One Night in Bangkok and a few in Cambodia

We arrived in Bangkok on November 6th. We met the crew, Adam, Alex, Tara and Perry at the airport and began our journey to our hotel. This was probably the most memorable cab ride yet. Of course there were no cabs big enough for all 6 of us so I was placed on Eric's lap in the front seat while everyone else was crammed in the back with the luggage. Bangkok traffic on Friday night, we soon found out, was like Atlanta rush hour times 10. Our cab driver found it quite amusing to play Elvis on full blast while showing us multiple magic tricks while sitting in stand still traffic. He found his magic tricks and jokes very humorous and laughed hysterically every few minutes which was great entertainment for us. Finally 2 hours later we arrive at Sam's Lodge hotel.

Perry burried in the taxi with our luggage

We had previously decided to make our one night in Bangkok a very memorable one. We all set out to dinner at a hotel down the street followed by an amazing view from the bar Vertigo in the city. We were unaware that there was a dress code until they presented us all with these "stylish" slippers that had to be worn instead of our flip flops. Tara and I of course found this very exciting.

Tara and I showing off our stylish white slippers

Enjoying the view of Bangkok from one of the tallest bars in the city

Admiring the view

The night sadly ended well before sunrise because nothing stays open past 2 am in this normally bustling city. This was probably a good thing considering we had a van picking us up at 6 am to drive us to Cambodia. Sadly it was time to tell Tara goodbye because she was flying back to Aspen for work.

After piling in our van that was 45 minutes late due to "an accident" we all stretched out and took long naps. The border was about 4 hours away and we used our private ride for some much needed shut eye. Upon arriving at the border we found that the scary 4 hour wait for visas was a complete lie (or we just missed the crowd) because we got our visas and stamps and were out the door in under an hour. From there we needed another van for the next 4 hour journey. We piled in the not so comfortable van and head for Seam Reap. Our tour guide (creepy eyes) took a strong liking for Eric and stroked his leg hair every so often and told him that he would take him out that night for some drinks. Creepy eyes continued to appear throughout our stay in Seam Reap which always made for an awkward conversation and a quick exit.

The only documentation of any of us being awake on this van ride

Crossing through the Cambodian border

Old creepy eyes himself

We found a great little hotel called Hotel Popular that was in the middle of the hustle and bustle of Seam Reap. We hopped into our tuk tuks and headed for the sunset at Angkor Wat. Us and about another 2,000 people caught a great sunset overlooking the magnificant structure. After our sunset photoshoot we went back to eat dinner at our hotel. We all discovered the best dish they had to offer which was the luc lak (a Cambodian dish made of rice, beef, french fries, and gravy). After dinner our night became a lot more interesting.

Climbing on the statues at sunset

Making friends with the locals

A few guys at the hotel decided that they were taking us out for the night. They piled us into their tuk tuks and drove us towards the side of town most tourists wouldn't know to venture to. The restaurant set up a table for us plus about 15 locals. The restaurant/bar had live singing (Cambodian karoke) and lots of beer. We soon found out that the Cambodians like to toast about every five minutes while chanting "chul moy". This was supposed to be your promt to finish your beer. A few hours later we made our way back to the hotel to prepare for our 5 am drive to Angkor Wat.

A night out in Seam Reap.

We found it very entertaining to go to the bathroom because the local women would sneak up behind the boys and try to give them back massages while they were using the bathroom.

On November 8th we woke up early and headed to Angkor Wat. It is definatly a must see of Cambodia. The structure is enormous with lots of detail. We wondered around the site for a few hours and then headed back for one more meal of luc lac and then continued on our journey to Phnom Penh. This ride was not so pleasant considering our air conditioning decided not to work until 3 hours into the trip.

Sunrise!

Angkor Wat sunrise in the rain

We had heard many negative things about Phnom Penh so we were plesantly suprised when we arrived to our hotel on the river. There were restaurants and shops lining the entire river. We found a nice Italian restaurant for dinner that night and strolled down the streets admiring the river and the different carts selling various types of insects.

The next morning we awoke early and went to S21, a school converted into Cambodia's most important prison in 1975. More than 14,000 people were tortured here before being killed at the Killing Fields south of Phnom Penh; only 8 prisoners made it out alive. After viewing the museum we went to the Killing Fields to view where the bodies were disposed of after being confined to S21. After learning the depressing past of Cambodia we made our way back to our hotel to catch our bus to Vietnam.

The skulls displayed at the Killing Fields

Our tuk tuk driver for the day

Typical landscape of Cambodia

We all wished that we could have spent more time visiting Cambodia. The people are amazingly nice despite their horrific past and it's hard to find a local that isn't smiling. This is definatly a place that I would love to return to one day.