Feb 19-20, office day and an adventure

I spent Friday by starting with a long skype conference call to Lauren and Lyman as time is now getting short before they arrive and we begin shooting. The heat for them will be oppressive and we have a tight schedule that involves two nights in a village and a helicopter ride. So I spent the day on the phone and at my computer lining things up. Skype for free is such an amazing service. I was even able to take a snapshot of my new grandson Zachary and post it as my picture on skype. I worked out in the afternoon and ate at home for dinner, so I had a sort of hum drum day for Cambodia. I also learned that Walgreens bought out Duane Reade so I doubt that my efforts during the last four months before I headed here in the NY burroughs will produce any results and now doubtful I have much of a career left with Walgreens. So I am 4 months shy of receiving social security and may now be a film guy and a fisherman.
Saturday I went to the top of a mountain about an hour and half out of Siem Reap to scout out a waterfall there and a river site where we hope to shoot monks giving a blessing. The Chief monk was not there so we were not able to shoot but we got all of the contact info and viewed the sites. The only real way to make anything happen in this business of film making is to meet in person.
Then we did a hike over basaltic lava and into the jungle for an hour in the sun and heat to see an elephant and three lions sculpted out of rock in the 11th century. Before that we visited a pagoda that is at the top of the mountain where you can see Tonle Sap ( the lake) and the town of Siem Reap. The khmer rouge controlled this strategic area until 1998 and there are signs around indicating that the area has been cleared on land mines by Halo and CMAC. Then we had lunch beside the river in a grass roofed hut. Beer rice chicken lemon grass and pork soup. We fed our leftovers to kids hanging around us who were also playing in the river. Some could not swim so they stuffed empty plastic water bottles in their shorts to be able to float. I took a swim underneath the waterfall. I rented a bathing suit for 50 cents.
Exhausted and dirty returned and showered and had dinner with Sam to discuss my project of getting his donors to now spring for money to build bio sand filters. I crashed around 10.