The Trip Takes a Turn...

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Saturday 1-15 to Tuesday 1-18
After the girls left, we rented bikes and biked around the ruins. We wanted to take a little down time to really sit back and enjoy the place now that we had seen the major sights. We weren’t disappointed; it was a beautiful ride and we got some much needed exercise. But oh my god, these bikes are made for little people! We only paid a dollar for them, so I really shouldn’t complain. But my knees were frickin’ killing me half way through! I never felt so giant and tall in my life! A 30 km bike ride was good for us, but I was happy to rent a tuk tuk the next day to take us the extra 50 km north of town to see Kbal Spean.

Kbal Spean was an ancient water source up in the Kulen Hills. Raelene was wondering where this “waterfall” was that people kept talking about…well, we found it. The water from the Stung Kbal Spean River is considered sacred and all around the place you could see ancient stone carvings worn down by the water flow. Back in the 11th century, the king had 1000 lingas (phallic symbols; symbols of the god Shiva) carved into the bed of the river. We could still see many of them along the banks and under the water. Later kings added carvings depicting the actual god and the creation of the earth, many of which, in later Buddhist times, had their faces scratched off.

After the Valley of 1000 Lingas, we headed to the ruins of Banteay Srey, which were by far my favorite. They were sooooo intricately ornate! Of all the Khmer ruins we’ve seen, NONE, were as decorative as this! Amazing preservation of swirling stone carvings and demon-like guards. I was stunned and didn’t want to leave; it was so beautiful!

We get back to our hotel that afternoon and things start to unravel a bit. Turns out our next flight from Bangkok to Nepal has been canceled unbeknownst to us and of course it’s the weekend and we can’t get a hold of our travel agent to sort it out (because the airlines won’t deal personally with us – ugh!). We spend the next several days trying to get this sorted out (still don’t have tickets one week later while writing this); not much fun. On top of all that, our hotel ceases to have internet for the next two. As if that wasn’t enough, instead of getting to spend our last day in Siem Reap sightseeing, we spent it in the Royal Hospital after I started to run a raging fever and cold sweat overnight. Turns out I have lots of different microbes throwing outrageous parties in my digestive system. Fan-flippin-tastic! I think we need to slow down on the trip a bit and take it easy. Things seem to be falling a part a little (nothing that can’t be fixed, but it’s annoying). At least we got to eat some AMAZING Indian food before leaving Cambodia ;o) – no microbes shall keep ME away from seriously good food. (Looking forward to what’s to come, Trent!)

Wednesday 1-19
Holy frick. Kill me now. We booked a 23 hour bus from Siem Reap to Cambodia – no problem. We were told it would be about a 1.5 hour trip to the border then we’d get a direct sleeper bus to Chiang Mai. Totally doable. UNLESS, that’s not really what you get. Instead, here’s what we got: 5 min. tuk tuk ride from our hotel to another hotel/meeting point; 30 min wait at the hotel; 2 hrs on a decent bus to the border (no problem); a couple hours to stand in line and exit one country, then stand in line and enter another, while waiting around for the Chiang Mai bus driver. And here’s where we should have realized something was off. After about 30 minutes of watching others get on a bus and continually asking the border-crossing coordinator where the Chiang Mai bus is and being told we needed to wait, he finally walks over to us in a rush. He’s calling us to get on the bus and scolding us that the Chiang Mai bus has been waiting for us forever, that we should have been the first ones to leave. What?! OK, fine. So we walk over to the bus area, no where is the bus labeled; we asked several different drivers who’s going to Chiang Mai; none of them know. Finally another dude makes us get on a Bangkok bus. Again: WHAT?! Apparently, there’s no Chiang Mai bus. We ALL have to go to Bangkok and then wait there for another bus. Friggin’ great! This bus, which must have been THE most uncomfortable bus we’ve ever been in, takes 4 hours to get to Bangkok, not including the extra hour of sitting in rush hour traffic. We are so cramped and uncomfortable in this bus, I think I might kill someone to claw my way out for fresh air and straight legs. Now, after dark, we’re in Bangkok. We’re told we have 10 minutes to find food (nothing since breakfast by the way) and get on the bus. We ask for directions to food and are sent down an empty street. Nice! We finally find our own food and are led down a couple streets to get on the bus. This one is a sleeper bus, but definitely not as nice as the one in the brochure (classic tourist complaint!). We try to settle in and get some sleep for the 11 hour ride to Chiang Mai, but the driver turns on the tv and we are “treated” to the Karate Kid on high volume for the next 2 hours. There was NO possible sleep happening on this ride. When we finally got into Chiang Mai around 6am the next day, we immediately went to our hotel and passed out. Border crossed.

I have to say, I am not an especially patriotic person; I tend to frown upon nationalism. But there are two things this trip has made me appreciate as an American. 1) I miss the ability to complain to someone and have my concerns addressed. When something goes wrong in another country, when your sold one thing but receive another, when no one will answer your questions, there is NOTHING you can do about it. As Americans, we tend to take for granted the concept of “the customer is always right.” In fact, as someone who works in customer service, customers can be a pain in the ass. But at least they have the right to complain, to be heard and to vent. I’m S.O.L. out here :o) 2) I miss the simplistic efficiency of a sandwich. When you’re running from place to place, when you just want to eat something quick and move on or go to bed, there’s nothing quite like the ease and satisfaction of a sandwich. I wish they were more abundant outside the U.S.

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Comments

[Kathy]

sandwiches
Maybe it is good that you are in Asia at the beginning of the trip. Things get easier in Europe. After all, sandwiches were invented in England.