Decision made!

We haven't done very much the last couple of days, but we had some computer stuff to catch up on, and some onward travel planning. And, we had to make a decision regarding the Koh Ker Temple that we wanted to visit.

The problem is that the Koh Ker site is located 113 kms (70 miles) from here, and there are no public transportation options.

So it's very difficult to get to, which means hardly anybody goes. Of course that's the attraction for us. We love exploring ruins sites when we're the only ones there.

There are private tours set up to go. Our hotel supplies one, but it's $120 USD. Because it goes by car, you can have up to 4 people in the car. We did a bunch of shopping around, and the best price we could find was $80 USD. And we couldn't find another couple to share the price with.

And then that doesn't include the $15 USD admission price each. So it would have ended up being a $110 USD ($149 CAD) excursion. 

Not only that, but it would have been four hours in a car to get there and back. Which leads me to our onward planning.

We're leaving here on Saturday, and we're heading to the town of Senmonorom, the capital of Mondulkiri province. It's the least visited region in Cambodia. Despite being the capital of the province, it has a population of only 10,000 people. And why are going to this out of the way town? 

There is an 18 km (11 mile) hike we want to do! We're pretty excited about this. Sounds right up our alley!

But it's nine hours in a minivan. And we just couldn't picture ourselves doing four hours one day and then have to do another nine hours the next day. Anyhow, unfortunately Koh Ker with have to wait until another time. 

We went back to that Mexican place for happy hour margaritas!

They were delicious!

Ruth had a taco salad. She said she really enjoyed it.

I had the enchiladas again. And again, delicious!

Later in the evening, we went our for a big bowl of Pho!

This is an old pace that has been restored.

It's just around the corner from our hotel.

We went out for some street food for dinner.

This is our chef!

She made us a chicken stir fry, with lots of vegetables.

$2.50 USD ($3.40 CAD) each.

While we were waiting for our food, her husband came over and spoke to us. He's a tuk-tuk driver, and he asked if we wanted to do anything on Friday. Now that we had decided not to go to Koh Ker, we had a free day. He made a bunch of suggestions, and eventually we decided on a trip down to the lake to see the sights. So we're going to head off with him for a few hours to see what there is to see. He's picking us up at 10:30am. Cost will be $20 USD ($27 CAD) each.

We were sitting in the room Thursday evening when we heard explosions. Sounded like fireworks, so we ran to the terrace to have a look.

Oohhh... that's a colorful one!

So... tuk-tuk tour down to the lake today, and nine hour minivan ride tomorrow. We might stay in that area a week or so... lots of hiking and waterfalls, and the town itself looks laid back. It's also supposed to be a bit cooler up there.

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Nice deal on this Apple iPad.

And in Canada...

Good deal on this Asus 14" Laptop.