Our Journeys Within

During my grueling 48 hours of travel from New York to Hong Kong to Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, I experienced my own version of “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” (minus the humor of Steve Martin and John Candy). The Asian version: “Puddle Jumpers, Airbuses and Tuk Tuks” was scripted with a different sense of humor—or dread, depending on your perspective—and came to its cinematic end when my nauseated stomach touched down in Siem Reap.

Andrea and Brandon gave me a wonderful welcome and thankfully I didn’t give them a car full of half-digested plane food on our way home from the airport.

My first two days have been a jumble of new people, interesting places and an overwhelming amount of Cambodian smiles. Coming from New York I was ill-equipped for this level of daily cheek strain, but Siem Reap is like Smile Boot Camp and Narla (pictured below) is the Commander in Chief. I’m getting the hang of it pretty quickly.