We arrived to Siem Reap after a short plane ride from Phuket into the Siem Reap airport, where we received our thirty-day visa on arrival. After a short process, we picked up our bags and hopped into a tuk-tuk to our hostel that I had booked the day before. Unfortunately, the hostel was more of a party joint, and was extremely unclean (there was blood on the headboard, and makeup on the sheets). We walked down the street in search of a new home, and Sam was quickly distracted by an adorable puppy in front of a large blue villa, called Sawasdee Villa. Turns out that puppy was welcoming us to our new home for the next few days, and we booked a room in the beautiful villa.
I wanted to try and experience the Angkor Wat temple circuit in a slightly different way, so we decided to rent bicycles for two dollars a day, and bike the route! The entrance to Angkor Wat is about 4.5 miles from our villa, which doesn't seem too far, but as we arrived to the first check point, we realized we missed the invisible sign for the turn off to buy tickets. There is a brand new ticket plaza that I incorrectly assumed was on the main road to the temples, but it is located two miles from that first check point. We turned around, and found the ticket plaza to find yet another curveball; the three-day tickets had been changed from $40/person to $62/person. I begrudgingly paid, and we were finally on our way!
Angkor Wat is nothing short of a spiritual experience, filled with awe and wonder within every step. These ancient temples are the largest religious monument in the world, and it was originally constructed as a Hindu temple of god Vishnu for the Khmer Empire, gradually transforming into a Buddhist temple towards the end of the 12th century. It was built in the early 12th century, yet the remains are impressive as ever. We managed to explore Angkor Wat, and Angkor Thom, where we also saw Bayon and the Victory Gate on the bikes. However, it was hot and Sam was complaining of a very sore butt, so we headed back after passing Ta Keo on the long journey home. We treated ourselves to a fish massage (basically fish eating the dead skin off of your feet), and a hotpot full of various meats. In the hotpot was rice noodles, veggies, beef, pork, chicken, fish, squid, and crocodile.
The following two days we took a tuk-tuk with a driver who was extremely kind and patient. We explored the remaining temples, wanting to get as much as we possibly could out of the three days we had there. Each temple had its own bit of history, and we were able to explore them on our own feeling like Laura Croft. However, I got very sick of the tuk-tuk drivers that cover the sides of the streets yelling "TUKTUK" at me every time I passed, and the tourist prices for the food that wasn't even that great. We decided to book a night bus to Phnom Penh, skipping Koh Rong/Sihanoukville because it was fully booked for the new year.
We caught a night bus at 11pm, and as we waited for our bus to arrive we met a South African man. This man seemed friendly enough, however, he was rudely discussing with whomever would listen that all Southeast Asian countries are dirty and filled with trash. Another traveller, from the Philippines, was agreeing, but also saying that there are beautiful places in his country showing us stunning photographs of the island he lives on. The bus pulled up, we stopped chattering, and we hopped on. This is what we found.
This is okay for the couples traveling, because it is two people assigned to each cubby/bed. However, the single travelers were expected to sleep with a mate as well- a complete stranger in a bed with you that is barely three feet wide/five feet long. The South African could be heard exclaiming "this is not the European way!" as the Filipino boy climbed into bed with him.
After an early arrival (5am) to Phnom Penh, we walked the three miles to our airbnb, got lost, eventually found the airbnb, basically, we were exhausted. We walked around huge piles of trash on the streets and felt as though we were circus animals on parade. The streets were filthy to say the least, and people were acting as if they'd never seen people like us before- gawking and pointing. We trudged on. Nwani, our airbnb host, met us at a nearby bar/cafe, and told us that we were too early to get into the room (even though I'd emailed him three times the previous three days explaining our arrival time), but offered to get us a room at nearby guesthouse. We accepted, and celebrated New Years Eve with complementary dinner and bought drinks from the guesthouse host, who was very amicable and enthusiastic about the new year.
The next morning, Nwani picked us up saying that he wanted us to join him and his family for a New Years day celebration, and that we should bring our bags. After a 30 minute car ride, we arrived to a gated community where the filth was replaced with gleaming white townhouse buildings and no trash in sight. It was then that we were told that we'd stay here tonight because the room that I booked was "busy". I felt liked we'd been upgraded, even though that was not necessarily the case. It was a gorgeous townhouse, that looked like it had been very recently built- it felt like we were in Beverly Hills. His older son (9 years old) invited us down to dinner, where Nwani had cooked traditional Cambodian food. We met his younger son, and his wife, who were both extremely sweet. A few hours later, we heard talking downstairs, so we went to check it out. There were about 15 men drinking and eating, and we introduced ourselves, but no one really spoke much English. I accepted the wine and huge plate of food Nwani pushed into my hand, and Sam tried to talk with other guests. After a drink we tried to sneak back upstairs, but Nwani's wife wouldn't have it. She explained that we were going to her sister's house, and we just had to come. This apartment was even more upscale then Nwani's. We ate the food we were given and accepted the drinks that were poured for us as we struggled to talk to people. Midnight came, and we politely excused ourselves- stuffed and tipsy.
The next morning we wanted to head back to the center of Phnom Penh so we could get our Vietnamese visas in order, so we waited for Nwani to wake up. This townhouse complex was on the edge of a highway, so we couldn't really walk anywhere, and we had no other way to get anywhere- so we were left relying on him. As 11am came and went, everyone was still asleep. I went to spend some quality time on the toilet, only to find that the door was jammed shut. The locking mechanism on the door was faulty, and after Sam and I struggled for 20 minutes to try to get it open, Sam knew he'd have to wake up the tired host. After another fifteen minutes, with a crow bar and a meat cleaver, I was free. We returned to the center of Phnom Penh, and Nwani explained that he forgot the key to the room I had booked. We were offered a room that was a glorified closet that reeked of mildew. Wanting to get our visas, I accepted the room and we walked to a travel agency- passing a dead cat on the sidewalk and copious amounts of trash. Finally, the fourth and final night, we were moved into the room I had booked- which was quite nice.
While in Phnom Penh we also saw the Grand Palace, which was not very grand at all. It was covered with pigeons- literally thousands of pigeons everywhere. And there was just SO MUCH trash. Everywhere. The Tonle Sap River was a muddy color with copious amounts of garbage on the shoreline. It was disheartening and disgusting. We also visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, which was a high school that was used as the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979. It was essentially an torture center, where 17,000 to 20,000 Cambodians were tortured and coerced into naming family and friends who were then arrested and killed. The museum is gruesome and forces you to bear witness to the cruelties that happened in this country.
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