Snake tales.

Sleeping while wearing a surgical mask to block the smell while bussing through Cambodia (thanks Ron).

Celebrating Ron's arrival with new tattoos and a couple of brews, sitting on stools on Khaosan Road, Bangkok.

Trying on pants in Chattuchuk market, Bangkok. The stores are so small they give you a large dress-like garment to change under (sorta the Bangkok version of the towel change). 2 thumbs way up.

Ringside photograph of Muay Thai kickboxing at Lumphini Stadium, Bangkok.

Serious wat-tage. In front of the Grand Palace, Bangkok.

My best meal in Thailand, eaten in a food court in the mall. Not sure what it was, just pointed to something and they started filling my bowl with deliciousness, including a ladelful from a vat of boiling beef fat.

On the train back from Ayuthaya, north of Bangkok, with some American girls I biked around the temples with.

Angkor What? is the name of a bar in Siem Reap where we drank. Angkor Wat is the temple (pictured above), Cambodia.

Some Cambodian boys singing for money near Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

Hanging on to some roots at a temple near Angkor Wat. Part of Lara Croft: Tombraider was filmed here, and it still smelled like Angelina Jolie.

Perched atop a temple near Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

More wattage.

Ron sipping a manly Raspberry-Lime daquiri in Friends restaurant, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Ron getting a proper foot washing, pre-massage in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Deliciousness (clockwise from top-left): Khmer grilled pork sandwich with papaya salad; tropical mixed fruit freeze; potato fish cakes with red pepper sauce; garlic and honey meatballs; Fish Laksa.

Thumbs up from the hospital bed, Siem Reap, Cambodia. Luckily all is well now.

First (and last) bite of snake, Siem Reap, Cambodia. The facial expression says it all.

Ron arrives. Adam rejoices and shaves (he likes my skin soft like baby's arse). Mayhem ensues.

Let me back up. We marked Ron's arrival by taking in Bangkok's sights in one deep breath: Grand Palace, Wat Pho (reclining Buddha), Lumphini Muay Thai kickboxing fights, Chattuchuk weekend market, Khaosan Road, and of course Thai massages and drinking on stools in the street.

Funny thing about Ron, sometimes his heart's too big for his own good. Much of Southeast Asian tourism requires navigating through a sea of pleading children asking for money and selling useless trinkets. To my endless amusement, Ron just melts at the sight of these kids. We'll be walking somewhere and I'll turn around to see him surrounded by a crowd of 5 or 6 little ones, Ron's distraught face expressing his understanding that he doesn't want to buy a dozen Angkor Wat refrigerator magnets but can't leave these guys hanging. Eventually he caves. He always does. Even when he bought basically the same items from the last group of kids. But that's Ron. You gotta love the guy. So that's how we ended up drinking in the streets on stools wearing bejewelled hats, donning tribal tattoos, stuffing trinkets in our bags (well, Ron's bag), and thumb wrestling 8-year old girls and losing, BADLY -- seriously, this girl had mad thumb wrestling skills, though I'm sure the drinking didn't help us.

From Bangkok we bussed and taxied our way into Siem Reap, Cambodia, which is near Angkor Wat. We arrived without getting scammed, apparently a miracle according to the guidebook. Cambodia is an interesting and smelly place, with of course some tasty treats to please the palette. Amok Fish soup was exponentially yummy. Our second night in Cambodia we decided to go for some Cambodian BBQ, which included not 1 but 2 reptiles: crocodile and snake. I usually keep my reptile consumption to 1 per meal but made an exception, for vacation's sake. The crocodile was surprisingly good, and I'd eat it again. The snake was unsurprisingly snakey: rubbery and tough, and I swear it started to coil around my tongue...

A night of drinking and 16 hours later Ron was instructing me how to perform CPR on him in case he lost consciousness. We were in a tuk tuk frantically rushing him to the hospital after a bad bacteria-related scare. Thankfully Ron is partially alive. No, he's totally fine now. Phew. Lesson learned: 1 reptile/meal.

We got to see Angkor Wat, which was quite splendid, as well as a bunch of other really cool temples with the giant roots of trees growing all over them. Now we're in Phnom Penh, getting 4-hand massages (2 girls, 1 person), seeing the torture museum and killing fields (horrific and depressing -- 2 million ppl hacked to death -- but important to see), and eating multiple times at Friends restaurant (thanks Mike Spiegler for the rec), run by a program that takes kids off the streets and teaches them to cook and work in the hospitality industry. Today we visited ChildSafe where we learned not to give money to children on the street (here's why: http://www.childsafe-international.org/TFResidents.asp) and made donations to help get them off the street. Tomorrow we get on a boat down the Mekong to Vietnam.

No more snakes.