebrates the change in the flow of the river that goes through cambodia, the only river to change it's flow in the world (the monsoon causes the largest fresh water lake in se asia to change the river flow). there are also tons of fancy hotels (sofitel, meridien, the new hotel de la paix: we see these and we think - good pastries!) and great little shops around as well. not such a hole after all! just a bad first impression.

we arranged for a tuk tuk driver to drive us around the temples for the next 3 days and have purchased our 3-day angkor pass this afternoon (mine is blessed with one of the worst pictures of me ever). we also got to go in and see the sun setting on angkor: it was beautiful, incredible. but the steps! so steep! they should warn people about them. they're dangerous enough in bright daylight, they're just crazy in the dark.

we have seen the gate to angkor wat, one of the main temple complexes here but have not gone in. it looks gigantic. tomorrow we will do the far away temples as katy's feet are covered in bites from god knows what that she (and i as well, but not as much as her) acquired in sihanoukville. her feet have hundred of bites (i have less than 10) on them and are very much swollen up: it's quite nasty to look at and it's killing her with pain and hitching. she's just not a lucky girl with stuff like that!

ps. there's a cockroach on my computer screen. "that's hot!"