Kampot, Cambodia

We began making our way toward Vietnam and stopped in Kampot, a lazy town located on the Mekong that is known for its relaxed feel and jaw-droppingly beautiful river sunsets. It is also home to the largest and possibly only statue of a Durian fruit in the world.

This “king of fruits” bears a horn covered husk, is quite large and extremely potent. At first glance, there’s nothing appealing about this spikey fruit but the locals love the creamy custard-like taste despite its strong stench. The smell is so overbearring that many hotels and public transportation have banned the fruit throughout Southeast Asia, imposing hefty fines for violators.

While we only spent two days exploring Kampot, one of which Ali spent the day nursing the back of the leg that she burned on the exhaust of a motorbike, we did find a couple places that we’d recommend. If you’re looking for a meal that will blow your mind, go to Ecran Noodle Shop for some homemade Chinese noodles and dumplings for cheap cheap. I think we payed around $2 for each of our meals and they were so delicious we were tempted to order another. They also have a small cinema upstairs and private movie rooms for rent at a pretty good price. Moral of the story? Go.

Kampot night market carnival rides…only $.25!

Our second recommendation would be to stay in a bunaglow located on the river. We heard from several other travelers that Samon Village was a great place to stay and reasonably priced, but the place was booked by the time we got around to making the reservation (the day before). We decided to rent a bike and stopped to check the bungalows out along the way. The location and its view was ideal, the mood was super relaxed and they even rent kayaks! Although we didn’t get to enjoy it ourselves, we hope a few of you travelers will.

The following morning we hoped on a “VIP” minibus that took us to another bus that took us to another bus after that eventually took us to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.  Until next time!

Vietnam, here we come!

Ready for our next adventure.

Koh Ta Kiev, Cambodia

No Southeast Asian country visit is complete without some relaxing and sunny beach days, and that’s exactly what we were looking for when we left the city hustle of Phnom Penh. It was about 4.5 hours to Sihanoukville, the main coastal attraction in Cambodia, which sits about 220 miles south east of the capital. Our now regular bargaining until all other passengers have left routine was repeated, and per usual Ali got us from the bus station to our final destination cheaper than everyone else on the bus.

We spent the first day or two just hanging out and going to the beach, and made a reservation for 2 fun dives off the island of Koh Rong Samloem for day three. The beaches were nice, with cheap-ish seafood restaurants and bars lining the oceanfront as far as you could see, but unfortunately even cheap-ish didn’t quite fit into our budget. A block or two up Serendipity Beach Road however, which is the main street running perpendicular down to the main tourist beach, Serendipity Beach, was a great little restaurant that did meet our budget and happened to have cheap beer and a tasty mix of local and western food alike. Enough so that we ventured back out a second night to eat there again. While we don’t remember the name, we do remember where it is. After the Golden Lion Traffic Circle heading towards the beach, the restaurant will be on your right. Just look for a sign that advertises cheap traditional Khmer food, Western Burgers, Pizza and $.50 beers. You won’t regret it and your wallet will thank you later!

The scuba trip was good. It was a long 2-hour ride each way to the island, but the rest of the group was fun and the time passed quickly. The dives themselves weren’t as eventful as the ones we had in Colombia, and unfortunately the visibility was only 4-5 meters, but it was fun none-the-less. Kudos again to Ali for getting me under. If you’ll be diving in other places in South East Asia though I’d save your money for another locale.

Scuba buddies.

After Sihanoukville we had a reservation for three nights on a small island not far off the coast. It’s name; Koh Ta Kiev. The first night in a tent on the beach, and the second and third on a splurge in a $15/night beach bungalow, though I would later describe it more as a tee-pee. And not in a bad way. It was by far one of the coolest places we’ve ever stayed; both the island and the tee-pee. Not that we’ve got many tee-pees to compare it to…

Weeee…a tee pee!

Koh Ta Kiev is much smaller than the other competing island getaways and has no real infrastructure. But what it lacks in development it more than makes up for with it’s laid back and relaxing vibe, and secluded and private feel. It has four what can be only described as “camps”, though these camps do have a handful of bungalow style units and a restaurant each. The place we stayed, Crusoe Island is situated on the north-eastern side of Koh Ta Kiev. Each camp is separated by maybe half a mile along the beach.

Crusoe Island Boat.

The only way to get to/from the island is on one of the camps’ visitor transport boats that leave and return once a day. This helps a lot. There are no tourist boats dumping travelers to come party on the island, no flocks of snorkelers, not even electricity all day, but everything you could want on a relaxing island retreat. The meals at the restaurants weren’t as cheap as our typical street food prices, but the vast majority were between $3-$6 and were much better than we had even hoped. This supplemented with some well packed snacks and bottles of water, along with the fact that there isn’t much to spend money on on the island regardless, allowed us to still stay under budget while enjoying the hell out of one our new most favorite places on the trip.

Coral Beach: delicious gourmet meals for pretty darn cheap.

The majority of the guests were in the younger backpacking crowd, but it wasn’t your typical rowdy bar group and the mellow vibe was more conducive to reading on the beach and napping in the hammocks than anything else. It was literally the most enjoyably relaxing handful of days we’ve spent anywhere, ever. And to top it off, it was absolutely beautiful. We again added a top competitor to best sunset.

A beautiful end to a beautiful day.

Upon arriving to the island with the owner and a handful of other new guests we were given the introductory spiel and island rules/recommendations and told to go find where we wanted to camp for the night. We walked for more than half of a mile north along the beach until we found our spot. No second guessing ourselves here. There was a vacant tent from a recent guest situated out on a point with a view stretching around and along a bend and not another tent in sight. We were sold. We plopped down our bags and went back for the rest.

Ali gets lost in a book (or 3!).

On a quest to find the best spot to set up camp!

Serenity.

View from Tent #1.

As already mentioned, the next two nights were spent in our awesome tee-pee bungalow. It was nice to be able to spread out the few belongings we had, as well as move around a little. There are no attached bathrooms, no outlets, no modern conveniences what-so-ever, but again that wasn’t what we were here for (they had nice outdoor showers and bathrooms near the bar/restaurant).

We ventured down along the island to the other camps each day, and would often walk the mile along the beach to Coral Beach for the even better meals. And the views to go with the deliciousness.

The food on the other side of the island was worth the walk. Even in the dark!

Coral Beach.

On the third day we decided that three nights wouldn’t be enough and added one more night in a tent to our tab. We picked a new tent just to try out another location (as well as not have to walk quite as far with our bags) and were again happy as could be. It’s hard to be knowing you paid $5 for two people and have a view like this:

View from Tent #2.

One of the regular activities offered through Crusoe Island started with a “trek” across the island to a small fishing village on the other side. We actually tried to sign up two days in a row to join, but without getting the minimum numbers required we were told we’d need to wait for a full group. We decided to just do it on our own the next morning and set off before breakfast for some island exploring. There are a handful of basic trails crisscrossing Koh Ta Kiev and though we got lost a little (and even more-so returning) we were able to make it just fine to the village on the other side. We weren’t quite sure what to do when we arrived, however, as the village turned out to be 6 or 10 basic homes, with a few of them out over the water. The only people we saw were two ladies with two young kids, all of which giggled when we tried to communicate anything other than hello.

We have arrived! Well sort of…now where are these infamous iced coffees?!

“Are we going the right way?”

We thought we were able to get “coffee” across, as we had heard the village had good iced coffee, and were pointed to two or three of these houses out over the sea. We waded out through the knee deep water and walked up a stair set to cross the walkway. When we arrived at the house a lady peered out through the window and waved us over when we mentioned coffee. We entered her home and sat down, and received two iced coffees about 10 minutes later. While we sat and sipped our coffees, looking out over the water, the husband and their young daughter sat on the floor and worked on some of his fishing tools. He sewed up a net, straightened out a few hooks, the girl watched us and smiled, and we paid and left. The damage was fifty cents.

In retrospect, we should have ordered a second cup.

As we left their house and walked back out across the raised makeshift walkway and back through the knee deep water we thought, where the hell else in the world would we ever have a random Tuesday morning like this. Traveling has its perks.

Not for the faint of heart, or balance challenged.

View of the fishing village from a GoPro’s perspective.

One of the many beautiful things we saw while on the island.

Ko Tah Kiev was recently bought by a Chinese mogul, and has just begun being leveled and developed for the welcoming of a brand new casino. It’s a shame what money can ruin, but we were damn lucky and thrilled to be able to experience such a magical place while it lasted. Thanks for the amazing experience Koh Ta Kiev.

8AM boat ride back to Sihanoukville. Sad to leave this beautiful paradise.

Shades of blue.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Our stay in Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, was limited to just enough time to unwind and get in a little needed volunteering.

After our experience with animal cruelty in the previous week, we got in contact with the Cambodian Animals Protection Association (CAPA) located in Phnom Penh to see how we could help.

CAPA founder and President, Mme Kim Loan, has been housing over 100 dogs and 20 cats in her own house, and visits pagodas and villages to give food and vaccinations to more than 200 stray cats and dogs every single day. Many of these animals are waiting for their “forever home” but unfortunately it is not as common for the Cambodian people to own a pet like it is in other parts of the world. Most of the adopted doggies are by foreigners or ex-pats living temporarily in Phnom Penh.

Madame Loan with some of the rescues.

We arrived to Mme Loan’s house by Tuk-Tuk, located approximately 20 minutes away from the city, and got straight to work. Seven hours and two very achy backs later, we had cleaned up after the cats, fed the animals and bathed and groomed about 35 of the dogs. It was a wet n’ wild day to say the least!

Dog wranglin’.

Bath time.

1 down…SO many more to go!

One meal’s worth of food for all the dogs. 20kg of rice costs $21 dollars and they go through an entire bag in just two days!

Rex required all hands on board!

Dinner has been served.

The rest of our time in Phnom Penh was fairly uneventful as most of the attractions and market’s were closed for several days due to the celebration of the Chinese New Year. While the Chinese New Year is not an official holiday in Cambodia, it is widely celebrated anyway, primarily by those of Chinese and part Chinese descent and ethnic Vietnamese. Ali was a little bummed to miss the infamous Russian Market, known for its wide-array of artisan goods, antique furniture, jewelry and souvenirs, but it was probably for the best. Our backs (and wallets) will thank us for it later!

Kratie, Cambodia

“Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely.” – Buddha

On our way back south we decided to break up our trip with a stop in Kratie. It’s about half way between Ratanakiri and Phnom Penh, a smaller town that sits right on the east side of the Mekong. The hostel we were hoping to stay in unfortunately only had 1 dorm bed available, and no private rooms, but as they did not want to lose the potential business, they accepted our offer of the both of us in the single dorm bed, for the price of one. One top bunk, with two people, for two dollars. Turned out to be our cheapest night yet.

There are a number of elusive, as well as almost extinct pink dolphins living in the Mekong just north of Kratie, and so the day after arriving we rented motorbikes and drove north. There is a point along the river where tour boats will take you out in hopes of catching a sighting, as well as plenty of sightseeing on little backcountry roads. After hearing of an uneventful experience from a fellow traveler, and finding out it was $9 a head for the 30-minute ride, we decided we would skip out on the touristy option and cruise around enjoying the ride.

Our favorite local hideout in Kratie.

There is a temple about an hour north of town and we decided we would head in that direction. It was a beautiful drive, with the road winding through the out sprawled villages which mainly lined this one street north to south. About three quarters of the way there we were driving through a more rural section when we spotted a motorbike down in the middle of the road, and as we got closer we realized there had been an accident just moments before. There appeared to be a man, possibly dead, laid out in the road with a woman sitting over him, and a young child sitting motionless a few feet away. We weren’t sure what to do, as locals had also just realized and were still beginning to emerge from their homes to see what had happened. Ali was driving as we did a u-turn to pull back around. As we approached more and more bystanders were coming to the scene. The man was beginning to regain consciousness as a crowd formed around them, and we instantly realized how bad the accident was. The child, who was a boy of maybe 7 years, had a large deep incision at the top of his forehead, to the point where you could see, at least, his skull, as well as several other severe cuts all over his body, the man’s jaw and face had numerous deep wounds, as well as his knee and shoulder, and the woman, who seemed to be in the best shape, also still had some quite horrific cuts. The three were all riding on the motorbike without helmets, and must have somehow crashed in an incident involving the car that slowly crept from the scene as we initially approached. 

We didn’t know how the locals would react to us “tourists” approaching this type of an incident, and didn’t want them to think we were just there to watch, but hoped we could do something and walked in. Contrary to what we were afraid they would assume, they started calling us over, possibly hoping that we knew how/could help in a way they could not. Our life guarding/first aid training wanted to kick in, but when there is a crowd of semi-hysterical bystanders, in which not a soul speaks or understands English, it proved quite difficult. I wanted to urge them to leave the man lying, avoiding moving his head, neck and back, but then realized that there was almost certainly no ambulance or help on the way, and that could just delay any “first response”, which would clearly not occur until they arrived at a medical center. There were all being picked up and “looked after”, so we figured the next best course of action would be trying to get pressure on the wounds to stop the bleeding and get the people to help.

We got out the few sanitary wipes we had and helped apply them, and tried to mime for the others helping to apply pressure. They clearly weren’t sure what to do, as lots of calling back and forth and general confusion seemed to resist any decision making. Numerous cars drove by over the course of several minutes, in which we also tried to communicate to get them in a vehicle to some sort of medical center, but for some reason they all stayed put.

There was a moment Ali later recalled, which at the time also seemed to just be wasting precious time, but when reflected upon later touched us both. When the man first came to, with his wife sitting over him and the boy a few feet away, the first thing the man did was pull his son over to him and hug him crying for what seemed to be minutes. We were fairly certain they were all going to live without any majorly critical issues at this point, but it seemed as if the man wanted more than anything else to just comfort his son, himself thinking at that moment that it truly could be his last. This desperate sense of comforting appeared to take precedence over everything else, and it was actually quite moving.

They eventually got each of the three on three different motorbikes, one person driving and one helping hold them on, and though it was clearly being rushed in an emergency situation, was also quite unerving to witness. The three helmet-less motorbike victims immediately hopping back on motorbikes, now totaling nine, all without helmets, racing for help. We’re not exactly sure what happened to them later that day, but as we drove south an hour or two later we saw a small crowd at a local medical center not far from where the accident occurred, and assumed that with the injuries they had they were able to get decent enough of care within a short amount of time to be alive and well today.

While it was a scary moment for sure, it helps remind us appreciate what we’ve got, and if nothing else it taught us to keep wearing our helmets and to slow down. Turns out our parents were right all along!

We took the rest of the day pretty easy; further on our way back, near the area where the dolphin tours left from was a network of docks and canopies spread put across a large section of the river. We wandered down through little shops and found a man selling tickets at the entrance. It was 1000 riel a person, or 0.25$. We were enticed and paid to enter. It turned out to be a little day “resort” if you could call it that, with hammocks hung under every canopy, where people came to just relax and socialize on simple hand built docks stretching out 6-inches or so above the Mekong. You can order food and drinks, and stay as long as you’d like. We grabbed 2 hammocks and just lazed around and read, nibbling on some fish and sticky rice, and hard boiled eggs before calling it a day and heading back to Kratie. As a relaxing end to a pretty hectic day we had a great dinner at a locals restaurant and beer or three at our hostel.

The 100-Column Pagoda.

A sweet little setup.

Bath time! The locals bathe together in the river after a hard day of work.

Local Village on the river.

Despite the stress of the day, we were able to relax and enjoy another beautiful sunset.

We were up early the next morning headed to our next destination. The capital city of Phnom Penh!

Ratanikiri, Cambodia

Three wise monkeys: being of good mind, speech and action.

After parting ways with our new friends and lovely hosts in Kampong Cham, we were headed out in search of an even more rural Cambodia. We grabbed a tuk-tuk back into the city, had a short wait for the bus, and we’re off to Ratanakiri, a small town in the north east province of Batambang. But only after witnessing the unfortunate side of animal rights in this area of the world, seeing two dogs crammed into a woven bag and put in the undercarriage with the rest of the luggage.

It was a long, bumpy, extremely hot and dust ridden bus ride, which made for an even worse ride, we were imagining, for the pups down below. At our second stop an hour or two in Ali asked if she could open the cargo doors to give the dogs water, but the not-so-friendly bus driver brushed her off and said “No”. You could hear them whimpering now and again, and even while driving after going through rougher “road” sections.

It must have been four hours into the drive when we stopped for the third time, and during four of the hottest hours of the day. Ali pleaded with the driver for the third time, but with no change in result. Luckily a nice young Cambodian man who spoke English overheard and stepped in to help. He told the driver we had a bottle of water and just wanted to let the dogs get some air and a drink before heading off again, explaining how hot and dusty it must be down next to the engine. He reluctantly accepted, but was even still clearly annoyed that we were asking. When the driver popped the hatch and the bag was pulled out, one dog was already dead.

The scene was not for the faint of heart. I’m not detailing it for the awe effect, but describing it as it was. The older and slightly larger of the two dogs was dead, and as biologically occurs when animals die, the bag was filled with its feces. The smaller puppy was mortified, crammed tight between limbs of the rigid corpse, rigamortis long having set in, just fighting to breathe, also covered in filth. A local woman selling snacks on the side of the road helped us cut the wire which sewed the top of the bag shut, and pulled the dead dog out by its ear. We grabbed our water and Ali began pouring it for the puppy, which drank as much as it physically could, well more than the first bottle of water we had. It had large patches of missing hair, some probably due to stress, but most likely caused by the friction of bumping along for hours while bound in its coffin. The stench was horrendous and impossible to withstand. Some of the fellow passengers and onlookers looked sad, others paid no attention, but the asshole driving the bus still seemed annoyed that we had even bothered him into opening it.

I felt sorry for the dogs when I saw them put under the bus, but had no idea the outcome could have been so foul. I was also under the impression that the owner was not on the bus, as the man I saw placing the bag had hopped on a motorcycle and left from the get go. We later found out the owner was in fact on the bus the whole time, and was not phased by losing one of the two. He now didn’t seem interested in keeping the live puppy, and we were happy to see the locals on the scene say they’d keep him there instead.

It’s clearly another culture and way of life here, and you have to respect there will be different views on many aspects of right and wrong, but to needlessly waste an animals life, and to put it through what must have only been a terribly frightening and painful way to go is just cruel. Eating dogs is not quite a norm in Cambodia, but it still happens regularly. And while there is an obvious distaste if not disgust for this practice by westerners, the same argument could be made for other meat dishes we enjoy but are tabooed by other cultures. And while I hope I never have accidentally and never will purposefully eat dog, I would much quicker accept this type of cultural difference than a complete lack of respect for an animals life like we witnessed here. To be clear, we had no resentment for the Cambodians, but plenty of it for the driver and dog owner.

After arriving and relaxing in Ratanakiri we were in much better spirits. With the help of the friendly local we found a guesthouse with a cheap private room and grabbed dinner before bed. We spent the following two days enjoying the very non-touristy town and countryside. On day one we walked around the area, grabbed a beer and walked down to the pond near town. We rented motorbikes the next day and drove a few hours out, just enjoying the scene and the open road. On the way back we stopped by Lake Yaklom or “Crater Lake” for a swim. It looks as though it was caused by a crater, it’s shape an almost perfect circle, carved right into the middle of the forest. The water’s temperature was perfect, and quite clear as well. A full day could easily be spent relaxing and swimming, with trees for hammocks surrounding its perimeter. We headed home about an hour later at dusk, coated in a nice layer of red clay dust.

Downright dirty.

The dirt unibrow is really not a good look.

Riverboat taxi.

The tallest palm trees we ever did see.

Enjoying a refreshing swim in Crater Lake.

Reflecting on another beautiful day.

Mother Nature shows us her true beauty.

It was nice to be out of the city and just relax without an agenda. The ride to Ratanakiri was not a fond memory, but we’d recommend the north for anyone with time in Cambodia.

Kampong Cham, Cambodia

We were feeling a bit “templed out” after only a few days at Angkor Wat, and were longing for the fresh-air and scenic views of the countryside. We decided to head South East to Kampong Cham, a sleepy town on the Mekong River for some R&R. After doing some research online, Ben found a homestay located a few kilometers outside of town and luckily they had availability for us to stay for two nights to experience the real and rural Cambodia.

Rana Homestay is located at the modest home of a Cambodian local named Kheung and her American husband, Don, along with their two kids. We arrived un-fashionably late (after choosing the cheapest bus option and subsequently the worst reviewed company due to their inability to ever arrive on time…) and realized that not only had we missed a homecooked meal, but the other couple, who also happened to be American were waiting on our arrival to start the village tour. Fortunately for us, Jan and Yemi, newlyweds who quit their jobs to travel for 6 months for their honeymoon were understanding and easy-going about the whole thing.

Home sweet home at Rana’s.

Our new friends: Yemi, Jan & Kheung.

With only a couple of hours of daylight left, we set out to take a walking tour of the village that Kheung’s family has called home for four generations, enjoying a beautiful sunset over the rice paddies as we made our way home.

This smile is as genuine as it gets!

Lotus seeds are commonly grown and sold in the market.

Rice paddy sunset.

On the second day, we got the full-on experience as we biked through the village, stopping to meet with a few of the locals to learn more about their way of life. One of our most memorable experiences was visiting a family who makes palm sugar to sell in the market and assisting them with the process. Before sunrise, the son would climb several coconut trees to extract the sweet sap for which palm sugar is made. Once collected, it is immediately poured into a wok and boiled over a fire and stirred until it becomes a caramel-like consistency. Once it reaches the desired thickness, it is poured (very carefully) into circular molds made from bamboo before it cools. It may not sound like hard work, but it takes several hours to make from start to finish and only produces a few kgs per batch. The market price for this tasty little treat and Cambodian kitchen essential is a mere $1USD/kg. In a small village that has no expendable income, the people buy only what they need and so there is not a lot of money to be made.

A local woman shows us how it’s done.

Kheung translating the next step in the process of making palm sugar.

Most products are sold individually in the village.

In the village, this is not a scorpion but a game. First one to get stung loses!

A woman weaves a Krama, the traditional checkered scarf.

While having a conversation with the family through the help of Kheung, we swaped life stories and shared a few laughs. The oldest woman asked how many countries we had all been to. We answered twenty-five or so between the two of us, and Jan & Yemi responded with even more. Ben then asked the woman, “If you could go to any other country, where would you go?” When it was finally translated, she chuckled and said, “I don’t know any other countries!” We later learned that geography is simply not  taught and most children do not have access to a world map. Although not forgotten, it reminded us again of how fortunate we are for our education and the opportunity to travel.

As the only tourists in sight, we were greeted with “Hello’s” at every turn which made us feel like total celebrities. Each smile and interaction was 100% genuine and unlike anything we’ve experienced so far. We went home with our faces hurting from smiling too much, which is a pretty good indication of how the day went.

So many smiling faces!

Children are often left to look out for each other while their parents work in the fields.

This saa ahht (beautiful) little girl becomes a bit bored with all the grown-up talk.

The homestay was authentic as promised, and we often found ourselves sitting at the table with Don, Yemi and Jan discussing all the struggles and resilience of Cambodian people following the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot regime. A guest speaker was brought to talk with us after dinner and was an opportunity for non-directed conversations with family members that had lived through some of Cambodia’s darkest times. While discussing education in schools with Kheung’s younger sister, we were shocked to find out that an entry-level teacher, one of the higher paying professions in Cambodia made only $45 USD/month or $450 USD for the entire school year. The other two months are spent working long, hard hours in the rice fields to support their family as best as they can.

We may have missed out on seeing Kampong Cham city proper, but the opportunity to integrate ourselves and connect with the local people was worth the money and was an experience we’ll never forget!

Peace!

Siem Reap, Cambodia

We made it to Asia!

Our first stop in the far east was Siem Reap; Cambodia’s most well known city due to it’s close proximity to the 12th century Khmer ruin(s) of Angkor Wat. It’s a city with a nice but quite touristy town center, lined with souvenir shops, local-craft markets and restaurants, and of course the backpackers pub street, easily identified by “Pub Street” hung across the street in Christmas lights. Our first meal in South East Asia was rice with pork and a small side soup, a breakfast that set us back a whopping $1.50, for the two of us. What did we get ourselves in to…

We spent our first day recovering from jet lag and the 40+ hours of travel, and took it easy walking around town and enjoying cheap eats. South America was cheap as well, but the main difference is not only the increased abundance of street food, as certain parts of South America had some good local street grub as well, but the vast number of options for meals under $1.50 puts it in a whole new category of cheap. The rice coma would quickly set in, but it was a welcome change, for both our stomachs and our wallets.

PROOF that we were jet-lagged and in a rice & pork induced coma.

On day two we started on the ruins. There are actually numerous and distinct ancient Khmer ruins all in close proximity to Siem Reap, creating a quite vast temple complex, and they offer 1-day, 3-day and 7-day passes to visit them. Some of the smaller sites don’t require tickets, but the bulk of them do. One day isn’t quite enough time without quickly rushing around, but we didn’t think we’d have the patience for a week of temples either, so we opted for the 3-day ticket. We haggled with the first tuktuk driver we found, and were satisfied after him dropping about 30%. We probably could have gotten it cheaper still, but it was good enough for our first go, and were quickly off to Banteay Srei, one of the furthest ruins from town. Quick was quickly delayed, however, after Tiger, our Cambodian tuktuk driver (a traditional Cambodian name that means tiger in English…) broke the chain on his bike. In broken english he asked if we would please wait for 15 minutes. He seemed nice and we were in no rush so we walked across the street and just sat down in a shady patch of grass. Tiger popped the “carriage” off his motorbike and moved it into a parking lot and immediately took off running/pushing his bike down to the nearest repair shop, which was well out of sight. Sure enough he pulled back up about 15 minutes later and we were off again. It was a good hour-long ride out to the site, but the countryside was beautiful and the roads weren’t too shabby. The temple was in varying states of weathering, repair, reconstruction, etc., but it was beautiful none-the-less and wasn’t overcrowded. Being a little further out it didn’t get quite the same number of visitors as some of the others. And while this isn’t the largest or most impressive temple, it does have the most ornate and detailed work of all of the sites. The 3D scultures and artwork covered the vast majority of the temple.

Beanteay Srei.

A Srei-real experience.

We spent about an hour wandering the premise, and then found Tiger to head back. He tried to get us to stop for lunch at one of the tourist restaurants (where he very likely received a little commission) but we insisted that the local joints were not in fact too dirty for us and eventually convinced him to approve. We invited him to join us for lunch and were back in town about an hour later. It was another relaxing day, but we were still feeling a little lagged and welcomed an early beer, dinner and bed. But not before also booking Tiger for the pre-sunrise tuktuk to Angkor Wat. We were scheduled to be picked up at 4:30AM, dark and early.

The next morning we were at the gate of our hostel by 4:31, but Tiger was nowhere to be found. In fact, we waited almost an hour before giving up on Tiger and going with the guy sleeping in the tuktuk outside of our hostel. Maybe it helped that he woke up a few times and we politely told him no, because we ended up getting it cheaper than we had agreed on with Tiger. And even though we were a little frustrated for sitting at the front of our hostel for 50 minutes at 5:00 in the morning, we paid a little less and still caught the sunrise. We even had time to buy a coffee and croissant at the entrance and find a nice little uncrowded patch to sit down and wait on. If you are in Siem Reap for more than a day, definitely make it to Angkor Wat for the sunrise. It’s absolutely an unforgettable experience. Unless of course you don’t understand what a sunrise is, as did the few girls Ali overheard discussing,”Wait, did it happen already? How did I miss it? I must have looked away or something.” While yes it was a little cloudy and we could not clearly see a distinct sun pop up over the horizon, the sun did rise (or rather the earth spun) and it was beautiful.

Patiently awaiting the start of a new day.

Giant fuchsia water lily.

Angkor Wat at Sunrise.

We sat there for quite a while taking it all in before finally getting up to tour the site. It’s a huge temple, and even though we’re not lingerers for these types of things we still spent over an hour wandering through the labyrynth of rooms, corridors, temples, courtyards, etc. There is a reason it’s so famous, and nothing but a first hand experience will even begin to do it justice.

Temple time!

The walk through Angkor Wat was AWE-some.

Benali/Bali/Alien goes to Angkor Wat.

After Angkor Wat we hopped back in our tuktuk and moved on to Bayon, known for the 216 gigantic buddha heads that top almost every spire. It’s almost trippy with the number of buddhas constantly watching you, but was fantastic to wander through and marvel at the work. Machu Picchu may have more grandeur, but there’s something else missing that these ruins have. They’re truly works of art both up close and at a distance, and are just awesome to wander through.

Faces and places.

Stone face at Bayon Temple.

The faces of Bayon are warm and kind, like the people of Cambodia.

On day three we decided to finish up our temple experience on bicycles. In retrospect we wish we would have done them all by bike. A bike rental in Siem Reap will set you back a whole 100 cents for the day…and it’s really not a hard ride out. Some rentals even include a free map and bottle of water! Angkor Wat and all of the temples in the small loop take less than an hour each way, and it’s a nice break from tuktuking all over the place. So if you’re there and on a budget, and know how to ride a bike, go for the do-it-yourself method. You may get a little sweaty, but the roads are perfectly fine, the scenery is nice, and the breeze feels great. And if you get up early enough, you can beat the heat regardless.

A monkey gave us its best model pose just outside of Angkor Wat.

We stopped at a handful of the smaller sites, none of which we remember the names of, but were all memorable in their own way. For instance, at our second stop we had the privelage of running into one of the sassiest little girls we’ve ever met. An unfortunate side of poverty is seen at the majority of the tourist attractions in Cambodia when poorer families send out their kids to beg/sell you things. This little girl was obviously quite smart, as most of the kids just know the few words needed to sell you their postcards and trinkets, but didn’t quite have the charm side down. When she first approached us we kindly said “Ah tae ah kun”, which means “No thank you” in Khmer. She replied, in perfect English, I don’t understand “Ah tae ah kun”, I only understand “Yes!”. We chuckled, and she then asked us to buy a magnet. I told her I didn’t have anything metal to stick it on because we were traveling, to which she replied, “Well then buy it for a friend”. I then asked, “Well, what if I don’t have any friends?” (because I obviously have a TON of friends), to which she asked me to pinky promise that I didn’t have any friends, and quickly adding “You tell lies!” and stomped off before I could respond. She didn’t get our money this time, but I have faith she’ll find her way.

Our last mentionable moment from our five days in Siem Reap was a night at the circus. Phare, The Cambodian Circus is sort of like a low-key/low-budget Cirque de Soleil, or so it seemed from the pictures we saw. After a dissapointingly short tuktuk ride to the venue (just around the corner…should have walked), we entered the circus tent and looked for open seats. The tent could not have held more than 100 people, and was probably only sitting 50 on this night, so we sat right down in the front row on ground level. The “orchestra” consisted of three percusionists, one on a drum set, one playing some sort of bongos, and one on a xylophone. The three played an excellent soundtrack, sometimes interchanging instruments, throughout the hour and a half performance. The storyline wasn’t anything to write home about, a hunchback boy being cast out due only to his physical disability, but the acting was actually pretty good and the acrobatics were awesome. It wasn’t quite on par with Cirque, but it honestly came pretty damn close. And not only were the strength and skill pieces impressive, but the 9 or 10 man (two women included) group switched up performers throughout the show, and all had a multitude of top-notch acts. There were high balancing acts, rope and curtain climbing performances, acrobatics and contortionists, juggling, gymnastics and stunts, and everything in between. It was full on and downright impressive. Again, if you have a free night, you will not be dissapointed.

Benjamin, Shiva of three nipples.

Bravo!

In Transit – South America to SouthEast Asia

Leaving Buenos Aires was hard. We loved South America, and we especially loved Argentina, but with cheap delicious asian food on our minds, we were set and ready for phase 2. We had a long haul ahead of us, some 45+ hours to be not quite exact, but with some patience, and more importantly Star Alliance Senator’s Lounge status, we were set and ready to go. After a few free beers in the lounge of course…

126,000 miles traveled in a year will put you in good position for preceding flights. Our first stop on the mile journey was Frankfurt. We had a 6-hour layover, and seriously considered venturing out for a bite to eat and a delicious German brew, but when you’ve got the eats and the brews for free it’s hard to pass up. Scratch down one more point for laziness and free beer. Our six hours were spent lounging, eating pretzels and sausages, and drinking Franziskaner on tap. For free-ninety-nine.

Mmm…Bier.

Another 10 hours on board and we were wheels to the ground in Beijing. This time we had a nine-hour layover and were set on traveling out. Our adventurous enthusiasm far exceeded our level of planning, and after being in the airport for approximately seven minutes we realized that we had already passed through customs and exited no-mans-land, and with the 24-hour China visa only being 1-entry/1-exit, were forced to venture out, if we still wanted to, with our bags in tow. Now let me clarify this did not include our large backpacking bags, but it did include the two small backpacks containing our iPad, laptop, passports, money, snacks, travel clothes, etc., which would have felt much more at home in the Senator’s Lounge locker where they belonged. But with our options being immediately proceed back into the airport and forfeit our brief China experience or voyage out with our belongings, we obviously chose the latter.

This was where our lack of preparation began, but it was not in fact where it ended. We were walking down the long entrance corridor to the Beijing International Airport, awing at the haze, when we felt the rush of cold frigid air. It was maybe 30 degrees fahrenheit, and we were wearing jeans and wind breakers. It was quite miserably cold. We took the 30-45 minute train out from the airport into the city, and from there jumped onto the metro and started in to the heart of Beijing. We got off and walked outside and sure enough it was just as cold as when we started. We lasted about two hours walking around Tiananemen Square, through some souvenir stands and to a ramen store before calling it quits, but we did make it, and while it hopefully won’t be our last China experience, were happy to say we set foot inside “The Middle Kingdom”.

Tiananmen Square.

Made in China.

Bones and flesh hold together. Yum!

Chinese food is so much better in China!

We spent the last three hours of our layover enjoying what little lounge time we had left, took a nap, and were on our final leg of the flight before landing in Cambodiam, ready for our next adventure!

Ushuaia, Argentina

Next stop: the end of the world! We hopped on our last and final South American bus ride to Ushuaia, arguably the southernmost city in the world. Situated on the Beagle Channel, the town was most commonly used as a navy base for the Argentine Navy but has grown to become a major town for travelers instrested in hiking and is currently the departure point for 80% of cruises sailing to Antartica.

Typically we’ve able to find accomodation upon arrival, but in this case, we were SOL (shit out of luck). After an hour of going from hostel to hostel, all of which had “WE’RE FULL TONIGHT” signs taped to the front door, we stumbled upon the Posada del Penguino Hotel. Did they have a room for us? No, however they did have an open floor in the middle of the hallway for us to sleep on. We paid AR270 or $45 USD and that was after the “I feel bad for these kids” discount! It was undoubtedely the most expensive accomodation we had paid for which is ironic because we technically didn’t even have a room. Regardless, we were thankful that we were not sleeping on the streets (although Ali was seriously considering it) and on the upshot it came with a delicious spread of fresh fruit, pastries, toast, coffee & tea in the morning.

Luckily we got a mattress shortly after this picture was taken.

The first day was spent exploring the Beagle Channel by boat and pretending that the Penguin look-a-likes were the real deal. Not quite the same but the panoramic view of the snow-capped mountains helped us forget that we were not going to get a chance to walk with our tuxedo wearing friends…on this trip at least.

Like Penguins, but they can fly!

The pointiest mountain top we’ve ever seen!

Life is tough for these sea lions.

Bali in Ushuaia.

Our second day in Ushuaia was spent hiking through the mossy landscape and sandy beaches of Tierra del Fuego National Park. The park is approximately 12km from the city and cost us AR150 which included a round-trip bus ticket and the park entrance fee. We have three words for our experience: totally worth it! It took us about 3.5-4 hours to hike the whole loop because of how frequently we stopped to take photos of the incredibe landscapes, wild horses and flora and fuana of the mountain slopes. Indescribable really…but no worries, there is never a shortage of photos on our blog! : )

Tierra del Fuego National Park.

Over the river and through the woods.

Guindo Trees parasite.

Ben goes all Rocky on me.

Horseing around in the wild.

Mountains in the distance.

We decided to save ourselves the time and physical stress by flying to Buenos Aires to catch our flight to continent two on our RTW adventure. Next blog post, South East Asia. Ciao for now!

El Calafate, Argentina

Ice Ice, Baby. El Calafate is known by most travelers for it’s close proximity to numerous glaciers, and is hence Argentina’s “glacier capital”. We were on a tight schedule after staying in Bariloche for about five times as long as planned so a night was all the town was graced by our presence. Not to mention we had just arrived from our 28-hour bus ride, and were obviously ready to hop back on the road…

Our one and only day was spent visiting the famous Perito Moreno Glacier. It’s natural beauty was literally quite stunning, and pictures don’t begin to do it justice. No wonder it’s considered the eigth wonder of the world…

Perito Moreno Glacier.

Fire (flower) and Ice.

This massive river of “flowing” ice stretches almost 100 miles, is about 3 miles wide, and almost 250 feet tall. For all of you Game of Thrones out there (and why would you not be?), just think of a slightly smaller Wall in the north. We saw no white walkers however…or at least no dead ones. It was a quick yet beautiful country-side 45-minute drive from the town of El Calafate, and after arriving at Los Glaciares National Park we spent the better part of the afternoon walking the small network of trails, which offered various vantage points of the ever-so-slightly advancing wall of water. We honestly spent a good two hours just standing watching ice. Not only were we able to catch a few large brakes, sending massive chunks of ice careening into the lake and rippling tides, but there is a natural sountrack accompanying the glacier at all times. What must be millions of tiny air pockets are constantly being popped and pressurized by the weight of the ice, and a constant crackling and popping can be heard from even a distance from the glaciers.

The Wall.

Who knew watching ice could be so fun?!

Muy Grande Moreno.

Awesome.