Tuesday, February 3rd.  Today, we went back to another temple, the name escapes me right at this moment, but it was in the same complex.  When the guide asked us to give him our passes so he could show them at the gate, Kevin realized his was in their room so he raced off the bus to go get it.  When he got back, he showed his wet piece of paper that used to be his pass.  He had washed his shirt the night before with it in the pocket.  It was nothing but a damp paper with holes in it.  His comment "I think it got the holes when I wrung out the shirt."  We lost about a half hour, which we didn't mind actually, when the person at the gate wouldn't take it and we had to drive to the main gate to get it replaced.  However, on the way there and back, we did see the King of Cambodia's motorcade.  They were having some sort of UNESCO ceremony that day and he was in Siem Reap to see it.  All the vehicles had black tinted windows, and there were about 10 cars in a row, so who knows what vehicle he was actually in.

We returned to the hotel for lunch and a few hours before we met to go to yet again another temple.  We opted out of the temple excursion.  We've seen enough.  Tonight, we had our farewell dinner at a restaurant that was like the one in Saigon.  It has students who learn the restaurant business, everything from waiting tables to hostessing to cooking.  The meal was excellent, one of the best we've had on this trip. 

Our flight leaves at 11:50 pm tonight, as all flights to Seoul do, so we opted to leave tonight instead of wait all day tomorrow (tour is over after breakfast).  After dinner, we were going to take a cab to the airport (about 15 minutes away), but the cab company and bus company are owned by the same people so the bus dropped everyone else off at the hotel, where we said our goodbyes, and took us to the airport. 

A full flight to Seoul, 6 hours.  Then we found the transit hotel and spent most of the day there sleeping.  It was a 12 hour layover.  At 6:30 pm, our plane left for Seattle, another full flight.  It was interesting that when we came to Seoul from Seattle, it was 11-1/2 hours. When we left Seattle, it went almost all the way to Anchorage and then curved around and landed in Seoul.  This time, our schedule said it was 9 hours and 40 minutes.  Well, when we boarded, the pilot announced that it would be 10 hours.  The plane flew due east, over Tokyo, not going north at all.  I was beginning to wonder if we were going to San Francisco instead when we began to curve northward to Seattle. 

Our layover in Seattle was 1 hour and 40 minutes, which we thought was enough time to make the flight to Boise.  Since we left a half hour late from Seoul and the flight was a half hour longer than scheduled, we missed our connecting flight by about 3 minutes.  It hadn't left yet but the doors were closed when we raced to the gate.  Luckily, we managed to fly standby on the next flight to Boise about an hour later.  We might have made the earlier flight but it took forever to get our luggage at Customs.  I have never seen so many large cardboard boxes come off a plane.  I think 50-75 is not a bad estimate, most with duct tape and even some string wrapped around them. 

Some random facts about Cambodia and Vietnam.  Cambodia has 54 percent women in the population.  56 percent of their population is under the age of 18.  Life span there is 58 years for men and 62 years for women.  Every tuktuk or boat person who took us anywhere in either country asked us how old we were.  When we told them, they were like "wow", probably because we are older than 62.  96 percent of the people in Cambodia are estimated to do something to lighten their skin.  Michael Jackson comes to mind. 

In Vietnam, when we were on the boat ride through the caves, one of the women rowing us along felt Stella's hair.  Stella thought that was interesting since we were told not to touch anyone.  When we got to Saigon, Bon told us to always wear our purses and bags crossbody because "there is no violent crime here but a lot of "snatch and grab" occurs."  Okay.  When I asked the front desk person to show me on the map where the Hard Rock was, she drew it out (about 3-4 blocks away), and told us the same thing - "wear your purse or bag crossbody."  After two warnings, I made sure I did. 

It was a good trip.  Vietnam is a beautiful country.  We were never shown any anger or animosity that we were American.  The fruit and vegetables we ate were fresh and, consequently, excellent.  A friend of mine, who served there in the war, had told me that the pineapple in the Mekong Delta was the best and he was right.  Weddings and funerals are big things here.  Lots of businesses cater to those occasions.  Bon told us that in south Vietnam, it is the custom for the deceased to be in the house where they died for a week before they are buried.  He paused and then said "they are in heavy well-sealed caskets."  I would hope so.  Maybe that's why they burn so much incense.  Vietnam law says only two children allowed.  Cambodia doesn't have that law.  Ken has three and his wife wants another one but he thinks three is enough.  The record number of people we saw on a motorbike was six.  Someone asked Ken if his family travelled all together on one motorbike and he said "yes, the oldest child rides in front of me, the middle child rides between me and my wife, and my wife carries the baby."  He thought that was a really odd question because it's just normal for families to do that here.  Helmets are required but a lot of people don't wear them.