Got picked up along with the Italian Neilo at 7am by a mini bus that would take us to the Cambodian border. We were joined before leaving Kho Chang by 2 Canadian guys from Edmonton and a Guy from Seattle, and then on the mainland by a mother and daughter travelling together from BC . It wasn’t long into the trip that the Canadian guys ( who were on a 2 month drinking tour of s/e Asia ) stopped to buy a few bottles of the local liquor and made a large cocktail bucket with coke and red bull that was passed around the van and insisted on being drunk…..after 30 minutes of trying to resist ( the drinking began at 11am ) decided if you cant beat them join them and we were all pretty drunk by the time we hit the Cambodian border.
After 20minutes of arguing with the connecting Cambodian tour company, who insisted the group buy visas from them at an inflated price ( I had got mine in Bangkok to avoid the hard sell), we headed to the border and were through in about 30minutes….the drinking continued on the Cambodian side much to the dislike of the 40 or so sober passengers on the full sized bus that took us to Siem Reip. Arrived around 8pm and found a cheap guest house with rooms for 3 dollars ( US) a night and then went to a local drinking area ( ingeniously titled Pub Street )to continue drinking. Fairplay to the Edmonton/Seattle group I only managed to buy 2 drinks all day as they insisted on keeping my glass full all night from their own pockets….A good bunch of guys .
At the end of the night stopped of for some beef noodle soup at a street vendor and was surrounded by little kids asking for money. I declined a cash donation ( usually will go straight to a grown up Fagan type character ) but offered to share my meal with 3 of them. The kids all spoke good English and were obviously very intelligent. After finishing eating was asked again by a little girl of about 8 for money and again said no. Her response was to punch me in the groin 2 times as hard a she could…thanks for nothing kid….no lasting damage but was pretty shocking. Have never been attacked by beggars anywhere else in the world. The following day talking to rest of the group( who went home earlier,) turned out every one had experienced a bit of abuse on the way back from either begging kids or over demanding prostitutes…..seemed Cambodia wasn’t going to be as laid back as Thailand.
Next morning was up at 9am to get a motorcycle taxi to the temples at Angkor with the rest of the group from the bus. The Angkor temple complex was built around a thousand years ago in various waves by Hindu and Budhist kings. A huge area, the most famous temple, and our first stop, being Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat was impressive but not quite as grandiose or remote as I had imagined. The hordes of kids selling “cold drink just one dollar” and “ two flutes one dollar very good price ” distracted a bit from the experience. Also wasn’t a cheap ticket , a 2 day pass costing 40 dollars US. However as the day went on and we visited more temples saw some amazing stuff. Highlights being the Bayon, a weird complex with multiple stone heads, Angkor Thom, and an overgrown temple called Ta Prohm that had an amazing set of ruins with massive trees growing out of them ( see photo). Was a good day came home exhausted and had an early night following the previous travel day drinking session.
Got up early again and met up with the Barb and Julia the friendly and very Canadian mother a daughter team off the bus from BC. Decided to share a taxi as we all had multiple day tickets. That day visited another 6 or 7 temples. The highlight being the final temple at Preah Khan, a huge monastic complex with a series of maze like corridors ornate bridges and more tree growing from the walls.
That night went to the local night market and had a few beers with Neilo and a French guy from Kho Chang who we had played guitar with the previous week. Went for a few games of pool on pub street after to finish the night.
The next day decided to check out a floating market but when we got to the dock found out the boat ticket cost 20 dollars per person so ended up going to see a crocodile farm instead. That was pretty cool, hundreds of crocs lying around in the sun.( see photo) Had a relaxed afternoon but started to come down with a bad cold so ended up having an early night ahead of another travel day to the Capital city of Phnom Peng the next day.
Only really scratched the surface of the temple complex at Angkor but got a good enough feel for it, the guest house I stayed in was cheap and had super friendly staff and a great restaurant, also finally got to take the bandage off from my leg after almost 2 weeks or people staring at my ankle…..a nasty scar is left at the moment but should fade over time…so far so good in Cambodia now time for a quick couple of days in Phnom Peng before heading north to Laos….
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