Road Trip to Siem Reap

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Geo: 13.374, 103.844

Our driver picked us up promptly at 9 am for the road trip to Siem Reap. The vehicle is an older Lexus RX 300 with air. The outside temp is 95 F. It is a 5 - 6 hour trip for $ 95 for both of us.

Our driver is a very pleasant young fellow with reasonable English. They must have unlimited calling because he spent a good part of the trip on the phone (hands free). We haven't seen any people texting and few walking around staring at their phones. It is likely those that did didn't survive in the traffic.

We had been warned the road was a lot of dirt road but this was not the case. Mostly wide and paved but normally no lines so lanes were constantly in flux.

Not too much traffic but at times near villages it gets busy with bikes, motorbikes, trucks, buses and cars.

Our driver seems to take it all in stride passing when we wouldn't attempt it and making judicious and frequent use oh his horn. Speed ranges from a crawl to 80 mph.

There are small intercity buses (Toyota type vans on steroids). Many of the local buses are in rough condition and have approximately 30 - 35 people STUFFED inside along with goods, food and occasionally a motorbike strapped to the back door which is seldom fully closed.

Yesterday upon watching the scooter drivers we discovered that you could drive motorbikes at the age of 12 in Cambodia but we suspect some are younger.

We stopped along the way to look at the Dragon bridge which is 100 years old. No cars or trucks allowed.

There are lots of skinny cows in the yards and the fields. On a couple of occasions they were being herded across the road and once there was a runaway on the road.

The water level along the way is very high and the primary agriculture is rice.

Historically the houses have been built on wooden stilts but some are using concrete. Also they are now bringing in sand fill so they can build without worrying about flooding.

There are lots of gas stations along the way. I guess the motorbikes do not have large tanks.

The driver stopped at one of the stands where we ate rice, coconut and beans cooked in a bamboo tube.

The Villa Indochine D'angkor hotel is very pleasant. There is a great salt water pool with a bar with the bar stools in the water. Considering the temperature it was a welcome sight.

Tomorrow we are up early. The tuk tuk takes us to Ankar Wat at 4:30 am.

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Comments

[Tikkki]

Fancy bed!!!! So does it seem like people are happy and living full lives or does it feel like they are struggling to survive? I've always been curious about the morale of what western cultures consider to be a 2nd/3rd world country.

[crw]

Tikki asks an excellent question - how do people in Cambodia and Vietnam feel about their lives? In my work and travel abroad, I meet parents in every country who want their kids to have a better life and increased opportunity. I meet young
ones who are rearing to go and want to change the world. But, depending on the country, by the mid-twenties, their hopes and dreams may be dashed.

[Tikkki]

Thanks Clayton- this is something I've been curious about for a long time. Because we live very fortunately here we assume that these people are miserable in their situations but that's likely only because we are comparing our standard of l
iving against theirs. Maybe they think we are crazy to own such luxuries and have such high debts. It's an interesting thing to think about and apply to my own life- maybe it would be better to have less but then would you miss the things you have up? How long until you don't miss them? Random thoughts.... Hope you are well :) t

[carla]

Your hotel looks wonderful, but the travel to this hotel, looks kind of down-trauden, not too picturesque. Still very hot there. Are you enjoying the heat. I would love to go into that pool of water.

[itchy-feet-bc]

When you see the children going to school on their bikes in uniform they appear happy and much like most kids. Unfortunately they are likely in the minority because schooling is not free nor is medical. One business owner said that there ar
e the rich 1%, a very small middle class and the poor. As Clayton stated it seems the young people eventually become disillusioned. It is difficult to leave the country. There are no free services because there is no tax collection. It will interesting to know what change will happen in the next 20 years. It seems some countries Japan. South Korea and Turkey are moving forward but it is not so easy for others.