Woke up to pigs squealing from a basket on the back of a motorbike this morning and realized that perhaps Cambodia isn't as bad as I felt it was last night.
We arrived at the train station in Bangkok at 5:10am in high style, care of Nike driver Mati who has been a wonderful!!
We got our train tickets uneventfully and were sitting in our 3rd class car by 5:30am. The train pulled out promptly 5 minutes late at 6am and we enjoyed watching the sunrise over the Bangkok skyline.
The train runs behind the fancy buildings we've been in front of so far on our trip. We watched folks preparing and "cleaning" the food which would later be sold on the streets. It was a great insight into life for those less fortunate in Bangkok.
Travel by train has been considered romantic by at least one member of this travel partnership, however, I think his mind may have changed when, at 8:50am, a sack of dead chickens boarded and its tiny keeper placed it basically in his lap. We scooted and scooched toward the window, however it was impossible to get so far away as to prevent it touching Tom's leg. With raised eyebrows asking " This is just what the travel nurse was talking about, wasn't it? " I finally sufficed it to say, " Well, just don't lick your pants." The chickens made their way to market a few stops later, however not after much discussion among the all Thai passengers about us, our noses and I'm sure our trepidation about dead chickens.
We enjoyed the Thai children happily playing in the aisles of the train being altogether better behaved than most children I've experienced on mass transit. The vendors sold boiled eggs and Chinese tea from the windows and we ate the snacks we'd picked up at 7/11 in Bangkok.
Arriving in Aranyaprathet at 11:30 we navagated through the chaos and negotiated a 60 baht tuk-tuk ride to the border. FYI - 70 baht is the going rate and one driver actually walked away from us before another took us.
The border is insane. No amount of homework-doing could have genuinely prepared me. To credit, there are several signs in several places for non-Thais. Luckily we DID arrive before the busloads of Koreans and Aussies so got checked out of Thailand with no waiting and proceeded through the Casino Zone to Cambodian offices. A man who was not in any uniform handed us our Visa application and we sat down to complete it. We took it back up to him with our photos and he said " 1000 baht each for Visa" as he was standing directly below a sign which clearly read "20 USD for Visa" (for those of you keeping score at home 1000 baht is 25 USD). Tom said, no, 20 US. He said, "OK, but take long time" I said, " We'll wait". Luckily, homwork - doing had prepared me for this scam. There were several other westerners arriving at that time and we had our paperwork in about 3 minutes. We're guessing he didn't want us to tip them off to his little arrangment. The most surprising part of this was that the Cambodian tourist police and immigration officials simply stood there watching. When we did make it past the enterprising visa runner to the official window, they didn't even come to take our paperwork for another moment or two. As if waiting for us to have second thoughts about purchasing the expedited visa service.
One more stop to get our passports and newly acquired visas stamped and we're officially in the Kingdom of Cambodia where screaming sirens led a convoy of Lexus SUVs quickly back to the Thai side. Hmmmm.
Free shuttle to transportation depot where negotiated an air conditioned Toyota Camry for alot of money, but less than requested. The buses weren't ready to go for a long time, neither were the pickups and we haven't really eaten or slept since 4am. It is now 1pm. So, the really expensive Camry it is.
Bad "road". Not paved. No traffic pattern. In fact, for the first half hour or so, we couldn't figure out if you drive on the right or the left here. Lonely Planet says the right. We'll have to take their word for it.
Arrive at Siem Reap about 4pm. Guesthouse is nicer than expected. Ended up at Angkor for sunset, more on that later.
After sunset we head into town for our first actual meal of the day and realized again that homework is of no help here. Yes, Dain and Linde told us about the children. Yes, I read about the landmine victims who have discovered Americans in particular feel guilty enough for a handout. No, I did not know that I would want to cry. I did not know that I would feel overwhelmed in the chaos. I don't get overwhelmed and want to cry. It was rather emotional and we made an early night of it.
Feeling better this morning. Getting a decidedly late start on the temples so we can skip lunch while others come back to town giving us some relief from the crowds.
Keep checking for more posts!!!
this is all so totally fabulous!
you are so very wise to do such traveling/learning/experiencing.
Enjoy every second of it (& of life together!)
I love you!