Cambodia, here we come!

Here I am FINALLY getting back to the blog after we've been home in Denver almost 2 weeks now.  I had planned to complete the Cambodian portion of the blog well before now but time got away from me.  I actually had drafted the written portion below weeks ago but never included the pictures - mea culpa.  Be patient with me as I do vow to finish it soon, especially as we've already begun to plan or think about our next long trip!


If you've been reading this blog/journal from the beginning, you'll remember that Steven and I went on this fantastic around the world trip because he wanted to visit Angkor Wat in Cambodia and I wanted to go on the Trans Siberian train trip.  When he was in this part of the world at the age of 23 (the same age you are, Alexander), no American tourist was able to enter Cambodia. 

Finally, after leaving our  home in Colorado more than 2 months ago, on October 24th we were just a few hours away from the country Steven has waited 42 long years to visit. I wonder what new vistas will be on his "bucket list" now that he can cross off Cambodia!

• He actually brought out his beige collared shirt to wear for the first time all trip in honor of going to Cambodia!  Up at 4:45 to hail a taxi in the rain on the main street near our Bangkok hostel and bring it back to collect me and our ever expanding luggage for the trip to Bangkok's Mor Chit Bus Terminal in the far north of the city.
• Sungsung, the wonderful lady in charge at Khao San, assured us we didn't need to buy tickets to the border in advance and she was right on the money luckily.  Bought 2 tickets on the government run Bus 999 for only 238thb or $7.81 each for the 5 hour or 265kms trip to the Thai border town of Aranyaprathet (or Aran as even the locals call it ) - can't beat that price, can you!
• Only 8 passengers initially on this full Greyhound size and quality bus; then dropped off 2 a while into the trip, picked up one and that's the way it was all the way to the border; don't recall ever having more than a dozen on the bus at the same time; seemed like an awfully expensive way of operating a bus company; we even got bottled water and a "boxed breakfast" included in the price of the ticket.
• We saw our first flooded areas en route to the border; the Thai army was out directing traffic b/c some of the roads were impassable for pedestrians, bicycle riders and low profile vehicles.
• I had read, on Trip Advisor (TA) and other sites, probably a hundred stories, posts and articles advising other travelers how best to navigate crossing from the Thai town of Aran to Poipet on the Cambodian side; so many people have had huge issues doing the same thing we were now doing, we were a little apprehensive; part of the problems come b/c there is a significant no man's land between the 2 towns that you have to haul, drag or pull your suitcases through; the other issue so many people commented adversely on is the whole Cambodian visa process at the border.  Many people are told incorrect info in this no man's land and pressured to buy visas there and also have to wait for hours at the Cambodian border to get their visas approved and passports stamped.  That process could be made to go faster, we read, if money was given to the border agents to speed up the process!  You can imagine our trepidation wondering what we'd encounter.
• We had gotten our Cambodian e-visas several months back and it appeared to us that we had a problem with them b/c the visas' expiration date was 5 days after we were arriving in Cambodia, i.e. October 9th.  A flurry of emails from me and later from Steven back and forth to the Cambodian government explaining we needed the visas to be valid til we left on the 28th met with no recourse.
• We were pretty sure we'd need to buy new visas right at the border b/c of the expiration issue with ours but it turned out to be a total non-issue: the visas, we found out at the border, had to be "activated" by October 9th which was no problem as we entered Cambodia on the 4th - phew, "crisis" averted.
• We almost sailed through the whole border crossing, it was so easy for us - couldn't believe it BUT we knew enough of the possible scams and problems and having to constantly say "No thanks" in a very firm voice when people wanted to "help" us, etc.
• We had gotten such an early start  b/c the only bus from Poipet to Battambang or BB, our first stop in Cambodia we could realistically get was at 1:45.  Got the free bus to the station located 6kms away from the border only to find out that there were NO buses running that day to BB!  
• We didn't know it but October 4th was the last day of a Cambodian national holiday so everything was pretty closed up tight, unbeknownst to us.  The timing for our WHOLE trip was based on China's national holiday at the end of September as we knew train fares, hotels, etc would fly through the roof then.  But the fact that one of Cambodia's national holidays was ending on October 4th completely escaped my attention!
• Thanks to money not being an issue on the trip, we got a taxi all the way to our guesthouse in BB, 115 kms away.
• Had a lovely guesthouse in BB I'd found on TA run by Mr. Kun and his family - it was a huge change from our digs in Bangkok.
•  We were welcomed by a small dish of fresh local fruit every night plus a Cambodian breakfast under the thatched roof patio each morning.  Only things missing were any hot water and a kettle to boil water for tea - both new experiences this trip.  
• Mr. Kun had told me 8 or so months ago when I inquired about booking our stay there, that there'd be no hot water; Steven and I had talked about it before we decided to book the place and figured we'd be OK and that surely there'd be tanks or something on the roof to collect rainwater which would heat up in the noonday sun - well guess what, we of course were there in the rainy season and,in any event, there were no tanks, etc - very wishful thinking on our parts!

  

  Sungsung, the wonderful and very helpful woman at Khaosan Hostel/Guesthouse in Bangkok.

  
  

  

  Steven dressed in his fancy duds for our trip to Cambodia.

  
  

  

  Massive flooding on the way from Bangkok to the Cambodian border.

  
  

  

  At the border.

  
  

  

  Leaving Thailand

  
  
  
  
  

  

  Our first view of Cambodia.

  
  

  

  In front of of our guesthouse in Battambang, Cambodia - a mammoth improvement from our digs in Bangkok but alas no hot water and no kettle - not sure which I missed more!

  
  

  

  We loved all the flowers Mr Kun had by the guesthouse.  I know, Alexander, these flower photos are not your cup of tea though!

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  The road in front of the guesthouse.  Unlike all the other places we stayed all trip, it was not right in town; we were able to walk into town only once while there b/c of the huge flooding in BB and the surrounding areas.

  
  

  

  In front of the guesthouse - you can't see it in this photo but there was a large gate that was locked most of the time; it was wide enough for cars to drive through.

  
  

  

  Views of our room.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  Steven with his first Cambodian beer, aptly named Angkor with one of the info pages I had taken hours and hours to cut and paste from many different travel books for each leg of the trip.  They proved to be invaluable to us although I know Nina for one thought I was beyond crazy when she saw my compiling them when she was home just before we left Denver.