Cambodia

Well thanks to the lack of rain - which is funny to write as it's was pouring a few hours ago - we had to take a bus to Phnom Pehn rather than the boat through the Mekong as planned. Sad, but that is life I suppose.

After we got to the Vietnam/Cambodia border it took a while to get out of Vietnam as they INSPECTED the American passports for way too long. Then, getting into Cambodia, which was held in a separate building, was very easy. They just wanted the money for their visas. Oh, Cambodia uses the US dollar as there currency, except they don't use our change, instead they use their currency, the riel, instead of coins. Each 1000 riel is about a quarter.

As soon as you cross the border into Cambodia we were bombarded by casinos. Honestly it was like crossing the California/Nevada border. It was a crack up and something I had absolutely not expected. Anyway, we arrived in Phnom Pehn after the 6 hour bus ride that left early in the morning.

Once we got to Phnom Pehn we hired a tuk-tuk for the day and had them bring us to the hostel we had picked out. They were brutally honest tuk-tuk drivers who informed the 4 of us that we were too fat to fit in one tuk-tuk. They tried to change our option and bring us to stay somewhere else but we held strong. They kept saying that area of the city doesn't have AC, and we said we know but we are staying at that hostel because it is 5 dollars for a room for the night and we are here for less than 24 hours! We finally got to the lakeside hostel and it was beautiful out on their porch which went over the lake. The lake was like no lake I had ever seen in that it was covered with plants and people were rowing tiny thin boats through the breaks in the greens. It was really cool. The rooms were nothing to brag about but for $5 we hadn't expected them to be.

The only thing we got to do in Phnom Pehn was go to the killing fields. I really really wanted to go see the horror the Khmer Rouge caused and it was well worth it. It was disturbing on the same level as Auschwitz is. The main monument is a tower of 8000 skulls of the victims shot at these killing fields, along with piles of their clothing and the holes left in the ground by their mass graves. There were signs telling the story of Pol Pot and the whole Khmer Rouge and explaining what happened at that site. Well worth going to if you ever get out to Phnom Pehn.

After this, we heading to meet our TA from the class, Beth, who is working in Phnom Pehn for 6 months. We went to get tapas and drink at happy hour. I had the most fabulous concoction called a Mojito Special which was a mojito with champagne instead of club soda. Pure beauty. I also got hummus. Basically, I was in love.

The next morning we got an early bus to Siam Reap - the base for heading to Ankgor Wat. Another 6 hour bus ride later we were there and when we got off the bus we were BOMBARDED with tuk-tuk drivers all trying to get our attention. We found a set of them we liked and hired them for the day (a popular option) and had them bring us to the hostel we picked out. Then, after 12 of the last 36 hours had been spent on a bus we went to get massages. I opted for the dead sea mud wrap and massage option. Lovely and worth every pretty penny. It was also the cleanest I had been in days! We topped it off with a pitcher of the fabulous Angkor Beer - it is seriously tasty and listed as SE Asias number one drink to try for a reason! Well ranked Lonely Planet!

Then, we headed to the old market to buy many things we didn't really need. We almost went to the silk farm but chose to just buy the silk at the market from the silk farm! Saved a trip and allowed us time for those massages. Then, our tuk-tuk drivers hooked us up with tickets to a traditional Cambodian dinner and dance which we went to and it was a very cool experience. I got to try to Anok fish which is the regional specialty and it was very good!

Then next day we had the tuk-tuk drivers pick us up at 5am to head to sunrise at Anggkor Wat. We figured sun rise would be cooler and less crowded than sunset and we were right! Sunrise over Angkor Wat was awesome. It was cloudy but still beautiful and turned out to be a crystal clear, very very hot, day. Then we toured temples - Angkor Wat, Bayon, terrace of the elephants, etc. Then, we rode elephants around Angkor Wat and went to get Mexican food for lunch. Then we headed back to Angkor and toured the temple Angelina Jolie filmed the Laura Croft movies at and two others - including one that required a 15 minute hike to get to and then climbing 5 flights of the steepest stairs the world has ever seen. However, the view of the Angkor Wat temples was soooo worth it. The photos are priceless and I cannot wait to load them! After 12 hours, and 20 dollars of admission, to temples we were done! We went to Pub Street for pizza and beer and I finally found two Cambodian thimbles - I don't love them but they work.

Friday morning, the 4th!, Sarah and I flew out of the Siam Reap airport back to Bangkok. The Siam Reap airport is new and very snazzy and had a Dairy Queen in it! They charged us $25 to fly out of it, not $6 like we thought, but we finally got on our flight to Bangkok that lasted all of 40 minutes and then got a taxi to the Eastern Bus Station where we met Nicky to head to the beach on the island of Koh Chang (which translates to Elephant Island). We had to celebrate the 4th of July somehow right!