Siem Reap, Angkor Wat

http://s216.photobucket.com/albums/cc311/rtwilli4/

I arrived in Siem Reap on Dec. 30. I did not know what to expect and figured it would be over run with tourists because of Angkor Wat. It actually wasn't that bad at all. I liked the town. You can go anywhere on foot, everyone is very nice and loves to teach you the language, and there was a "Pub Street" where the younger crowd hung out (local and traveler).

I had made some friends on the bus ride who I went out with for New Years. Nick, Zaza, Nicole, and Dennis were all ready to go out and party, so we headed to Pub Street. At the first bar I walked into, I ran into Trevor, Larissa, and Adrian; some friends I met in Krabi, Thailand. Right away we had a huge crown of people for New Years and began to drink lots and lots of buckets. Weird how you always run into the same people when you are traveling.

We all kind of got separated but the whole street was full of Khmers and foreigners and we all danced right into 2008! Buckets buckets buckets....I am definitely bringing the bucket Idea home with me.

For the next three days, I roamed around the temples of Angkor Wat. Basically, almost 1000 years ago, the Khmers ruled a major portion of Indochina and built giant temples and cities. I could go on, but you should just look it up. These structures are amazing though, and definitly fullfill the hype. The more popular ones are crowded, but they are so huge that it is easy to climb into a part of the temple that no one else goes too. I enjoyed the smaller ones much better though.

I had a guy names Mao drive me around on his motor bike and take me to all of the different places. I told him that on the first day I just wanted to get away from all the tourists. At 10am on New Years morning I would usually be in bed nursing a hangover. Instead, I was at a small temple in the middle of the Cambodian Jungle, all by myself....nursing a hangover! That first day was awsome. There is really nothing like riding through the rice fields and villages on a motor bike. I think I had just as much fun on teh bike as I did at the temples that day. Mao was really smart and we spent a lot of time teaching each other our respective languages.

For the 2nd and 3rd day, I went to some of the larger and more impressive temples. There were more people, sometimes too many. But these temples were crowded for a reason. They are simply amazing. The place really did make me speachless. The labor and attention to detail that went into this place was unbelievable. You'll just have to check out the pictures. http://s216.photobucket.com/albums/cc311/rtwilli4/

Pilgrimage to Cambodia

11pm, 12/28: get on night boat in Koh Tao 6am,
12/29: arrive at pier in chumporn, thailand 7am,
12/29: get on bus to Bangkok 4pm,
12/29: arrive in Bangkok 4pm-12am: find a room to stay for the night, research travel to cambodia, decide which luggage I will store in bangkok, buy new sandals, go to sleep
5am, 12/30 get on mini-bus to Thailand/Cambodia Border
12pm, 12/30: arrive at border
12pm-4pm, 12/30: stand in line, get my visa, cross into cambodia on foot
4pm-10pm 12/30: take bus from cambodia border to Siem Reap (Ankgor Wat). the road is unpaved, uneven, barely a road. also, we got a flat tire on the way!!! it takes 6 hours to do about 100 miles

Well after about 48 hours of hoping busses and boats, I make it from Koh Phangan /Koh Tao to Cambodia. I could have done a train on the 30th but it left too early and I was tired! The Thailand - Cambodia border was a bit crazy. I arrived there just as all of the tourist busses showed up. I was heading toward Siem Ream, and the ancient temples of Angkor Wat. This is THE PLACE TO SEE in Southeast Asia, and I was right in the middle of the high season. I waited in line at hte border for a few hours before I entered Cambodia on foot. It was funny though; all the tourists with their package tours didn't get into the country any faster than I did, and they spent probably 5 or 6 times as much money as I did.

The road from the border town of Poipet, to Siem Ream was HORRIBLE! I mean Cambodia is a poor country and many of the roads are horrible, as you would expect in a poor country. However, this road to Siem Reap is the most used road in the country, and should not be an uneven dirt road. I mean you could barely call it a road. I think we did 180 km in about 6 hours. There is a rumor going around that there are airlines that pay Cambodia NOT to pave the road...so the tourists willfly instead.