He carried a U.S. Army bag. I said hello but he didn't understand, so we sat silently side-by-side, eating the bugs we had just bought.

Yesterday I toured the S-21 prison and killing fields with Jonathan from Sweden . We decided to travel to the mountains to do some trekking. So, we left Phnom Penh early this morning on the first bus to Kratie (pronounced Kracheh). It's a pretty little province on the Mekong River, about a hundred miles northeast of Phnom Penh.

Phnom Penh's killing fields and prison tour was sobering for both of us, and we think a trek in the mountains will be a nice change. Kratie will be our mid-way stop on the way to our trek.

The bus made one of the infamous "toilet" stops on the side of the road, where the men just stand outside the bus and the women find a bush somewhere. It's all in sight of anyone left on the bus or passing on the road.

Later, when the bus made a lunch stop, we looked around for something good to eat. I found some spiders. I think they were tarantulas. They were large and black. I bought a couple and so did Jonathan. They were crunchy but not oily. Eating the long legs as they were sticking out of my mouth was a little bizarre, though .

I took a video or two on the way, out the bus window. You can see the poverty that is all over Cambodia in the videos.

We got a double room in Kratie for $6 ($3 each). It was right on the Mekong River and had a great balcony to see the river from. We will just spend one night here and continue our journey into the mountains tomorrow morning.

It seems the main thing to see here is the dolphins that play in the Mekong. It will cost $28 for a tuk tuk to take us to where the dolphins play, though. We talk it over and since we have both seen dolphins in the wild before, we decide to walk around the town instead.

While walking around the towns outdoor market, I saw some bats for sale. Fried bats, that is. I want to try these. We are not very hungry right now and decide to walk through the market and come back for the bats a little later . But, after walking through the market, the place we exit is quiet a ways from the bat seller. Jonathan says he would rather wait and eat them another time. He is sure we will see more somewhere. We never did, and I never got to eat a bat! This is the only place I have seen them for sale, so I 'm not sure when or if I will see them again. I am learning on this trip not to pass anything up you want to see of do, because it may not be available later.

Kratie is one of the best places in the country to watch a sunset, because of it's geographical position and the Mekong. We sit on the riverbank talking about our countries politics and philosophizing about the world in general. Then, we watch the sunset. Seeing the sunset on this part of the Mekong River is really something. It's an amazing sight.

After watching the sunset over the Mekong River, we headed off to find dinner somewhere. We will be up early tomorrow, traveling again .

Jonathan and I left Kratie on the early bus. Actually, it was a minivan. Here, when you take a minivan, it is understood that 3 seats will fit 4 people, at least. We are crammed in for our 6 hour ride. There is a bench seat that holds two people, then the aisle, and then a single seat. In the aisle, though, there is a portable seat that someone lets down and sits on. There is no back to this seat. I ended up on the single seat next to the window. A Cambodian man ended up on the fold-down seat. He motioned to ask me if I wanted to trade seats. Why would I want to do that? I motioned back by shaking my head that I didn't.

Sitting in front of me were Joan and her husband. They are in their 70's. They bought 3 seats. This entitled them to the entire bench seat they were on and gave them room to make the long ride in comfort. They said they paid much more than 3 seats would cost, but they wanted the space. The rest of us are packed like sardines .

Joan and he husband have travelled through SE Asia for a couple of months, and will leave Sen Monorom and go to Vietnam. They are looking for a place to retire. They are from the U.S. (Seattle), but not happy with the way the politics of the country are going. After Asia, they will travel to Ecuador and Costa Rica, looking for their retirement spot. When leaving Bangkok on a bus, she put her bag with her computer and camera in it in the overhead rack on the bus, above her seat. While she was looking out the window for her husband, before the bus left, a man grabbed her computer and camera bag and ran out the bus door. They spent several days filling out police reports but they will never see their things again. It ruined the whole trip for them, they said.

Not only was the minivan packed to capacity, but the tailgate in the back was raised and a rack was added to the bumper. People sat behind the back seat, with no back support facing out the back of the van, with the van gate left raised as we traveled . I wonder how bad the fumes were for them.

The rack that was added was loaded with luggage and things to deliver along the way. There was a piece of furniture and a motorbike tied on the back, also. Along the route the miinivan would make stops to deliver the items. The people here like to cram as many people into the vehicles as they can and then carry as much freight as they can on these trips. The Cambodians don't seem to notice, but the foreigners onboard are laughing and taking pictures of the whole scene. I got a picture of it, but the furniture had already been unloaded by the time I got the picture. Sometimes these vans are so loaded down it seems the front wheels are barely toching the road.

When we stopped to unload the little piece of furniture, we had to wait a while for the person that had the furniture shipped to meet the van to pick it up. I got a fresh sugar cane drink while waiting.

Sen Mororom sits high in the mountains of Cambodia, near the Vietnam border . I was told it can get quite chilly at night, but while I was there it was warm, even at night. There are a few things like elephant rides and small villages to visit, but the main attraction here is the trekking into the mountains.

Once at Sen Monorom, we settled into our guesthouse. It is a private room with ensuite bath, but I will bite my lip and pay the $5, I think.

The trek into the mountains is a three day trek, but malaria can be a problem. I don't have malaria pills, which you need to take in advance, so I decide not to do the trek. Maybe I can do it another time when I have malaria pills. It's more risk than I want to take.

While Jonathan makes plans for the trek, I wander around town. I see a small alley of fruit stands, and turn down one. It turns out to be a maze of crowded fruit and food stands. It's obvious it is for the locals and not foreigners, but I wander through the maze, turning this way and that . It is dark and dreary. There is water running down the middle of the walk way between the stands. There are some little kids, delighted to see a white person. They wave and I take their photos. I show them on the camera and they laugh and smile.

I wander further along and see a few kids playing a game on the ground, with marbles or something. Then, I am at a dead-end. There is no way out. I retrace my steps, trying to remember the turns I made. No one speaks English. I make a wrong turn or two but then go back and eventually find my way out.

The Ho Chi Minh Trail passed through the hills here and was bombed by the Americans. There are still unexpleded ordinances in the hills, so it is not wise to wander through them on your own.

My plans are to cross the border into Vietnam once I leave Sen Monorom. But, the boys in Battambang have been e-mailing me ever since I left. They want me to come back and spend their New Years with them. It will be in about a week . If I go to Vietnam, I cannot make it back in time. Vietnam does not celebrate this New Years.

I had wanted to spend New Years in Thailand. But, the timing is not working out for that either. I don't know any locals to spend New Years with in Thailand, but the Cambodians want me to spend it with them and their families. It is a 3 day celebration and a great family affair. Since the trekking did not work out for me, I decide to head back to Phnom Penh and extend my visa for Cambodia. Then I will head back to Battambang to join Villa and Samnang and their families for their New Years celebration. You can change plans like this when you travel alone.

PART TWOI said hello but he didn't understand. Then, I asked him if he spoke english. He just looked at me, so I decided he did not. He was a teenage Cambodian boy. It's very hard to tell the age of the Asian people. They might be 38 but look 21. They do seem to age quickly once they get around 40 or more, though, then they look older than their age . But, I am quite sure this boy was in his teens.

Our seats are assigned when we buy the tickets, and he ended up sitting next to me. I would not have anyone to talk to on this 10 hour journey today. I am on my way back to Phnom Penh, then Battambang.

At the first stop I bought some cut up pineapple, which I offered him, but he refused. I read my book most of the time on the trip. He didn't seem very sociable.

About noon we made a lunch stop. When we got back on, he offered me some of his fried crickets. I offtered him some of my bugs. I do not know what they were, but they were round and looked like the brown night bugs that fly around in the U.S.

I guess you would say the rest was just a normal afternoon, or would you? There we sat, riding though the Cambodian countryside in silence, since neither of us could understand a word the other said . Just two guys that live 10,000 miles apart, sharing their bugs. They say a smile is the universal language. I guess "Do you want some of my bugs" is, too. We eat our bugs and he watches T.V. There are no headphones to listen to. The T.V. is located at the front of the bus and turned up loud enough for the people in the back of the bus to hear. It is in the Cambodian language and there are no English subtitles. The Cambodians are all watching and doubling over laughing. I assume it is a comedy. The Cambodians watch their T.V. and the other 5 foreigners and I watch the Cambodians.