The Last Bits About Cambodia

In Siem Reap, the adorable (and so, so tiny) tuk tuk driver who picked us up from the bus stop when we arrived ended up being our driver for the next 2 days as well to take us through the temples. Although a very sweet South African dude - whom we spent our evenings chatting away with after dinner and listening to fascinating stories of his days as an electrician in the bush – recommended that we start the day with Angkor Wat, our driver, Rai, had other plans. He insisted we end the day with Angkor Wat and begin with Angkor Thom – a group of temples a few kilometers away. Apparently all drivers do this and my guess is, hey, they probably know their stuff.

To be honest, Angkor Wat was not our favorite... It almost feels like blashphemy to say it and it took us hours to admit as much to each other, but somehow, the other more rundown, taken-over-by-nature temples of Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm just won us over much more than the more well restored Angkor Wat (restored by the Germans, might I add. They are mighty good at whatever they do ;). But it's certainly a personal preference. Either that, or we've all been ruined by the movie Tomb Raider and can only be wowed by the kind of gorgeous, labyrinthine, wild temples it showed us (Ta Prohm featured heavily in that movie).

 You do what you gotta do to get the gnomey shot

Tuk tuk drivers are the masters of power naps

It definitely at least helped a bit to see Angkor Wat again the next morning at sunrise – Rai breezily informed us we would meet at 4:30am to drive there that morning! – and despite having to harshly defend our first row (in front of a small pool of water) spaces against a ton of very pushy Chinese tourists (we can’t escape them!), the sunrise was oh so worth it. I can only imagine how even more incredible it would be without the irritating cloud cover.

 And that is at 5:30am...

 We finally found out that we're not the only ones who have to share an umbrella!

We took a much needed nap at the hotel after the morning's excitement - I'm sure Rai was grateful for that, too - and spent the rest of our afternoon revisiting our two favorite temples to take a further 8 million pictures of them... After dinner at the gueshouse and wine with our South African buddy (I loved how he called women chicks in his fabulous accent!), we boarded an "express" night bus to Sihanoukville, where we were hoping for a bit of beach relaxation.

The Cambodian version of a sleeper bus

The 9-hour night bus slowly turned into a 14-hour excursion. First with stops every hour during the four-hour ride to Phnom Penh (I'm convinced the driver picked up smuggled products along the way), then wtih a two-hour wait in Phnom Penh in a random corner bus company storefront for the next bus which would take us to the coast. Conveniently, this changeover was never mentioned when we booked... After it took us two hours to get out of the city in traffic, it was then another mere four hours (including two food stops) to reach our destination at Serendipity Beach, where we were greeted by blue skies and even bluer waters.

Unfortunately, that would prove to be our only day of sun. Afterwards, we found out just what rainy season really means. But we made the best of it and avoided theyoung partiers- and hawkers-filled beaches (I've been to prettier ones) and instead caught up on our reading, planning, and even got ourselves to a delicious Italian restaurant (mmm, pizaa and wine!) and a Khmer cooking class, where we were highly impressed by our very own selfmade spring rolls, among other things.

And then came the bus ride back to Phnom Penh followed by the flight to Singapore, night at the airport, and bus to Malaysia, which just so happened to coincide with the onset of Micha's dengue fever...