Quick notes: Cambodia

Yes, way behind on the blogging. I have put up 3 posts today to help restart the action here on the blog.

As you may have known (from the week 17 writeup), we went to Cambodia - Siem Reap - for 3 days. Siem Reap is home ot one of the largest temples in Asia, Angkor Wat. This was built in the 11th century by Buddhists. Pretty fascinating; the stones are meshed so well together in the tem
plate that no mortar was needed; the rocks were so flush you could barely - and I mean barely - see the separation line between the rocks.

We went at sunrise one morning (wake up call: 4:30 with the boys. Very difficult) to see the sun rise over the temple. This is the best shot I got.

Other shots:

1. I never get tired of seeing random Asians wearing random US sports gear. Here we are inside Angkor Wat, and along comes a group of Koreans (I think; however, you all know I am bad at recognizing Koreans) walking past us.

One of them is outfitted in a nice Tribe jersey/t-shirt.

I managed to get a picture; I'm sure this guy was muttering "WTF" to himself.

2. Home court advantage: we went on a tour of a "floating" village. There is a huge lake nearby, so we drove down there, got on a boat, and boated for 30 minutes touring the people that live in boats on the water. That is their life - fishing and bartering, and living on boats.

Don't think this is 2000 BC primitive, however....they have schools, stores, and TV. Yes, electricity in these boats.

And then there was this.....a floating cage of some sort. It is a basketball court where the school plays.

I was intimidated just looking at it.
 

I love India

Went to India last week.....to our plant in Northern India. Flew into Delhi; had a connecting flight to Chandigarh, 250 km away. However, fog ruined our plans and flights were cancelled for the day.

So we (another person from India was with me on the trip) rented a driver to take us the last leg.

How long could a 250km trip take? That's about 160, 170 miles.

Well, when the brake pads fail along the way and you get stranded on the roadside at a garage that looks like the set of Sanford and Son.....

at least there was tea.

 

CBS This Morning, Live from Macau!

I know most of you have heard this story, but I'll post it here again to save it in the interwebs forever.

In November, we went down to Macau with 2 other families; one of the attractions that weekend was the Macau Grand Prix. As we were walking through the Venetian mall to get to the taxi stand, we were approached by a friendly American person (a complete stranger) that said "Hi!" and was fascinated to see other Americans in Macau.

Turns out, she is a producer for CBS News based in Beijing, and they are doing a story on Macau. So she wanted to know why we were there. I resisted the temptation to tell her our visits are because of a possible gambling addiction I have.

Then my friend Jim mentions to her that I go to Vegas every year, and I would be able to compare Vegas and Macau well. The producer perked up, and asked if I wanted to talk about it on camera. Sure! Why not!

So out comes this big African-American reporter, Bill Whitaker, who is impeccably dressed and is at least 6'4". Nice guy. After 15 minutes of small talk - and me miraculously pulling out a golf shirt from Janice's bag - the on-camera interview started.

The piece finally ran in the US this monday (Jan 14). Here is the link!

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50138972n

Do I really sound like this?
 

Another year goes by.....

Gees, these numbers are getting big.

Bobby Rahal was born on this day, 60 years ago. I caught myself looking at old Indianapolis 500 reruns on YouTube. Remember when that race was a big deal? I do....Can any one recall who won it in the last 10 years?

What do I want as a gift? I saw this sign in the Metro Grocery store last week. Maybe this