Josh and I returned on Wednesday night from a quick jaunt to Thailand and Cambodia. Truly, quick is an apt word. We left Taipei Saturday evening, to get into Bankok at around 9. After a bus, taxi (I think), and skytrain, we found a hotel to crash in for four hours. Sunday, we caught the 5:30 bus to the Thailand-Cambodia border, where we ate delicious rice noodles with shrimp and peanuts, and caught a tuktuk. Right before we reached the actual border, the tuk tuk turned off on a side road where a guy tried to convince us that "this is the border" and we needed to pay 1200 bat (40$) to get our visa. After we politely said "no" for about five minutes, the tuk tuk driver got back in drove us two minutes to the real border. We got our visa (20$), waited in hot lines for stamps, and entered Cambodia.
At the border, we met a couple from California, so we shared a taxi to Siep Reap, about a two hour drive from the border. The road had just been paved within the last year or so. Before that, it was known to have been a 6-14 hour trip, depending on the rain. We made excellent time on Sunday, and had over two hours to go to the park, get our pass, and visit some of the temples. We watched the sunset over the jungle from atop one of the temples. After, we went to a buffet and performance, where we watched traditional Cambodian dance from the second row.
Monday we spent the entire day in the park. We met our tuk tuk driver at 5 and drove to Ankor Wat for sunrise. (aside here: the temples and ruins around Siem Reap all have different names, were commissioned by different Khmer rulers, and had separate villages and hundreds of thousands of people around them. Ankor Thum is one such city center. Ankor Wat is the associated temple.) We went back to the guest house for breakfast and then back to the park for about 10 hours of templeing. During the heat of the day (which, I assure you, was HOT), we found a great little "restaurant" where we got noodles and rice and watch tourists go by. Talked with our driver a bit about Khmer customs. Went shopping a little at the stands.
We completed our day where we began, further exploring Ankor Wat and watching the sun set on its other side. After the park closed at 6:30, our driver took us to a local "restaurant" that where he often eats. Delicious food. We got four meals between the three of us, Josh got a coke, I got a fresh mango shake (I mean really fresh). The whole thing cost 6 US dollars.
I think we went to sleep after that. Tuesday we woke up early again and drove about 10 km outside of Siem Reap to the oldest of the ruins (a distance from the rest). This ancient temple (circa 1000 BCE) sits atop an interesting rock mountain that juts up from the surrounding, flat countryside. From the top, we could see Lake Tonle Sap, the biggest lake in southeast asia. It was the dry season when we were there, so all of the dwellings around us were on stilts sticking out of the visible ground. During the wet season, the Mekong floods so much that the flow of the lake is reversed and thus quadruples in size, spilling out in the surrounding countryside. The roads are on dikes. The houses 8 feet in the air.
Tuesday around noon we took a car back to Aranyaprathet (at the border), walked across to Thailand, and then took another bus to Bangkok. That evening we found food at a little shop. Humorous to me, it was the only bad food I'd had on our trip...and it was in the only restaurant that would meet western standards of "decency." Crap food though. Air conditioning that Josh appreciated. In the morning, we walked around a bit, went to a book store where Josh bought a National Geographic in Thai (to add to the collection). Saw the riot police waiting for the red shirts to block the streets and storm the airport (if you've been following the news, we just missed some crazy events that have gone down in Bangkok).
Overall a fantastic trip; we didn't feel rushed in our two days at Ankor and we saw all that we wanted to. Spent too much money but returned home to pay day-I worked 3/2 the normal number of hours this month, so the paycheck will certainly cover our trip. Pictures on facebook :0)
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