To reach the next step of our journey through Indochina, we had to get up early to beat the main crowds at the border to Cambodia. So we cycled about 8km through dawn and a little traffic, to get the chance to spend our last thai baht at the market. We invested in face masks which came in quite handy a few days later. Checking out of Thailand was fairly simple; you queue,wait, and get through...we all got a little agitated when a group of russians with clearly no queueing skills tried to push in..tut tut tut. After pushing our bikes through no-man's-land we entered a different world. Our leader for Cambodia, Fila, told us to take good care of our belongings and valuables as a lot of beggars and very young thieves try their luck in the crowds.
To enter Cambodia you have to provide your fingerprints and a photo....but I asked myself "in a country like this what are they doing with them?"
As I was one of the first getting through, whilst waiting for everyone else, standing there clutching my backpack on my front, I watched a cute little street-girl trying to get some money from another tourist. She didn't succeed, but kept hovering about, sneaking around and trying again on others. At one point an older local whacked a plastic water bottle over her head, which seemed to keep her away for a while. I just stood there shocked about what I had just witnessed, but then I suppose, when in Rome...
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| David enjoying a land snail |
After a short cycle we reached the bus which brought us to Siem Reap! The journey there was interesting as we all thought Thailand's scenery was a little samey and flat but Cambodia beat it. I've never seen a vast and super flat country like this before. Miles and miles of dry, brown rice fields with the occasional palm tree breaking it up; as they harvest the rice in November and there is very little rain at the moment...I'm sure it is totally different and lush in the rainy season.
It all looked a bit sad and depressing, though the feeling was probably exacerbated by one of my favourite songs (my theme music to Cambodia) that I was listening on "repeat".
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| Us flirting at the flirting market |
After 2 hours we arrived at our next hotel where we had the pleasure to stay for 3 nights ....woohoo! We went on a short (just over 10km) warm-up orientation cycle in the afternoon, where we saw some monkeys and stopped at the "Flirting Market", a local version of funfair meets food market.
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Amazing delicacies you could find here. Alex and David pretty much tried everything they could, big land snails, bugs, all sorts of different fruits and the only thing they both backed away from was a duck embryo... and Alex only didn't try it as I told him I would never kiss him again.
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| Bugs in all varieties |
After a short ride back we all finished the day with dinner on Pub Street where we got entertained with some traditional dance. I was so excited about the next day to come as I have always wanted to see Cambodia's Temples.
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