After Ho Chi Minh City, we traveled into Cambodia. We booked a tour through Angkor Wat in Vietnam and didnt realize until after we'd payed that it was a five star tour, meaning we stayed (for only $25 each, pretty good I think) in five star hotels in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. Phnom Penh was crazy, SO HOT, and people asking you to go for rides on thier tuk tuks. We took a 45 minute taxi ride to the military base where we shot an AK47. We pull in and here I am in lil booty short, Jax in a cleavagey tank top and 10 military men just standing there, while we ask if we can shoot an AK47. It was CRAZY. So we did, it was wild. But only too 10 mins, so we got back in our taxi and went right back to our hotel. Next day, we went to the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum and that was wild. We watched a documentary on Pol Pot's deadly regime and visited the largest prison there. Really educational, really heart-breaking.
We then got on a bus and rode through the countryside all the way to Siem Reap. What a dreamy lil town! It has these 2 great streets just full of bars and restaurants and on our first night we randomly ran into Jax's friends from camp, so we chilled at the "Angkor WHAT?!" bar .. Jax had one too many sips outta the bucket, and she ended up booting all through the night. Needless to say, we missed our 5am sunrise hike through the temples. No matter though, because we still got to Angkor Wat at 9 am and went on a tour through the ground until 4 pm. Jax was still drunk and asking crazy questions about monkeys to our guide. What a sight.
Anways, the temples are marvelous! Some of the temples are just breath-taking and the place is HUGE. We toured around with a French man and his son...so adorable! And this guy was like Mr. Bean...lil kids follow you around the whole day and ask you to buy things, like scarves and bracelets and paintings...this guy was literally hunched over at the end of the day from all the stuff he got! (Jax spoke to him in French all day, I was impressed).
We were only in Cambodia for 3 days...really really poor country, everyone uses US dollars there because the currency isnt worth much...the ATMs even distribute dollars...but Siem Reap is incredibly built up because of Angkor Wat and how many tourists flock there daily...there is even a Hotel Sofitel in the city!
From Siem Reap, we boarded another CRAZY bus to Bangkok...No aircon, people literally sitting on each other for 6 hours on an unpaved dirt road all the way to the Border. What an experience . At the border, we got on a nice lil sprinter van that took us back to Bangkok. Coming back to Bangkok after traveling all around SE Asia is like coming home. Very cool, very comfortable, and Koh Sanh Road, which is at first the most overwhelming place to be, feels like your friendly neighborhood joint. Hi Five Olde (and Psi U)!
We head down to the islands tonight...we're going to Koh Phangan for the full moon party...
Love and miss all!
-Jax and Lauren
No comments:
Post a Comment