Hi–Cynthia here, Connie’s trusty Virtual Assistant.  Connie and her husband are traveling right now so I’m posting this for her.  I’m sure you’ll be hearing much more about it when she returns. In the meantime, here’s part of her amazing adventure.

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Wow!
What an amazing time we’ve had here in Moscow. Very energy intense at first, and
are enjoying it more here all the time. We are pros with the Metro. Amazing
fact–in a given day, 9 million people use the Metro–more than London and New
York combined!! It’s also a very classy Metro, we took some photos today.

We visited the Kremlin yesterday–lots of golden onion domes, marching soldiers
and soldiers on horseback. Then we walked to infamous Red Square and saw St.
Basil’s Cathedral with its ornate, multi-colored dome. We also saw lots of
brides and bridegrooms celebrating and getting their photos taken in Red Square
and St. Basil’s. They all looked so happy.

Moscow is a very European city, much more than we expected. We have seen the
most amazing array of very high fashion, trendy shoes I have ever seen and
young women actually wearing them. I haven’t seen anything like them in the
States.

Today we visited Lenin’s Mausoleum and saw the preserved Lenin himself. He
looked so life-like I thought he might sit up and talk at any moment. The
technology has recently become commercialized, and you too can be
preserved for a mere $1 million.

Tomorrow we head to Suzdal, a village of 12,000 about 4 hours by train and bus
outside of Moscow. It will be a relaxing change of pace.

This weekend Doug and I went to our favorite B & B on
the Mendocino Coast of Northern California, The Inn at Schoolhouse Creek.
(http) Our son Orion and daughter-in-heart Nichola went with us, and we had
such a delightful family time together. As you can see, Nichola is beginning to look pregnant.

We hiked the trail at Jughandle Creek Reserve, shopped in
Mendocino, enjoyed delicious breakfasts and wine tasting at the inn, played and
climbed at the Inn’s secluded beach, and ate delicious dinner both in Mendocino
and that we prepared ourselves in our cottage.

I also took photos of the beautiful wildflowers, which are
so plentiful this time of year. Here are some photos for your enjoyment. 

Cambodia has a small, pretty undeveloped coast along it’s southeast border. We arrived here in Sihanoukville by bus on Phnom Penh Saturday evening and have been here since.

The beach is lined with thatch-roofed restaurant huts that offer cold drinks plus a wide variety of food. Children, women, and beggars walk up and down the beach in search of tourist dollars for their food, hand-made jewelry, and opportunities for manicures, pedicures, and massage. I admire their resourcefulness to find ways to support themselves while providing a service to travelers.

We’re staying in a cute bungalow about a block from the beach with air-conditioning and hot water. Total cost per night for this comfort–$20. Paradise!

We’ve decided to stay here until we go back to Phnom Penh on Friday morning. We’re enjoying this slow way of life and relaxing. The beach is beautiful.

Today we took the bus back from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. At our second stop at a small town along the way, we were surrounded as usual by many women with food on trays to sell to passengers unloading from the bus. There was the usual–mangos, fresh pineapple, hard-boiled eggs, shrimp, and cold drinks.

There was something unique here in Skuon, however. A couple of women carried trays of dark-colored, strange-looking food. I knew I wasn’t interested in something that looked so foreign so I didn’t really look at what was on the tray.

Then Orion observed, "Look, Mom. These are spiders!" And, in fact, the strange-looking food was deep-fried spiders that glistened with some kind of sauce on them. Ugh!!! The spiders were about
2.5 inches across including their long hairy legs.

Always the adventurer, Orion decided to eat one of the crunchy spiders, as I stood by grimacing and horrified. They looked so spider-like!! Yuck!

Then, after a few bites, Orion said, "Not bad, Mom. Are you sure you don’t want to try it?"

As creepy as it was, I mustered the courage (I think it was courage) to break off a tiny piece of a leg and to chew it a few moments. It was pretty crunchy without much flavor except for the sauce. I can’t say I enjoyed the experience although I am glad I briefly tasted it.

So the next time you want to try a unique culinary treat, come to Skuon in Cambodia. Orion says, "The spiders are not bad." 

He should know. He ate two of them.

Gigantic temples emerging from the jungle. Surreal. Awe-inspiring. Ancient symbols of wealth and power. Immense. Majestic. Ancient sandstone mazes. Concentric patterns.

The Temples of Angkor fascinate at every turn with their individual uniqueness.

Bayon–a huge temples of 216 large faces, all the same and bearing a strong resemblance to the Cambodia’s legendary king Jayavarman VII who built Bayon. 

Ta Prohm–crumbling in many places with nature being allowed to somewhat take over. Giant frangipanni trees grow up from the walls, draping their mammoth roots picturesquely over the walls, creating beautiful photo opportunites.

Bantaey Srei–meaning "the Citadel of the Women" is a Hindu shrine built to honor Shiva. A small, petite temple with intricate and ornate carvings.

Eastern Mebon–8 almost life-size elephants guarding the corners of the two concentric rectangles.

Angkor Wat–inspiring and powerful, surrounded by a large moat 190 meters wide, which forms a rectangle measuring 1.5 km by 1.3 km. It’s most inspiring features are the 5 symmetrical towers rising up to the sky. It is beautiful and magnificent.

What I remember most about Angkor Wat was climbing the stairs to the third level of the temples. The many narrow steps rose ladder-like about 40-50 feet with nothing to hold on to. About halfway up, I experienced a moment of fear as I realized going down was as frightening as continuing up. About that time, Orion asked me how I was doing, then asked me to stop as he took a photo of me.

As I continued up, I began to wonder if I could safely climb back down these steps. For the next 30 minutes or so, I tried to focus on the wonder of what I was seeing, rather than my terror at the descent.

I felt an immense wave of relief flow through me when we came upon a long line of people waiting to climb back down a different flight of stairs, this one with a small iron railing. After discovering this, I relaxed and enjoyed the awe-inspiring beauty of Angkor Wat.