Bunny, Bobby & I are heading to Cambodia for New Years. The original plan was to go to Chiang Mai - but the busses were booked and at the time the airport was closed (as far as we knew - indefinitely). So somehow the plan evolved to going to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat. Much of the 'detail' work was conducted in an internet cafe surrounded by kids playing online war games. We planned this trip entirely without the aide of a guidebook and with only moderate amounts of help from people who'd actually *been* to Cambodia. To say we're freaked out would be an understatement of grand proportions. When we've told our students they reply only "dangerous" or make a face and shake their heads. I emailed one of the guys from the CELTA course and he said "it had a squalid shittiness about it." So yeah... sounds fun!
But Angkor Wat is supposed to be one of those things you should see before you die... and we're here so... why the heck not! We leave for Bangkok first thing in the morning. From Bangkok we'll take a bus to the border with Cambodia. From the border we'll......... um....... somehow find transportation to Siem Reap, where we have a hostel reserved for two nights. Hopefully we'll actually get to see Angkor Wat. It's the number one tourist draw, so I imagine it'll be pretty farang friendly.
From Angkor Wat / Siem Reap, we'll....... um.... somehow find transportation to Phnom Penh - the Capitol of Cambodia where we have another hostel reserved for two or three nights. This is where we'll spend New Year's Eve. We're hoping to just find some fellow travelers to hang out with. We've gotten mixed responses about what there is to do in Phnom Penh - one guy said it was boring and the only thing to do is go roller skating in the mall. But the other guy said it was raging parties every night. Something in the middle is what we're looking for, but who knows.
After New Year's we'll actually fly back to Bangkok (that flight is our big splurge of the trip - we figure we'll be tired of being on ground transportation by then). And from Bangkok we're meeting up with a French-Vietnamese guy Bunny & Bobby met on Koh Samet. Mexican food is on the agenda... but beyond that we'll just be hanging out that day, and the next day we'll go to Ayuttaya (just an hour north of Bangkok)... the site of some pretty fantastic Thai ruins. Then, if we have air in our lungs and strength in our legs we'll hop on yet another bus back to Rayong... to be home on the 4th, and teaching again on the 5th.
Insane? Absolutely. Dangerous? Probably. Exciting? A little bit. But we're totally going to do it and just see what happens. Wish me luck!
11 comments:
Be careful and have fun.
That sounds like a great adventure. A few of my friends have been there and they loved it. I'm hoping to go as well! Good luck!
good luck! i hope it turns out better than you expect!
I hope you have a great time and come back safely!
Oh, it'll be fantastic, no matter what happens. It's an adventure!
Have fun, take pictures!
Have fun!!!
unheard of, but they closed OHSU research and administrative offices for the whole week of Christmas due to the snow.
No buses could get up the hill and the only way to get there was on the Tram, IF you could get to the streetcar!
I have another friend who went through Cambodia a while ago and had a great time. She's pretty rugged, but hell, you're getting there too. Plus, all the Cambodians I know think it's great. Kind of.
My favorite news item out of Cambodia in recent years is when the city of Pnom Penh, worried about the increasingly dangerous packs of feral dogs around, launched a campaign to get the city folks not to be so snobbish about not eating dog meat. Now, THAT's a green solution to an urban problem!
I hope it's more exciting than dangerous. Good luck!
whooooo hoooooo! that's an awesome new year's. danger is the spice of life.
p.s. i got the postcards. awesomeness. thank you.
Thanks everyone. I survived... that's about all I can say before I process this whole adventure!
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