Cambodia in three days

Turns out three days is more than enough time to see the famous temples of Cambodia, especially if you have the Asian Mario Andretti behind the wheel of your van like we did. Besides some very sore kidneys (calling the roads sub-par is generous) and a lingering sinus infection that has plagued me for the last week, the trip to see Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Ta Phrom (home of the "Tomb Raider" tree, as seen with Angelina Jolie in... "Tomb Raider"), etc. was really amazing.

The country itself has a truly ugly history of violence and corruption... the violence has mostly disappeared but the corruption is as bad as ever, if not worse now that there is an influx of foreign investment and tourism revenue. Long story short, go see the temples while they're still there.

I made it back to Shanghai safely this morning and my parents headed on to Chiang Mai in the mountains of northern Thailand. Unfortunately, I got some really bad news this morning when I got to work concerning my supposed upcoming trip to the states in February.