After the border crossing Rooney and I were on a very comfortable bus heading into Cambodia. It had many empty seats along with a TV playing Micheal Jackson music videos. About 20 minutes or so into the country it was time for us to part ways and I had to get out. Everyone who was traveling to Siem Reap or Phenom Penh had to leave get off the bus. Unfortunately instead of another big bus like we were promised a small van pulled up. To make matters a little worse their was 17 people (the van is supposed to hold 11 or 12). Since we were in the middle of nowhere we did not really have a choice. So they loaded everyone in and I sat on the edge of one seat and some of the outside seat belt buckles.
We were told that it was only going to be an hour or so in the van but I had my doubts. As we started driving away in this van with no ac all i could think about is how Rooney was sitting in the AC big bus comfortably watching TV. It took at little over two hours before the van stopped to let 5 people out. This new space helped out the cause but we still had to travel in the van.
Around 9 pm we stopped again to get some dinner at a local restaurant. We had to wait around an hour and a half for a new bus to take us up to Seim Reap. Fortunately this one was once again an big bus. The bus finally pulled into the station at around 1:30. I tried to get to a cheap guest house but this tuk tuk driver had other plans. He drove me around for an hour taking me to his friends full or expensive guest houses. Finally I told him I had enough and just take me to a cafe or something. This was because it was 2:30 and I was planning on getting up at five to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. I think he felt bad and ended up taking me to his brothers guest house were i could just stay up and use the Internet for free. There was a couple people up hanging out but they soon went to bed.
Finally it was 5 am and it was time to go. The night before I had arranged a tuk tuk driver to take me around for the day. He came and picked me up and it was off to Angkor Wat. The sunrise was really sweet and I ended up walking around the temple instead of just watching it like a couple hundred people were doing. This turned out to be a huge move because everyone was sitting watching the sunrise and the temple was pretty much empty. By the time the masses were done with breakfast and entering the temple I had seen everything I wanted to see.
Next it was off to a Wat Thom. This had a bunch of temples inside it that were really cool to see. One had giant stone faces on all over that were still intact. Luckily once again there was not many people around and it felt like I was the only one. After a couple of hours of walking around Wat Thom it was time to keep moving. The rest of the morning I stopped at a couple of other temples including the one featured in a Indiana Jones movie. It was really neat and had a ton of trees growing in and on the temples. The trees had destroyed portions of the temple but it made it really unique and cool to look at.
Right around noon the crowds really started to pick up and the heat was in full force. Since I had been looking at temples nonstop for about 7 hours I called it a day. I booked a room in a guest house and after a water it was time for so much needed sleep (I had been up sense 7 am the previous day). I woke up only to grab a bite to eat and then it was back to bed for good.
The next morning was pretty uneventful and I got on a bus around noon to head to the capital and meet up with Rooney. After a 7 or 8 hour bus ride that was supposed to take 5 I arrived in Phenom Penh.
-WBM
No comments:
Post a Comment