Traveling

5 Days in Cambodia

Ok, Ok, I know I should spend more time here.

Took the bus from Bangkok to Siem Reap on Friday the 13th. Good thing that has no significance here (me at the travel agent: "ohh Friday the 13th- hmm maybe I should reschedule! heehee! travel agent: polite smile "buy ticket?")

The road has been repaired in the last 3 months so it was great. The entire ride still took about 14 hrs, but I really didn't notice. Another Canadian sat with me at the border and we have been hanging out since.

So we got dropped off at 11pm in the "middle of no where guest house" after driving right thru town. Hope someone is getting a good commission. We decided to stay bc we got hot water, AC, and HBO for 7usd (3.5 each). :)
Next day we went to the flooded forest on moto. What a great time! I hadn't ever really been on a moto, well not for more than, say, a 2 min taxi somewhere. This was a crazy ride for about an hour on bumpy sandy roads.. great!
We got to the end of the road and met this French guy right away. He also wanted to go to the flooded city and the city on stilts. He had worked out a price for the boat and we thought we could just split that with him. No luck. So we all went out together.
The city was amazing. All the houses are high in the air and the town is quite long (it stretches along the water). There were so many kids running around- the Cambodian kids are just gorgeous! So cute- they have something I haven't seen before- can't quite put my finger on it.
We wandered into a school yard where these kids were playing a game that required 2 sticks and banging them open and closed.. uh, how do i explain- ok, this might help- That Canadian I met, he decided to play too, so he took the sticks from one fo the kids (much giggling) and he tried it out. The beat goes like Queen's We Will Rock You, and he started to sing. It was so funny- I have video of it- I will try to figure out a way to get it up somewhere so you can see it. (you can check out a photo on yahoo)
We continued on to the flooded forest- in the middle of the forest so far from anything was a tiny (like 2 feet by 3 feet) temple up in a tree. The driver said it held a little Buddha shrine.
We went back to the village and the driver fed us at his home. Pascale and MIchael had the fish and shrimp they offered and I ate rice and some spinach type stuff. I was so surprised after we finished that they wanted to charge us 3usd each- I am just too used to Burma. I was quite shocked actually- funny how easily you get used to smthg. Pascale has spent much time in Cambodia and told me to get used to it, you have to pay for every every thing here. Ok, I am used to it - it's true.
We took the motos back to town and went to Angkor Wat for sunset. Got a 3day pass for the temples and headed to one of the popular temples to watch. I can not even begin to explain to you the amount of ppl there (theres a photo on yahoo). I hate tourists. Ok, I know I am one myself, but in mass quantities it is really hard to appreciate anything. So, we basically sat and made fun of the tourists before leaving. Sunset was ok. ;)


Sidebar: Pascale was from France and so we spoke French the whole day- M is from Regina where he did French immersion (and i think his French is better than mine-) Then at night we went out with Pascale to this bar owned by a french ex pat and spoke french there, continued on to an after hours type place and met some french girls- more french- I have not spoken as much French as in Cambodia in a very very long time! It's actually quite refreshing- I miss speaking French and I am not so bad at it so I think I will search out the French tourists and old French Lao men and continue to practice :)


The next day we hit Angkor Wat and Ta Pronh (think Tomb Raider) by bike. Now I do not recommend this. :) But then again I am one lazy girl. The ride out was about 12 km and then we must have biked at least 10km inside Angkor itself, and then I biked back the 12 to town (M had a date). The whole time I was thinking, Oh Jesus, What the hell was I thinking?!

And so the next day we rented a tuktuk for the day.

We went out to a bunch of temples- what a great tuktuk ride tho! I am not templed out so much, I don't really "temple" I just like to watch people.

At night, went out to Bar street. There are kids carrying smaller kids, asking for money- they are quite good little actors, let me tell you. One the other night was crying. No I am not a heartless jerk- these kids are frequenting the tourist sector, they are doing quite fine without my money I promise. There are land mine victims everywhere- they sell books on the street to make money. Bar street is not so fun.

Today we gave blood at the children's hospital- they don't have enough- may have smthg to do with the amount of ppl that suffer from land mine injuries. Either way, we did a good thing :)
We then went off to the land mine museum- quite shocking actually. Many countries are still producing them- US and China included. They cost about 3usd to make and about 500usd to take out. There are about 6 million in Cambodia (i think).
Today was the first time I thought of traveling the rest of Cambodia- I would like to know more about the history and see more of this beautiful country..

...but for now I am going to Laos. Michael can only travel for another 2 weeks (he extended his ticket to come to Laos) and so we are flying to Pakse in Laos tomorrow morning. I really like this idea of flying. I hadn't wanted to stay in cambodia for more than Siem Reap really, and now he gives me the excuse to fly ;) (If you want to travel to Laos by land you have to go South to Phnom Penh and then North- about a 3 day trip). You see how that all works?

So I will be out of touch for a while again.I think Internet is a little on/off in Laos, and especially in the South. After getting in to Pakse I will go South to the 4000 Islands in the Mekong for a week or so.
So stay posted.

Cambodia photos are up. Well only about 20 of the 300 I have, but I know what you guys want anyways.

posted by jjoollee @ 6:07 AM