Jillian's Travels

Cambodia, Part 2

Day 33, January 30

I woke up around 4am freezing cold. Someone in our dorm room had turned the A/C down to 16 degrees celsius which is around 60 degrees fahrenheit. I couldn’t get it to warm up so I just turned it off. But it didn’t defrost the room for about an hour so I stayed curled up in a ball wide awake until my toes weren’t frozen anymore.

I went back to sleep shortly after defrosting and woke up at 8ish so I could pack up and go down for a quick breakfast before the bus came to get us at 10am to head to Siem Reap.

I went next door for breakfast and had the fruit plate, scrambled eggs and a mocha coffee. It was a really good fruit plate yet again. I had just enough time to eat, pay and then head back over to our place before the guy came to pick us up in a tuk-tuk and take us to the bus station.

There were already 2 people in the tuk-tuk with their luggage so it was another tight squeeze but we made it work. We got to the station and waited for about 15 minutes then we loaded up on the 15 passenger van and headed out.

While we were waiting there was an older guy with a younger looking lady. The man was mad and yelling at the workers at the bus station for a reason we couldn’t figure out. At one point he mumbled something about without customers they’d shrivel up and die and then walked out. No one seemed to really react but I looked at my sister from across the room and we both had bug eyes like what just happened. At that point I felt like I was on high alert so I kept an eye on him outside. He seemed to disappear so all was good.

We loaded up the van and grouchy old guy is in the row right in front of us. He was fine on the ride, though. I guess he just had a melt down in there.

We were on the road for about 20 minutes and then I realized that we weren’t picking anyone else up so we were able to spread out. It made the bus ride enjoyable or as enjoyable as a 6.5 hour ride can be.

We stopped about an hour into the ride for a bathroom break and at the place we stopped there was a table out front selling tarantulas to eat along with other insects. I promised myself that I would try weird things like that on this trip so when we got to Siem Reap I was determined to try one. We didn’t have time to try anything at this stop because we only had 5 minutes.

Our van driver told us that we would stop in about an hour for lunch. So I took this to mean that I could now drink some water. When I have no idea when our next stop is, I have to limit my water intake.

We arrived at Kampong Thom for a 20 minute break. We went to the bathroom and looked over the menu at the 2 restaurants there. Everything looked too heavy to have to then get back on the bus for another 4.5 hours. So we opted to just eat our snacks that we had been stock piling since Ho Chi Minh.

We both met back at the van and I don’t remember how it came about but I mentioned trying crickets and before I knew it I was bargaining with the lady for crickets. My sister went on search for a Coke to use as a chaser.

The lady said the crickets were $4 for a full can and then I said can we have less so she did a half can. I told her we really only wanted 2 crickets so how much for that. She gave us 2 for .50.

We went back to where the van was parked so we could do it in privacy. It’s really nothing for them to eat crickets so we didn’t want to offend anyone by our grossed out looks that I knew we’d have on our faces.

We hid behind the van and I went first. I posed with the little critter and then had to give myself a pep talk. I took a bite of his legs and some body. I could not bring myself to eat the head because I could see the eyes. I haven’t had a sip of soda in over 6 years but I had to have a drink to get the legs to go down. There really wasn’t a taste to it but the crunchiness is what grossed me out. Also the legs poked the roof of my mouth and then got stuck in my teeth.

 

Then it was my sister’s turn. She kept saying I don’t think I can do it and I said I did so you have to. Our van driver walked around at that point so I told him what we were doing. He just laughed and smiled and told her to just tell yourself it tastes like chicken. I asked him if he ate them and he said yes of course. He told us that in Cambodia it’s not a big deal at all and that with the Civil War they had gone through, people would get hungry and so would need to eat whatever they could find.

My sister ate the bottom part just like I did and had the same reaction.

I told my sister to hold on to them (it was just there heads at this point). I’m not sure why I said this because it’s not like we were going to be wanting to eat the rest of them. But we kept them and they rode in the backseat with her.

The rest of the ride was pretty easy. I just listened to music and before I knew it we were in Siem Reap. We unloaded and immediately found a tuk-tuk to take us to our hostel. We are staying at a really big hostel so the driver was familiar with it.

The ride was really nice. The wind was blowing and the temperature felt perfect. It was a very nice welcome for us after the heaviness of Phnom Penh.

We got to the hostel and checked in. While we were there we also booked a sunrise tour to Angkor Wat for the next morning and we received a free beer voucher.

After we dropped our stuff off to our beds, we went across the street to the restaurant/bar/party area of our hostel to eat and get our free beer. This is a true party hostel. I thought our hostel in Hanoi was a party hostel but it was tame compared to this one. Here they have a different drinking game every night. Tonight was the Drinking Olympics. I think it’s where people from different countries team up with their countrymen and try to out drink the other countries. I’m not really sure but I was like nope, I’m out. The Irish will win that.

Everyone looks to be much younger too. When we first walked through the pool area I was in my high waisted travel mom pants and not looking like a 20 year old party backpacker. But we got our free beer and salads and had our own party up on the rooftop with the free wifi.

After that we decided to walk around and explore Siem Reap until it got too dark. I found a temple on my GPS so I tried to navigate us to it but my phone was acting up so we never made it to the one I tried for. But we saw this temple looking place so we went over to take pictures of the outside. I wasn’t sure if we could go in so we hung back for a little bit until we saw another tourist go in. Once they did we followed suit.

I tried to ask one of the monk’s what temple this was but couldn’t understand him. So I just smiled and said thank you.

We walked back the way we came hoping to find the night market but our GPS just refused to cooperate today. So we ended up going up and down streets just roaming. We came across a place called Nest that looked swanky and my sister said she wanted to go in there. We looked at the menu and decided to have dinner there.

I got a bread and veggies with dip plate along with pumpkin soup. Southeast Asia seems to love pumpkin soup as much as I do and for that I am grateful.

After dinner we walked around a little more and went into some shops before returning to our hostels.

My sister and I had to switch beds because mine was right by a big fan and the A/C wall unit and her’s was in a corner towards the back. There was no way I could handle another night of freezing.

I showered and then got my computer out to upload my photos. While I was doing that the 2 Norwegian girls next to me were drinking some concoction that would help them not to have a hangover in the morning. The guy across on the other side said he was “totally, for sure going out tonight” and the girls laughed and said us too.

I was sitting there in my moo-moo nightgown ready for bed at 8:30. I couldn’t wait for them to leave for the night so I could put in my earplugs and go to bed.

Day 34, January 31

3am came mighty fast. As much as I was looking forward to seeing Angkor Wat, I was wanting a little more sleep. But I managed to get myself up and ready for the day.

We did a half day tour to see the sunrise, then tour Angkor Wat then go on to see 3 more temples. Since we signed up when we checked in, we got half off of our breakfast but had to be in the dinning area to place our order by 4am.

I got the omelette with baguette and a coffee. It was good but I really wasn’t hungry at 4am I just knew it’d be a long day so I needed something. We loaded up the vans and stopped at the information office so we could buy a day pass for all the temples. It’s not just a regular ticket, they take your picture and put that on the ticket so you can’t share it with others.

After we all got our tickets, we loaded back up and headed to Angkor Wat to get a good place for the sunrise.

It is right by the water so the mosquitoes were out in full force. I got bit no less that 5 times and am still finding welps that are coming up tonight.

It is the number one tourist destination in Siem Reap so it was pretty crowded. Luckily I was able to maneuver my way to the front so no one was in front of my shots. When you walk up you can hear the monks morning ceremony music being played. Our tour guide told me that the music starts at 4am when they rise.

It was just an amazing experience all around: walking up to Angkor Wat and then seeing the sunrise as the monk’s ceremony music is playing in the background. I took about 200 photos just of this one location. Every few minutes the sky would change colors and it just kept getting more magnificent.

After the sunrise, we went into the temple to have a look around. You have to go up these incredibly steep stairs to get inside but once you’re up there, it’s another incredible sight.

There was a monk that was giving blessings to anyone that wanted to wait in line and receive one. So I immediately jumped at the chance. He asked me to pick out a string to tie on my wrist and then he said a prayer over me while splashing holy water on me.

By that time it was around 8ish so we stopped for a coffee/breakfast stop. I wasn’t all that hungry so I just got a fresh coconut and then ate some of the coconut meat.

Then we headed out for another temple. This one was Angkor Thom. Angkor Thom was the last capital city of the Khmer Empire. Again, more steps and it was getting so hot so it felt even harder. At this one you could take elephant rides around the area. I have been doing research on if elephant rides are really humane and my conclusion is that they are not. So I won’t be riding any elephants but I will, at some point, go to an elephant sanctuary to spend some time with them.

After Angkor Thom, we went to another temple but I don’t know the name. Things were running together at this point because it was temple after temple after temple.

But our very last one was Ta Prohm most notably known as the temple in Lara Croft Tomb Raider. It’s a really different temple because it actually has a tree growing through it. The roots cover the top of the temple and overflow to the sides. It’s pretty impressive to see because the roots are so massive.

After that it was close to 1pm and we were all fading fast in the heat. So we headed back to the hostel. Once we got back I went over to the restaurant that’s part of our hostel and had a salad. I was needing some veggies in my diet after sweating all day.

Instead of going back and napping like I thought I would, I decided to go get a massage and kill time before showing and going to bed. I knew once I laid down, I wouldn’t be getting back up for the day and I thought it was a waste to just nap the beautiful afternoon away. So I set out by myself to kill some time.

I went down one of the main streets that we walked down the other night and stopped at the first massage place I saw. There was a full body 60 minute khmer massage for $8 so I went to find out about the khmer massage. Khmer means Cambodia so it literally translates to Cambodian Massage. I couldn’t understand what the lady was saying to me about the style but I knew I didn’t want a plain massage when I could try something different.

They took me upstairs and gave me this huge sumo looking outfit and I had absolutely no idea how to put it on. I did the best I could and tried to take some pictures of myself. I told the lady I was ready so she came in and told me my pants were on backwards so she had me take them off right there and she put them on correctly for me and wrapped them around. I felt like a dumb foreigner in that moment.

She then took me out in the open room but luckily I was the only one in there so it still felt like a private massage. In a Khmer massage there is no oil used, hallelujah! I hate going in for a massage and coming out feeling like a greased up pig.

The technique involves pressure points by using thumbs, hands, arms, knees and feet. There were times that she did a few stretches on me and that felt amazing. It was a good, deep stretch and very much needed after all the walking and steps from today. It is also supposed to open up energy channels. She worked on my back a lot so I hope that opened something up.

I think there are certain areas like my calves and arms that might have bruises tomorrow, though. I’m sure they aren’t used to working on fair skinned people that bruise easily.

After the massage it wasn’t dark yet so I walked around a little more. I went and looked at a few souvenir places before looking at different menus to figure out where to eat. I was in the mood to try something completely new and Cambodian related. I have had a lot of rice and noodles and I have really enjoyed them but I wanted a Cambodian dish that I had never tried before. I found a menu that had Cambodian fried cheese. It had a picture next to and I didn’t see how it was cheese but I decided to go in and take a chance on it.

When it came out I still didn’t see any cheese and it came out with cucumbers, green tomatoes, fresh green beans and some other veggie that I didn’t know what it was. When I eat fried cheese I typically don’t want veggies to go along with it. It smelled weird so I tried a tiny bite and did not like it. I don’t think I was able to get past the smell to give the taste a chance, honestly. I felt bad to say I didn’t like it because I thought that might be insulting so I asked for the menu again and ordered the chicken curry with white rice.

I really like that dish so I ate all of it. When the lady came to give me my check she asked if I liked the other dish that happened to be still sitting on the table uneaten except for a bite. I lied and said it was good I was just really full.

For dessert, I was really wanting to find a place with the crepe pancakes like we had in Hoi An. I found a restaurant near our hostel that said chocolate pancakes made out of French crepes and chocolate sauce. So I went in and ordered that. When it came out it was straight up a pancake. I asked her why it was not a crepe but she couldn’t understand me. I ate the fruit it came with and a few bites of the pancake. It was not what I was craving so I left the rest there and went back to my hostel.

I showered and hung out on my sisters bed with her since over in my corner, the 2 Norwegian girls have their own gathering going on and I feel in the way.

After 11 I was ready to pass out.

 

Comments

1. 

   Leave a Reply

   Sarah Brockway (Johnson)
   February 3, 2017

   OMG! The faces after trying the cricket are amazing! Way to step out of your comfort zone ladies. I fell behind a few days while at a work conference so I’ve been binge reading, pictures are awesome and you guys are gonna have so many great stories to look back on.

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     Jillian
     February 3, 2017

     Haha, Sarah this made me laugh. Damn work is getting in the way.