Before I even arrived in Korea I had a magical trip to Thailand and Cambodia planned. No matter how bad, how frustrated, how annoyed, or how sick of the food I became these last 5 months, I just continued thinking about my winter vacation. The best perk of this job, aside from not paying rent, free plane tickets, and a life in another country is the chunk of time between January 12th and March 2 that is a paid vacation. So, here I am, in Siem Reap, Cambodia getting paid to see temples, eat amazing food, and relax. Life is good.
I arrived in Bangkok on Sunday after a 5 1/2 hour flight. I was planning on sleeping but was seated next to a very chatty Aussie who talked extensively about his life in Thailand the entire length of the trip. The flight was smooth and I got off, met up with Jared, and was whisked way to our very clean and comfortable Guest house in the heart of Bangkok (Khao San). We grabbed a quick chicken kabob and strolled the busy streets.
The next day we leisurely woke up, got a delicious breakfast and walked around. We made our way to the Royal Palace but could not go in due to a ceremony. The king of Thailand is an amazing leader who is loved by the people and keeps his head out of the real politics of the country. He deals with non-profits and other things for the Thai people. No one would dare say a bad word about him and Thai's will go out of their way to tell you how wonderful he is. His photo is everywhere. We found our way into a massive temple area called Wat Pho where there is a giant reclining Buddha. The Buddha was so massive that a photo does not do it justice. It is 46 meters long and 15 meters high, and is completely gold plated. The pose of the reclining Buddha is to show the him passing into nirvana. The feet and the eyes are engraved with mother-of-pearl decoration, and the feet also show the 108 characteristics of the true Buddha.
The mass of this sculpture was aw inspiring and there was no detail left untouched or without purpose.
The next day we left for Cambodia. We boarded an 11:00am bus that took us to the Thai/ Cambodia border. It was a very slow ride that gave us the opportunity to see the Thai country side and the small towns outside the city. We arrived at the boarder, got a "tok-tok" (a motorcycle with 2 seats in the back like a carriage) and headed for the boarder to get our visas. Here, we met up with a French couple who was going our way and decided to share the 3 hour taxi ride. Next we walked across the boarder into Piopet Cambodia, which is like a Tijuana, Mexico... it's fun to walk across the boarder, but once you're there you want to get out as soon as possible. So, we got a taxi through a headache of bartering and communication issues and we were off on a very bumpy, dusty, adventure through the Cambodian countryside.
The vast majority of cars here in Cambodia are Toyotas. The roads are mostly dirt, and it is surprising that after a 3 hour car ride the car doesn't stop and just fall into pieces. Of the three hours, there was probably 30 min of smooth pavement. Not only were the roads dirt, but also under construction and there were stretches that seemed to be made out of huge rocks laid out on the ground. Arriving into Siem Reap was like getting into Vagas. Nothing, nothing, nothing, and then a city! We got out of the cab, got into a tok-tok, and found a very nice guest house where I could see myself relaxing for a long time. $7 a night for a clean room, a garden court yard, very friendly staff, and great cheap eats for breakfast. I would recommend"Smileys Guest House"to any traveler staying here.
Will update later, need to go eat. It's 95 degrees here and beautiful! Next update: Tomb Raider Temples, bikes, great food, and a great time...
'Till Next time!
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