good talk

Returned to Bangkok, and found a neat travel-agency that's open 24-hours a day, and bought a ticket to fly to Siem Reap, Cambodia that evening, just 110 U.S.  In the meantime, I had an also-neat "20" year-old girl give me a wonderful 2-hr. deep-tissue massage, she turned-me every which way but loose.  I also paid some little-fish to eat the dead-skin off my feet, it's very healthful.  I met a German guy, Jan, who'd been traveling in Asia for 4 years, a heavy-equipment mechanic, his money was so exhausted that all he could afford were l0 U.S. hotel rooms, and half-hour massages, he soon was going to have to go back to the Fatherland to work, as he was almost broke.  This was my 2nd time to Cambodia, my first was in 1998, and then I started in the capital, Phnom Penh, to which I didn't really want to return.  From 1975 to 1979, the Khmer Rouge waged a war of genocide against the Cambodian People, killing-off a quarter of the population, as they wished everybody-else not killed to be their slaves.  You might be killed for wearing glasses, as that might mean you were smart.  In Phnom Penh, you can see a map of Cambodia in human-skulls, go outside to the Killing Fields and see cases of skulls, it's not a feel-good place.  Arriving in Siem Reap, the jovial Cambodian Officials charge 30 U.S. for a visa that fills an entire page of your passport, thanks guys, as does China's, a bigger-country than Cambodia's 15 mil.  You can spend U.S. dollars just as easily as Cambodian money.  Get a taxi to take you to any of the many good, cheap, places to stay, I said, take me to a central-location.  The next day, I took a taxi to the Angkor Wat.  Built by the Khmer King, Suryavarman 11, from early to mid 12th century, and dedicated to the Hindu Creator-God, Vishnu, at a time when the Khmers were awash in wealth, it's regarded as being perfect.  I spent 10 hours there, it's 3 levels and a central-tower, the bas-relief carvings are exquisite, the West Wall shows the mythological Battle of Kuru, the South Wall depicts the March against the Cham, and scenes of Heaven and Hell.  The East Wall is the Churning of the Ocean of Milk, and this is one of the very-few great artworks of the world, as gods and demons compete for the elixir of immortality.  I waited until there was no one else there, and I wiped-off my right index-finger and touched-it in a couple of critical-places so that I could feel the energy, I knew that this was wrong, but I did it anyway