Places to go and travelers to meet - Siem Reap, Cambodia

Somehow I ended up in Siem Reap, Cambodia 2 days earlier than planned. The plan: Scott flies into Siem Reap late Sunday night and I was planning on arriving here via bus by Saturday. That way if the bus breaks down, or I get sick and can't travel for a day, or aliens attack, I'd have 1 full extra day to make it in time to pick him up at the airport. I expected everything else except arriving early. What happened: I got on the bus in Southern Laos headed for Kratie, Cambodia (a tiny town on the Mekong perfect for a stopover on the way to Siem REap). About a half hour before arriving Kratie the bus driver asked if i was sure i wanted to go there cuz Siem Reap is only another 6 hours away. He explained that tomorrow there aren't any busses directly to Siem Reap and there are no foreigners in Kratie. I had 2 -3 full days to make it to Siem reap, but it kind of scared me. I wanted to go to the town with no foreigners but i didn't want to get stuck there. So, I agreed. Ok, take me the rest of the journey. My back is already in a big knot from sleeping on a 2 inch hard mat and a joke of a pillow, I might as well tough it out today. About 4 hours from Siem reap, I met a girl who was planning the same thing and we were both sort of upset we didn't stop because the bus SUCKED!!!! It was about 16 hours of traveling and really, I had plenty of time to figure out the journey. Oh well. So I'm enjoying having extra days in Siem Reap instead and that's fine by me!

Let me explain the journey I had to get here first. Thursday, at 5 minutes to 8am I went to the guy who sold me the bus ticket because he said to be there just before 8:00. This is on the island of Don Det in Laos so he needed to get us across the Mekong by his boat and to the bus station first. Well, I'm realizing that there is a lot of waiting in Laos and Cambodia. After waiting for about 20 minutes he finally was ready to go. He kept telling us to sit down and just wait while he was getting dressed and ready. OK. We hop into his longboat and 3 of us sat on a straw mat on the floor while he steered and scooped water out of the boat all at the same time. I didn't get wet at all but the girl in the middle looked like she peed her pants after we got out and stood up. The 2 other girls were just going on an ATM run because there are no ATMs on the islands, so the guy found a couple motorbike drivers and had each girl get on the back and away they went. They had no idea where there they were going or how far, so as they waved goodbye to me we all had a look of "oh shit, well, have fun!" You can't expect anything to happen as you imagine it might. I would have never guessed that a simple atm run would involve getting on the back of a random persons motorbike and paying them off for the ride.

After about hour of waiting, the VIP bus finally arrives and a whole load of foreigners all pile on. I get a nice seat close to the front and am all comfy with my bag in the outside seat, when a big Lao dude(well, big for being Lao) asks if he can sit here next to me. Ugh, there are a few empty seats in the back and tehre are a lot of other empty aisle seats, but he wants to sit next to me. Before I can even say anything he's already sitting. The guy in front of him has his seat pushed all the way back so the Lao guy has even less room. Again, why did he pick this seat when there are plenty of better ones? But he doesn't care cuz he makes himself very comfortable and is totally in my space touching arms, legs and he's sort of sprawled out. Thanks, cuz my long gangly legs didn't need any space. I was going to say that if he needs more room there are plenty of other seats available, but that could totally backfire in my face. So i got up and moved to the back with my own space. I think it's partially cultural that Asians are used to having less of that personal bubble where we Westerners like our space.

We arrived at the Lao -Cambodian border crossing and we all got our luggage, and went to the Lao departure post. A little shack where we all lined up and burned and sweat in the sun waiting to pay $2.00 to turn in our departure card. Then we walked a few minutes down the semi-dirt road to the Cambodian side. We get in line again to fill out a "Health Assesment card" and we pay $1 for that. The officials don't even look at it but one points an electronic temperature reader at my forehead and says "to take tempture, ok you good." It's just a bullshit document to fill out to get more money. The airport arrivals don't have to do that as far as I know but i"ll ask Scott tomorrow. Then we head across the road to fill out another form to apply for our visas and pay $23 for that. At the very last shack we fill out yet another form for customs and I can't remember if we paid anything for that one but I don't think so. There were so many little shacks to stand in line and wait and pay that it's all a blur in my mind. Finally, we've legally entered Cambodia! But now no one knows what's going on and where our bus is, so we sit in the shade on miniature plastic chairs while Cambodian women try to sell us water and food. Word got around that we have to wait an hour before we start moving again?! Ugh, we're all hot and sweaty and just want to get going, but again we wait. After about 20 minutes, the bus driver comes up and tells us to put our stuff into this different bus parked across the road and then says we'll leave in another 20 minutes. Why? I don't know - maybe he's visiting friends or doing business but the reason why we wait is never explained. When we do get on the bus I end up sitting next to an Aussie guy so it was nice to have some conversation for a while. Then he falls asleep and almost has his head on my shoulder. He wasn't trying to cuz he kept waking up and quick pulling himself back together, but he'd slowly relax into slumber and his head would slump to my side. It was kind of funny.

Out the window of the bus you could see the landscape changing from lush green forests to cultivated rice fields and here and there would be someone's home. They were all raised up on posts/stilts to prevent flooding I suppose and most seemed bare minimum. Like a glorified tree-house without the tree. I should'nt even say glorified because I've seen some pretty decked out tree houses that I'd love to live in. Not these houses. Some had electricity but many of them didn't. They were mostly one room and the structure made of slats of wood and a thatched roof. You could see old women sleeping in them on the floor trying to escape the heat without a fan. You could see little kids here and there playing underneath the house, but I couldn't figure out where they bathed for went to the bathroom. I think I heard something about collecting rain water and splashing it on to bathe but what about the dry season?? I don't know, but seeing this makes me really appreciate what I have and almost disgusted at the amout of it. Even some of America's poorest poor don't live like this. Of course we just take to the city streets so that's no so good either, yet somehow that seems more appealing than living in the middle of nowhere with no services whatsoever and roasting away in the blistering heat. Homeless shelters in Cambodia? yeah right. There's orphanages here for children, but what about adults? There is a disfigured man here in Siem Reap - his legs adn feet are so disfigured that he gets around by crawling on his hands and knees in the street begging. I cringe at anyone kneeling on hard floors but this guy is on the street pavement. If he only had a wheelchair...but this a not a wheelchair accessible country so it's probably easier to crawl. Another disabled man in Laos who couldn't speak correctly and was deformed got on his knees and stooped his head to the ground begging me for something. I was so shocked that I kept walking and that desparate face is bringing tears to my eyes right now - I'm not sure if I should have given him something but I wish I would have. The adult disabled are screwed here.

Anyway, back to the bus ride. So the bus likes to stop a lot along the way - sometimes it's for a few seconds, sometimes it's for 15 minutes, sometimes it's on the side of the road where there is nothing around, sometimes it's in a small village in the middle of the intersection. I'm not sure why, though every time it stops everyone looks around and mumbles "more waiting and wondering" because it happens so often. Once after driving over an unpaved section of the road that filled the inside of the bus with a haze of dust, they stopped and I watched them change the air filter from the window. So I can only assume the bus stops for purposeful reasons, but no one is ever informed of why or how long so you just sit and wait and know that eventually you will get to your destination. Oh, and when the bus driver told me it was only another 6 hours to Siem Reap, it was actually closer to 9 more hours.

We switched out busses again at about 8pm and sat at a dingy open-air restaurant for 30 minutes so we could eat and relax. This time I was the last person on the bus and I knew I was going to pay for it. I had to pee and I couldn't wait so I was last :(. I ended up in the very last seat of the bus and the back is where you can feel every tiny pothole and movement. For the last four hours on the bus it was hell because the road is curvy and filled with potholes and the pavement is not leveled out to be flat and smooth like. Every bump we'd go over my breath would be forced out of me and I'd watch the people in the few seats infront of me and they all looked like bobble-head dolls with extremely springy head. Four hours of this. It sucked. I had a grip on the seat the whole time. Lesson learned=do NOT be the last person on the bus. I also learned to sit in the aisle seat until all the passengers are on so that someone doesn't try to sit next to you and crowd your space.

I made it to Siem Reap around 11:30 or midnight and had no idea where I was going to stay but I had the names of a couple hotels. However, the soft spoken tuk-tuk driver who followed me until I got my baggage mentioned a place as well. His description sounded decent enough and I was too tired to argue. He said that if I didn't like it we could try something else. So we got to the hotel and they showed me a room and it was perfect! SOmetimes it's worth it to trust a tuk tuk drivers suggestion. The bed was the most comfortable since Halong Bay and the pillows were normal!!! There's a pool and it's a pretty social place with a lot of foreigners. SInce i had a couple extra days here before Scott arrives I've been lounding by the pool. Of course yesterday I burned my lower back. I was in the shade and applying sunscreen cuz I"m so ghostly white, but at somepoint my back turned into a lobster.

Siem Reap. The city is very small and very walkable but because it's so darn hot it's better to walk around in the evening or early morning. It's sort of a dirty scruffy city, but there's character. The nightlife is definitely happening. Laos as a country had a curfew of 11pm or something so it seemed the entire country was very quiet (though I didn't get to the capital but apparently that is very small and relatively quiet as well). Cambodia so far is defintely more loud and happenin' but it's still pretty chilled out. I think tomorrow or Tuesday Scott and I are going to see Angkor Wat and all the other temples which is why Siem Reap was made into a town in the first place so it's pretty touristy.

I've met a lot of really intersting people on this trip - most all good, some annoying, but I have yet to have a bad experience with anyone I've met. The first day here in the pool, I joined in the conversation of a few others - a Swedish couple and two British blokes (dudes). Later we met up again and went into town to the bars for .75 cent beers and $1.50 cocktails. Felt like I was in college again. We ended at a bar with dancing where they sprayed cologne or something like Axe into the disco smoke. Westerners smell like old cheese as Asians smell like old seaweed so they must not like how we westerners smell. We compared goofy dance moves such as the sprinkler and the lawn mower. The Swedes had a good one - something like "tall guy, little guy" where you bounce your hand up high then down low. It's fun talking to other travelers cuz you learn a bit about their culture and compare how you say different words. The word "kiss" in English sounds like how Swedes would say shit or poop or something like that.

In Lao I met an American couple who was in the next bungalow so we shared some stories. In Luang Prabang, Laos I met a Greek guy who has been living in London for 15 years who was also traveling alone. We were forced to sit next to each other at one of the food stalls so we started to chat and decided to meet again the next evening to eat for some company. After dinner we wandered around looking for the best fruit shake and chatted. We agreed it's really nice to meet another lone traveler just to have someone to talk to. Hanging out with couples or even 2 friends is fun but you feel a bit like a 3rd wheel and try not to impose too much. A solo traveler is just as desparate for a conversation as I am so they are often the most fun to hang out with.

Tonight, Scott flies in and we're checking into a fancy 4 star hotel. My friends recommended it so I looked it up and booked it quick - it's only $50 total a night and when I went to the hotel to look at it, it's amazing! We'll stay for a couple nights and then probably come back to this hotel where it's a little cheaper. Not that $50 isn't cheap for a 4 star - but this hotel is $15 a night and has a nice pool, air-con and is pretty darn luxury to me compared to everywhere else I've stayed! Considering the last place I stayed - where huge beetles and moths and bees would fly into my room while a gecko would hang out by the light bulb eating all the other little insects - this place is pretty nice.

Speaking of insects, I learned that if you have a light fixture outside and bugs are all over it at night, coat a plastic bag and hang it next to the light bulb and bugs will stay around the plastic bag and get stuck into it. One restaurant I went to had one and the plastic bag was filled with bugs. It was really gross...but the hamburger I had there was quite delicious! (the burger was highly recommended so I gave in - starting to tire of rice).

Angkor Wat and the other temples are next...