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Published: April 26th 2006
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Ankor Wat
The temple behing me is the largest religious structure in the world: Angkor Wat, located in the jungle near Siem Reap, Cambodia. I decided to come to Cambodia with Stephanie and Gemma, two English girls I met in Pai. Ok I heard the road from the Thai border into Cambodia was bad but you can't even dream up a "road" like that. It would have been smoother to drive across the rice fields. The journey took 5 hours from Bangkok to the border, on an air-conditioned bus with reclining seats. Then at the Cambodian border we got ripped off on our visitors visa and paid 40 dollars which we later learned was double price. Next we hop on a small bus that looked like it was suitable for transporting live pigs. No air conditioning. I thought Thailand was as hot as it gets but trust me Cambodia is almost unbearable.
The ride was uncomfortable to say the least. It is a 120km trip and it took 5 hours. I can't even believe the bus made it. The bumpiness was so bad that it was weird to breathe, almost like standing in front of huge speakers at a concert where it forces the air out of your lungs with each beat. It was so dusty and hot that I would consider paying the cost
Smiley dude
Wow, 900 years old and still smiling. of a flight if I were to do it again.
But now I'm here in Siem Reap! Today the girls and I went to see a few of the Ankor Wat temples. For those of you who never heard of Ankor Wat (like myself before I read about Cambodia) it is really something to see. It's a bunch of ancient temples in the jungle. And it's downright rape of the tourists wallet. It's 20 dollars for a day pass or 40 dollars for three days. Maybe it sounds cheap but when you're travelling you become really cheap and 20 dollars goes a real, real long way. Anyway I'm glad I went, it's something you won't see just anywhere. Of course I took some pictures and I'll put them on later.
So far Cambodia has been a bit shocking but a nice relief from the same old modernness of Thailand. Tonight we were eating on a street corner and these kids came up begging for food and water. It's hard because if you give to one, the whole neighbourhood will be on you in a second. So I just politley said No. They didn't give up until we finished eating and
Tourist Bastards
I toured Ankor Wat with these guys and gals...3 Israelis and the two English girls. then they cleaned up our plates. There are landmine victims all over begging for money and women with starving babies, and other kids clinging to you as you walk down the street. There' nothing you can do to really help them so you just keep walking.
Tomorrow our plan was to go back to Ankor Wat for sunrise. Today we had a small altercation though. We went with three Israeli guys so there were six of us in total. We needed two Tuk-tuk taxis to take us to Angkor Wat. We agreed on a price of 7 dollars per tuk-tuk for the day. We went to see the main temple and the drivers were supposed to wait an hour for us and take us around to some more. But when we returned we couldn't find them and after about 15 minutes we had to get another two drivers to take us. We hadn't paid the two first drivers yet beacuse we were going to pay at the end of the day. They caught up with us while we were eating supper. And man were they pissed off...and they had about 10 friends with them. They claim that they were there
the whole time and that we ripped them off. I thought, "I guess I'm going to die right here in Cambodia." But we talked to them and explained that we thought they had took off and we offered to pay him for the ride hegave us. He took six dollars and ripped it up right in front of us. He thought we ditched him to rip him off. I coudn't believe how mad he was. For a really poor guy to rip up six dollars is crazy. So we offered to pay him full price for the day and he wouldn't take it. He told us to go away. Now I think the plan is to get out of Siem Reap. I left but hopefully the Israeli guys worked it out with him, I'm sure it will be fine.
Next on the agenda: Phnom Penh. Hopefully I can get some US dollars there. I have enough to get by for now but the small bills sure come in handy. I will go to see the Killing Fields and the war museum. It's supposed to be pretty intense.
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TIm
non-member comment
Damn Cambodians.
That is crazy, I would have pooped a little if that happened to me.