Sunsets and Mexican food in Cambodia

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Wow! I'm a little in awe right now that I'm writing this blog entry from a cute guesthouse in Cambodia. Who would ever thought?!

It's been a long, long day, but definitely an amazing one. It all started late Friday night, when we went to the Shenzhen airport to catch our 11:30pm flight to Bangkok. Upon arriving at the airport, we ran into Derek and Katie- two other CTLC members who were on our flight with us! The four of us killed time in the airport chatting and finally made it over to the international terminal together. Everything was easy and our flight even landed early, around 1:15am Thailand time (an hour behind China). After getting through Customs, we parted ways with Derek and Katie as they were off to catch another flight to Hanoi, Vietnam and we were off to get a taxi.

We'd read tons of information about how to get to the Cambodian border and had the advantage of our friends Elyse and Pete having done the same exact trip in November, which was definitely helpful. We took a taxi to the bus station, bought a ticket for the 3:30am bus to Aryanaprathet, hung out in the bus terminal for about 40 minutes and then boarded the bus. I sat there pondering just how helpless I once again felt in a new country. Everything in China has slowly and surely become familiar- not necessarily easy, but I KNOW it. I can predict things. I know I'll get stared at. I know how to say "I don't understand" in Chinese. I was once again in a country where I knew NOTHING. Such a weird feeling. I guess I hadn't really contemplated the fact that we were going to be in completely new countries, nor had I realized how 'comfortable' I'd become in China.

It took a little under 4 hours to get to the bus station in Aryanaprathet, Thailand, where they dump you off and let the tuk tuk and moto drivers swarm you for business. We quickly got into a tuk tuk (sort of like a rickshaw, for those of you not familiar) and were on our way for the final 6km to the border. Sure enough, a scam was attempted right away, just as we'd been warned on websites that it would be. The driver tried to take us to a small wooden building with the words "Cambodian Consulate" on the top, where a tout came and tried to sell us an overpriced Cambodian visa. Maybe it would have worked if we hadn't done our research. MAYBE. But c'mon buddy, we were still in Thailand, why would I need my visa before I even get stamped out of that country?! Silly. We firmly denied the dude and finished our short drive to the border.

We got stamped out of Thailand easily and fairly quickly, and then it was off to find the Visa Services Building in Cambodia where we were to meet a contact of our guesthouse to get our visa and get in a provided taxi for the remaining two hour trip to Siem Reap. It was a bit confusing, but we finally found the right guy after a little walking around and looking lost. He helped us fill out all necessary forms for our visa, took us over to get our passports looked at, came with us on a free shuttle bus to a taxi stand and then put us in a taxi headed directly to our hostel, Two Dragons Guesthouse, in Siem Reap! We'd pre-arranged everything with the owner of the hostel after reading the dude's website, talesofasia.com extensively for our trip. It was SO nice to have everything taken care of like that, and to be driven directly to our hostel.

Two Dragons Hostel= four thumbs up from us. Our big bed has some sort of memory foam pad on it, we have a TV with like 80 channels, A/C, fan and free wifi all for only $17USD a night. That's the other thing-- Cambodia prefers USD to their own currency, riels, so almost everything is quoted in dollars and you get a better rate if you pay in USD for things. It's been weird to have USD in our hands again after so long! The Guesthouse restaurant serves thai food, khmer food, western food, homemade fresh fruit shakes and ice cream, offers free coffee/tea/water for their guests...yeah, pretty awesome.

We checked in around 10:30am and immediately got online to let all the parents know we were safe and sound. 😊 Next we took a nap until ONE pm, even though we had thought we weren't that tired. When we finally got up and ready to go, it was after 2, so we decided to just eat at the guesthouse. Martin had some sort of chicken Khmer dish and I had massaman curry- DELISH! We also enjoyed a fresh coconut shake and fresh strawberry shake and were both in heaven. We arranged a tuk tuk driver from our guesthouse to pick us up at 4:30pm, as you can buy a 3 day pass to the temples of Angkor Wat and get in the first evening for a free sunset viewing before your 3 days officially begin, something we knew we had to do. We then took a walk around part of the town and just took in everything- the sights, the smells, the sounds. So different from China. So different from anything either of us have experienced. Everyone is SO friendly. Nobody stares. It's great. It's easy to forget while walking around that this country has been through some incredibly tough times- everywhere you go, old and young alike are playing in the street and laughing as hard as can be. We stopped in a nearby restaurant and enjoyed a glass of wine and draft beer (Angkor).

The rest of the evening was great. We bought our 3 day pass to the temples for 40USD each, got driven to Phnom Bakeng Temple where we climbed up to the very top and watched an amazing sunset, and then ended the night eating some seriously delicious and cheap mexican food. Yeah, I know, we're in Cambodia, we should be eating Khmer food-- sometimes you just have to get that 'western' food when you can!

The sunset was probably one of the prettiest things I've ever seen, and Martin got some pretty good pics with his camera and tripod, so we'll definitely be posting them soon.

As for now, it's early to bed for us. We're meeting the same tuk tuk driver at 7:30am for a full day of temple exploration!

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Photos

Tuk Tuk
Our first Tuk Tuk ride. It was fun! We even got a good laugh in after he tried to scam us. They always do at the border.

Road to Two Dragons.
The road to Two Dragons Guesthouse, and amazing place to stay.

Two Dragons
A view of the bar/reception area at Two Dragons.

Two Dragons Food
The food at Two Dragons is also good. Yum! Fried lemongrass with chicken and a beautiful display of rice.

Hike
We took a small hike to see the sunset.

Sunset
Such a beautiful sunset

HDR Sunset
I'm just learning how to do HDR photography. Here is my first attempt with the sun setting in Siem Reap.

Mexican Food
We love Mexican food, and were happy to find some good food at Viva Mexican Cafe

Comments

[Elyse and Pete]

Enjoy Siem Reap
We loved reading your blog as it brought back the fabulous times we had there just 2 months ago. Enjoy Siem Reap as it is an AWESOME place.

[mama clare]

So happy for you!
Cambodia sounds like a lovely place and wonderful people...so glad you are experiencing them and their culture and beauty. I never would have thought to go there and yet now I see another reason why travel is the best and to expand one's horizons. This really cannot be done soley through a book or another's eyes. But on the other hand, since I am not there and most likely won't ever be, I thank you both for sharing in this lovely land and people and giving me a small sense of what you love about them and their homeland:) love, mamaclare

[sunketing]

I ate there!
Is that Viva Mexican restaurant? I ate there, too, and it was awesome. BTW, love the HDR photography, Martin!