Two Americans, one Canadian couple, one unidentified gentleman, white-haired and tanned, five Cambodians, two Cambodian childrens, sacks of food and one driver head down the Mekong River in a small motor boat with wooden bench seats. Only the white people are handed life jackets. This is high-speed travel to cross the border into Vietnam.

A drunk Dutch guy enlightened me last night on the difference between a tourist and a traveler. He had spent the last five hours drinking beer in the restaurant of our guest house. Halfway through Spiderman, the DVD crapped out and he took this as his opportunity to begin the lesson.

Just back from S-21 and the Killing Fields. Nothing like a little genocide in the morning to get your day going.

Started the day with some shopping. Had to replace the hat that I left somewhere in Siem Reap (the hotel? the bus?), which is not easy as I have a European sized head and a big one at that. Got a fake Tommy Hilfiger.

Another 5am morning. Our driver picked us at 5:30am, the third morning in a row that I was awake and outside before dawn to see the sun rise over Siem Reap, this time from the window of a minivan on the way to the boat that would take us to Phnom Penh.

We met the guy on the cover of my Lonely Planet Cambodia guide book. Just like in the picture, he was sweeping out a temple called Ta Prohm. Werd.

When we emerged from the hotel at 5:40am, our moto drivers were waiting for us, bundled in jackets and long pants. We hopped on the back of their scooters and drove through the chilly morning.

From the plane, Cambodia appeared brown and green and flat in all directions with a smattering of palm trees along the runway and dark tree lines in the haze of the horizon. It looked like the tropics. Where was the jungle?The sun blazed on my skin as soon as I stepped out of the plane, runway glittering, dust clouds in the air.