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Published: April 4th 2009
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More nail biting than any sports match, I was front seat to what will go down as the best stare down of all time.
I call this Cambodia vs Canada:
It was another hot steamy day and we set out (sadly) leaving Thailand for Cambodia. We decided after four weeks of madness, buckets and dancing until 6am it was time for some culture and down time. We took a bus from Bangkok and set forth to enter Cambodia towards Siam Riep in the north to experience the Angkor Wat temples. A four hour journey brought us to the boarder, and was the perfect amount of prep time for Alex to make sure we were not going to get scammed. Team budget was to spend $20 USD for a visa and nothing more! We stayed savvy and avoided numerous ploys to try and over charge us on the Thai side, before even crossing the border. Finally, arriving at an officials stand on the Cambodian side we were greeted with uniforms, smiles and an official sign that read: Tourist visa $20 USD. Yet, despite all of this, the official was trying to over charge us again and trying to get us
to pay in baht. What corruption!! And Alex was having non of it. She finally got him to agree to let us pay in USD and he wanted an extra 100 baht, to which Alex accused: "yeah, for your pocket!". Then the stare off began, as our passports stood looking for cover - Canada vs Cambodia. Cambodia was not stepping down, nor did his eye flinch away from the focus into hers which a stern look of annoyance mixed with the nakedness of defeat - which made him even more angry! A lesser, perhaps more weak individual, would have backed down; would have give up as his hand passed our passports back to us as if to refuse our entry. She stared on. "Look," she said, "I am not trying to make you angry." He repeated his 'deal'. He acknowledged his corruption, and we accepted the lesser scam and were on our way to the Kingdom of Cambodia.
Now I don't mean to start this blog off on the wrong foot. Cambodia is A M A ZING, and so far what we would say is our favourite place. Angkor Wat was out of this world and we made friends
with our Tuk Tuk driver, so spent the 3 days with us bring us to various "happy places" were we were the sole white tourists walking through a carnival/picnic area thriving on the weekends. We bought an mixed meal of rice, noodles, spring rolls and Angkor beers and all sat under the stars for a picnic on a bamboo rug while small children stared at our smiles and foreign tongue. It is the people of Cambodia that allow you to so easily fall in love with this country. Kind, honest and ready to help.
Sihanoukville was a just the right mix of low key we needed, but it was rather an adjustment from Thailand. However, if you look for it, there is always a big social buzz and party on the beach offering beer drafts between .25 and .50 cents and mixed seafood BBQs for $3 (squid, prawns and barracuda). Needless to say it was a big departure from the 7 11 and we ate like queens. Accommodation prices made this much easier too, with decent places for $8USD a night. Sure, halfway through we discovered that if you open the window from the outside and slide your arm
through the screen-less hole, you could open our locked door with ease. Nothing a little piece of wood from the side of the road couldn't fix, and did! Traveling really makes you realize how resourceful you can be if needed.
Yes, there wasn't enough resources to prepare us for Bamboo Island. Excited and ready for some more R and R, we set sail on a long boat to a remote island were you can stay in 'basic' huts along the crystal clear watered beaches. I need to write a letter to Lonely (aka Lair) Planet to explain just what basic is - rats not included! I can go on and on about the lovely white sands, the isolation, the people doing yoga on the beach, the banana pancakes, but it is much more fun to talk about the rats, squat toilets and absence of electricity. Basically prepare to get scared shitless when a rat runs across your bed in the middle of the night and you cannot turn on the lights - hovering in the middle of your bed you turn on your flashlight to sit face to face with a big fat greasy rat hanging from your mosquito
net. I guess it was his place first.
Other interesting tidbits of Cambodia:
1. Best line to be excused from doing ANYTHING bad or immature or worse: "Don't worry baby doll, the malaria pills made you do it."
2. Beach sellers, ie fresh lobster and fruit on the beach. Heart breaking and delicious at the same time. There are so many poor people in Cambodia it is really hard to help everyone. The exploitation of kids being the most horrendous. We literally saw a baby holding a baby for money.
3. Its truly amazing, almost like a treasure hunt, to find nice bathrooms in Cambodia (or Asia generally). When you see someone coming out of the john with a smile on their face, you know there is a seat and yes, you are THAT excited.
4. Everything on the menu is "happy" - happy shakes, happy pizza and if you are really lucky, it is "happy" for a reason 😉
In Phnom Penn we also visited a few places like S-21 and the killing fields which, if you know the history, was awful. We literally felt sick walking through these areas - but worth making the visit.
Shout outs to some great people we met: The Sweds and their volleyball which made for hours of fun, Tom from England and our English/Scotish Aussie friends who we sadly left behind in Phnom Penn. You guys each have the best 'apple bottoms' and love from Canadia !
We are currently in Ho Chi Min City (land and lord of the mopeds) and heading to Na Trang tonight on a sleeper bus. We are full to the brim with Pho Soup ( Pho pho pho !!!!) and are ready for some beach - for some reason city sweat is so much worse than beach sweat.
Over and out and until the next. Peace.
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