Cambodia: Siem Reap, Angkor, Phnom Penh

To get to Siem Reap from Koh Chang, we traveled for about 12 hours, using six different forms of transportation - mini bus, ferry, walking, shuttle bus, tour bus, and tuk-tuk.  Our experience crossing the border was interesting.  The tour company we were with was supposed to see us all the way from Koh Chang to Siem Reap.  When we approached the border we conveniently took a lunch break at a restaurant.  The tour operater came around to each table asking for passports and money to pay for the Cambodian visa.  They were kindly going to get our visas for us while we had lunch and in doing so we would get to go through the "fast" line at the crossing.  The only problem is that they were charging us twice what the visa actually cost and we later learned that a "fast" line does not exist.  When we said we wouldn't pay it, the tour operator's immediate response was that it was fine if we wanted to go get our visas ourselves but he couldn't guarantee the bus would wait for us on the other side...the bus we had already paid for.  Eventually we agreed to pay more than actual cost of the visa but less than initially demanded.  He made us promise not to tell any of the other passengers and within minutes we were asked to get back on the minibus to go to the border.  They claimed we wouldn't all fit in one bus (a bus the same size as the one we had just come in) and everybody else was still eating lunch (also not true).  The three of us loaded up and began the very long process ("fast" line indeed!) of walking across the Cambodian border.  We never saw our fellow passengers again.

Squeezed into the mini-bus with luggage about to crush me

Crossing the border into Cambodia

Our main purpose in traveling to Siem Reap was to visit Angkor Wat.  After our very long day of travel, we decided to take one day to rest up before going to Angkor, which we knew would be another long day.  We had a nice time wandering around the city of Siem Reap, visiting the markets as well as a monastery that we just happened to stumble upon.  We had lunch on Pub Street and then walked back to the hotel for some relief from the heat.  When it cooled off a bit (it was never really "cool" out), Si and I went out for a walk around the French Quarter.  There wasn't much to see in there, but we continued on and found ourselves in the Royal Gardens.  As we walked through the park, we passed a buddhist temple full of people making offerings.  Others were selling flowers and incense.  A bucket full of turtles sat on the walkway.  I'm still not sure what their purpose was.  Large bats screeched and hung in one particular tree.  We took all of this in with some lively music playing near the temple.  It was a very festive atmosphere.  A bit later, Britainy joined us and we did some more shopping at the Night Market.  The vendors were all very eager to get our attention and eventually we hardly responded to the cries of, "Hey Lady, You buy something?"

Simon and I at Preah Prohm Rath Monastery

Pub Street

Royal Gardens

Night Market

We spent Easter Sunday touring the wondrous temples of Angkor.  Angkor Wat is the largest and most famous.  Built in the 12th century, it was first a Hindu temple and later Buddhist, as it remains today.  Throughout the day, our tuk-tuk driver took us from temple to temple within the park.  Though we did not see them all, we did see the highlights.  We had some serene moments sitting in in the large, stone temple doorways looking out over the tree-covered hillsides, after climbing a ridiculous amount of steep, decaying stairs.

The backside of Angkor Wat

Simon climbing the stairs of Ta Keo

Ta Keo

Britainy and I - touring by tuk-tuk

Bayon Temple

Monk on his cell phone at Angkor Wat

The Elephant Terrace

Ta Prohm

Ta Prohm

The shops that surrounded almost every temple took away from the atmosphere a bit, but we couldn't help being amused by some of the selling tactics.  One girl of about eight tried and tried to get us to buy magnets from her.  When I told her that I really don't need one she said, "No.  You don't need one.  You need two!"  Another kid was so persistent that she followed me from the tuk-tuk to the entrance of the temple and promised she would remember me when I came out.  Sure enough, as soon as we started back to the tuk-tuk, she started demanding I buy something.  Other comments by the locals were just comical.  One woman asked where we came from and Simon responded by telling her we came from the tuk-tuk.  Realizing he was joking, I guess the woman thought she'd joke as well and said, "No, I think you come from your mother!"  While we tried to relax by a lake, three children were relentless with their insistence that we buy various trinkets.  We told them we had no money and a girl of about three responded, "no money, no honey."

Souvenir Shops

The day after visiting Angkor, we packed up and moved on.  A seven hour bus journey (complete with bathroom breaks on the side of the road) took us to Phnom Penh.  The hotel we had booked claimed not to have our reservation because they don't have a computer.  I still don't know why a hotel that takes online reservations would not make sure they have access to a computer.  We ended up in another hotel down the street.  In the morning, our first stop was the Vietnam Embassy.  The main reason we went to Phnom Penh was to get our visas for Vietnam.  We were told that we could have our visas in 45 minutes so we left and booked our travel to Hanoi for the next day.  When we returned, the man at the embassy told us we could not have the visas until the next morning and claimed to have never said 45 minutes (even though all three of us heard it.)  This led to us scrambling for a good part of the day to figure out how we would be able to pick up our visas and catch a bus to Ho Chi Minh City in time for the flight to Hanoi we had already booked.  It eventually all worked out but not without some major stress.  While in Phnom Penh, we finally gave in and went to KFC for lunch.  It was as unsatisfying in Cambodia as it is in California.

Shop on the road to Phnom Penh

House on stilts on the road to Phnom Penh