Travel Adventures in Cambodia

Our travel to Cambodia was full of adventures. First, we took a big, comfortable, air-conditioned bus from Bangkok to Aranyaprathet and stayed the night in a guest house. It wasn't a great place, but okay for the price. Then the next morning, we crossed the border into Poipet, Cambodia only to find out that the only buses to Phnom Penh left by 7:30 a.m. even though the border doesn't open until 8:00 am.

There was a guy who followed us all the way from the Thai side of the border into Cambodia and kept wanting to reserve a taxi for us going to Phnom Pehn or a bus to Siem Reap, which would have been out of our way. All the while, he kept saying demeaning things to us and demeaning things about us to the Cambodian people we passed by, speaking in English so that we would understand. He directed us to a free bus ride to "the transportation," and got on the bus with us. We had hesitated for a while before getting onto the free bus, and were wondering where all the other foreigners who had been crossing the border were. There was only one other person. When we arrived at a small bus/taxi/tour station, and the guy followed us in and tried to get us to reserve a taxi. They said we could get a taxi for 1000Bhat ($30) each, but would need 4 or 5 people. My husband went out to call our friends in Phnom Penh. I was waiting in that bus station with that guy hanging around for at least half an hour, wondering why there weren't other foreigners, and putting mosquito repellent all over to get rid of a swarm of vicious mosquitoes and wishing that I had some way of sending away the guy who kept pestering us. The guy had insisted that this is the only bus/taxi station.

We decided to stay the night in Poipet. We found a decent little guest house for about $4.50 for both of us. I was only surprised when I tried to wash my hands in the sink, and the water drained out onto my toes:-(. The helper in the guesthouse drove my husband on a moto to the real bus station, which was about a kilometer farther down the road then the supposedly only bus station in Poipet. Then we rode two motos the next morning and got on the bus at 6:30 bus to Phnom Penh, which was a fairly nice, air conditioned bus. The road was paved after about the first hour.

When we got to Phnom Penh, we took a "tuk tuk" ride to where our friends were in language school, and the driver insisted that we pay about 6 dollars more than we should have for the ride, which was a short distance. My husband and I were really frustrated by the time we got there. But we had a great time with our friends, and ended up finding Cambodia to be a really interesting place.

The bus ride back to Thailand was fine except that we reserved the 6:30a.m. bus so that we could make it to Bangkok on the same day, but the 6:30a.m. bus didn't leave until about 9:50. Then when we were about an hour from Poipet, they transferred us to another bus, which was supposedly air conditioned, but was hot and stank and immediately got a flat tire. We waited at the tire repair place for a long time. Then my husband saw someone he had discovered on the bus who spoke English getting into a taxi. They let us ride with them, and it was only $5 for both of us. The taxi took us all the way to the border crossing. There were 4 men in the front seat, and 2 men, 2 women, and 1 child in the back seat. After crossing through the border, someone showed us where there were big, first-class, air conditioned buses waiting for passengers to Bangkok, and we were on our way in half an hour. It was the kind of bus that I would think even tall, over sized foreigners could be comfortable in.

Aranyaprathet, Thailand

Aranyaprathet is the border town in Thailand where we stayed the night before crossing into Cambodia. HEre we are on a tuk tuk going to a guesthouse, and in the second picture, we're riding a tuk tuk to the border.

Poipet, Cambodia

Poipet is the border town which people usually go through when coming by land from Thailand. It's a fairly large city. In fact, the population is supposed to be about 60,000. We were surprised to see that the roads are not paved. It had been raining so much that the roads were extremely muddy and full of mud puddles. It seems like a very poor town. You would think it would be better off with all the people coming across the border and all the casinos that appear as soon as you walk through the border crossing.

Battambang, Cambodia

Battambang was one of our first stops when we rode the bus from Poi pet to Phnom Penh. It might be smaller then Poi pet, but it looks better.

We saw many houses on stilts. Our friends told us that in some places, when the heavy rains come and it floods, people untie their houses and let them float.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

This is the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It has four (I think) buildings. It was a school that was converted into one of the many prisons used to torture and kill men, women, children, and even infants who were suspected of possibly being against the Khmer Rouge communist revolution. At least 10, 499 prisoners were there from 1975 to 1978, and most of them were tortured and killed.

The large rooms were for political prisoners, and the small cells were for others. People in the Khmer Rouge (KR) regime apparently used the metal boxes to squish the prisoner's fingers. They also used electrocution, hanging and other methods of torture.

In addition to the prisoners who were killed, most of the educated people in Cambodia were also killed or sent to the country to do manual labor. In fact, 1/4 to 1/3 of the population died in the Khmer Rouge revolution.

Not only that, but the Khmer Rouge separated children from their parents and spouses from each other and arranged marriages, which were done in mass ceremonies.

Pol Pot was the main leader of the revolution. He was a Cambodian who had become a communist while studying in France. He thought that he was doing his country good by getting rid of educated people, taking away private property, torturing and killing etc.



The picture I am looking at shows some of the human bones found in the mass graves. It is really a field of many bones.

We went to Friend's restaurant with our friends and a group of Singaporeans. It is the third and final training ground for young Cambodian people who had been on the street. It enables them to be employed high-class in hotels after their training.

Just after we got inside, the rain came down hard, almost in a solid sheet. The heavy rain only lasted maybe half an hour, but it flooded very quickly. We had to wade through the water when we left. In Phnom Penh, wealthy people usually raise up their land by piling more dirt onto it. It is causing many areas that didn't used to flood to flood.

We visited a Cambodian church in Phnom Pehn. The sermon was about an hour long, but I didn't understand any of it because it is in their language.

We went to Swenson's in the second of the only two malls in Cambodia for B's birthday.

B trying to feed a monkey in a park in Phnom Pehn, Camboida. The monkey became angry for some reason and went after him.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Dragon fruit. I bought 6 for only 20 Bhat from a street vendor. They taste similar to kiwi fruit.

The Chatuchak Weekend Market

This is a gigantic market that runs on Saturdays and Sundays. It is where people go to get really good deals. We noticed that probably 10 or 20% of the thousands of people there were also foreigners. I think it's a great place to shop, but would prefer to go during a cooler time of year.

Mangosteens-These are very sweet and flavorful. They seem to be plentiful and inexpensive in Bangkok.

Bangkok, Thailand, Chao Phraya River

We rode the skytrain to the pier, and bought all-day (till 3:00pm) passes on the Chao Phraya Ferry for 120 Bhat each, and went to Wat Pho and Wat Arun.

Wat Po, Bangkok, Thailand

This was delicious "street food." You order, and they cook your food and serve it. Here we ate a large plate of Pad-Thai for 50Bhat. We liked it so much that we ordered another and took it with us.

Wat Arun, Bangkok, Thailand

Wat Arun

Bangkok, Thailand

This is the Paragon, a huge mall full of very expensive things, plus a large grocery store full of a suprising amount of imported goods, as well as many Thai groceries. It also has a movie theater with movies in English with Thai subtitles. We watched one, and noticed that everyone in the theater except for possibly three people, were forigners with brown or blond hair. On the lowest floor of the Paragon is Ocean World.

It was a lot of food for about a dollar. The dark square thing on the left is blood sausage, or congealed blood, which I didn't eat.

"TAXI"

Bangkok, Thailand, day 1

We ran into some good friends who were also students at AGS before. They had to leave, though. They were about to get into a taxi in this picture.

Thai food