Safari - Day 2.2

Except for a couple of brief excursions to buy postcards and a Coke, we spent most of the afternoon reading at our campsite. This one was much more scenic than the one at Koh Ker. It was right at the entrance to the temple, next to a stone pool that was part of the temple grounds and was still being used for bathing. We could look over and see Thailand. (The temple itself is in Cambodia, but the rest of the highlands are Thai territory. There is a nice paved road on the Thai side that leads right to the base of the temple. Although, as we would learn the next day, this approach involves climbing a lot of stairs.)

Late in the afternoon, we walked up and explored the temple. At the very back of the temple, there is a rocky outcropping where you can look down and see Cambodia. The view was a bit hazy as a result of all of the fires. We sat there to watch the sunset.

Shortly before sunset, a woman came with her teenaged son. Although she looked like she could be Cambodian or Thai, she was speaking English to him, and we struck up a conversation. She was originally from Cambodia, but had left 30 years ago, eventually settling in the US. Her husband was working at the US embassy in Bangkok. She said that she had been to Preah Vihear many times, but couldn't bring herself to go any further.

I was pretty choked up. It was clear that she missed her country so much that she would come all that way just to see it and show it to her kids. But she couldn't actually go there. I think what was even more heartbreaking is that she was so matter of fact about it. We told her a little bit about our trip and she said how brave we were. But riding around on bad roads and sleeping in tents did not seem particularly brave at that moment. (Amusingly, she also told us that the locals had told her we were French.)

Back at camp, I was feeling a little sorry for the guides who had to provide for us in the absence of the truck with all the supplies. At one point, I asked about towels and the guide had this panic-stricken look on his face. About an hour later, two brand new towels appeared, apparently freshly purchased from the Thai market. Likewise, dinner was two takeout portions of noodles from the Thai market, which we shared with the white dog who had staked out our tent.