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Some of the more observant of our readers will have noticed that we are actually no longer in Cambodia. However, due to a poor internet connection, equally poor time management and general laziness this blog is backdated.
We left you on tenterhooks, in nervous anticipation of the Thailand/Cambodia land border crossing, that we had little choice but to pass through. We had heard worrying rumors about this border, which had a reputation for dodgy dealings, and as a devourer of traveler's wallets. We caught an early bus from Bangkok station, enjoying our banana cake breakfast on the way in the relative luxury of a bus with padded seats and even head wrests. Due to financial constraints (running low on Thai Baht) we had adopted a banana cake and beer diet in an effort to preserve funds. That morning had marked our third successive banana cake breakfast (although unfortunately beer remained an afternoon indulgence). By midday we had reached the border crossing and found, to our surprise and delight, everything proceeded with unexpected ease. The scammers, touts and corrupt officials that we had heard so much about were nothing on those that we had encountered in India. Amateurs. Poor show. Example:
Cambodian border official: Your visas will be $25 each
Us: It says on the sign above your head that they cost $20 each
C.B.O: Oh…ok $23 each?
Us: No, $20
C.B.O: ….Ok.
So apart from our inability to read which resulted in our standing in the wrong queue for an hour, everything went quite smoothly. On the Cambodian side we were shuttled to a taxi terminal that stood on the road to Siem Reap, in the middle of nowhere. The company that owned this had a monopoly on all taxis in the boarder area, and being stranded in the Cambodian countryside, they left you little choice but to pay their obscene fares. Fortunately, we'd done our research, and set off (accompanied by some Belgians we'd befriended on the way) down a long, completely desolate road. This may have been one of Cambodia's major roads, but it was still a single track which was only tarmaced last year. 'Rural' does it no justice. Doubting ourselves only momentarily as we trudged down the road-to-nowhere with our packs on in the midday sun, sure enough, a taxi driver clocked us and followed us. As soon as we were out of sight of the terminal (and the Cambodian Taxi Mafia) the taxi price more than halved, and the four of us jumped in. Not only did we save money, but we also greatly impressed our Belgian friends who found it all "Very exciting". They were visiting Thailand and Cambodia for a luxury break and found the whole shebang quite a novelty. Even when our taxi got a flat tire, which had to be changed at the side of the road, they remained cheerful.
The main reason for our trip to Cambodia was to see the temples of Ankor - a massive complex of temples and monuments (including the infamous Ankor Wat), which are just outside of the town Siem Reap. On our first morning we got up at the unnaturally early time of 4:30, to ensure that we got a good seat from which to view the sun rising up from behind Angkor Wat. We entertained ourselves for an hour or so taking pictures of the temple's silhouette, before exploring it while it was still quiet.We had arranged to be ferried around the temples by remork (basically a motorbike with a trailer attached). Our driver was hilarious, every time we returned from visiting a temple we found him asleep somewhere. Be it under a tree, in a hammock or on his motorbike the guy could sleep anywhere. If he's found a job where he gets paid all day for sleeping good luck to him. We liked him. We looked round the temples for two full days and apart from Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm was a highlight. The ruins are overgrown with trees and greenery. It looks like something out of Tomb Raider…which was filmed there incidentally.
There isn't much point in us trying to describe Ankor to you, the only way is to look at our pictures. But we recommend it. It's one of the most impressive things we've seen so far. The only downside to Ankor was it's relative expense. Cambodia is still a very poor country (petrol comes in Johnny Walker bottles by the side of the road - no petrol stations here!) an so the country uses its primary tourist attraction to make as much money as possible. This wasn't too much of a problem, and it was definitely worth it, but it did mean that we had to eat $1 meals for the entire time we were in Cambodia in an effort to balance our budget.Bread and jam for breakfast, noodle soup for lunch and dinner. Not exciting but effective.
We left Siem Reap after 4 nights for the capital Phnom Pehn which was a 5 hour bus journey away. After Ankor, this was a bit of an anti-climax, and we only spent one night there. However, we did have our first splash-out meal in a long time - some Mexican food. Refried beans and nachos have never tasted so good. But this wasn't enough to sustain our interest, and we got another bus the next day to Ho Chi Mihn City, Vietnam.
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