Blogs from Angkor, North, Cambodia, Asia - page 98

Operation Rosa Parks: From the land of a thousand ao dai, to the land of a thousand Buddhas. The last we heard of our hero, he was poised for another excruciatingly long trip up country. He had just spent a depressing day witnessing the crimes and horror imposed by a regime who brutally slaughtered 30% of the country's population in order to erase any existance of capitalism and bring communism to Cambodia under Pol Pot. Now he was ready to move on and see the wonders of ancient civilizations. However, there was a bit more uncertainty surrounding this next adventure as not only the mode of transportation would be in question, but also the conditions of the roads that would lead him there. In retrospect, this new adventure into the unknown would be luxurious compared to ... read more

I got back into Thailand, and met up with Nat. We immediately ventured forth to the Cambodia border. The magic casino bus Getting to Siam Reap turned out to be quite the adventure. First off, Nat wanted to take the "Casino Bus". Gambling is quite illegal in Thailand. Fortunately for the hard core, Cambodia (the SE Asian equivalent of the Wild West) is only a few short hours away. The big casinos run a shuttle bus from several locations in Bangkok to the border for practiaclly nothing. The only trick is that these buses are pseudo illegal. I think. In any case, it took us a long time to find the stop. We finally did, and managed to get to the border without incident. I think we were supposed to pretend like we were hard core ... read more

and so i was torn about leaving mom...but i tried to change my flight out of vietnam for another week to find out that all the flights on my airline (EVA) leaving vietnam for the states were booked and full through march 20th! i couldn't get out and i didn't want to stay THAT long as much as i loved it. my bag was getting too heavy and i wanted to reconnect to home. i didn't want to miss cambodia's temples of angkor...so i booked a flight from hanoi to siem reap. at first i thought it was a mistake so i made a conscious effort to observe if i was going with or against the flow.... turns out....i was RIGHT in the FLOW!! --- mom + the aunt + uncles headed to a day trip ... read more

City of Temples Siem Reap, home to Angkor Wat is unbelievable – words cannot describe the magnitude and beauty of the temples. We spent three days touring the temples, including our favourite, Bayon, an incredible Wat made of 116 massive faces. Here are a few pics. ... read more

Getting to Siem Reap in Cambodia meant enduring the bus ride from hell. The country's war torn past has left the roads in an unbelievable state of disrepair and the shortage of government funds mean modernisation (or just normal upkeep) is slow to non existant in any area not immediately surrounding the city centres. The trip although terribly bumpy, dusty, hot and allround uncomfortable was solely responsible for getting a bus load of strangers to rally together and laugh our was in disbelief all the way to Siem Reap. It was some of these people that became our travel companions for the rest of our trip in the country. If it wasn't on the doorstep on the Temples of Angkor, Siem Reap would just be another dot on the map. Everyone who comes to Cambodia goes ... read more