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Published: January 29th 2013
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How did we (Julia, Madiha, Ratchany, and I) decide upon making the 12 hour trek to Siem Reap for a long weekend? It really began weeks ago when nearly all of the international students made the decision to travel south (about the same distance) to Koh Pagnan for the full moon party. For some reason the full moon party held no significance to me, and I was lucky enough to have a few companions in my sentiments. The decision to go to Cambo was actually a suggestion from another Mahidol student, and we had no other plans soooooo went for it.
I will interject this story to say that being able to go to Cambodia for a long weekend and make plans to do so a day or two ahead of time is about my favorite part of living in Bangkok!
Armed with tons of helpful information from Meghan (shout out for helping us avoid some pretty bad scams), the trusty SE Asia Lonely Planet book, some fruit, and a small backpack, we headed out at 4:45 on a Friday morning for what would be a twelve hour excurssion in which we rode a train, tuk tuk (to a
Child With Snake
There were multiple children with these drugged snakes around their necks that would charge tourists $1 to take a picture with the snake. scam visa post...DONT EVER BUY VISAS FROM PEOPLE NOT IN UNIFORM..we avoided this scam with Meghan's advice), bus, and finally a taxi. Whoooo, thinking about that makes me tired.
We finally arrived in this strange land called Siem Reap where everyone spoke English pretty well (a truly difficult thing to find in Bangkok), fabulous Pizza, and a town that we were able to walk almost completely in one morning...I'm almost certain this must be the place Buddhists call Nirvana. We stayed at a fabulous Hostel, Mad Monkey, for $5/a night pp. The coolest part about the hostel was the rooftop bar/restaurant that had sand for a floor and was filled with travelers from all over the world (new friends from England, Norway, Australia, and DelaWHERE...thats for you Julia). Second greatest part of this hostel were the activities they helped arrange for us.
One of the days we set out on an afternoon boat cruise that began by taking us through a waterway filled with similar tourist boats but also a flurry of little SE Asian speed boats that zip around you as they make their way to and from their real lives on floating villages. This river spills
into a larger lake where we stopped at a small floating conglomerate of a crocodile farm, restaurant, souvenir shop, catfish farm, and tourist scam all rolled onto one bamboo raft in the middle of the lake. (Sorry these names are so vague...I tried google searching their actual names but the Green Park internet apparently has its own activities planned for the night). That being said, this place was eyeopeningly (word?) tragic. There were kids offering you drugged snakes to take pictures with for $1, crocodiles held in a small inlet in the platform, and a surrounding village filled with houses made of whatever spare material that could be found. We continued on our journey to the middle of the lake where people swam in the lake (Note: this lake was some how dirtier than the Mississippi and possibly the Hudson...I did not go in). As the sun set the sky and lake merged into a gray wall that was quite breath taking (even though the sun set was less than impressive).
Then I guess we went to Angkor too.
But seriously, the place is difficult to describe. The whole kingdom of Angkor is so vast there is truly
no comparisson (in my limited experience). We woke up at 4:45 AM to make it to Angkor Wat before sun rise. As we walked through the entrance to Angkor Wat in the complete dark anxiously awaiting the sun to make its first appearance, it felt as if we were in the seats at a Broadway Musical awaiting the drawing of the curtains. Now...let me be completely frank, the sun rise is really not spectacular (are you sensing a trend here??) and Angkor Wat had some construction that diminished its splendor slightly. That being said the entire complex was quite breath taking and exhausting (after 7 hrs). My favorite temple was Byron which depicts faces (supposedly of the kings) on every face as a symbol for the king's constant watch (see picture). Also, I still completely recommend going for sun rise for three reasons 1. maybe the sun rise will be amazing when you go...but more likely because 2. SE Asia is really hot and if you go early you'll avoid the hottest part of the day and 3. people like to sleep, so if you go early you avoid the largest groups of tourists that only begin their tours at
9am (when you're already 4 hrs into yours).
We spent the rest of our time in Siem checking out the absolutely phenomenal markets (much better than Thailand's), getting fish feet massages, EATING, EATING, EATING, and telling people we were STILL not interested in massages or tuk tuks or whatever else they were selling.
With a collection of French Cafes, Tuk Tuks, Fish Massages, Floating villages, and the almost over whelming culture that is Angkor, Siem Reap was truly a complete experience. (French influence from the colonial period can be extensively found throughout Siem Reap)
Okay, lets do a quick run down of Bangkok and life in Thailand. First, to humanize my experience I had a day last week where I felt pretty lame because I was feeling sad for myself and missing home and family and friends (not so lame). While this is a common and fair emotion, I am happy it passed quickly because I am truly blessed to be living this wonderful warm life here in SE Asia, AND I get to hang out with my cousin Tanner in a week!!! Next, because school here doesn't require as much out of class reading, I have
Angkor Wat
Best sunrise picture possible... been absolutely consuming books here. I think I've finished six already (something I haven't been able to do since before college started). I am absolutely loving getting to read fun and interesting books again!! That being said...If anyone has suggestions for fab books throw them my way. Sorry this is so long, and I figure only about half of you are still reading at this point...meaning just my mom is left because my dad walked away from the computer 10 minutes ago to play with the cat.
Loving and missing you all (unless I don't know you and you some how stumbled onto this blog)
Taylor Ann
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