Blogs from Cambodia, Asia - page 7

Today was the last day of our tour around Cambodia. From the outset, we have been going non-stop to see as much of the country we can in our limited time here. This final day was no exception as we started out well before sunrise in order to catch the sunrise from Angkor Wat. Stepping out into the pre-morning darkness, we made our way past hundreds of other tourists as well as vendors selling coffee and breakfast items in order to stake out our spot for catching the sunrise. As sunrise was approaching and we started seeing the faintest glimpses of light above the towers of Angkor Wat, we along with a few hundreds of other visitors gathered tightly together along the edge of one of the reflecting ponds. It was here many of us were ... read more

This morning was our last morning in Phnom Penh and we had a couple of hours before we had to go to the airport and catch our flight to Siem Reap. After another delicious and relaxing breakfast on the rooftop, I went for a morning walk to soak in the city for one last time. I walked along the riverfront watching people starting off their day, shopkeepers sweeping and hosing the fronts of their shops, and others just out on their morning walk. It was still quite early but the nearby market just outside of our hotel was already a beehive of activity. I did a quick look around the market and wandered around the various stalls selling fruits, vegetables, animal parts, and insects. We eventually made our way to the Phnom Penh International Airport where ... read more

With the hills surrounding Los Angeles up in flames and the fires dangerously close to my home, there was no better time than now to be getting out of town. For the past few months, Shea and I were both excitedly looking forward to this trip. For the both of us, this would be our first time on the continent of Asia where we would be joining a 6 day tour of Cambodia with Intrepid Travel and afterwards we would be spending a few days in Thailand. We set out at 8:00 PM on Halloween night to make it to LAX for our 1:05am flight on China Eastern Airlines to Shanghai, China. I was a bit apprehensive about flying with this airline. The reviews that I had read on-line did little to ease my apprehensions. Once ... read more

Het is een tijdje stil geweest in blogland, maar hier is dan eindelijk het hoofdstuk over Cambodja. In Luang Prabang nam ik het vliegtuig naar Siem Reap, waarop ook het Israelische koppel die ik had ontmoet op zat. Wat ook bleek was dat zij in hetzelfde hostel als mij verbleven. We deelden samen een tuktuk helemaal vol geladen met onze baggage, maar het pastte. Eenmaal aangekomen gooide ik mijn spullen in de kamer en deed ff een drankje met een aantal mensen bij de bar en daarna naar een restaurantje om mijn eerste Cambodjaanse maaltijd te hebben. Daarna liep ik nog een klein beetje rond, maar ik werd al gauw een beetje afgeschrokken door de óverenthousiaste tuktuk chauffeurs waardoor je alleen maar gestresst werd. Dus ik ging snel weer terug naar het hostel en niet al ... read more

I had arranged to meet the tuk tuk driver at 4.45am and he was there waiting despite the fact that I was a few minutes early. We headed to Angkor Wat and it soon became apparent that so was half of Siem Reap. Loads of mopeds, tuk tuks and even some coaches were all converging and by the time I got there, a crowd had already gathered waiting for it to open at 5.00am. My tuk tuk was frustratingly slow as we were being overtaken by quite a few others. It had also started to rain, so I was not optimistic about the sunrise. The tuk tuk driver kindly lent me an umbrella. When it did open we all had to funnel through to get our passes checked. I knew exactly where I wanted to go, ... read more