Cambodia

At 7:00 a.m. on June 26th, we left Vietnam for the Cambodian border. We were in for a 14 hour bus ride to Siem Reap, the city near Angkor Wat. Cambodia was only a couple of hours away, and the bus we were on included a service to help you get across the border. We gave our passports to the bus conductor, who brought them back with Cambodian visas. It took less than 30 minutes for the entire bus to cross the border. From there, we drove to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. This drive was very similar to Vietnam. They played a Chinese war movie, which was interesting because it portrayed Americans as the bad guys, a reverse from our movies. Phnom Penh had skyscrapers, embassies, and seemed like a very well-off city. After a brief stop, we switched buses and came to the most interesting part of the drive. The poverty-stricken country in the next part of the drive was magnified by the well-to-do capital. Interestingly, while the people were living in squalor, the temple in each town was shiny, new, and brilliant. Go figure.

Around 9:00 p.m., we arrived and set off to find our hostel. We had chosen a place based on proximity to Angkor Wat, which turned out to be a hassle. After finding a tuk driver that

spoke English, he called the hostel, got lost twice and finally ended up at a small guest house in the middle of the jungle. It might have been a cool location if it weren't for the lack of A/C, working outlets, and the abundance of insects that were already inhabiting our room. As it stood, we decided to forfeit the $30 we had prepaid for two nights and try our luck in town. Luckily, the first hostel we tried had some room, and we settled into a dorm around 11:30 to sleep a bit before going to watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat. 4:30 a.m. on June 27th saw us leaving the hostel in search of a tuk to take us to the ticket booth and then to the temple.

Around 5:00 a.m., we took our place among the throngs of tourists looking for the same view. It was worth it though- seeing the reflection of the temple and sunrise in the lotus pond outside the temple was pretty cool. After sunrise, we walked through the temple, admiring the intricate wall carvings, ingenious architecture, and overall size of the temple. Tourists can visit the center tower of the temple if dressed modestly (Modesty isn't as fun when its 90 degrees, 90% humidity), and this afforded a good view of the surrounding area. Overall, it was incredible that something like this has preserved so well since the 12th century. We finished with Angkor Wat around 10:00 a.m., and went in search of food and A/C. There are some 30 temples in the area that used to be the capital of the Angkor Empire, so we had to pick and choose what we could accomplish in our one day. We ended up choosing only those within walking distance. Most people hire a tuk tuk to carry them from temple to temple, but we decided to be cheap and go by foot. Not that the tuk tuks weren't nice- they were basically a moped pulling a trailer that could seat about four people. The seats are surprisingly comfy and the breeze makes the ride pleasant.

In the end, we were very happy with this decision. On our way to one

of the central temples, we passed by another on the left that was completely ignored by the other tourists. Phnom Bakheng is built on the top of a hill and requires a small hike to get to the top. The entire hour or so we were there, we only saw four other tourists! There had been a couple hundred at the Angkor Wat sunrise. Chad and I both thought this was the better of the two temples, anyway. Its elevation gave it the best view of the surrounding jungle and other temples, including Angkor Wat. It was also older, built in the 9th century. All of the temples are undergoing some restoration work, and I was proud to see that this project was being sponsored by the US. Good choice, America. After walking back down the hill, we took the relatively long stroll through the outer gardens of the final temple we were going to see, Bayon. We didn't spend much time here, as we were pretty tired from lack of sleep and lots of walking. I just wish I hadn't lost my Fitbit! When we returned to the hostel, we were totally fine to discover that it was only 2:30 p.m... 10 hours seemed pretty

good.

After a late lunch of Cambodian cuisine (very similar to Vietnamese), we spent the afternoon vegging and watching movies in the hostel lobby. Later that night, we met up with a Malaysian girl who had been on our buses in Vietnam. We learned a lot about Malaysia and were glad to have an energetic third party to make the conversation, given that we were walking dead at that point. After packing up, we went to bed early, having to wake up at 6:00 am. to catch a bus into Thailand.

Because we were going to Pattaya instead of Bangkok, there wasn't a direct bus. So we booked our ticket to the border town, Poipet, and decided to wing it from there. In the end, we purchased tickets from the guide on the first bus to transfer onto a minivan to Pattaya. We

reached the border around noon, and went through unorganized crossing. We just followed other people on the bus who looked like they knew what they were doing. We dragged our excess baggage through the process- it had grown from one 70L backpack each to a 70L backpack, large duffle, and briefcase apiece, not counting my little purse. Our plan was to send everything extra back with our parents... we just had to get it to Pattaya. After exiting Cambodia, we decided to just walk in the direction of Thailand until someone stopped us. In this way, we found Thai immigration, which was mercifully A/C'd, and eventually made it through to the minibus company, which was the beginning of our adventure in Thailand!