Cycling in Cambodia

We're in Cambodia! For the last couple of days we were in Bangkok, doing some intensive shopping and celebrating Ian's birthday. This being my third time in Bangkok, I'm surprised that the city which I initially found super busy, polluted, and charmless is growing on me. The more time I spend there, the more relaxed I feel amongst all the shouting tuk-tuk drivers hoping to scam you into a commission-earning tour of shops you don't want to visit and all the lady-boys madly batting their eyes hoping that you'll take them back to your room.

I can bare it, but I'm glad to be off. Cambodia is probably the poorest and least developed place we're been so far. We're in the second biggest city, Siem Reap, so it's not anything extreme, but it's still a world away from the developed tourism industries of Vietnam and Thailand.

The day long ride here from the Thai border was definitely an experience... Dodging the lies of a man who led us to an money exchanger and told us that nowhere else in Cambodia could Thai baht be changed to Cambodian riel, we got onto a 'minibus'. It was the bumpiest, loudest ride of my life. The roads we took (for about 8 hours in total) could hardly be called paved, and by the end of it I was covered in a layer of orange dust that had come in through the windows. I was sure I would get sick, and that I surely wouldn't sleep, but was glad to be wrong on both accounts! It was a bit like being in a cradle (a very loud, dirty one, that would every so often rock too hard and hurt your neck). In the end I think it was better than any smooth ride could have been--I got to see heaps of rural areas and interesting people (like a guy holding an oozie), and the red liquid sunset on the misty horizon (corny and cliched but accurate) was unbeatable.

Today we rented old about-to-break bikes and drove out of Siem Reap city to the outskirts. Somehow we ended up having a drink with a family and their neighbours on the straw deck of their home (a shack). One guy knew some English, so he taught us some Khmer (the Cambodian language), and the kids were super excited to see photos of themselves on the display screen of Chris's camera. Nice people, so I'll forgive them for thinking Chris and I are dating. Continuing on our biking adventure we somehow ended up meeting a 16 yr old boy who showed us an old Hindu temple and relics, made of stone with Sanscrit writing and images of Hindu gods engraved. Then he took us to have soup with his aunt! (He's an orphan without siblings).

It's days like this that make it all worth while. Photos to come soon!

8 days until I fly home!