We broke our rule of arriving in a unfamiliar town after dark, the bus dropped us off and luckily there was a tuk tuk (motor bike) taxi driver who offered to take us to a guest house. There was another backpacker who was very paranoid, telling us not to get in the taxi….which made me really anxious, but after walking around a bit and noticing no signs for hotels. We got in the taxi and he took us to a hotel very safely. Once we got there we noticed that there was no english signs labeling hotels, so it would have been really difficult to find a place on our own. We checked into a surprising clean hotel and slept for bit. My stomache was super upset from all of the caffeine on the bus, so I couldn’t sleep much.

We woke up and grabbed the same taxi guy from the night before who I swear just sleep in the tuk tuk waiting for our fare in the morning. He took us to a travel agent, we heard they really over charge to take you across the border, so we asked to be taken to the border. The taxi then takes us to the Cambodia Consulate where we got our Visas. It seems very odd the consulate wasn’t a very formal place, but we paid $30 each and got our visas for Cambodia. Then the taxi driver took us to the border where we walked across. I was very overwhelmed with crossing the border. Of course, I had read all these horrible things about getting scammed and being stuck on a bus for 10-15 hours going to Siem Reap from Thailand, so I was extra paranoid. Also as we are walking across, there was this man in a Cambodian Tourist shirt who kept telling us what to do, which seems a bit odd as well. And then to top it off, we are hand a little piece of paper that said to watch out for people pick pocketing, especially little kids. I was on overload, plus needed to go to the bathroom again to get all the caffeine out from the previous bus ride. Well, it turned out the guy that was helping us. He was from the Cambodian Government helping tourist get across the barder, he got us to the bus terminal without any concern. It was a good reminder to be aware and careful, but to not let preconceived notions get in the way of my experience!!

We hopped on another bus to take us to Siem Reap, it was Pink! Everything was pink! Inside, outside, curtains, seats…We enjoyed our pink ride, I couldn’t help but take a few pictures of Alan looking so beautiful surrounded by pink! Plus in was Valentine’s Day so the pink bus was perfect!

Once we arrived in Siem Reap and got a hotel room, we headed out to a nice dinner for V-day, where they had a buffet and dancing entertainment. The dancing was a bit cheesy but it was great to try a bunch of different Cambodian food at one time. After dinner, we feel asleep very quickly and got up early (ok noon…) to check out Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat was incredible. We did two days of touring around. The first day we just walked around, taking in the 800+ year old structures. The next day we got a guide who walked us through the three main temples: Angkor Wat, Bayon, and Ta Prohm. My favorite has to be Ta Prohm because of it’s natural state. The fig trees have taken over and growing around, through and on top of the temple. It is an incredible sight to see these enormous trees just powering their way through the man-made temples.

After our first day in Angkor Wat, we were heading back to our hotel and saw lights that looked like a carnival. We asked our Tuk Tuk driver what it was and he said he would take us over to show us. We checked it out and it was indeed a carnival. So we went to a Cambodia carnival! There were so many people there, we saw one other western couple a ways away, but other than that it was all Cambodians. The carnival was very similar to a small town carnival in the US, rides for kids, games and prizes, and lots of food stands. Alan was determined to win a prize with the balloon darts, he finally got 2 balloons and the prizes were two drinks, he picked a really warm Coke and Green Tea.

Also, while we have been here, we have noticed the coldness and stricken looks on the Cambodian peoples faces. You definitely don’t feel like a welcomed visitor like you do in Indonesia, where people are always smiling, asking you “where you are going?” and helping you. In Seim Reap, you can feel the struggling of the country and even in the infrastructure, there will be a really poor hut or home next to a large new home, hotel, bank, etc. Another thing that is hard to get use to is the exchanging money. We have had a difficulty getting our heads around how to pay. Everything is quoted in US dollars, they hardly use their currency (at least with tourists). So you are told the cost in dollars and then if something cost $1.50, and you pay with a $5 bill, you get $3 and 2,000 Cambodian Riel (for the $.50). If you try to get cash out of the money machine it is given in US dollars and to exchange money into Riel is not easy and is much less at a bank exchange ($1=3,500 riel) for what you would get in the streets ($1=4,000 riel) when paying for a tuk tuk.

At Angkor Wat there are also a lot of children trying to sell you things like jewelry, books, postcards. After walking around Angkor Wat, we needed to get something to drink. We sit down to get a cold Coke and the kids just swarm around you, asking you to buy something. Especially the 4-7 years olds, they will have 10 bracelets in their hand and say “10 for a $1″, and then count out each bracelet for you. It broke my heart to say no sooo many times, but those kids are so persistent! We had 7 kids sitting around us while drinking our Coke, finally, Alan said he would buy a couple of the kids a Coke for a jumping shot. So he picked the first two kids that approached us and had them take a picture, while the other girls just sat there in front of me staring at me, wanting me to buy their postcards. Yes, I know…tall girls can’t jump.

We were only in Siem Reap a few days, then headed to Phnom Pehn. Cambodia will be a quick trip since we need to get to Vietnam and catch a flight to India on March 5th. I am looking forward to Phnom Pehn to see how things are different from Siem Reap! More to come!

Check out our Camodia pictures on flickr!