The following day unfortunately we had to say goodbye to my travelling partner of 5 months as he was to return to Bangkok and then NZ whilst Jeremy and I continued on to Siem Reap, Cambodia. It was emotional. The trip to Cambodia was the typical scam trip. After a long 5 hour ride in a mini van we arrived at the border where we were taken to a restaurant. Here we were asked to give our passports and pay 1200 Baht so they could sort our Cambodian visa. Hmmm. We said no intitially as we knew we could get it at the border for US$20 (half of their asking price). They then said that they/ the bus on the other side of the border would not wait for us while we sorted our visas and that was that. There were about 4 of us holding out until we caved one by one.... how annoying. So we paid the money and gave them our passports for them to sort the visa. Then they tried to get us to stay at their guest house in Siem Reap. No thanks we said. Everyone else however said yes. Once we had crossed the border the guy tells us that those who are staying at this guest house can have a free car ride from the border.. taking approx 2 hours vs the bus (that we were on) which would take at least 4 hours. Did we want to stay now? Well of course we do if it is going to cut the rest of our travel time in half! So we paid and went there.. at DOUBLE the price of most other places in Siem Reap (although we didn't really know that at the time).
We finally arrived ...were not that impressed with our guest house, vowed to change places tomorrow morning and went out to Pub Street in Siem Reap for a quick bite to eat. We both had our first Khmer food and it was gooood.
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Jeremy walking across the border into the Kingdom of Cambodia |
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Jeremy concentrating hard on dipping those fresh spring rolls... YUM! |
Today was a sorting out day of buses, new accommodation and transport for the temples tomorrow... after getting only a few steps out of our Green Banana rip off hostel I was approached by a tuk tuk driver who promised US$7 for both of us tomorrow for sunrise around Angkor Wat and the temples, US$5 for today out to the flooded forest and he could take us to a cheap guest house now. Sold. Why not. So we got our bags and moved with him to the Bliss Villa Guest House which was amazing. So much nicer and for half the price. Then we went with him out to the flooded forest which actually turned out to be not a flooded forest at all but it was a nice tuk tuk ride out of the city. Jeremy's first tuk tuk!Then we ended up paying a lot to get on a 1.5 hour boat ride out to the floating village. Which was actually pretty cool but well overpriced.
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Riding down the roads of Siem Reap |
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Pretty excited to be in a Tuk Tuk! |
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The floating village houses had chicken coops and even gardens! |
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View of the floating village from above - it was huge! |
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Kids with snakes everywhere saying 'One dollar, one dollar, one dollar' |
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Jeremy and the Tuk Tuk scam man |
The next day was supposed to be sunrise at Angkor Wat as organised the day before with our Tuk Tuk driver. Turns out he was being untruthful. Which was disappointing because we thought he was legit. He was supposed to be picking us up at 5am so there we were.. up.. awake but tired waiting for our pick up. It never came. So we tried to quickly arrange another so not to waste the sole purpose of getting up this early.. the sunrise. The guest house helped but of course the tuk tuk that arrived was way more expensive than that we had previously arranged. However... we did ok negotiating and managed to make it to Angkor Wat to catch the remaining sunrise and it was stunning. Well worth the hassle!
We then continued around the temples – Ta Prohm, where Tomb Raider was filmed. This was awesome with all the trees strangling the stone.. it actually feels like it would be as if you were the one to discover it! (Apart from the hords of tourists!!)
Ta Keo – the massive pyramid that is 50m tall and has some pretty steep stairs for you to climb up and down it. Up is not so bad... it was coming down that was the issue!
And then finally we wandered around the city of Angkor Thom... including the Bayon with the 216 gargantuan faces of Avalokiteshvara.. stunning! The Baphuon, the Terrace of Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper King. Lots of pictures below....
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Our first glimpse of Angkor Wat |
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Jeremy lunging at Angkor Wat |
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Jeremy lunging at Ta Prohm |
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Jeremy mega lunging at Angkor Thom - The Baphuon |
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Terrace of the Leper King |
All were very beautiful and impressive. By this stage however (midday) we were wilting as it was so so hot and we were tired. We bailed back to Siem Reap and sat in an expensive but air conditioned restaurant drinking ice slushies. We love The Blue Pumpkin! We then had about 3 hours to wait for our bus to Phnom Penh. Ugh! We went back to the guest house where we were luckily able to shower and use the internet. When our pick up for the bus was almost half an hour late … Jeremy was pacing... the guest house lady finally deemed it appropriate to call the ticket company to see where they were. Apparently on their way. Oh good. So we finally arrived to the bus station 10 minutes after the bus was supposed to depart. Pheww it was of course still there. It was a standard rough bus. Of course it was. And of course we had bought the VIP tickets for larger seats etc...haha. What a joke. In 2 days how many times can we be conned... turns out quite a few!
We eventually made it to Phnom Penh... in a small cramped bus with Jeremy not getting a wink of sleep and a few hours late at 11pm. Luckily we had booked a guest house so we had a pick up waiting for us. This part of the day went incredibly smoothly and we were whisked off to our room in the guest house quick smart.
After a good sleep it was time to brave the day in Phnom Penh. Lots to organise. Vietnam Visa, buses etc... thankfully this was easy. Our guest house was organising our visa and could book our bus and could even help us with stuff to do in PP. We went for a wander and ended up jumping into a tuk tuk ourselves out to the shooting range which was MILES away. Once there Jeremy shot 30 rounds from an AK 47. He looked pretty happy about it despite the cost.. and even came out with some light bruising around his shoulder.
We then visited the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. This was horrific. These killing fields house 129 mass graves where approximately 17,000 people were executed during 1975 – 1978 by the Khmer Rouge. All essentially because of one mad man and his crazy ideas. An educational afternoon but very sad and depressing.
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Memorial where 8000 skulls, bones and clothes of the victims are housed |
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The killing tree.. used to save on bullets, and mass grave |
We continued the Smith Tour of Phnom Penh the next day with a look at the National Museum which was quite good followed by an Alana 'short walk' to the Tuol Sleng Museum – the ex Security Prison 21 (S-21). It was a much longer walk than expected and we were both very hot and bothered by the time we arrived. This museum was even more horrific than the Killing Fields the day before and by the end of our time here we both felt physically sick at all the torture and atrocities that had taken place here just a short 32 years ago.
Today we were leaving for Vietnam as the weather in the beach town of Sihanoukville, Cambodia did not look promising. First thing though before our bus we attempted to fit in a quick visit of the Royal Palace & Silver Pagoda. However, after walking there in the blistering heat... I must say I was surprised Jeremy let us walk after our mission yesterday... we discovered that it was in fact closed for the entire Khmer New Year. Oops! The new year celebrations are great and everyone is always wishing you a Happy New Year as you pass them by but it does mean booked out buses, busy roads and closed museums, attractions etc. Gutted we are leaving Cambodia already!!
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River front in Phnom Penh |
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Royal Palace - from the outside! |
