Cambodia

In a nutshell: It was everything I imagined it would be and nothing I would have ever expected all at the same time. We saw herds of cattle in the middle of the road coming right at our car as the driver nonchalantly honked them away, little children playing -- both clothed and naked -- in muddy water, and people (myself included) petting monkeys in the wild.

On the flip side, everything was unbelievably expensive. I cannot stress that enough; it was mind-boggling. The food was fantastic and no one ever got sick, and our accommodations were significantly nicer than the ones we had in Bangkok. The people were incredibly friendly and overall very happy.

Skip down to the photos if you'd like, or check out the not so nutshell rambling details below.

The second we reached the border of Cambodia and Thailand it was immediately obvious that we were in a different country with a different kind of life. The border town on the Thai side was rougher than any town we had been to at that point and in the fuzzy no-man's-land between borders, we saw several stereotypical images that you frequently hear about, but never register as someone's reality. Everyone was dirty and there were children (clothed and naked) playing in mud puddles and sitting around, seemingly without the watchful eye of an adult. Both boys and men on foot were pulling wooden buggies full of people. It was surreal, at the very least. 

Once we crossed the border our initial adventure continued. This was definitely a step-out-of-your-comfort-zone boundary-pushing experience for me. I felt okay because I was with someone who is very well-traveled. If I was going to do it, I thought this was the best way. We decided to split a cab with some other travelers, both of whom were completely unaware, dressed in very short shorts with bathing suits under their tops. This just SCREAMS tourist. In that situation you are basically giving the natives a go ahead to take you for all your worth. It seemed like they latched on to us because they were in need. It was nice to be on our side of the situation. Cambodia is not somewhere you would want to travel without doing your research. We all put our bags in the trunk of the car, which made me immediately nervous; but I was determined to be calm about the situation. The driver stopped for gas and the tank access was in the trunk. A man came over and started moving our stuff around and immediately two things went through my mind: do I have anything valuable on top and more importantly, is he planting something in our bags. The reality is that the latter doesn't happen too often in Cambodia, but it was for sure my bigger concern. For the next 20 minutes I was literally waiting for our driver to pull over and the car to be randomly checked. I wasn't able to see what was happening in the back of the car and was unaware that the other three passengers had a better vantage point. Nothing was stolen; nothing was planted; and I was incredibly relieved. To be honest, I doubt I would have been so unnecessarily concerned had we not visited with a man in Thai prison for drug trafficking one day prior (I realize I haven't shared this story, but I'll get to it).

Our driver did stop on the side of the road two other times while traveling, however, to check various issues with the vehicle. He played very loud, very poor quality Thai music the entire trip, taking both hands off the wheel to change CDs as frequently as every new song while driving on both lanes and both shoulders of the two-lane, two-way highway with cars and buggies and animals coming at him from all 360 degrees. With that said, I felt there was a definitive system within what I perceived as chaos, and that we were in good hands. 

It poured the storm of a century for part of our trip, and he just drove right on. We could see motorbikes and people down with goods strewn about the road and ditches. Immediately the scene in Forrest Gump when he is traveling through the jungles in Vietnam discussing the different types of rain popped into mind. It was exactly like that. Like rain I had never experienced before, and I've experienced a lot of rain. It was coming like sheets directly from the north flying horizontally with the ground. I was mesmerized and terrified all at the same time. 

Luckily, we made it to Siem Reap safe and sound. Everything we experienced after that point was less exotic than the first two hours of our trip. It became consistently easier for us, aside from our ever present surprise by the expense. 

I'll spare you all the details from here on out and simply provide you with major points of interest. For me, Angkor Wat was interesting but not memorable. What was memorable was the children selling things throughout the temples. We wouldn't buy anything for several personal reasons, but we started giving them fruit that we had towards the end of the day. Their responses made our week. They were so thankful and immediately stopped pushing their junk on us. If I have the opportunity to go back I will pack my backpack full of food, flip flops and supplies for these children. That is a reason to go to Angkor Wat.

We never ate anywhere touristy, and as long as we stayed away from those areas, the Cambodians didn't even know we existed. Once we walked into designated tourist areas, they were on us like the mosquitos.

At the border, between the Thai and Cambodian sides. It was the only picture I took and I did it quickly, it was not a place I felt comfortable pulling out a camera.

The view from our Tuk Tuk the first night we went to Angkor Wat. We were told by a friend we could pay in the evening and see sunset with the ticket ($20 USD) for the next day. I'm not sure when he went, but this was no longer the case. It would have cost us $45 a piece to get in that night only, plus the $20 each for the next day. This is what I meant by expensive. It just doesn't add up.

Part of the night entertainment at Angkor Wat. They came out and performed for free at first, but then you had to pay to follow them inside the temple. We didn't fall for their tricks.

Part of one of the temples.

The road was split, one side was for all the foreigners, one side for the Cambodians. We ate on the Cambodian side for a much cheaper rate (still not anywhere cheap enough) and no one bothered us a bit. They were all completely captivated by this film.

Some monks in a temple.

Climbing up some of the walls. It was so steep here I couldn't believe it.

There were several trees like this growing out of the temples. It was really unusual and pretty.

My embarrassing last minute attempt at capturing the countryside right before we got back to Thailand. There were so many better things to have shown you, but I was too focused on them to think about the camera.