Floods and Feuds

Okay, so the dog has been ignoring me now for about 2 days…although it should probably be spelled ‘daze’.

We left LA on Sunday the 4th of October. We left the house at 4pm, with more than a tad of trepidation. We’ve always wanted to live in Palm Springs; and while we moved 14 times in the first 28 years we were married, we’ve lived in this house for 13 years. Of course we will be back…but it’s still tuff to lock up and walk away from your life for a couple of years. At least…

We got to LAX, put Mikki (our mixed breed Aussie) in a kennel and boarded our flight for a 17 ½ hour flight to Bangkok. Sitting in our seat we could see Mikki in her crate sitting all alone on the tarmac at LAX while all the other luggage was loaded. I stood in first class and looked out the window until I was sure she made it on board. Jill was…let’s just say she was wiping her eyes.

The flight turned out to br the easy part.

Arriving in Bangkok we had to get Mikki out of customs, pay her ‘duty’ to be in Thailand for all of 4 hours and get outa Dodge. Turns out the vet at the airport was sleeping in a back room and no one could find him. Wish they hadn’t. By the time we got through with him we were out a nice chunk of change. We almost didn’t get her outa hock. No one could figure out how to do the paperwork since we were driving to Cambodia the same day. Then the customs guys got their 1,000 Baht. It wasn’t a bribe, ‘cause I got a receipt.

Our driver was waiting though. We loaded our 4 suitcases, 4 carry-ons, and Mikki's kennel into his ‘stretch’ cab and headed for Poipet on the Cambodian border. Not a problem. Smooth as glass.

Then we got to Poipet. We needed a hand drawn cart, 5 handlers, one chief and the 2 of us to negotiate the Thai and Khmer intricacies. That cost us well over $100. Then we had the 19 minute bus ride to the bus station. Don’t even ask….

But once we got there, Sophary and Sau were waiting for us. We got back to Siem Reap at about 2:30 and made it home by 3:00 after we fed the crew.

Jill had never seen the house; only pictures. It’s really very nice … 4 bedrooms, office and walled. We have a/c in 3 of the bedrooms and the office, which is nice. We spent the last couple of days getting things set up, buying a few dishes, silverware, and cleaning.

Sunday Aki Ra and I fly to Hong Kong where a wonderful supporter of the cause, Jackie Russell, has arranged a whole speaking tour for us, with an interview with CNN on Wednesday. When I find out when it will be on, I’ll let everyone know.

We get wifi at the house on Saturday so I will try and get more up on the blog on our return.

Bill