This was written a few days ago. Ha, I'm trying to catch up.
The last day and half have certainly been interesting. Yesterday morning, I finally got to leave Taipei airport (woo!) only to embark on one of the most stressful/eventful traveling experiences of my life. Once we landed in Hong Kong, we were shooed off the airplane, only to be given another boarding pass, go through security, and re-board the exact same airplane. So strange. It was at that point that I began to realize how interesting our next segment of the trip was going to be. Once we arrived in Bangkok, we had to get off the plane, go through customs, pick up our luggage, find our coordinators to drop off some of our luggage (so we wouldn’t have to take all of it to Cambodia), check in at the correct departure hall (with the correct amount of luggage), and then make it to the gate…all within an hour and a half. What made it even more interesting was the fact that our flight going from Hong Kong to Bangkok left 20 minutes late, leaving us an even smaller amount of time. Needless to say, we ran through the airport of Bangkok, and barely made it in time to the flight. Less than an hour later, we landed in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Phnom Penh is an experience, to say the least. I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting, but what I got was far from whatever it was. The streets were intensely crowded, despite the 95+ degree weather with insane amount of humidity (or at least it was insane from me, since Arizona knows no humidity). At least three quarters of the people were on the wide sidewalks, which were lined with shops. These shops, instead of being the typical walk into a room through a door type of thing were instead more like tarps pitched over piles of whatever goods they were selling. There were no supermarkets, no corporations, and no price tags. Our tuk tuk driver weaved through the crowded city traffic, which consisted mostly of motor bikes (which I would call scooters) carrying anywhere from one to three people, and a few cars. There seemed to be no traffic laws, as no one followed the lane lines and some even drove on the wrong side of the road.
Once we arrived at our hostel, we were greeted by an enthusiastic young man, whose name I never could remember. With a large, happy smile, he took our bags, and brought us to the front desk. One the way, he asked my name. When I told him, he exclaimed “Kristin! That’s such a beautiful name!” Ha, at that point, he became my favorite Cambodian person. He was nice, friendly, talked to me like a real person (not a foreigner or girl) and he complimented me. Oh, and he carried my bags. That was nice too. If I ever go back, I would visit him…now if only I could remember his name.
Anyway, the rest of the day passed with relative disinterest. I was far too tired to take in much of the city, despite my excitement to be there. We eventually made it back to the hostel, and passed out sometime around eight. Oh, it was so nice to sleep.
This morning, I woke up completely and utterly confused. For some reason, I had a dream that I was taking all the Camp Sparky kids to a trip in Cambodia, and I honestly believed that all their bags had magically appeared in my room over the course of the night. After getting up, turning on all the lights, and quelling my fear that I was surrounded by fifty small children, I was finally able get up and begin my day…at five in the morning. I guess that’s what I get for going to bed at eight.
I tried the local food for the first time this morning. The cuisine was definitely interesting, and consisted of rice and pork with some sort of weird sauce. All in all, not too bad. What made me really happy, though, was the price. For a filling, tasty breakfast, it only cost about 60 cents (and I’m sure they upped the price for the white foreigners who probably didn’t know any better).
Anyway, after taking a short walk and poking our heads in a few temples, we headed back to the hostel. Twenty minutes later, the van that was taking us to the bus stop pulled up and honked. My favorite Cambodian person grabbed my bags, and walked Bryan and I to the van. I thanked him, and he gave his typical happy smile. I wonder if he remembers my name.
The bus itself was incredibly odd. With bright red fake wood floors, floral wall paper, bright polka dot seats, and pink curtains, it looked like someone had attempted to combine the décor of a strip club, grandmother’s house, and child’s bedroom all into one bus. To say the least, it was a very confusing concept. My brain was in a whirl every time I tried to grasp the overall look of the place. After a while, I just gave up and enjoyed the view of the Cambodian countryside.
Riding through the country in Cambodia gave a very different feel than the city. There were obviously fewer people living in the rural areas, which were more like jungle than actual living space. The people living there also seemed to have no issue with nudity, as most of the children ran around with no clothes, and seemingly, no cares. In the more rural areas, almost all the houses seemed to be built on stilts, with a staircase leading up to the second (or main) floor. I’m not exactly sure what this was for, though it may have had something to do with the rain. Cambodia gets a lot of rain each year, and probably a lot of flooding in the areas that are not equipped to deal with the rain. By building houses on stilts, families could effectively protect their homes from the next incoming weather disaster.
At one point we stopped at a local market. The moment we stepped off the bus, we were surrounded by children, each shoving their food products in our face. “Sweet bananas, only one dollar!” and “Pineapple! Two for one dollar!” seemed to be the chime of the hour, as every single child mobbed us with their local goods. However, as if this were not enough, two or three of the girls even carried around giant tarantula spiders with them. Although I did not have a problem with the spiders (yeah, they’re gross, but there are worse things), a few of the other travelers on the bus did not enjoy them. With their pitiful yelps and screams, the children giggled, following them with their spiders. This must have been a field day for those kids. Make money AND torment foreigners – very productive.
A few hours later, we eventually made it to Siem Reap. Right away, I could tell that this city was much more tourist friendly. It was less of a bustling city, as there were fewer scooters and open shops along the side of the road, and more of a hodgepodge of every culture imaginable that allowed for a person of any ethnicity to feel comfortable. This city certainly catered to and attracted every type of person, which came as no surprise to me. I mean, Angkor Wat is pretty damn cool.
After reaching the hostel and finding out that the plug for my computer indeed fits into the socket (that was the icing of my cake of a day), I settled down for a nice, quiet evening of hanging out and resting. Much more excitement to come tomorrow! Woo Angkor Wat!
QuantumStorm
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