Rice Rice Baby To Go

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Yesterday after trying to find a bus out of Ayutthaya to the border and having no luck, we decided to head back to Bangkok via train the next day to catch a train to the border. So we paid our fifty cents (US) and got to Bangkok within about an hour and a half, then grabbed some lunch at good ole KFC, our last taste of fast food for a while, and hopped on a 5 1/2 hour train for only $2! The train ride was hot, dusty, and smoky (due to the burning trash and fields). We looked like coal miners by the end of it thanks to all the ashes and smoke, hopefully we don't end up with black lung. Luckily we got on early in Bangkok and were able to have seats for the whole ride (many people ended up standing for a lot of the trip).

Most of the scenery along the way was rice patties, either growing, being burned, or tilled and ready for planting. The other meaning to our blog title is all the sticky rice being sold on the train all day by vendors walking up and down the cars shouting what they are selling over and over. "Get your sticky rice, only 10 baht, sticky rice!" (that is what we think they were saying but we have no idea)

We arrived in Aranyaprathet which is on the border with Poipet, Cambodia and found another backpacker with the same plans as us. We joined forces and found a very cheap hotel ($5) that even gave us cold water upon arrival!

The next moring we got up at the break of dawn to start across the border to Cambodia. We grabbed some street doughnuts and jumped in the local bus. When we arrived at the border it was complete choas, people going every which way. Being white everyone was looking at us so people we directing us in no time and also asking how were going to get to the next city. We saw some other westerners so we stuck with them so we could share a taxi to the next town. After a long time of bargining we decided to get the taxi for $45. The book said taxi is the best way to get to Siem Reap and i see why, the road really does suck as bad as the books says. That is 3 and a half hours of various stages of construction most bad or really bad. Alll the bridges were being worked on at the same time so some had either a one lane bridge or a dirt road around it. At one point we were routed through a monastary with very narrow roads and very crude wood bridges so crude the buses wouldn't even attempt it (that's saying a lot because the bus drivers in Asia are fearless). Surprisingly we got to Siem Reap in one peice without incident, though we saw many other cars with flats or other problems along the way.

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Photos

Kids directing traffic
As we came up to this one lane bridge, we saw two very young children directing traffic. It was a totally blind spot so luckily they were good at their jobs!

Transporting chickens!
We saw all sorts of things being transported via motorbike, including chickens (as you see here) and another one with a very large (200+ lbs) pig strapped belly up, kicking and screaming the whole way!

Hazards along the roadway
Our driver was great at swerving around the many different vehicles, cows, and other road hazards.

Want some Pepsi?
No, that's actually Gasoline for sale!