read part 1: Travel Writing - Bangkok

Travel Writing, part 2 – Cambodia
Had I known what the next day of travel was to be like ahead of time, I would likely have been less excited about going to Cambodia. But, not knowing made it more adventure-like. And even though I may be afraid of everything at home, when I travel I like the adventure. I like to think I have dual personalities. Home Tyrant vs. Travel Tyrant.

We woke early and left to find the bus station. That took some time. We had to catch the Skytrain to where we thought buses might be. Then a nice lady informed us we had to take a city bus from there to get to the actual bus station. It was too far to walk. And, after a few minutes on the bus, we realized she was right.

We finally made it to the bus station, picked our way through the market to get to the actual station hidden behind the market (picture rows and rows of shops and people selling things). In the market, Friend A finally got her coffee in a bag, which she had been searching for ever since she landed in Bangkok the day before, but it actually was iced coffee in a cup, but seemed to appease her for the time being.

We found the station, purchased our tickets, then ran outside just in time to catch our bus, which happened to be pulling away from the station. We just happened to run into a lady who was the ticket person for our bus, and she grabbed us and basically threw us on our bus, luggage and all. The next 4-5 hours were spent on this bus, stopping occasionally to pick up people and drop off people. No bathroom. We did make a stop or two. Bathroom conditions at these stops were less than desirable. God bless little bottles of hand sanitizer.

Our bus finally deposited us at a town near the Thailand / Cambodia border. From there we had to take a tuk-tuk (motorcycle with a cart on the back) to the actual border. We crammed all three of us, plus luggage, into this tiny thing and rode for about 20 minutes. We were then dumped at the border crossing.

Here is where life became a whole lot different than easy travel in Thailand. We were immediately swarmed by children and people wanting us to buy things. You just have to hold tightly to your stuff and start walking towards the border crossing offices, saying "no" and eventually ignoring them. We made it to the first office, non-air-conditioned, and we waited in line to leave the country of Thailand. Once we made it through that line, we walked to the next office to arrive in Cambodia. We filled out paperwork, handed over 1000 Thai baht (about $20 U.S.) dollars, and waited for our visas.

We came to find out soon enough that Cambodian money (riel) is fairly worthless, even in Cambodia. They prefer the U.S. dollar, and also accept Thai baht. But it seemed like no matter what you pay with, you will get Cambodian riel back in change. It's like they know they're own money is worthless, and they prefer you take it with you rather than leave it with them in their own country. I tried on several occasions to get rid of my remaining riel by purchasing drinks or snacks, and somehow every time I ended up with more riel than I started with.

While at the visa waiting place, I decided to visit the bathroom. Many bathrooms require you to pay to either use the facility, or to have the privilege of toilet paper. For the most part, we carried our own toilet paper, but still often had to pay to pee. This bathroom, I wasn’t sure what to do. A guy was sitting there, like a bathroom monitor, but he pointed me straight in to the bathroom. Usually, you pay first. I “facilitied”, careful not to touch anything, then made my way out. He started hollering at me to give him money, pointing to a bowl of change. I threw in 2 baht (the going rate for bathrooms in Bangkok). He kept pointing and hollering. I gave him another baht and motioned that that was all I had on me, and then walked out.

A few minutes later I sent Friend A in with 3 baht, and she came right back out saying the guy wouldn’t let her in without more money. That’s why you pee first, I guess. Negotiate later.

We got our visas and proceeded to the next office. We filled out more paperwork, they looked at our passports, and finally decided we were worthy to enter Cambodia. This town was called Poipet, and is strictly a town built around border crossing life. It was horrendous. Ugly. Dirty. Poor. Dusty. Muddy. Busy. Loud. It had rained and the streets were all a muddy red.

Friend C had been this way before, and she was already negotiating with a local for taxi transportation to Siem Reap, our first stop in Cambodia. A guy agreed to 1000 baht for the ride, and 1200 baht if it rains during the ride, since we would then have to take a detour from the main road. Fortunately it had not rained too much the day before, or the roads might have been impassable, forcing us to spend an unwanted night in this border town. We hopped in a tuk-tuk to get to the taxi (he excitedly told us this was included in the price of 1000 baht), and we arrived at our taxi. Or Toyota Camry, as we saw all taxis were Camrys.

The driver weaved his way through town, making several stops. I have no idea what that was all about, but I’m suspicious he wanted to show his friends that he was driving three white girls to Siem Reap.

The next 4-5 hours were pretty close to what I imagine hell to be like. We set off on the main Highway 6, which is nothing more than a dirt road (some parts “paved”, but strangely the non-paved parts were less bumpy), filled with giant potholes. It was the bumpiest ride I have ever experienced, and I have no idea how a Camry makes this kind of trip more than once. I wouldn’t even take the Jeep down this road. Potholes were so large, the Camry could fall in and never get out.

We weaved back and forth across the road to avoid the largest of the potholes, dodging trucks and motorbikes and cows along the way. We would pass pick-up trucks filled with people, which I learned later you could purchase a seat on one of these trucks (paying more for sitting inside the cab), and you would then hold on for dear life until you reached your destination. Probably a dollar or so would be the going rate for hanging onto the back bumper.

The countryside started out abysmal. I watched out the window as we passed countless shacks and dilapidated dwellings, people in clothes that were barely hanging together. The poverty was just unbelievable. I can’t fathom how people survive like that. It was like going back in time. I saw a girl washing dishes in a brown pool of water that I would never go near, downstream from a man bathing in the same muddy water. I saw kids playing in mud. It is so far removed from anything I know here in the States. As I sat in the car listening to my nonpod mp3 player, I kept thinking, “These people have probably never seen a movie.” I watched 4 on my plane ride over.

But as we got further away from the border, the scene became more pleasant. Still poor and sad, but more green and picturesque, like the stuff you would see in a movie.

We stopped at a “gas station”, which was basically a roadside shack selling gasoline in 2-liter Coke and Fanta bottles. I watched as the girl at the “station” poured several bottles of gas into the car. Then we were on our way again.

We crossed bridges in the Camry that I would be afraid to walk across. Rickety, boards, some covered in mud. We slid across the roads in the mud, honking at people walking and biking. We made one stop for a bathroom break. Friend A took advantage, but Friend C and stayed in the car, watching a swarm of children overtake another group of people in a van who had made the same stop. I wasn’t ready to brave the mobs of kids, yet. But now looking back, I wish I’d gotten out of the car and talked to them, and taken some pictures.

We finally made it to Siem Reap just after dark. Even though it had only rained a few sprinkles and hadn’t affected our trip, the taxi driver demanded the full 1200 baht. Whatever, dude. We paid him too much, but he had gotten us there safely. Granted, it was the most frightening car ride I've ever experienced. But, at least I wasn't hanging off the back of a pick-up truck.

We checked in to our guesthouse (Earthwalkers - highly recommend) and were glad to see clean rooms, two beds (we had to get cozy for a few nights of our trip due to less beds than people), and a/c in the room. The bathroom, however, was not exactly 5-star. But it was clean. And our own. It just happened to be a combo toilet/shower/sink, all-in-one. Next to the toilet was the shower head, making for a very wet bathroom experience for the next two nights. But, at least we weren’t sharing it with other guests, and it was clean.

The guesthouse people were SO nice and helpful. A few other travelers were staying there. The girl in charge for the night was so sweet to us. We had dinner in the restaurant, but we actually ordered our food from outside the restaurant. We wanted pizza, and she brought us a menu from Happy Herb’s, and she made the order for us. In case you are wondering what is so “happy” about it, throughout the land you can order many things “happy”, meaning they will add some marijuana to the toppings of your pizza or whatever. We did not order anything “happy”, but nevertheless, the pizza made us very happy after our long journey. About 10-ish hours by bus, tuk-tuk, and bumpy car.

The next morning we got up not too early. The guesthouse had scheduled a tuk-tuk driver for us for the day, and he would take us first into town, and then to Angkor to tour the temples. I was SUPER excited about the temples.

Unfortunately, I had woken up with a serious sore throat, cough, runny nose, and inability to breathe. I had thrown my inhaler in my bags last minute, even though I never used it at home. But from Siem Reap to the end of the entire trip, I was useless without it. I think it was all the dust. Or perhaps I have caught some strange Asian disease (I would not be surprised, despite all of our precautions to be clean and steer clear of disease hazards). But, I spent some time in town buying throat lozenges while the girls checked email. We also booked our bus tickets out of town for the next morning. Unfortunately we could not get on the limousine bus (with bathroom), but the very nice bus ticket people put us on the next best express bus to Phnom Penh, for a mere $4 each. The best thing about this land? Everything is ridiculously cheap.

After email, our tuk-tuk driver (I never did catch his name), drove us to Angkor. On the way we passed some really fancy hotels. And we also passed a school or two. And, a children’s hospital. It was sad. A big sign outside announced a severe outbreak of dengue fever, and pleaded for people to donate blood. Kids were outside everywhere. I don’t know if they were all sick, but the scene was sad. This particular hospital was run by a man who does benefit concerts every Saturday night at the hospital. I read a brochure about it, and meant to take one with me. He founded the hospital and had dedicated his life to caring for the kids there. Great story. Sad situation.

We made it to the temples ($20 for one-day pass), and were immediately back in ancient times. It was unbelievable. Our first stop was Angkor Wat, the first temple and probably the most well-known. Although most people when I tell them that I visited Angkor Wat in Cambodia have no idea what I’m talking about. Look it up. It’s amazing.



We were bombarded again by children selling things, and this was the routine for every temple we stopped to see. Markets set up outside each temple, and people selling anything and everything. The kids were really aggressive. We eventually bought some bottled water, a book, and a few other things from kids and vendors throughout the day. We bargained some, but after awhile I just didn’t care. They don’t have anything, and $5 to them is a lot, while it is nothing to me. I felt bad for being so cheap earlier in the day with the swarm of kids who were competing with each other to sell us water.

We made our way through several temples in the morning. I was in heaven. I climbed all over everything I could. My favorite temple was Ta Prohm, the temple where Tomb Raider was filmed. I took 3 rolls of pictures of all the temples (yes, I still use film – nothing digital). The photos don’t begin to do the place justice, but I’m pleased with how they turned out. It made all the rough travel of the day before totally worth it.

You'll see this guy to the right (he's a temple sweep) on the cover of the Lonely Planet Cambodia travel guide. However, I took the picture here on the blog.















We had lunch in the restaurant near the first temple, and sat out a rainy spell. Then hit more temples until sunset. We climbed a hill where it is supposed to be “the place” to see the sunset, but it was too cloudy to see much. After some difficulty getting an elephant person to take her, Friend A rode an elephant down the hill.



Here, Friend A shows her frustration at being denied yet another elephant ride.



Here, Friend A is much happier finally allowed her journey via elephant.











But Friend C and I chose to walk back down the steep path. For free.




Tuk-tuk took us back in to town for dinner. He was great. He would drop us off at one place, and be back to get us exactly when we told him we would be ready. Our first stop in town was The Ankgor What?, just because we thought it was funny.
















Then we had dinner at the Dead Fish Restaurant. It was cool. It had multi-levels, very Swiss Family Robinson. They brought our food up on a platform via pulley. There was traditional Khmer dancing. And, of course, a pit full of live alligators on your way to the bathroom.

Our tuk-tuk driver returned us to our guesthouse. He had been with us literally all day, and only wanted $15 for the day. We gave him $20. He absolutely deserved it. He made our day easy.



Friend C, in tuk-tuk, with our faithful driver.











I didn’t sleep well that night, due to being sick. But we were up early to depart for Phnom Penh anyway. A minibus picked us up from the guesthouse. The guy on duty that morning had prepared our breakfasts for us “take-away”, so we could have the food on the bus. The minibus took us to the big bus, and we were on our way.

This time the road was better. But unfortunately this bus came with karaoke, and loud movies in Thai. The whole time. Made for another less-than-appealing travel day.

The ride to Phnom Penh was about 6 hours. We stopped a few times. At one stop we noticed a girl playing with a tarantula. Like it was no big deal. I meant to take her picture, but never did. I couldn't stop watching her long enough to grab my camera. I also saw a woman walk by with a plate of dark crunchy looking things to sell. I later read that we were in a region where they eat tarantulas. For food. As a tasty treat. The plate was likely a plate of fried tarantulas. During the reign of the Khmer Rouge, people had no food, so they were forced to eat anything they could find. They discovered these giant tarantulas, and they still eat them today. So. Gross.

We eventually arrived in Phnom Penh. Upon entering the city, traffic didn’t move. The bus dropped us off at what I assume was the bus station area, but it seemed like they just gave up on trying to get anywhere and dumped everyone in the street. It was busy and ugly, and we were immediately swarmed by people offering us a ride to wherever we needed to go. We eventually let a tuk-tuk driver take us to our guesthouse, Walkabout. Then, we got mad.

Mr. Walkabout, an Aussie, told us he didn’t have a room for us, and there was no way we could have reserved a triple room because he doesn’t have any triple rooms. Then he just sat and stared at us. He was a jerk. We asked him where he suggested we go, then, if he couldn’t help us. He pointed us around the corner to a hotel called Flamingos. This turned out to be quite a blessing.

Flamingos was great. They were very nice and very helpful, and it was a much better place to stay than if we had been able to stay at Walkabout. If you ever go to Phnom Penh, I recommend this place. Don’t go to Walkabout.

Again, we only had two beds, but it was clean and there was a/c. And the bathroom was again, combo toilet/shower/sink all-in-one. But, it was clean and nice. Although in the drawer of the nightstand, we found some interesting, um, trinkets.

If you can't tell what this is, I will leave it to your imagination.

This area of the world is known for prostitution. I think no matter where we would have stayed, we would have seen this. Throughout our trip through all three countries, I was annoyed and grossed-out at the number of old white guys with young Thai or Asian wives tagging along with them. It’s not a good thing.

We ate lunch at the hotel, then headed off to a museum. It was once a school, then was turned into a prison camp by the Khmer Rouge, and is now a museum. It was pretty graphic. But I was glad we went.

Then we went to the National Museum, just before it closed. A complete waste of $3.

We went back to the hotel and checked email and whatnot. While Friend A and I were in the lobby on email, someone came in and turned on CNN. It was breaking news of the bombings in London. Friend A and I sat up for the next several hours glued to CNN. We had fries. And Tiger beer. It’s just unbelievable what goes on in the world, and it’s interesting to watch from another perspective than being in the U.S.

I got a bed all to myself that night. I could cough myself to sleep all alone . . . So nice . . .

I was glad to leave Phnom Penh the next day. I would go back, but I didn’t especially like the city. It’s seedy. I was surprised at the number of Aussies we kept running into all through Cambodia. Not that they are seedy. But it was interesting.

Also, traffic was again horrendous. But I doubt one would ever find a place in Asia where traffic was not a horrendous mess. There were very few traffic lights, even at "major" intersections. And even then, the traffic lights seems to be merely a suggestion. A red light seemed only to indicate that you should slow down a little before hurtling yourself into the oncoming traffic to keep going the way you want to go.

We did get the limousine bus from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City, complete with bathroom. And, no karaoke! It was a pleasant ride, although another 6 hrs on a bus. But it was good to go this way. They helped us through the border into Vietnam, mostly without incident. Through a series of getting on and off the bus, checking passports, waiting in a line, yada yada. It was quite a routine.

I was the last of the three of us to make it through the final stage, and when I got to the bus I found Friend A yelling at locals who were trying to take our bags and handle them to put them back on the bus, and then demand money for this “service”. She had wrangled our bags away from them and she was putting them on the bus herself. I’m glad we brought her. She’s handy.

Thus ended our time in Cambodia. I would go back again. In fact, I want very much to go back. I don't feel like I spent enough time there, or in any of these places, really. I would probably fly in, rather than travel by road. But I’m glad we went by road this time. It was hard, and I feel like I am now a qualified, seasoned, “roughin’ it” worthy traveler now having gone that way. No frou-frou travel for me, thank you very much. But it was good to see the country that way. I think it was a better experience, getting more out of it as a whole than had we bypassed all of that to travel in comfort by air.

My one disappointment with Cambodia was that we did not find Angelina Jolie anywhere. And believe me, we looked. Everywhere. I was certain she would be there to hang out with us. Maybe next time.

Next adventure - Vietnam.

continued in Travel Writing, part 3 - Vietnam

c.t.