Day 84: The Ultimate Backpackers..... Finally!

Well, it only took us three months, but we finally had a day that resembled what real backpackers are doing on their holidays. We don't try to hide the fact that we're fakers. We all know that most of the stuff we've been doing is the easy way in comparison to how we could be travelling. Our trip to Cambodia has been much more "traveller" than anything we've done to this point.

It all started in Kata Beach. Horrible day of rain, on what was to be our last beach day there. We decided to pick up and leave around noon, since there isn't much to do in a beach town with no sun to speak of. Off to Phuket Town we went. Last time we headed through the town, we noticed that there was a movie theater there. What better to do on a day of rain than take in a movie. Before the movie, we of course took advantage of the chance to get some more western food, so we stopped in at the Pizza Company to gorge ourselves on non stop pop and fantastic pizza.

For the movie, we decided to take in the only english soundtrack film there was. Miami Vice. I'd be lying if I said that this film is going to win awards for its fantastic dialogue. Think 'Fast and the Furious' crossed with 'Mighty Ducks.'It was a pretty entertaining film, but the fact that we had to lug our huge backpacks around for the whole day made it a bit worse. The other problem was the air conditioning in the theater. Being that we're relatively used to these warm climates, sitting in a room at 20C for two hours is a bit cold. Nevin and I both came out shivering, without feeling in our feet.

After that, it was the taxi to the airport. We got to the bus station to take a bus, so we had to climb into the back of a car to get there. If you've ever heard the song "Piece of Sh*t Car" by Adam Sandler, that's pretty much what we were in. A very rustic Toyota Tercel, with AC, but there was more heat and exhaust coming into the cab than cold air. There was a couple times I was pretty sure that we'd end up at the side of the road dead from carbon monoxide poisoning. Made it to the airport in one piece, with plenty of time to spare before our flight.

Spent the next couple hours playing cards until our plane took off. Pretty good flight to Bangkok from Phuket, especially considering that it only cost us $33 each, including taxes. Tip to the wise- If you are heading to Thailand, be sure to book Air Asia flights a couple weeks in advance, as it is unbelievably cheap. Arrived at Bangkok around 1 in the morning, and there were no buses leaving for Aranya Prathet (Thailand side of the Cambodian border) until 5 in the morning. We decided to crash at the airport. We picked a place with more than a few other people sleeping on the floor, and decided to follow suit. Tried desperately to sleep for a few hours with CNN blaring in the background. By the way, if you didn't know, Fidel Castro has temporarily passed power of Cuba to his brother Raul. According to sources in Venezuela he is recovering well from his surgery.

At four in the morning, we caught a taxi over to the bus station. Jumped on the first bus, 5:00 AM, and man did that feel early after maybe sneaking thirty minutes of sleep the night before. Arrived at the Cambodian border around 9, and proceeded to be hustled through the border. $25 and an hour later, we were into Cambodian territory. This is a completely different world, being that they don't have much in the way of paved roads, and traffic in Bangkok looks serene comparitively speaking. Scooter drivers don't scare easily when they spend their lives surrounded by land mines. We met an Irish guy, and decided to split a car with him for the journey to Seam Reap. This is the city beside Angkor Wat, which apparently isn't enough of a reason to pave the roads to it.

The car ride was pretty insane. Zooming along at forty kilometres per hour, on a road littered with potholes that you could easily get lost in, with an ox cart a foot from you on your right, and oncoming traffic half a foot away on the left. More than a few hairy moments. At one point, we actually had to turn around and take a detour to avoid a rollover that happened ahead of us. Apparently this is a pretty normal occurence, and based on the fact that we saw a quarter ton ford truck with a load in the back towering at least 10 feet off the truck bed, I can see why. If you've ever seen how they loaded up the Grinch's sled in the animated classic, then you know exactly what I speak of.

Arrived at Seam Reap, and found a nice guest house, with Tuk Tuk drivers in abundance. Talked one of them into taking is on a tour the next day of all the temples for $18. If you ask me, $6 each for a day long tour all over the country side is pretty good. One of the biggest problems we had was waking up. Mike and I both fell asleep at around 6:30 in the afternoon, and Nevin crashed around 9. you'd think it would be fine waking up at 6 after that, but apparently it was harder than we assumed. The tour left at 7, so when I finally rolled over at 6:45, I was a little bit surprised. We skipped the breakfast ritual and opted instead for bananas and cookies that we bought the day before. A pretty good breakfast considering.

It cost $20 entrance into the area, and it was worth at least that much. To see so much history confined in such a small area was amazing. Angkor Wat was the obvious highlight, but there are so many other temples there that are equally as amazing. We took loads of pictures, so you'll all be able to sit through a long showing if you want. It will be tough explaining the day without the pictures to go along with it, so I'll sum it up by saying this: Many temples, many sights, and all of them worth the gruelling car ride to get here.

We head back tomorrow for beaches and sun. Hopefully my nose is done burning from its last encounter with the sun by the time we get there. Apparently overly cloudy days is no excuse to go without sunscreen. It seems like just yesterday the journey started, but here we are, just ten days from heading home, and it feels like we just got here. We're going to wrap up by trying to stretch out on the beach for three more days, and then head into the fray of Bangkok to get all our shopping done before the long trip home. Still feel free to send any emails if you do want us to pick something up for you, as long as it isn't heavy or too expensive, we're already pretty non existent in the money department as it is.