After 5 days in BKK, it was about time to get on the road. We are trying to make it a proper road trip and avoid flying anywhere, main reason is to keep as close as possible to the people and the land we will travel across.

So we started this experiment by taking a 3rd class, no airco, hard seats, diesel fuelled train from BKK to the Thai/Cambodia border and stayed overnight in the last Thai village and last train stop - Aranya Prathet. The train ride was a blast and full of colors, landscapes, dust, mosquitos, school kids, farmers, vendors and 'unexpected delays'. We in fact reached our destination after 6,5 hours instead of the scheduled 4, but it was fun to mingle with the locals, as we were the only western on board, and realized how rural Thais are more inclined to smile at you than the urban crowds. It was also an interesting fact that the standards of living in the countryside are quite high, as many people are fashionably dressed, have a smartphone, own a motorbike at the very least and even do jogging at sunset or mountain bike after a day at work. Thailand is definitely the economic Tiger of the region!

As mentioned, we spent the night in a sleepy border village called Aranya Prathet, where we lodged in a motel and bumped in a super funky Danish/Thai couple with their gorgeous 8 weeks old Eurasian kid. The Danish guy was in his 50's and the Thai girl in her 30's (of course ;) and made a routine of living the summer months in Denmark where they run a camping site close to the beach and winter months in Thailand at the border with Laos where the girl was from and owned a house. They had been rejected by the Cambodian immigration because their kid didn't have a passport and they were hanging around Aranya Prathet, instead of their planned vacation in Cambodia. Anyway, Aranya Phratet was not much fun and felt like a typical border town where smugglers and gangsters hang around trying to get on their business.

In the morning when we crossed the border we came to the shocking realization that the wealthy Thai standards of living haven't reached Cambodia yet. Poverty was suddenly under our eyes, with kids begging, old guys pushing their carriage, people walking bare feet across the border Cambodian city of Poi Pet, infamous for its casinos where the only customers are the Thais that cross the borders at the weekend. Smart move from the Cambodians trying to rip off their prosperous neighbors!

The rest of the trip towards Siem Reap, our first Cambodian destination, was a taxi share with a Russian couple. They were funny those Russians! Generally, they do not speak English at all, they are rude and squander money on flashy and useless goods and activities, but these guys were humble and genuinely interested in travelling. The guy was a SAP consultant in St Petersburg and part of that urban middle class that has enough money to travel but not enough to buy a real crocodile hand bag as a souvenir (Russians really do that!) What really mattered to them was finding the cheapest deal about food, accommodation, transport and on on. Even Mandy being Dutch thought it was too much ;)

Siem Reap is an abused beauty. Once a rural area now turned into a tourist hot spot. For a good reason though, because the Anghor temples are an absolute jewel and part of the 7 world wonders. Scattered across a vast area 6 Kms away from Seam Reap, we delighted ourselves with a 3 day pass to cruise around the archeological site by bike and Tuk Tuk. It was quite surreal to be surrounded by a 1000 years old city conceived and built by the Khmer kings at the height of their reign. The interesting fact is the fusion of Hinduism and Buddhism of that period which is reflected in the layout and decoration of the temples more inspired to Hindu rather than Buddhist iconography. I must admit the Colosseum, another of the 7 world wonders, is not as impressive as Anghor Wat but in the Romans defense, the Colosseum was build 1000 years before Anghor Wat ;)

The only downside in Anghor was the amount of tourist present at the site. I don't mean independent tourists like us who don't really bother anyone and are quite discrete, but rather the organized tours of mainly Koreans and Chinese who don't seem to be capable of travelling alone and need be taken care of. It is these new tourists that are flooding into Asian destinations to fill the gap left by Western visitors in decline because of the crisis. We were told by an upset Tuk Tuk driver that Asian tourists they do not support the local economy, in fact by buying into packaged holidays the real money makers are the Korean or Chinese tour operators that own hotels and restaurants in Siem Reap and keep their customers away from street markets, food vendors, tuk tuk and all small business that support directly their families hence the local communities. A bit of shame considered that they mean to do well, but they are instructed by tour operators to stay in the group and not be spontaneous.

The other delight about Siem Reap, besides the temples, was the kids. They are the friendliest beings ever, always smiling and waving and being interested in us. It is full of schools here by the way. If you walk one km, it is likely you will bump into 2 or 3 schools. Considered how poor Cambodia is, it's amazing that the provincial governments invest in education of the young generations. Many of the schools are also run by the numerous NGO operating here. Unbelievable how international cooperation is rooted in this country and education is high in their agenda. English language is also an important aspect of education. I feel a bit sorry for the French who colonized Cambodia until the 50's, but these days all youngsters are willing to learn English no matter what it takes. In these regards, a teenager chased me and Mandy one day on the way to his language school so he could practice some English with us while riding in the same direction. The funny thing is that, after I talked a bit, he didn't understand anything and told me to stop speaking Italian because he didn't understand Italian. Maybe my Italian accent was too strong!

Not all kids manage to go to school though. Poor ones can be found every day around the Anghor temples trying to sell stuff for 1 dollar. That's their line: "1 dollar please! Ladyyyyy" They are amazingly cute, really heart touching and almost impossible not to smile at or talk to, if not buying something from them.

At the end of the day, these poor children are told by their parents to make money and what these kids are doing is to try to obey and be loved by their parents as any other child in the world. But in the end they are still kids. So with Mandy, we decided to buy some stickers, pens, colors and hand them over to the children when they were being particularly persistent in the sell and the result was surprising. Finally their innocence came back. See a kid being surprised by something as simple as a colored pen was priceless, so we decided to stock up and make it our mission in Cambodia. Of course candies would be more popular amongst children but definitely not according to their parents. They say that you can hand over candies here if you also pick the dentist bill.

After 5 days in Siem Reap it is now time to board a scruffy boat to reach our next destination in Cambodia, Battambang, the second largest city and most prosperous agricultural center of Cambodia.