Archived: Aug 18th, 2009

So that 24-hour train/bus adventure ended up being just as shitty as I'd feared it would be. When I wrote that last massive update I had four hours to kill before our train, which was then delayed another 2 hours after we got to the station. We were supposed to leave at 6:30PM but didn't leave until 9:30PM. We were stressing out because our 12 hour bus to Cambodia was supposed to leave from the train station at 7pm the next day and we weren't sure if we'd have enough time. No one we asked would give us a straight answer and sure enough we ended up getting into Bangkok at 9:30 AM the next morning, 2.5 hours late for our bus. We had the tourist info desk call the bus company for us since we'd already pre-paid for everything. The guy from the bus company's response was "the trains being late aren't my problem, what do you want me to do about it?" We quickly realized he was only testing us, and since we were polite but firm in our discussions he quickly arranged for a shuttle to take us to the bus station and then he bought us a new ticket. Very nice guy. So the bus drops us off at this sketchy food market thing and we have no idea what to do. The nice guy had handed us a phone # before we got on the bus so we knew we were supposed to call someone but a) we don't see a phone and b) having never used a pay phone in Thailand we don't know how. And by this point all the taxi and tuk-tuk drivers had swarmed and were all yelling at us to have them drive us to the border. So this woman comes over to us and I hand her the phone number and some change (I have no idea what a phone call costs here) and she calls the number and then tells us to get into a tuk-tuk who will take us where we need to go. Turns out she was lying and there was supposed to be a shuttle that came to get us but since I didn't call myself she took this as an opportunity to make some cash. So we arrive and then we get into another shuttle, and we drive to the border. We got ripped off for our visas (talking with people later we realized we paid twice what we should have) and were then told we had to change all our money to Cambodian Riels because APPARENTLY no one takes the Bot there. Turns out that was bullshit as well and everyone takes American dollars! So then we take 2 more tuk-tuks and finally arrive at our hotel. We did a tally once we arrived and between the train, buses, tuk-tuks and taxis we took 12 different modes of transport in a 24hour period. That has to be some sort of record! So we arrive in Cambodia and we hate everyone because we've been scammed so many times and we've been in transit all day and there's this guy who greets us who is trying to get us to agree to go on this tour of Angkor Wat the next day but we just want to shower and sleep so I had to get him out of our room. Our hotel ended up being a shithole (mildew smell, no soap/toilet paper, someone stole 100euro from Jason). The next day we rented bicycles and biked around Angkor Wat. It was pretty awesome despite the heavy price tag ($20 US per day!). Angkor is this MASSIVE national park with tons of huge and very famous temples. The biggest one being Angkor Wat, which is the largest religious structure in the world. They're all ruins though, which makes them that much cooler. The coolest one I saw was Ta Phrom which was the once from Tomb Raider and all the cool pictures and pretty much the entire reason I went to Cambodia, so I was super excited when I found it. The whole thing is this ruined temple that's been grown over with these MASSIVE trees and yeah... it's so amazing in person. I took a million pictures. Day 2 we skipped Angkor since it was so expensive and instead hired a tuk-tuk for the day to take us to the landmine museum. It was interesting and sad. I felt compelled to spend money there after so i bought this shirt I probably can't pull off. It's like a cotton button down shirt with knots down the front and no collar. It looks very Asian. After we had our driver take us around to see the "real Cambodia". It mostly consisted of poor people and farm land. After wards we went to get some food and we spoke to our driver about living there. He told us how the prime minister is very corrupt and is the reason everyone is so poor there (see also: landmines). When we first crossed the border into Cambodia we saw these massive casinos everywhere. So odd. Apparently they're all run by Thai business men because gambling in illegal in Thailand. So lots of money is coming in but none of it going to Cambodia. Apparently the PM also leased the Angkor park to Vietnam so none of that money coming in goes to Cambodia either! We also talked about war and how Canada is so peaceful while Cambodia is still cleaning up land mines. On the way back to Thailand I ended up sitting next to this girl on the bus. Sparked up conversation and it turns out she's from Toronto and went to high school with Devora! Small world! Anyways, we got back to Bangkok. We got a wickedly sweet hotel and just hung out. Took a day trip to see more ruins which was cool but kinda boring after having just seen Angkor Wat. Then we went to the travel agent to pick up our bags. Nothing was missing! (YAAAAY!!!!) Our travel agent was so happy to see us. She kissed us when we came in and asked us to write her a letter.... it was all very odd. After I went to the airport with Jason, dropped off my suitcase there, said our goodbyes and then I headed back into the city. I met these 2 German guys and an English guy and we went out to the bars. It was cool since they were all new to Asia so I got to show them the ropes. Having been in Taiwan and now having been in Thailand I knew what to expect. They were afraid of the food carts and the cabs.... it was funny. We went to this place called RCA. It's this cool alley with tons of bars and clubs. We found a rock club with a good cover band and sat around drinking beers and singing songs. They couldn't believe I knew Oasis and Joy Division. After that I caught a bus to Ko Samet and spend 2 nights in this tiny bungalow with a fan and a mosquito net. Spent my days on the beach reading and swimming and my nights in the bar watching football by my lonesome. There was a cool club there but I had no one to go with. So while it was lovely it was also a little lonely. Today I came back to Bangkok to that same hostel I was at before and I leave to China tomorrow..... wow big update. Til next time!