Ok Im a day late but here we go Rules for Cambodia : Rule 1 dont do anything with the water: Rule 2 : dont do anything with the spiders Rule 4 : just say no Ok so we made it to Cambodia, Seam Riep at night, got picked up by a Tuk Tuk driver and set out for the hotel through the mist and diesel fuel smoke. Our hotel had to send us to a neighbor as our room was still occupied by the previous tenants just returning from the hospital from some form of accident.e We let go of any skepticism and rolled with, it was all fine. After dropping off our bags we set out for dinner in the famous Pub street, took another tuk tuk driver for 2$ to go 1/3 of a mile, this taught me to haggle down(Im apparently cheap.) had a relaxing dinner of ok curry then we went back to crash for the night we had to be up at 7:30 to head to Angkor wat. We stir at 6:45 am, this sucks. But we head back to or other hotel eat a simple breakfast and takeoff toward Angkor Wat, this is a famous set of ruins that represent one of the most amazing ancient cultures if Asia or the world for that matter. Angkor national park is about 20min away tucked into beautiful forest with changing scenery. Because of the holidays it was packed with tourists, but there is so much to see there is plenty of room for everyone. The Angkor palace the main attraction sits in the center if a small lake, with a amazing bridge entry. As soon as you cross you realize you have this amazing freedom to walk almost anywhere and on anything on the grounds, this is one of the best parts. The lowly regulated access brings up concerns for preservation but I really enjoy running around like an explorer! Its almost impossible for me to describe accurately the places we saw, you really need to see for yourself. There are tons of temple ruins here, the famous Thom prom from tomb raider lives up to the hype as you see how the trees have consumed the place over the last few hundred years, Angkor Thom which has the giant faces carved into every facet they could find. The most heralding part was using the toilet in the Angkor complex, it cost 25cents and I got a handful of tissues. It was a special bathroom, a squat toilet, tiled thankfully with a water trough on the side you scooped the hydro out of to wash down the waste and a overflown waste basket for all used paper goods. I know your thinking just hold it, but my saigon street food adventure the day before and morning coffee had run the sand out of the hour glass and it was 2 time. The floor thanks to the reasons unknown has a layer of water on it. I did my best but my pants got a little wet from it!? I changed them as soon as we got to the hotel. I finished and ran out Fred met me at the front, hand sanitizer unsheathed and ready for me. I was very thankful for this(rule 1.) We continued on. Its just to much for one day, after seeing about 6 huge complexes in 6hours we were beat. So our Tuk tuk driver took us to a tourist restaurant where we immediately walked out to go for a stroll back to the food stalls we saw just down the road much to his confusion. Here we tried the famous Amok for the first time, it lived up to its reputation. After we returned to the hotel to rest before the bustle of New Years Eve. After a rest we were ready to set out into town, there is a small French quarter here similar to NOLA, we walked past the market, different then in Saigon. One thing I have to say is Cambodia is much more relaxed, the people are amazingly friendly but without the crazy push all the time I saw in Vietnam and Bali tourist areas. However there are exceptions, like small children 8-11 that try to get donations or sell trinkets and latch onto your side until you pretty much drive off. The economy is almost solely tourism, and they have it setup to go for money in all sorts of ways. We ended going to a small street cafe with almost a Mediterranean feel to the atmosphere and architecture. It was quite and the food was great, we relaxed here. I ate pineapple pork stir fry that had this amazing sweet Tom Yum sauce, it was really good. From here we ventured into Pub street meeting folks hanging out. We made a group of Japanese, British, and American ensemble. We celebrated, traded life and travel stories, then waiting for the clock to count, 10.9.7.6... You know the drill. Afterward we hummed auld lang syne at the top of our lungs as drunk Cambodians showered everybody in beer. We all went our separates ways giving thanks for good company, the year behind us and promises of the year ahead! It is a happy new year.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 14:41:19 +0000
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