Part III Siem Reap

1/04/10 (written 1/06/10) Train Ride
I'm afraid I haven't been good about my entries the last couple of days. However, I will do my best to recount the events in chronilogical order. Let's start with Monday the 4th. Since Jenn and I slept at 3am the previous night, we opted to take the 1pm train over the gruesome 5am departure. The trip to Aranyaprathet was a long one but it was an interesting experience. We went to the train station with plenty of time to spare. We purchased 3rd class tickets; hence, our tickets were only 48 bahts! That's about only $1.50! From Bangkok to Aranyaprathet...a distance of over 200 km for only $1.50. Incredible. Like typical tourists were took pictures of the whole station. Jenn insisted we buy waffles for the road. She constantly craves street food. Unfortunately, I don't share her adventurous spirit for strange cuisine from the streets. She claims to have a "iron stomach". When the train came it was an absolute battle to get on. Jenn and I were determined to get a seat so we used our luggage to box out people. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and after enough pushing and shoving, we were on. From families with toddlers to shady looking young people to crazy folk who yell, the train was packed with a fine assortment of characters. As the train chugged it's way eastwards, I enjoyed the scenery while Ms. Iron Stomach played Sudoku. The ride was about 5 hrs...alot of sitting. To pass the time, my companion let me take a crack at the numbers. As expected, the ride was very grimy as the ashes from the coal periodically flew through the window and managed to end up on my white shirt and shorts. The train ridewas long but I appreciated being able to get to look at the Thai countryside. Along thee way, there were school children that boarded from station to station. It was quite curious as these country children traveled great distances to go to school. We finally reached the Market Hotel where we met the infamous Shirley with the Blackberry. She wasn't as friendly as I had hoped but she was quite professional. This fat beagle named Bernie provided us with an endless amount of affection, though. In fact, he was a regular celebrity...there was a huge billboard of him advertising the Market Hotel Monster Burger.
1/05/10 (written 1/06/10) Border Crossing

The next morning we were ready for the rest of the trip to Siem Reap. For breakfast I had an omelette with toast while Jenn wolfed down a tasy pad thai dish. As a "foodie", she is obligated to try the local cuisine. I, on the other hand, was on no such schedule as I am appreciative of burgers and Western cuisine wherever I go...especially after being deprived of it in Japan. With that said, as it will noted later, I do try local food on occassion.

After breakfast, we had the waitress fetch us a tuk tuk. We still needed to pack so we had the tuk tuk driver wait 10 minutes. As I felt bad, I suggested we give him a big tip. In hindsight, I would have liked to have kept my 20 bahts tip. We were supposed to be taken directly to the border city; however, we made a curious stop at this outpost that does visas. Unfamiliar with the visa procedures for Cambodia, we took a seat at this terrible establishment. We saw other tourists so everything seemed standard.It wasn't until they had told us the processing fee that Jenn and I felt uneasy. The main wanted 1200 bahts (roughly $40) for the visa. We had read that a visa costs only $20. After the visa was processed, we realized our newbie blunder- the infamous tuk tuk border rip off happened right before our eyes. We had prepared ourselves for such a play but thought it would occur closer to the border. Oh tuk tuk driver, were you really that mad about waiting 10 minutes for us? I was able to get a small victory,though, as I smelled something fishy about the taxi fare for the ride from Poipet to Siem Reap. The visa dude wanted us to pay roughly $20 per person (600 bahts) for a 4 person taxi. We had heared that a shared taxi (4ppl) should be only be $15 per person. Small victory but a victory none the less. When I told him about this discreptancy, he had this bitter and frustrated look on his face. I savored every moment. Hah, I cheated you of $5! Along with our unforgiving tuk tuk driver, we were accompanied by this sleezy looking dude in a red shirt. All he was was a middle man, a guy that takes us from the driver to the cab driver on the other side of the border...and he had the nerve to ask us for 100 bahts a piece. As I write this I feel so angry but at the time it made sense. People in this part of the world try to rip you off all the time BUT there's a distinct difference between merchants ripping you off from these tuk tuks. With the merchants you have are in full control of the bargaining...if you don't want something, you just walk away. However, with the tuk tuks, once you give them your trust,they put you in a situation which you lose all control- they take you on a ride. And so once we agreed to do the visa through them, we sealed out fate. Anyway, after we gave this horrible greasy fellow with the red shirt his cuty, we were transferred to "his brother" to hook us up with a taxi. And so we followed this fellow on a bus to the taxi station. I was so caught up in all this that I had made the biggest blunder, the kind that even an idiot wouldn't make- I left my luggage with a stranger. Boy I have been spoiled in Japan. Caught up in the border crossing, I was unaware that I had left my suitcase with Taxi Pimp Greaser. And so as Jenn and I were busy standing in line to get into Cambodia, this fellow ran up ahead with my bag.Thankfully he was a man of integrity so he did not vanish BUT this boneheaded move spoke volumes about the lack of control we had in the whole situation. At the taxi station we waited over 45 minutes but could not leave until our newest greaser found 2 other people to hop in the taxi with us.

Meanwhile, Jenn and I decided to exchange our American currency to Cambodian money. As we looked at the exchange rate, it seemed awkward that the U.S. dollar was worth more than the more powerful Japanese yen. Apparently, this is done because the dollar is the dominant currency in Siem Reap, even more popular than the Cambodian Riel. In fact, if a merchant receives Cambodian Riel instead of US dollars they give you the stink eye...it's like walking into Best Buy with a bag of quarters. Who's this poor bastard trying to buy an "ipad" with damn change? Back to the story. Since we didn't know all this, we bought $40 and $60, respectively, worth of Riel. Another small victory was to be won on this occassion as even the exchange stand tried to cheat me out of my money. Granted, this guy probably made an honest mistake but I had to recount the money. I had given the man $60 but he accidently gave me only $40 worth in Riel. Terrible. Thankfully, I decided to recount the bills, did my math and asked for my extra 80,000 Riel. And so small battles were won during this war on "Friendship Bridge". We continued to wait for the Taxi Pimp Greaser but he never came back...so we eventually shared a taxi with a German couple from Heinsburg.

After a 2 1/2 hr hourney, we made it to the Kazna safe and sound. The hotel is absolutely gorgeous and the workers were professional and very helpful. In fact, the moment we stepped in, we had a lady from the front desk greet us, bring us tasty lemonade and give us information of all the hot spots in Siem Reap in perfect English. When we got to our room, we were shocked by how nice it was. For only $30 a night, we had a beautiful room with fine wood floors, a personal balcony, a wonderful painting of a Cambodian fisherman hanging over our bed and grade A service- they even brought us fruit on a platter minutes upon our arrival. Granted, the balcony overlooked this shady building with hoes in it but still, a balcony none the less. To make us feel even more at home the establishment has a policy to remove shoes at the door-which explains its reputation of being the cleanest hotel in Siem Reap.

Once we were settled, we decided to go to Pub Street in the Old Market to get a bite to eat. We stumbled upon the "Traditional Khmer" and we both had Khmer Curry for only 3 dollars. The magnificent use of spices and assortment of vegetables resulted in what I can honestly say was the best curry I have ever tasted No, this is no exaggeration, it was that good. Who says you need to pay huge chunks of cash for good food. Screw you Asian Fussion joints that leave me unsatisfied. Then we roamed a bit and went back to the hotel.

For dinner, we decided to eat at the "Temple Balcony". They have daily performances from 7:30 to 9:30pm of Aspara traditional dancers. As long as you're a paying customer, it's free. Free show, cheap food, can't lose. Aspara, as I found out today at Angkor Wat (1/06/10) is 1)a dancer of the king's court and 2) a divinity. Afterwards, Jenn and I hit up the night bazaar. I bargained for a couple of cheap stuff. As I often do, I fell in love with several paintings but did not pull the trigger. More specifically, this impressionistic representation of the Bayon faces caught my eye but I deemed it too expensive. In addition, as I live in Japan, the vibrant colors may not match the more subdued interiors of my Ikata home. Sigh. We'll see if I will pull the trigger. Note: I eventually got an abstract, fauvist/impressionstic painting of elephants and other Cambodian looking stuff. It's awesome.