Sua s’day! Well, I finally made it to Cambodia! After a week of shopping and eating in Bangkok with Kate View image we decided to head off to Siem Reap.

Since we are trying to conserve money we decided to take the land route which proved to be an interesting adventure. The trip to the border was fairly uneventful but once we entered Poipet I was taken back by this incredibly filthy border town! Beggars everywhere, swindlers, trash, dirt covered roads and buildings…..all my senses violated all at once. My first impression was not good.

We quickly hired a taxi and started off on our 3 ½ hour ride on one of the worst roads I’ve ever been on. The “highway” was little more then a dusty dirt rode with so many bumps and potholes that my entire body was sore just from the ride.

Along the way we saw some amazing hut villages along the dirt roads and the Cambodian gas stations were nothing more then Coke bottles filled with gasoline!

My first impression of Siem Reap was not great either. If Thailand is considered a 3rd world country then Cambodia is a 4th world country. I was surprised how dirty everything seemed at first and how many beggars and peddlers there were constantly bombarding me for money. Coming from Thailand were everything is very clean and no one really bothers you, this was a little disappointing. Here is the Old Market in town

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Kate looking for a restaurant.

I soon realized that although there are plenty of people trying to make a buck, the Cambodian people have a great sense of humor and are very carefree and friendly people. I love the children even though they are relentless at trying to get you to buy things from them. They are very smart and witty at times and always seem very happy. If they are too young to know English they are quick to wave and yell “Hel-lo….good-bye” from the roadside. The whole time I’ve been in Asia I’ve only seen one woman hit her kid or yell at them. They don’t seem to cry or act up at all either! Here is Kate buying some palm sugar candies from some village children on our way to a jungle temple.

The next day we started our 3 day tour of Angkor Wat. One of the wonders of the world in my opinion. You can read about that in my next blog entry.