Happy Songkran!

We are enjoying our final days in Bangkok relaxing in our air conditioned hotel room as we closely monitor the political protests taking place in this city. We arrived three days ago to the sounds of protestors in the streets, grenades, gunshots. As the area where all of the tourists go was blocked off, we found another safe hotel for the night. Watching the scenes unfold outside on the news and the Internet from the comfort of our room was enough action for us. In all, 21 people died and the negotiations between the government and the Red Shirts is far from over. We just hope that violence isn't the only way that these issues will be solved. Before coming to Bangkok, we had a wonderful, albeit hot, three days in Battambang, enjoying both the cityscape and the countryside. Even though Battambang is the country's second largest city, you'd hardly know it, as we find it very walkable and much less touristic than Siem Reap. We rented a tuk tuk to take us to two beautiful temples. One is perched high on a hill and requires visitors to climb 359 steps to reach the top where some temple ruins from the 12th century can be found. The second temple also sits on top of a hillband provides gorgeous views of the Western Cambodian landscape which is very dry this time of the year. As so many religious sites during the regime of the Khmer Rouge, this temple was used as a prison and the nearby caves were used as execution sites. It is impossible to imagine what it was like to live in Cambodia from the mid to late 70s. One of the highlights in Battambang was going to the Phare Ponleu Selpak circus. The artists are all vulnerable children and teenagers who have been given the opportunity to excel in the performing arts. This enables them to support themselves and their families. The show was fantastic and featured amazing trapeze artists, contortionists, jogglers etc... This group is part of a larger organization that provides fine arts education to the local community, runs an orphanage and offers a daily free street kitchen for families in need. The circus always brings joy to our hearts because it makes us feel like kids again. Speaking of being a child again, today was the first day of the Thai New Year celebration called Songkran. Essentially, it is a three-day waterfight in cities all over the country. As soon as you set foot on the street, you are 'baptized' with a bucket of water. People armed with waterguns stand on the back of pick up trucks and spray the crowd, which, armed with water as well, strike back. The nice thing is that it is not just kids participating, but people of all ages. We even saw a woman in her 80s wielding a bright plastic water pistol. Everyone joins in the fun. And that is exactly what it is: pure fun. It is a fantastic way to ring in a new year especially when the thermometer reads 36 C. Tomorrow, we will head to a hotel close to the airport because we will fly to Germany early Thursday morning. It is hard to believe that our 100 days in Southeast Asia are coming to an end. It was an amazing adventure and one we won't soon forget.