Mt. Desert and Acadia National Park (not so much Bar Harbor) have always had a special place in my heart. Every turn in the road evokes a memory from days past, beginning from my early childhood. We visited my mom’s parents in Bangor every summer and invariably came to the island. Our family camped there on a number of week-long outings. Later we brought Jeff and Rebecca here. Reagan and Carter are sick and tired of hearing me say, “When I was a kid . . .”

So my not so hidden agenda for this two-day visit has been to introduce Reagan and Carter to this special place. Yesterday hooked Carter with rock climbing at Thunder Hole. The boat trip? Not so much. Lobster rolls, ice cream and the band concert went OK. 

Today started with the North Trail climb to the top of Cadillac Mountain, something I’ve never done but always wanted to do. I started out with a bit of trepidation; a 70-year-old chasing 10 and 15 year olds up the hill? The climb was moderate and we did the 2.5 miles in an hour and a half. On the way up I had a smack-your-head moment: What kind of tenderfoot goes out without water and sun screen? But we made it and rehydrated at the summit gift shop. Nana picked us up at the top. 

We made a quick stop in Bar Harbor for takeout sandwiches on which we picnicked at Sand Beach. Then, time for the plunge. I primed the pump by telling the kids I doubted they could last more than 15 seconds in the 52 degree ocean water. Of course they thrived, spending upwards of thirty minutes at a time on several outings, body surfing, the whole nine yards. Better yet, Carter found climbing rocks at the right-hand end of the beach. He climbed in flip flops. I suckered Reagan into joining him with my phone to take photos so I wouldn’t have to. She climbed barefoot, just like Uncle Doug used to do a half century ago. I introduced them to the “secret” warm pool at the left-hand end of the beach. 

Sand Beach? A home run. That’s when I realized: mission accomplished. The Acadia hook is set. Another generation of Ricks love the place like I do. Check the corners of my eyes: tears? Yep. 

Next objective: the Longo kids. 

To cap it off we did popovers at the Jordan Pond House and then drove to Beals in Southwest Harbor for steamed lobsters, steamed clams and hot dogs on the wharf. And finally, ice cream at the village green. 

So tomorrow it’s back to the real world for Nana, Carter and me if Onawa can be considered the real world (it can’t). Poor Reagan has to go back to work – swim camp at Bates College in preparation for the State meet in a few weeks. But she’ll join us in two weeks with her folks at Onawa. And Rebecca, Esme and Griffin come on Thursday; Andrea and Chuck on Sunday. Never a dull moment!

It hasn’t been what most would consider a romantic 46th honeymoon getaway but for us it’s been a most rewarding and fulfilling celebration. 

So here we sit on the loveseat in our Windham home safe and sound. The trip went well; I slept for most of the flight to Hong Kong and almost 10 out of 15 hours to Boston. First good night’s sleep I’ve had in a week. Judy didn’t doze as well but did OK. We’re off to see Dr Kim tomorrow to get me patched up.

So are we glad to be home? Frankly I’d rather be on the bus in Ho Chi Minh right now. Would we do it again? You betcha. One takeaway from this trip is that you can survive just about anything anywhere these days. Worry about health isn’t a reason to stay home.

Now we have to figure out when we’ll head back to do Vietnam. One disappointment with this itinerary was that we were only going to get small sample so next time we’ll do it up right. Want to come along? You’d be more than welcome!

Thanks again for all the support, thoughts and prayers.

Today I got sprung from the Big House – the Royal Angkor International Hospital – with a clean bill of health to travel. At least it’s clean enough to get on the plane and get home to address the underlying Afib problem. The doctor was pleased that the swelling is down and the pneumonia was under control so off we went.

We depart Siem Reap at 12:10 PM tomorrow December 5 for Hong Kong. There we connect with the Boston flight arriving there the same day (thanks, International Date Line) around 9 PM. Our guides offered to take us to Angkor Wat to see the sunrise at 6 AM, which would have made a great story: “Sunrise at Angkor Wat, sunset at Boston Harbor all in the day of the dedicated tourist.” But saner minds intervened and we’ll sleep in.

Speaking of Angkor Wat, one of the bucket list sites for many, we did manage a drive by shooting this afternoon. We met the group for lunch and then after quiet time we went at 3 PM and visited Ta Prohm.

A little background: the Khmer or Angkor Empire was centered in Angkor spanned the 9th through the 15th centuries. During its heyday (11th – 13th centuries) Angkor was the largest urban center in the world. And unfortunately, it was pretty much down hill from there for Cambodia. After the Angkor Empire the country was struck by famine and drought, invasion by Siam from the west and China and Vietnam from the east; the French, brought in to save Cambodia from its enemies; WWII and the Japanese; the Vietnam War; and then the Khmer Rouge and Cambodia’s civil war. Today there is a hint of rebirth: Siem Reap, a town of 300,000, will host four million tourists this year (60% Chinese, 24% European, 9% U.S.), growing to 6 million before too long.

Angkor Wat, which the group toured this morning, was built first as a Hindu shrine and within 100 years was converted to a Buddhist temple (the emperors were not finicky when it came to religion). It claims to be the oldest religious structure in continuous use in the world. Te Prohm came a bit later and isn’t as large and, like many of the temples in the region, has been plundered by treasure hunters and enveloped by jungle. Today it is open to the public in its unrecovered state, although a group from India has a reconstruction project underway.

After the 45-minute walk through we stopped at a place where we had a view of Angkor Wat in the distance. Our guides gave us wine and jerky made from cobra and water buffalo. Sorry, our bags are too full to bring any home to share.

So we can claim to have seen Angkor Wat.

Actually, as I said the other day, these World Heritage Sits don’t do a lot for me and this one is no exception. I really enjoy contemplating the achievement and historical significance of these places but the tourist volume and the infrastructures built to support the tourists takes all the fun out of it. You should see the Sofitel here in Siem Reap.
So there you have it: no more touring, no visit to Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh. We’ll save that for another adventure. For now, thanks for following along and especially for your kind words, thoughts and prayers during my bout with the heebie-jeebies. I’ll drop a note when were back on home turf.

Judy’s notes on Cambodian society follow this posting.

Marriage:
Our Phnom Penh guide Long shared with us some information about marriage. Before, all marriages were arranged but now only 15% are. Seventy percent are love based. They do meet with the fortuneteller to make sure everything lines up right. He meet with a fortune teller to arrange his wedding ceremony and the first thing asked of him was the year he was born. I cannot remember what the animal sign was but whatever it was he was responsible so all was good. His wife to be matched up well. In their culture the man pays for the wedding and sometimes there is a dowry paid but none in his case. He showed us pictures of all the wedding outfits. I think the wedding took three days and they wore 7 different outfits during that time. They paid over $1,600 to rent all of the outfits.

Education:
There is public education but also private is available. Long’s son will turn three January 1st. They have him enrolled in an American School. They are hoping to have him get some of his schooling in the US. Long had a sponsor in Tampa through an Australian NGO who paid for his university education.

Healthcare:
Long says healthcare is poor and very expensive and paid for by the individual. We asked if he has insurance he said OAT provides health insurance for only him and only for when he is on the job.

He said the highest death rate is during childbirth especially in the rural areas. They do not get prenatal care and have no hospitals so are delivered by midwives. The second is “non-communicable diseases” which I think is smoking, drinking etc. and the third was dysentery caused by the contaminated water especially with children under the age of five.

Elderly:
The expected life span is 65 for men and 72 for women. Again children take care of their parents as they age.

I’m staying another night in the hospital. Here are the details from Judy.

Well when we left NH November 10th we did not expect to become an expert on a Thai Hospital in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Jon has started his second day in their ICU while they give him lasix for the swelling, and an antibiotic for what they are now calling pneumonia. We were all ready to head to the hotel after the blood test which also included a chest X-ray. The doctor comes in with a long face and tells us he can not sign off on Jon going on an airplane. The heart and swelling is better but there is still fluid on his right lung. He suggests he needs to stay until tomorrow morning and get more lasix and IV antibiotic. He also added a nebulizer treatment. As you can expect we are very discouraged because we really have no options. The airline will not let us fly without his signature. So here is hoping he will let us go tomorrow but there is no telling and we are kind of held hostage. The true is this is probably all real but I hope he is not expecting Jon to be perfectly well because that could take a long time. Fingers crossed and offer prayers for tomorrow!

Royal Angkor International Hospital has sixteen doctors, nine are Cambodian and seven are Thai. They all speak Cambodian and English. Five of them also speak French, three Vietnamese, and one speaks Cantonese.

Our doctor if Dr Chea Socheat and he is Cambodian and speaks Vietnamese. He was educated at Thai Bing Medical Hospital, Vietnam and has Doctor of Medicine and Certificate of Basic Speciality of Pediatric. But not to worry he also has qualifications of Board of Internal Medicine, Hanoi Medical University, Vietnam. He really is knowledgeable and everything follows my knowledge base. We just wish he was a little less conservative and willing to send us on our way.

The Hospital is very deserted but then we are here on the week-end. Unfortunately we will now get to see if it becomes more lively tomorrow.