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Siem Riep, Cambodia. What an incredible country. : 25 April 2004

We read somewhere about how a smart traveller would get up really early in the morning and do the trip from Bangkok to Siem Riep, Cambodia in one day. Yeah right. Get up early. Not a chance!

We made our way to the Bangkok train station to catch the 1pm train to the border. It was an awesome trip...all the windows on the train where wide open as people crowded in. We, luckily, got a seat. The train chugged its way through the countryside for about 6 hours. We went through a beautiful thunder & lightening storm. The rain was pounding down, right in my face through the open window. It was great!

Finally we reached the border town, Aranyaparthet. This town may be the reason a "Smart" traveller only passes through. It was dark and late and we had no idea where we were staying. Our options where somewhat limited. We walked around town checking the places recommended in the travel book. Scarey. Finally we found a little guesthouse for $5. It was perfect. The bed had bugs in it the walls where crawling and it was really hot. Oh well.

We decided to cruise around the town some more, we had an excellent dinner for $2. We went to the place with the most locals in it. After dinner we walked some more only to find a nice, clean, beautifully air conditioned hotel for only $20...dam, they never mention these places in the travel books. Oh well.

We decided to head back to our luxury resort..ha ha. On the way back we saw this huge elephant cruising up the street. He had an LED light attached to his tail. Poor thing. We followed closely, unfortunately a little too close. At one point I was looking the other way not realizing the elephant had stopped right in front of me. By the time I looked forward again I was shocked to see I giant elephant butt right in my face. It was pretty funny.

Anyway, the next morning we climbed in the back of a pick up truck and headed for the border. The border was a nightmare. It was so hot and busy. We finally made it through only to sit on the Cambodia side for about an hour waiting for our next ride to town. We had paid for a ride already but we didn't really know who or what was supposed to pick us up.

Eventually we paid for a new ride, one that was leaving at that moment. Robin and I where crammed in the back of this car with a bunch of bags for a four hour drive through unpaved dirt roads. Our driver would stop every now and then and do some sort of business along the way. I think he was selling fruit from the trunk of his car.

Finally we reached Siem Riep. We hooked up with Mr. Neang, our tuk tuk driver. He drove us around town in search of a place to stay. I don't know how we managed this one, but we ended up in the most beautiful hotel I have ever stayed in. It is called the Pan Sea Hotel and it is literally like a place from an exotic travel magazine. We are sitting on the lounge balcony now overlooking a beautiful swimming pool. I really think I could live here. In this hotel and in this country. I love the people.

We spent the first few days with Mr. Neang driving us around Angkor. We stopped at many many of the ruin sites. They are so amazing, this country is so beautiful and lush. The people are so funny and happy. Even when they are trying to sell you stuff, with persistance, they joke with you. One girl says to us as we walk buy.."you buy cold drink?" "You remember me, buy cold drink for me or I cry"...then we all laugh together. We went to Angkor Wat for sunset the first night, it was a bit cloudy, but still beautiful. We hung out on the grass in front of the ruin with some locals. The kids where so funny, they where playing in the mud with a mangy little puppy. I cannot express in words how incredible these people are. They've been to hell and back yet seem happier than most, they are caring and kind. They seem to look out for eachother, they seem extremely selfless. Most of them speak English and/or French, or not at all.

The ruins themselves were amazing. The amount of work that went into these things, nearly 1,000 years ago, is almost unbelievable. At the time, there were nearly one million people living in and around this area, while Europe was in the middle of the Dark Ages. It's also cool to see how, over the years, nature has taken back the sites. Several of the ruins have huge trees growing straight out of the stone walls, sometimes holding rocks that weigh nearly a ton.

It's hard to describe with words, so go look at the pictures. Between the two of us, we took over 600 photos over two days. OK, so we probably got a little trigger happy. Can you blame us?

Replies: 2 comments

you guys rock! Maya and I have been getting a kick out of your travels. sounds awesome - we are totally jealous.

-j

Posted by jason mortimer @ 04/26/2004 05:49 PM PST

Thanks...we are having an awesome time! But, wait a minute...What about you guys....CONGRATULATIONS!We heard "ALL" the great news.

Posted by Andrea @ 04/28/2004 06:04 AM PST


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