Cambodia: check!

Angkor Wat was crowded, but I'm glad I went

A good friend of mine, well-traveled throughout Southeast Asia, told me I absolutely could not miss Angkor Wat, the enormous ancient temple in Siem Reap, Cambodia. And when she talks about Asia, you listen! So I left Bangkok by train: first I had to go to Aranyaprathet a few hours away, where I was then supposed to take a tuk-tuk to the border, a shuttle to the bus station, and a bus to Siem Reap! Whew.

At Angkor Wat

Let's just say I was woefully unprepared for all these transfers, and I luckily met an American couple and a Swedish girl who were all pooling together on the journey; I happily tagged along. It was my first border crossing by land, and I have to say it was an experience! I fortunately already had my visa, which I had handily ordered online (Cambodia is one of few countries out here that offers this). But my companions had to have their wits about them: the tuk-tuk driver took us to an unofficial building where people tried to make them pay for visas, but the Lonely Planet had said to absolutely not pay until we were at the border, where you can see a landmark gate. And we certainly weren't there yet! So after much deliberation, we calmly refused and set out down the road to cross the "friendship bridge" from Thailand into Cambodia. There, my friends entered the official building and paid the real visa people, for a much more reasonable price. Thank goodness! We then chatted and were generally pleasant company for each other on the rest of the journey to Siem Reap. The three of them made their way to a $1 hostel upon arrival, and I went my own way after giving them my contact info.

Day 1 at Joe to Go: amok, a Khmer curry

Day 2 at Joe to Go: delicious stir-fried pumpkin and bell peppers

I was, as the Brits say, "shattered" and "knackered" (my favorite phrases, in case you didn't already guess) from the traveling, so it took a lot of energy to go out in search of food. I very serendipitously stumbled upon a restaurant/cafe called Joe to Go, and I immediately fell in love. The cafe partners with an organization called The Global Child, a safe house for Cambodian street children. 100% of the restaurant profits, as well as those from the upstairs boutique Beau Fou, go toward the organization. This is exactly my cup of tea: helping locally instead of traveling just to travel. Joe to Go was a breath of fresh air in the midst of what has at times been a bit of a boring exercise in consumerism on my part. I was so enthralled by their cause — not to mention the drool-worthy food! — that I went back on my second night too.

I was riding my rental bike around Angkor Wat and
I just had to stop on the side of the road for this photo! 

But before that second night came, it was my responsibility to get to Angkor Wat and see what the fuss was about! I pulled on temple-appropriate long pants and long sleeves, rented a bike for $1.50, and set off on the 3km journey. This was my first experience biking among motorbikes and cars, and I have to say that I'm glad my first time was in Siem Reap. It was definitely buzzing at 7 a.m. (I wanted to wake up early enough to go to the temple for sunrise, but wasn't disciplined enough), but it's nothing compared to the traffic I've seen since then! I actually had to backtrack to the bank after I reached the Angkor Wat ticket office because I hadn't realized the visit would be so expensive ($20) for one day... So I got plenty of exercise. :)

The camera auto-focused on the Japanese tourists...
it must really hate ice cream. I mean, look at that sundae!

I think that Angkor Wat is nice, but I chose not to take a tour and thus did not learn much. It was very hot and absolutely crawling with tourists, which really puts a bad taste in my mouth no matter where I am. I think I may have missed out on something special by neglecting to go at sunrise/sunset, but in any case it was a very nice experience. I biked back after about an hour, catching a glimpse of the elephant on the way, and had a delicious mango melba at a place called The Blue Pumpkin! Sadly, there were no blue pumpkins. On the other hand, I read that pumpkin with sticky rice is a local dessert, and I'll have to add that to my list of things to eat next time I'm around - I didn't find it this time!

I finished of my second of two nights by meeting up with my travel buddies at their hostel, where we chatted about the preceding 24 hours. Something we all found in common was that the Cambodian people around us were very aggressive in hawking, begging and generally soliciting. I think it can really get to you as a tourist; I've never been anywhere quite as bad as Cambodia, but I do understand their position, as citizens of a third-world country. In my mind Cambodia is to tourism as a starving child is to her first meal in weeks or months: she has been without for so long and has seen so much warfare that destitution is the norm and she is jaded; but when she has the chance to eat, she wants to eat it all, shovel it down and demand more. I can't blame Cambodia; I would just rather it take things slowly and not shriek my ear off with calls of "Lady! Lady! You want some pant! You want some necklace!"

I fell in love with Joe to Go and its boutique, Beau Fou, in Siem Reap