Trip of a Lifetime

The Less-Then-Amazing Race

Hi again everyone! Greetings from Cambodia on this fine day. Right now, Kailyn and I are in Siem Reap; the city closest to Angkor Wat. Now I'm not sure how many of you have even heard of Angkor Wat, being halfway around the world and all, and I will further inform you of it later - for now, let's just take a moment to be thankful that we even made it here :) Basically, in the last 4 days, we traveled from Nong Khai (Thailand, just across the border from Vientiane, Laos) to Siem Reap, and managed to fit a day trip to Phnom Rung along the way. Mkay, so - on Saturday, at 8 am, we left Nong Khai, took one bus to Udon Thani, another to Khorat, and a third bus, which was ABSOLUTELY PACKED, to Nong Rung, where we spent the night. Total distance - approximately 400 km. Total time of travel - approximately 12 hours. And let me tell you, it was no slice of heaven. Firstly, in the eastern region of Thailand, there are virtually no tourists, and therefore no need for English signs. This made things rather difficult, though not impossible. It usually helps to just repeat the name of the place you're going over and over until they recognize it through your thick accent. I've never had so many people stare at me in my life... At first it's awkward, but if you just look back at them and give them a big smile, it usually reminds them that you're people, just like they are! Most of the Thais in this area rarely see white people; for some of the children it is, indeed, their first time. There was a small boy, sitting in the seat in front of me, who would periodically turn completely around, standing on his seat, and lean over his headrest to stare at me from less than a foot away. Getting so much attention is at once flattering and embarrassing; the trick is to just smile and nod, and let their curiosity pass. Next, imagine a normal city bus that has fallen behind in maintenance and is rather dilapidated. Now, put 60 seats on this bus. Now, cram 120 people into this same bus, and throw about 15 on the roof. And now throw on 2 random white tourists somewhere in the middle of that sweaty, hot, smelly Thai mess. Welcome to our bus trip from Khorat to Nong Rung. But wait, we're not done yet! Half way through the bus trip, there is an enormous explosion-like sound, as if the bus had been hit by a rocket launcher, followed by what sounds like a machinegun. The floor is shaking violently, everyone is looking around trying to figure out what to do. World War Three? Well not quite. This is what happens when a tire explodes while you're doing 120 on a crappy rural highway with 120 people on a bus. The bang was, of course, the tire exploding, and the machine gun sounds afterward were in fact the strips of rubber still hanging on to the axle, slapping the inside of the wheel well over and over... Not fun. We stopped momentarily, only to have the driver step out of the bus, glance at the back tire and hop right back in to continue driving. Unbelievable. The tire was still slapping the crap out of the wheel well, and the floor was getting quite hot due to the friction. We finally stopped at some gas station, got the tire replaced, and continued to Nong Rung. Here's what the red hot tire looked like after they finally got it off the axle http://www.geocities.com/spiker43911/P1010070.JPG So, now in Nong Rung, we stayed one night at a nice little guest house, and the next day we ventured off to Phnom Rung, which is the best restored of Thailand's Khmer Monuments. We were told motorbikes were the best way to get there, but we felt that, having never driven motorbikes before, the narrow 120km/h highway to the temple would be a bit of an issue. And so, we got a truck driver for the day. For 400 Baht (roughly 13 dollars CAD), we both got a ride there and back, and the driver waited at the temple until we were done. The temple itself was stunning. Built on an extinct volcanic cone, in the middle of nowhere, Phnom Rung was indeed worth the hours of traveling we'd endured. Made of intricately carved sandstone and roughly cut porous volcanic rock, with a huge promenade, this originally Hindu temple is now simply a tourist attraction, having been mostly restored in the last 20 years. Being such a difficult place to find, and rather off the tourist beaten track, we found ourselves nearly alone inside the temple. We got many pictures of the rock carvings, of the scenery, of the statues and Hindu reliefs that saturated the inside of the temple, but the true beauty of this 1000 year old temple was the peace and serenity it seemed to instill in us as we walked through it's grounds. It was a feeling difficult to describe, and incomparable to anything I've experienced. It was one of the many moments I've already experienced in Thailand that I know I'll remember for the rest of my life. Here are some pictures to give you an idea of what I'm talking about http://www.geocities.com/spiker43911/P1010071.JPG http://www.geocities.com/spiker43911/P1010076.JPG http://www.geocities.com/spiker43911/P1010078.JPG http://www.geocities.com/spiker43912/P1010086.JPG http://www.geocities.com/spiker43912/P1010088.JPG http://www.geocities.com/spiker43912/P1010092.JPG http://www.geocities.com/spiker43912/P1010096.JPG Here's one last one of Kailyn and my semi-permanent mark on Phnom Rung http://www.geocities.com/spiker43913/P1010102.JPG Amazingly, this temple points directly East. No, seriously... EXACTLY east. I even broke out the compass to make sure. Pretty amazing, don't ask me how they managed it :) Later that day, after our return from Phnom Rung, I discovered that the building right next to our guest house was a music school. Well, you know me - I won't pass up ay chance to play some drums. So I chatted up the members of a band, which I couldn't extricate the name of, and they let me play with them for a bit! http://www.geocities.com/spiker43913/P1010108.JPG Even later that night, I found myself playing a pickup game of soccer (once again) with some random French guys, in a local park. http://www.geocities.com/spiker43913/P1010110.JPG So, after our day at Phnom Rung, we decided to head all the way into Cambodia the following day, Monday. We figure it's better to do all our traveling one day, and relax a bit the next, since even a 5 hour bus ride seems to tire us out pretty good. And so we departed Nong Rung, on a not-quite-so-packed bus to Aranya Prathet, where we crossed (very slowly, I might add) into Cambodia. The Cambodian border town on the other side of Aranya Prathet is called Poipet. It was pretty much a dirty crap-hole. This may seem like a quick judgment, but let me explain: Gambling is illegal in neighboring Thailand, a country that is far wealthier than Cambodia, a nation that can't even maintain it's own roads. Poipet, being the closest non-Thai city to Bangkok, has therefore become a sort of mini Las Vegas, with towering resorts and a stupefying number of casinos, catering to rich tourists from Bangkok and the like. Poipet itself, however, is one of the poorest cities in one of the poorest countries in Asia. The juxtaposition of these 2 themes was overbearing - seeing limbless children begging and groveling for food, in the shadow of a multimillion dollar casino, is not a sight I will soon forget. Needless to say we felt the need to exit Poipet at all speed, which was another difficulty altogether. There are three ways to get to Siem Reap from Poipet. #1 - Tourist Bus. This costs about 250 Baht per person which may not seem like a lot but is almost half of my daily budget. The other problem is that buses are notoriously slow, bumpy and packed. Mind you, anything going to Siem Reap is bound to be bumpy - this is literally one of the worst roads in all of Asia. The main problem however, with tourist buses, is that they occasionally get stopped by Cambodian bandits and even Police who are looking for money, and you end up paying an arm and a leg simply because you are white. #2 - Rent a taxi. This is probably the best option if you have 4 or 5 people, since you can split the cost of the taxi and fill it up with people that you can trust - that way you won't end up picking up any seedy characters on the way out of town. However, paying 350 per person is not within my budget, nor Kailyn's, and so we opted for option #3 - hang on for dear life in the back of a pickup truck. This costs 200 baht each, but we got the guy down to 300 for both of us, and so we were off. Or were we... First, the truck was packed utterly full of rice, fruit, pop, beer, and other bulk goods going to either Sisophan (the town between Poipet and Siem Reap) or Siem Reap itself. Now on top of the goods goes the human cargo, including Kailyn and I. NOW we were off, clinging tightly to anything we could grab, including ropes, bags of rice, and random Asians. About one hour and we were in Sisophan, where we unloaded nearly all our cargo (Human and consumer alike). Finally, some leg room! But wait... Far too good to be true, I know. We pulled into what seemed to be a bus station of some kind, where we were corralled into another pickup truck, where we were packed impossibly tightly. Even though you THINK you know what I'm talking about, you don't, unless you've experienced it for yourself. Imagine this - Begin with one small pickup truck, roughly the size of a Ford Tacoma. Next, pack about 300 pounds of rice, 150 pounds of lentils (I think?), and 250 pounds of an unknown boxed item. Now throw on all the luggage of the passengers (Probably about 100 pounds, most of it being Kailyn and mine). Also add one spare tire, for good measure. Now, pack in... And I'm absolutely serious here... 21 people, on the back of a small pickup truck, with everything else I've mentioned. And another 5 people and the driver in the cab, just for good measure. For three and a half hours, we drove on the worst road ever, with 21 people on the back of a pickup truck. Of course, the road was dirt, and I have never been so dirty in my entire life. This picture says it all. http://www.geocities.com/spiker43913/P1010115.JPG It took so long to load/unload the trucks at the start of our trip, that it was nightfall long before we arrived in Siem Reap. This was a bit worrisome, but proved quite nice - never have I seen the stars so bright as on that crappy road from Sisophan to Siem Reap. Amazingly, there was an element of tranquility to our journey, and there was something comforting in the fact that 19 other people were also holding themselves onto the back of our same pickup truck, at that same moment. I know it's hard to believe, but I'm glad we chose the truck, and not simply because of money. The locals were somewhat impressed that tourists would embark on a journey such as this one, and we were treated, as has been the case throughout our time here in Asia, with the same courtesy that these kind people extend to each other. While it would be easy to complain and whine about the transportation here, or about having to buy water, cold showers, etc... It's even easier to forget that these people have to live their entire lives in a country where, every day, there are thousands of tiny trucks filled with thousands of cramped people, who are perfectly happy with what little they have, and can still find the time to be so kind and gentle to people who don't even speak their language. Truly amazing, and it makes me feel incredibly lucky to live where I do, and enjoy the boundless opportunities that come with life in North America. I heard many times growing up how lucky I was to be in Canada, and that there were poor people starving in other countries around the world; But it is only now that I truly appreciate what I have back home. Spiker

posted by Spiker @ 10:26 pm