The Whit Show: Cambodia

Crossing the border

Upon arrival in Bangkok, in true Thai fashion, we were hustled by the locals for cabs, hotels, tours, etc. so it was no problem securing a cab to take us to a travel agent. We negotiated a fare, so we thought, for 100 baht to take all 3 of us to the travel agent, wait for us, and then drop us off at our hotel. I am quickly learning (but not quick enough) everything that seems like a good deal probably is not and nothing is free over here. Even brief conversation with one of the locals turns into them asking you for money. We were inside the travel agents office for about 20 minutes and our cab driver patiently waited outside. Inside we booked an all-inclusive 3 day, 2 night tour to Cambodia for 8,000 baht a person. Once we had all the fuzzy details ironed out as much as possible, our travel agent said he would talk to our cab driver and also have him take me to a nearby hospital so I could get another rabies shot before dropping us off at our hotel, no problem. Meanwhile, I was ignorantly thinking this would be included in the 100 baht cab fee as well because the travel agent and cab driver probably worked together, not to mention we just spend $266 USD for an all-inclusive tour which included our first night stay in Bangkok. At the end of the night somehow we ended up racking up a 1200 baht cab bill! Caught off guard and also not wanting to get shot (we have been warned of the mafias in Bangkok), we came to an agreement and ended up paying the guy off with 800 baht. At the end of the day, 24 dollars is still a really fantastic deal considering all the driving and waiting he did for us, but it’s the principle of being misled which really eats at my skin. And on top of that, I was also ripped off in the Bangkok hospital. It was my most expensive hospital bill yet and all I had was one injection, but I guess there is no point in negotiating hospital fees when the other option you have is possibly death.

We were dropped off at our hotel, which we carefully selected based on price, free Wi-Fi and hot water, and told to be downstairs by 8 am to head to Cambodia. Of course everything is better than it seems and we have consistently been over promised and under delivered. For starters, the lady at the front desk tried to charge us for the Wi-Fi password, we were basically staying in a jail cell style room with beds harder than the concrete floor, other peoples body hair was everywhere and there was no toilet paper in the greyhound/porter potty style bathroom. Thank goodness we were sleep deprived from the full moon party plus a full day of traveling and we were just happy to have enough space to stretch our legs and close our eyes for a few hours.

Might as well be jail.

The alarm clock went off after what seemed after 5 minutes and it was time to pack and be on the move again like a flock of birds migrating south for the winter. The first of our 50 tour guides to actually get us to Cambodia arrived 30 minutes late and then was rushing us out the door. At this point we had only been in Bangkok for a few hours and it was really starting the leave a sour taste in my mouth.

At least they love America... or maybe they just love our money.

Three, maybe four hours later, we arrived at the Thailand/Cambodia border. Dripping in sweat and with all of our luggage on our backs we waited in line for about an hour just to exit Thailand and then waited in another line for 3o more minutes to enter Cambodia. Freedom at last, almost. My first impression of Cambodia was HOT, hotter than Thailand if that is possible and also the people were beggars and hustlers like no other. Cigarettes? No. Beer? No. Drink? Water? Food? Candy? Icrecream? Jewelry? Flute? Postcards? Buy the clothes off my back? No, no, no, no, no. They will not take no for an answer and will not leave you alone until you buy something. Honestly, I really do admire there persistence, but enough is enough! My enough came quickly when I spent all the remaining cash I had left because I was caving to every kid trying to sell me something and everything seemed like such a great deal for a dollar. Also, each minibus, greyhound, taxi driver we had while escorting us across the border stopped about every 30 minutes to see their sister, brother, mother, cousin and in attempt to get us to spend money. On the plus side, Cambodia accepts American money, the steering wheel is on the left side of the car, and everyone dives on the right side of the road. That's about all the pluses I can come up with.

From the border we had another 2 hour mini bus ride to get to our final destination, Siem Reap, which quickly turned into 4 hours after all the stops. It’s a miracle we didn’t die on the ride over because they drive like maniacs over here. The cars seem like they are playing a game of chicken with each other because they drive head on towards each other, while hooking the entire time, and see who will pull over at the last minute. Katie's thighs probably have bruises on them because I was clenching them so hard for that van ride, my life flashed before my eyes a few times. We finally made it to Siem Reap and then took a Cambodian tuk tuk

Tour guide

Eskimo kiss

After back to back days of traveling, diner, more markets a few hours of sleep, it was time to start our Angkor Wat tour bright and early. Angkor Wat is the famous temples in Cambodia and the main tourist attraction. It was very interesting to see these 800 + year old temples and hear a little bit of the stories behind them, but I’m not much of a history buff so it was nice to visit, check off my list, say I’ve been there and move on. I would try to write you all a short blurb about the temples, but I don’t even know enough of the history to make it sound intelligent so if you really are interested you can read about the history for yourself! :: http://archive.cyark.org/angkor-intro?gclid=CKqdiK_ssa8CFcIc6wodzDV6Gw

The Ta Phrom visit was the temple that tickled my fancy the most and only because it was the temple where Angelina Jolie filled the movie "Tomb Raider" fell in love with Cambodia, and adopted Pax Jolie-Pitt. That’s a good reason to appreciate one of these ancient, sacred temples right? I was asking our tour guide all the important questions like; did you see her in person? Where did she adopt Pax? Is Pax your cousin and you are now related to Branjelina? Can I adopt one of my own? The children over here are so precious and I wish I could bring every single one home. I’m thinking I might be quickly following in Angelina’s footsteps and start adopting from all over the world AND get a Cambodian inspired bamboo tattoo! Kidding (only about the latter portion)! J

After the temples we went to the Killing Fields. The killing fields are a place in Cambodia where everyone was struggling for power and men, women, children and babies were brutally tortured to death in efforts to speak up and share who they thought was the next person of power. We were able to see photographs along with remains of skulls and bones.

Next stop we took a boat down a muddy river and come across the coolest village I have ever seen; a floating village. Houses, churches, schools, everything was on the river. The people who live on the river are not allowed to live on land. They paddle from place to place in canoes, bathtubs, rafts, driftwood, anything that floats. Just like every other person in Cambodia, they are quite the salesmen as well. We were heading to the village and notice a troll boat was quickly approaching us. The boat pulled right up beside ours and a little girl, probably about 6 years old, hopped onto our boat and started trying to sell us all drinks. It was so cute and her plan was so well executed, every single person on our boat bought a drink from her.

And off she goes.

We were also approached by little girls, ranging from only a few months to about 5, holding and flailing around live snakes saying,' One dollar, one dollar, one dollar....." I once again caved, gave one little girl a dollar and got my picture taken with her and her pet snake. The little girl, a born hustler, proceeded to talk Katie out of her Fanta.

Last night we went to a buffet dinner show, which was included in our tour package, to see Cambodian style dancing. After dinner we went back to the night market where we stumbled across a guy selling baskets of snails. Yes, we ate one. Yes, they were disgusting. After our snail dessert Katie and I relaxed by treating ourselves to another 6 dollar pedicure/foot scrub which was much needed after walking around the temples all day.

The finest escargot in all the land.

Let’s see, while in Cambodia I bought postcards, about 50 bracelets, key chains, a necklace, paid a dollar left and right to take pictures, paid a dollar for laundry, pedicures, Mike got talked into buying a fake cassio watch, candy, some little flute things, more bracelets, needless to say we are leaving Cambodia broke as jokes, and the joke is on us. All of their haggling over here really pays off.

We are now making the dreadful day trip back to Bangkok and our bus driving is obnoxiously honking, I want to strangle him. I’m looking forward to seeing how many brother, mother, cousins I’m going to meet along this journey back.

Forever hustlin,

Whitney