Blogging live from Siem Reap, Cambodia. It's felt like a long long time since my last post and that's because we've been hustling all over the place. My Tho, Can Tho, and Chau Doc in Vietnam. Phenom Penh is Cambodia and now here in Siem Reap. It's just nice to finally stay at a hotel for more than one night. The internet is tricky here so I'm going to keep this relatively short but we've seen a ton. Going up through the Mekong was an interesting experience. The tour ended up being a godsend because there's no chance we would've seen as much in such a short period. The Mekong River is south Vietnam's lifeblood and affords people the opportunity to eke out a living, although people don't seem too stressed about things as sitting in hammocks and playing checkers and chess (not the US versions) seems like a 24/7 activity. People seem content with what little they have. On the day we arrived in Chau Doc we'd been traveling all day in brutally hot and humid weather. We decided to walk through the Chau Doc market at around closing time which meant extra garbage and waste on the floor, fish and meat that had been out all day, and that's just added to being sweaty and nasty, which I've actually grown accustomed to. We passed by this hotel which seemed out of place as it was actually really nice and decided to go in. There was nobody there but they had this sweet balcony overlooking the river with a pool. We asked if we could go in the pool, half-joking, because we weren't staying there, and the waiter said that since we were drinking there we could use the pool. Jumping in and washing off whatever nastiness stuck to us during the day was unreal, and since we also decided to take advantage of the pool table and A/C and had a good time.
The next morning we took a 5 hour "fast boat" which we paid an extra $17 to do and crossed into Cambodia via boat. The slow boat would've taken 9 hours by the way. A $17 well spent as you can imagine. We stayed in Phenom Penh's "backpacker ghetto" and it was kind of quiet there. On our only real night out there we went to the largest club and stayed up about 20 hours past our bedtime which made the next day kind of a wash, but we flew into Siem Reap in the evening, got to bed early, got up the next morning at 5am to catch the sun rise over Ankgor Wat. This morning was the first morning we actually slept in, and we were up at 9am, so I don't know if that's even considered sleeping in.
We've been on quite a pace for this past week, and I'm not quite sure why I was worried about not having enough time on the beaches in Thailand. It's looking like we'll be there for around 2 weeks, which I am looking forward to. But first Laos, specifically Luang Prabang. I've heard great things so I'm hoping LP will provide us with enough reason to stay 4 days or so. Maybe even more.
From what I've read this morning I need to take some fly swatting tips from President Obama, but the bugs haven't been an issue. It's just hot and humid and I'm going to take a rinse. Until next time.
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