Days 49-51: Cambodia

           My 12 hour bus ride to Cambodia ended turning into a 15 hour ride, a bit longer then I had been told and expected.  Also towards the end it turned more into a local bus, with lots of stops dropping locals off.  It was confusing not knowing how far away I was and how much longer it would be and if it was the last stop or not.  For some reason I had expected Cambodia to be this lush mountainous rainforest, but instead it was flat grasslands, like Kansas.

Cambodia's Landscape

           I had agreed to be hosted by a middle-aged Cambodian man named Boon from couchsurfing.  I was a little nervous since I hadn’t stayed with anyone that much older then me before or with someone in a poorer country like Cambodia.  But he had offered to show me around Angkor Wat, which would have to be a much greater experience then just doing it alone.

           When the bus finally arrived, it dropped us off at this remote dark bus stop and I had no idea where to go or how to get there.  My international roaming SIM card had decided to stop working so I had no way of getting a hold of the host.  I stood there and watched everyone else leave, standing alone in the dark.  A tuk-tuk driver asked if I needed a ride, I asked if he knew where a payphone was, and he offered me his phone.  I called the host and he insisted on picking me up from the bus stop so I wouldn’t have to pay the couple dollars for the driver.  So the driver left and I continued standing alone in the dark on the side of the road as random people kept driving past, not sure who exactly I was waiting for.  I felt a bit uncomfortable and unsafe, to say the least, but I didn’t have much other choice at this point.

Boon

           Finally Boon pulls up on his motorcycle, introduces himself and has me jump on the back.  We stop at a street vendor to eat some fried rice as everything else is closed.  Then he takes me back to his place.  He lives at the back of the bank that he works at.  His place is basic, but comfortable.  His shower only works sometimes, and the rest of the time you have to shower from a bucket of water.  He has only a queen-sized mattress on the floor for us to share.  I wasn't very comfortable with this, sharing a bed with a random stranger I had just met, but I assume it was more culturally acceptable here and didn’t want to insult him by insisting otherwise, plus I’m so exhausted I don’t even care any more.  Despite my exhaustion, I didn’t sleep that well that night, just because of the discomfort of the situation.

Angkor Wat

           The next morning we got breakfast and headed to a Angkor Wat.  The one full day I had chosen to visit Cambodia ended up being a bank holiday called "Women's Day."  Since he worked at a bank, Boon had the day off and was free to show me around.  Inside, he took me to several of the ruins, and insisted on taking my camera taking lots of photos of me front of everything.

We stopped for lunch after the first couple temples and he found us a place to eat and got us the “local’s price.”

Lots of photos of me in front of things...

           The ruins were all really interesting, and each one had a unique style and purpose.  I was surprised how far away each one  Boon tried to explain some of their histories, but warned me that he wasn’t a tour guide and wasn’t able to answer all of my questions.  One of the last temples we visited was the one’s featured in one of the “Tomb Raider” movie.  The temples were overgrown by several massive trees whose roots flowed over the ruins.  This one was one of the most crowded of the temples and it was a bit frustrating getting through the crowds, especially when Boon insisted that I pose for a photo in front of every object.

           The temples also offered a ballon ride you could pay for, that I thought would offer a nice view.  So Boon drove me over, but they told us it was closed because it was too windy.

           The last stop was the Sunset Temple.  Boon said he was too tired at this point and would wait for me at the bottom.  I went up and waited at the line at the top to make it to the top of the temple.  The view from the top wasn’t all that great, and really didn’t feel worth the wait.  The better view was from the base of the temple before the line, where you could actually see the temple.

           After an exhausting day running around we went and got a traditional Cambodian meal and chatted for a while.  Despite all my paranoia, Boon turned out to be a really nice guy who I enjoyed being able to spend a few days with, and thanks to him I was able to see a lot more of Angkor Wat and Cambodia then I would have been able to without him.

           Early the next day I took a “bus” to Thailand.  The bus ended up being a van with weak air conditioning, yet another fun ride for me.