My last blog post wasn’t so positive on Cambodia, but in the passed few days certain events have happened, that changed my mind completely. After my first night in Siem Reap the scammers tuk-tuk driver arrived on time at my hotel at 9am. He brought me straight to the ticket office of Angkor and told me I could buy my ticket there. I knew my entry fee wasn’t included in the overpriced tuk-tuk deal, but still I tried to scam the scammers and I partially succeeded: as we arrived at the ticket office, I told the driver I “was promised” that the ticket was included in the price. He then discussed it a bit with me, called his boss and drove me to the restaurant they call their office. After some discussion between me and his boss, his boss gave him 20 USD to pay a ticket for that day and told me that the next day he would give him the money for another ticket. I agreed and off we went back to Angkor. On the way the driver started complaining about how hot it was and asked me if I would mind doing the tour on the back of his motorbike. Of course I didn’t mind. We went to his place, left the tuk-tuk behind and took his motorbike. And thus I visited Angkor on the back of a motorbike.
The first day we did the small tour, visiting the main Angkor Wat temple, as well as Angkor Thom, Bayon, Ta Keo and Ta Prohm. I must say, I was impressed, I was speechless, I have never visited such a mysterious, mythical place. It must have been the most unique place I’ve ever seen in my life. Seeing those buildings made me proud of being human, for it is us humans who build these huge temples. You could say that it’s just a bunch of rocks piled up and partially collapsed in the middle of the jungle, and you would be right. But you could also say that these are the remnants of a very advanced civilization, building the base of modern Asian society. Also, seeing how nature got a hand at these temples, with trees growing on and over them, made me realize that nature is the biggest power on earth and will always conquer. Angkor is a place everyone should visit. It is one of those things you must have seen at least once in your life.
After the small tour the driver told me he got a phone call from his boss, asking him to bring me to his office again. So he brought me there and the guy who sold me the trip the day before discussed the deal with me again and told me to repay the 20 USD for the ticket they gave that morning. Of course I was serious on scamming the scammers and thus I said that he did tell me that the entry fee was included. The obvious 'I never said that; yes you did'-discussion took place, and he threatened not to send a driver for the next day, of course I then threatened back that I would go to the tourist police in that case. In the end the discussion stopped without a clear solution and the driver brought me back to my hotel.
In the evening I went out to some local restaurant where I met Pilu, an official Angkor guide (which at that time I didn’t know he was). We had a great dinner together and I enjoyed Khmer cuisine. I had a dish with beef, long beans, green peppers, garlic and chilis, which was really good, but Pilu had cha chu am trey, which is a fried fish dish served under sweet and sour sauce with lots of fruits and vegetables in it, which was even much better than my dish. After dinner Pilu showed me the evening market for locals, which was really nice. People were pick-nicking at the side of the road, food and merchandises were really cheap and it was a really big market. It was a bit out of town though, and I’m not blogging the exact location, as I wouldn’t want that too many tourists find their way to this place, which will only result in prices rising there, with severe consequences on the local population. After that I got back to my hotel to catch some sleep.
The next day (Wednesday) I got up at 8.30am as the driver would pick me up at 9.15. At 9.15 he wasn’t there. I got a little bit worried… At 9.20 he wasn’t there yet, a little bit more worried. At 9.30 no driver in sight, I got suspicious. And at 9.40 I decided to walk towards the restaurant they call their office. As I left the street of my hotel, the guy just arrived and I was relieved. The first thing he said though, was that he was late, because his boss didn’t want to pay 20 USD for my second day entrance ticket. I decided not to make a fuzz, because I already succeeded in scamming the scammers the day before, and I told him I would pay my ticket myself that day. Thus we headed back to Angkor for the big tour. I visited Preah Khan, Neak Pean, Ta Som, Mebon and Pre Rup. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed by the second day trip, as the first temple I visited on the first day was the most impressive one, making all other temples just look like a pile of collapsed rocks. Maybe it would’ve been better to start with the big tour and build up the next day with the small tour, ending at Angkor Wat main temple. Anyway, I did the walks and made the photos.
After Angkor the driver showed me a temple which commemorates the thousands of lives lost during the Pol Pot regime in the 70s. There was also a small museum with paintings depicting the torture the Cambodians had to undergo during that period. After my visit there, the driver took me back to my hotel. Around 2pm I was already back there, so I decided to book my busticket back to Bangkok (only 10 USD) and I spend some time looking for a school, where a friend of mine wanted me to take some photos and check out the atmosphere. I didn’t find it though and ended up making a nice walk around Siem Reap, along the riverside. In the evening I met Pilu again and he ‘outed’ himself as an Angkor tour guide as we were getting further acquainted. He told me some facts about Angkor and at that moment I regretted not having had a guide during my visit. I saw lots of things at Angkor, but I didn’t always know what they were.
My last full day in Siem Reap, I didn’t really know what to do. So I decided to rent a tuk-tuk for the whole day, for a fair price (15 USD). I went on the street and found Sopha, a very motivated tuk-tuk driver who is 22 years old. His first reaction was: “do you wanna see the temples?”. I responded that I wanted to see the city and that I wanted to find that school for my friend. Thus we started looking for the school, which again we didn’t find. Then he asked me what I wanted to see. I told him to show me his favorite places in Siem Reap, the places that made him proud of his city. And was I out for a surprise! First thing where we went, was a lotus flower field. This may sound a bit dull, but in fact it was really beautiful and very unexpected. We then went on to a small Buddhist temple on the outskirts of the city. On the way he bought me sugar palm juice, a sweet but delicious drink. When we got to the temple, the monks were surprised seeing a tourist visiting them.
After the temple we went to the day market (for locals), which was at that time already closing, but still I got the idea. We ended the trip by visiting the war museum. I don’t really like guns and tanks, but the guide was really good. He told us the entire war history of Cambodia. Of course everybody knows about Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge in the 70s, but since 1969 until 1999 Cambodia has been almost non-stop at war. First with the Khmer Rouge, then with Vietnam, then a civil war between the political factions and then in the 90s, after a peace treaty under influence of the UN, a guerrilla war started, which lasted until 1999, when the Khmer Rouge was finally disbanded.
Sopha then brought me back to my hotel and I invited him to have a drink with me in the evening. He told me he would be back later to have some drinks. At 7pm he picked me up at my hotel and we went to a local bar, where we met 2 of his friends / colleagues. I talked with them about their job an apparently they are very satisfied. They asked me about my job and they noticed that I am also very satisfied. We had a couple of beers and then I had to go, as I was meeting Pilu too for my last evening in Cambodia.
On Friday morning my bus picked me up at my hotel and brought me to the border at Poipet. Of etcourse the bus stopped en route at some overpriced food and drink stands. Most of the passengers didn’t go for the scam and had enough food and drinks on them to last all day. When we got to the border, things went really fast as there were almost no queues. I got my departure stamp at the Cambodian side, filled out a Thai immigration form and got my arrival stamp at the Thai side in less then one hour. The only bad thing that day, was that the Thai stamp in my passport. At a land border it is only valid for 15 days, instead of the 30 days you get at international airports. Anyway, there are ways to get it extended. At the Thai side the bus group got split up, as everybody had other destinations. Passengers for Bangkok were being seated in a mini-van. Underway we had to quickly change vans though, as the airco wasn’t working in our original van. We got to Bangkok after dusk, as we were caught up in traffic.
I expected the van to arrive at Mo Chit bus station or at Victory Monument, but it arrived in the area of the Democracy Monument, which was really far away from public transportation and also from my hotel at Si Lom road. I decided to take a taxi, who brought me to my hotel in a flash. I was really relieved to finally be able to take a shower after all day in a bus and van. I then went to my favorite bar, the Balcony pub, to have a jug of cosmopolitan and dinner. After food and drinks, I had a foot massage. During the foot massage the masseur convinced me to take a Thai massage as well. When all my bones were cracked, I headed back to the hotel to catch some sleep.
This morning I woke up really late. I wanted to catch the 1pm train to Hua Hin, but I also wanted to go to Wat Saket (the golden mount) again. So I cleared my room, left my stuff at the reception and took a taxi to go to Democracy Monument, where I would meet up with my friend Ken to go to Wat Saket together. The taxi took an eternity as Bangkok traffic was jammed as usual. When we got to Wat Saket I was quite surprised to see a ticket booth there. Since some time now tourists need to pay an entry fee of 20 baht. After taking some reflection time on the top, I said goodbye to Ken and took a taxi back to the hotel and then onwards to Hua Lamphong station, where I had just a few minutes left to buy a train ticket to Hua Hin and catch the 14.45 special express n° 35 to Butterworth (Malaysia).
I asked for a second class seat, but the lady at the ticket window told me there were only sleeping cars in that train. Of course a bed has a higher price. She told me that on the next train, the 15.10 special express n° 37, there were coaches with seats available in 3rd and 2nd class. But that train would leave 25 minutes later. So I decided to pay the bed fee for the first train. The ticket was about 600 baht. I got to the platform and saw that the train wasn’t there yet (though the later train was already waiting at the opposite track). To make a long story short: my train was delayed and we ended up leaving 20 minutes after the later train (with a delay of 45 minutes). Thus I paid about 300 baht too much for a bed I didn’t use and for a earlier train, which arrived later. Let’s just call it international railway staff support for the Thai railways. En route the train was delayed even more and I got to Hua Hin about 65 minutes late.
My father, Kanya and Kai-Mook were already waiting for me as we agreed to have dinner together. We ate and when I finally got to my hotel in Hua Hin, which this time is hotel Giulietta e Romeo, I was happy to close the door of my room and write this post.
