Cambodia - Phnom Penh & Siem Reap (day 1)

Let me start by saying that I just got back from 12 hours (12 HOURS!) in Angkor so I may not make it to the end of this post as I may die (or may already be dead and hell is endless ruined temples?).

I don't remember much about the bus to Phnom Phen except it wasn't a bed-bus unfortunately. It left at 5:30am and was half full of boxes as opposed to people.

I don't have a lot of photos of Phnom Penh so here is a bus at 5:30am

Oh wait - the border.  That I remember.  So, when we got on the bus, the conductor(?), assistant(?) collected everyone's passport.  Whatever, if the rest of the kids are doing it, so am it- here's my identity and ability to go home...  Hours go by.  We stopped for free lunch (pho).  Then back on the road when he handed  back my passport with a card in it.  I had been asleep so I wondered if we had crossed the border and I missed it.  Haha, so innocent back then.

Then he collected the passports again.  Was I supposed to have done something with the card?  If not, why did he hand them back and then take them again?  Who knows.  We eventually arrived at the border and buddy took his plastic bag of passports off the bus to some mystery location.  Again, I thought, this is so easy, he is going to deal with it.  Again, no.  I should note here that I barely remembered that I was about to cross an international border.  I definitely forgot that the money was going to be different.  This is why I shouldn't be allowed to travel alone.

After a while, assistant guy comes to me and says I have to pay for my Cambodian Visa.  Did I mention I am the only tourist on this bus.  So I get off and he leads me to an office which I enter and which is empty.  Someone finally noticed me and yelled at someone else who arrived to give me a form and take my money ($35US) and to give me a look of scorn that I did not have a passport photo at the ready (I did have one but it was in my bag on the bus - see above paragraph re: lack of preparedness).

Then to another office where they took my picture, fingerprints and passport again.  Then they told me to get back on the bus - sans passport.  Honestly, I trusted my bus assistant with my passport more than the border agents.  But what was I going to do at this point.  I got back on the bus.  I had pretty much figured out that I wasn't in Kansas anymore so when a money changer came on the bus, I sold some American money for Cambodian Riel.  I didn't even know what they were called let alone the exchange rate.  She could have completely ripped me off but as it turns out, she didn't.

Then we were off. I finally got my passport, with Cambodian visa, back, produced last out of the highly secure and confidential plastic bag.

Phnom Penh (the first ph is silent just for fun) is a nice city and my hotel was very close to the action.  Half a block to the river walk with lots of tourists, shops and restaurants.  I had actually looked up how to get to Siem Reap so my first goal was to get to the bus station (Giant Ibis Bus lines) to buy a ticket for the next morning.  I could see online (Giant Ibis is organized!) that there were only five seats left.

Are boring photos better or worse than no photos?

Not only is Cambodia a different country and uses different money, they use a completely different alphabet.   I couldn't figure anything out in Vietnam but at least I could read words and at one point, some of them started to make sense (Com means rice!).  Cambodian is squiggles.  Fortunately, they realize this so there is English on almost every sign unlike in Vietnam.  Streets are numbered so even better.  My hotel was on 178, the bus station was on 106.  The blocks are very short so it was an easy walk.

Giant Ibis bus station

Phnom Penh river

Eating on carpets is a thing here.  This is the food market, getting ready for the dinner rush.

In a fit of hyper-organizedness, I bought my ticket to Siem Reap, return to Phnom Penh (PP) and a ticket to HCMC.  I could see that I like PP so I decided to spend a day there on the way back.

Then I stopped for dinner.  Cambodian food is closer to Thai food. I got fresh spring rolls (half for breakfast the next day) and green mango salad.  And a mango daiquiri.  Except I wasn't sure I got rum instead of tequila and I am pretty sure it wasn't mango.  It was kind of terrible actually but it was happy hour so only $1.50.

Not a daiquiri, not mango.

After dinner, I walked back to my room and fell asleep.  At 6pm.  And slept to 6am.  I was tired.  Or that drink was laced.  Either way, I needed the sleep.

Next morning, more bus station mayhem.  And this was the ONLY bus station in all of SE Asia that did not have a coffee cart right there.  I had to carry my bag half a block, HALF a BLOCK! (the horror!) to get a coffee for $2.50!  scammers!

Bus ride was uneventful.  I was in the back row again.  All tourists on this one.  I did meet a cat I almost kidnapped at the rest stop.  I note this because I have pictures.

This was his opening gambit.  Flung at my feet, what could I do but pick him up
and scritch him all over.

A couple of scenes from the road:

Ok, I am realizing that in this particular post, I am not going to come off as too smart.  First the border situation.  And then this story.

On the Giant Ibis but they asked if we would like a tuk tuk (did I mention they also have tuktuks here and not just mototaxis - the first guy to import a tuktuk to Vietnam is going to be rich).  Sure I said.

They assigned me to Lee (or Mr. Lee?).  He hadn't even started the engine before his big pitch started.  He could drive me to Angkor the next day and then to (unknown) the next day.  I have a new policy where if I know I want to do something, I am just going with the first person who offers to facilitate my doing of that something, so I said sure.  But I had read (I did manage a few minutes of research in PP before I crashed) that if I bought my Angkor ticket at 5pm the night before, I could go in that evening and the whole next day.  He looked unenthused but we negotiated a price for that evening and the next day with the second full day to be decided later.

I was feeling super keen (after my 12 hours of sleep & 6 hours of bus) so I also bought a ticket to Phare, the Cambodian Circus for that night.  I had time for a shower before (Mr.) Lee showed up at 4:15.   We arrived at the ticket office by 4:30.  He said they start selling the tickets at 4:45.  So we sat for a few minutes.  People were starting to line up at the lines to the left.  But (Mr.) Lee knew that ALL of the windows would open so he said to wait.  At 4:40, we lined up, first in line in the first line to the right.  Well, that caused a rush of lefties moving to the right.  My line was 50 deep in minutes.  But I was first thanks to (Mr.) Lee!.  We were on the road to the park before #3 had even paid.  Suckers!

We arrived at Angkor Wat, the big temple, the one everyone knows.  The reason everyone comes to this place.  So cool.  I took a million pictures.  I was there in time for the sunset over the wat.  But I watched the sun set and it was not any different than any other sunset.  Plus, Angkor Wat is not that impressive.  Sure, it was nice,  but I have seen much more impressive palaces, temples, ruins etc.  Well, that's because it turns out I was not at Angkor Wat.

My first view

I even saw a way more impressive temple behind and took this photo AND
still didn't clue in.

Sunset from the wrong side of the
wrong temple

Here's me seeing Angkor Wat again, taking another
picture through the first building AND still not cluing in.

Waiting for the sunset to DO something.  It just set, like any other sunset

This monkey is smarter than me

Anyway, after the sun set, I went into the building again and then out the other side.  There was a tide of people coming at me.  I went as far as I could before guards started corralling people back through the temple, closing time.

Ok, here is the embarrassing part.  Obviously, I was not in Angkor Wat.  I was in front of the building in front of Angkor Wat.  Everyone was behind Angkor Wat, watching the sunset over the temple.  But I didn't really figure this out until the next day.  I am an idiot.  I wasted what some people wait a lifetime to experience.  Apparently, I didn't do that much research before falling asleep in PP.

I finally came out the back of that first temple. And here was Angkor Wat.
I was starting to get an inkling that I was braindead here.

Here it is again after all of the people were ushered out.
I was the last one out.

The little girl selling fruit is smarter than me.

(Mr.) Lee took me back to my hotel (Adventure Hostel) and arranged for someone else to pick me up for the circus.  He was missing a wedding to drive me around (which was why he had been less than thrilled about my park visit that night) and he wanted to go to the reception.

The Circus was amazing.  They have a school for street kids who learn school stuff and acting, and circus arts.  The best students perform for Phare.  Here are a bunch of photos.  I have no idea if any of them turned out (I am choosing from thumbnails).

Ok, that's way too much already.  I will tell you about my full day at Angkor, when I finally figured out where Angkor Wat was.  Seriously, I was still confused even after seeing it!  Don't judge, I am sleepy and foreign.