Ton Lope

The Cambodian country side flows by... Palm Trees, Rice Patties, Open Space, and then intermittent small villages. It all seems surreal.

After a few hours we begin to see rocks off in the distance. Big Rocks. A Lake - and Bong Lee points out the temple we had been shown by 'T' on the map. We see the giant slab that we have seen in photos. The wall we will climb is now within our view - and soon within our grasp.

We continue on and arrive at out village, Ton Lope. It consists of one main street over a few hundred yards. Horse and carriage trot by. There is one guest house - Tran Hout - and we take it. Josh speak Khmer and we are continually amazed that the communication takes place with smiles. There are definitely barriers - and again we are psyched Josh can, or at least thinks, that we bridge many of them.

There are no other white people - all natives.
No one speaks any English.
Every sight, sound, and sense is curious.
The heat is relentless.
Locals look at us with curiosity and bemusement.
Children walk around naked.
Fruit stands are plentiful.
Sweat continues to pour.

We locate the one moto bike rental option. The only was is to get ancient mopeds, with drivers. We meet Samoot - the one local moto drier that speaks "tic tic" a little English. We unload, check out the market, and head off on four mopeds, with our drivers, to locate our objective...