Holiday in Cambodia

After an all-nighter the last night in Singapore we flew to Phnom Penh with a 6:45 AM flight. Unsure if he was going to check his pack or carry it on, Jeremy had his knife in it. When we decided to carry on at the gate, he took the knife out and gave it to the security personnel, telling them that he had originally planned to check it. Jeremy told them to just throw it out. One would think that this was pretty legitimate and straightforward. The security personnel proceeded to give him a very hard time, and he almost missed the flight. We almost lost one traveler there...

...and we were about to gain another one! When we walk out of Phnom Penh airport, who is standing right there waiting for us if not Jeffrey Guider Bond himself?? Jonas and Jeff had planned this surprise appearance for a few days, but Jeremy and Pete were completely clueless. The expression on Petey's face was priceless...

So now there are four of us. When we landed in Phnom Penh Jeff had already been there for a night and he had his "own" tuk-tuk driver, "Mr. To." He took us to Jeff's hostel to pick up some bags, and we then went to the bus station to arrange our afternoon bus ride to Siem Reap. Once the tickets were purchased, Mr. To drove us around the city, taking us to the Royal Palace, the National Museum, and other places of interest. We then ate a traditional Cambodian lunch at a local restaurant.

Having expected the worst (we had heard stories that Phnom Penh was dirty, poor, and sleazy), we were quite surprised to find it a nice and charming city. The people were incredibly friendly, the weather was nice, and it was overall a very good experience.

We then hopped on a 6 hour bus ride to Siem Reap in the north. Mr. To's brother Hat actually works as a tuk-tuk driver in Siem Reap, so he took us around upon our arrival in the city. We picked out a hostel and agreed for Hat to pick us up at 5 AM the next day to see sunrise over Angkor Wat.

The Temples of Angkor were unbelievable. Massive and incredible structures built hundreds of years ago. Some very pushy child merchants (probably between 5 and 8 years old) were able to rip us off big time on Angkor beer, soft drinks, and t-shirts all day. The kids would get quite aggressive if they first approached you to buy water, you said no, and then bought water from someone else later. Even if it were hours later, they seemed to always remember. "I came to you first. You say you not thirsty. I ask you, why you buy water now? You buy from me! You bad man!" Jonas, known as "Mr. Yellow" among these little devils (was rockin' the Sweden jersey proud all day) suffered the worst attacks, from one little girl in particular who cursed him saying "I wish you bad luck, no girlfriend, and no babies. I hope you never come back." as we were leaving. This was due to the terrible act of buying a t-shirt from another stand because they offered him a better price, what a heartless savage!

However, we were able to pick up some Khmer sayings from Mr. Hat during our breakfast. The rest of the day we used these sayings to try to convince hawkers/children we were from Battambang (another city in Cambodia where Mr. Hat was from). Shockingly, we successfully convinced a few people that we were really Khmer and they had to ask Mr. Hat for verification. Also, we became fairly proficient at mimicking the hawkers routine of asking what country you were from and then telling you the capital and president/PM of that country (this is how Jonas's heart was won by one Cambodian boy with extensive Swedish knowledge). Overall, we had a very enjoyable time bantering with locals in what little Khmer we knew and bartering over things we didn't actually want to buy.

Hat drove us around Angkor Archeological Park all day, and the heat/humidity was blistering. The infamous Sjoquist Stomach of Steel is now no more than a myth (mom/Marty, no need to say "I told you so"). On the tuk-tuk ride back from Angkor, Jonas started projectile vomiting into passing traffic. Jeremy and Jeff thought this was incredibly entertaining, opting to laugh and film the incident instead of offering help or support (made for an awesome video though, in case you were wondering). This was followed by a 12-hour session of non-stop bathroom visits and explosions at both ends. About 3 hours after getting back to the hostel, Pete joined in the puking/diarrhea fun. The day's eating was not too adventurous, consisting merely of chicken fried rice, some mangos, and water. It is unclear what caused the food poisoning, or if it was perhaps just sun poisoning or heat exhaustion. There are also unconfirmed rumors that one traveler may have sharted in his sleep...

It is now Monday May 25, and the adventure continues as we are headed towards Laos. We have a 12:30 PM flight from Siem Reap to Luang Prabang in northern Laos. This is supposed to be a town characterized by a mixture of the East/buddhism and the West/French colonialism, both in architecture and culture. There are also loads of outdoor activities such as hiking, jumping into waterfalls, spelunking, and tubing here.

To be continued from Laos...