Last time I wrote, I was in Don Det, Lao. I arrived in Siem Reap, Cambodia (where Angkor Wat is) this evening after spending the night in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Ok, now that we've taken care of where I am, I can begin my little schpiel.
The busses in southeast asia are total crap. Not really sure how else to put it...so there it is: the busses are AWFUL!
Granted, they have Air Conditioning (a total luxury here) and the seats recline a minimal amount, so it's somewhat comfortable. Well, definitely much more than sitting in the back of a truck in the middle of a rainstorm...but still not worth the two days that it took us to get here.
Alright, so I got up at 6:30 am on Saturday to make sure that I could eat some breakfast (banana pancakes with chocolate, of course) and get all of my stuff packed up. We were to meet at the local internet cafe at 8. I was 15 minutes early, per usual.
We didn't leave until 8:30, where we had to take another water taxi to Ban Nakasang before boarding a minivan to head toward Cambodia. We pile in and I immediately fall back asleep. I'm awakened 45 minutes later by Josh...we're at the Lao/Cambodia border. I manage to find my passport (which is getting quite full btw) and go deal with all the fun paperwork. I had to go to three different posts in order to get everything stamped correctly (why they couldn't have one guy with a few different stamps is beyond me) but each one wanted an extra $2 because they were working on the weekend...whatever. The excuses that these people come up with in order to rip you off is quite comedic.
We get back in another minivan that takes us from the border down to Stung Treng...where we are pulled into some restaurant in the middle of friggin' nowhere for a lunch break. Coincidence? I think not. It's quite clear that the driver gets a kickback for bringing us tourists there without any say so of our own. We were stuck there for 2 painstaking hours. Finally, at 1:30 we were picked up by a "big bus". This bus was the type that I drescibed earlier...still nothing really nice, trust me.
So we board the bus and things aren't to bad...until there was traffic. This bus driver blared the horn if there was so much as a child playing in their yard 30 yards away from the road. It was completely ridiculous. I turned my iPod on as I started my new book "For One More Day" by Mitch Albom, but I could still hear that road Nazi every 10 seconds or so...ARGH!
We would randomly pull over on the road and would pick up some local who was undoubtedly riding for a tenth of what we paid. We had to stop for gas once, where I bought some shrimp flavored chips...that was the best they had to offer. Otherwise, we would make random stop offs in little towns on our way to Phnom Penh to again, pick up and drop off.
It wasn't until 11:30 when we finally pulled up into Phnom Penh. We were dropped off in a dark alleyway with a dozen locals screaming at us to follow them to their guesthouse. It was clear to me that the bus company that contacted several guesthouses and told them of our arrival. They sure as heck know what they're doing, that's for sure. By the time we arrived, we were much too tired to walk up and down the street and shop hotel rooms...so we just succombed to their will and crashed as soon as our faces hit those stale pillows.
We were required to be ready to go at 7:30, but again...didn't leave until 8:30, per usual. We get on yet another "VIP" bus and head toward Siem Reap. Before you know it, we're stopped for some lunch...at 11 am. Nobody was buying it this time, so after a few minutes the driver herded us back up on the bus like cattle on the ranch. The drive from P Penh to Siem Reap is supposed to take 5 hours, but ours took a whopping EIGHT due to all the breaks and finally the bus breaking down due to the driver hitting every pothole imaginable. Oh, one more thing to make things even more entertaining: they have TV's on the bus. Great...right? WRONG. All the play is this insanely stupid "comedian" that I can't understand or this awful music that's always just a hair off tune.
I know I'm complaining...but the fact of the matter is that I'm really enjoying myself on this trip...I just simply don't like being taken advantage of. Other than the bus, the trip has been great. Josh and I are getting along really well, which is a total relief. The food is actually extremely good and the weather has been terrific! I've hardly been bit by any mosquitos and haven't had to break open the bugspray yet.
As soon as we got into Siem Reap, we rushed to find a guesthouse (got a really great one for $8/night with three people) and headed over to Angkor Wat just in time to catch the sunset. Unfortunately, it was cloudy but that didn't matter...these ruins are more than amazing. I encourage each and every one of you to make it out here and witness the 8th wonder of the world for yourselves.
I remember learning about Angkor Wat in Ms. McCarthy's 8th grade world geography class and remember thinking how cool it would be to go visit there sometime, but how unlikely that would happen. Welp, sure enough...ten years later, I have arrived. If anyone out there knows where Ms. McCarthy is these days, please let me know...I'd like to contact her and thank her for being one of the most incredible teachers of my childhood. Since I have been on this trip, she and her lessons have popped in my head more than once.
We got up this morning at 4:15 and were headed back to Angkor by 5 with our really cool Tuk-Tuk (don't know what a tuk-tuk is? google it!), where we were about to catch one of the most majestic sites that I have ever seen, aside from LSU winning the National Championship back in Jan, heh. To see that blazing sun come up behind Angkor Wat...wow.
We also visited the city of Angkor Thom which was again just as impressive, as well as Ta Phrom (did anyone see Tomb Raider with Angelina Jolie?) I don't want to say too much about this place, because you really ought to experience it for yourself. Don't worry, I took more than enough photo's...you'll see them soon enough.
We left the temples around 4 this afternoon and I was more than worn out. Headed back to the hotel/guesthouse/hostel...whatever you want to call it and immediately checked the internet to see how things are going back home with the storm. It's all I have been thinking about. I can't imagine what you must be going through...again. You're in all of my thoughts and prayers, that's for sure.
Keep me posted on things, I'd really appreciate it.
2 comments:
Shrimp-flavored chips....GROSS!!!
....bring a tuk tuk back to the US!!
15 minutes early per usual???? You must be joking.
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