Cambodia - The Road to Siem Reap

March Break was spent taking our next big trip outside the country. We started by heading to Cambodia with my parents. We flew into Phnom Penh and from there, took a river ferry up the Tonle Sap to Angkor Wat where we spent the next couple of days wandering through the ancient temples. The trip up the river was so amazing, I decided to dedicate this whole section just to that.

We arrived in Phnom Penh late on Saturday, with just enough time to wander around downtown. I have to say it was probably the dirtiest place I have ever seen. There was garbage all over the street - heaped in piles in some places and as a result there was a lingering stench of rot in the air. We ventured out long enough to find something to eat and then headed back to the hotel for the night.

This was the restaurant where we ate in Phnom Penh. It was a little sketchy looking, and everyone stuck with the vegetable fried rice... except for me. I just told them to bring me their specialty. It was special all right... It was a noodle soupy kind of thing and I'm still not sure what kind of meat was in it - or even if it was meat. But it tasted pretty good.
In hindsight, it was perhaps not the smartest thing I've done, as I was going to be spending 6 hours on a boat the next day. But surprisingly, it worked out ok. In actual fact, I didn't get food poisoning until we got back to Phom Penh on our way to Bangkok - and it was from the "fancy" hotel restaurant. Figures.

Sunrise on the Tonle Sap. We wanted to take this boat up the river, but in the end opted for the one with a motor.

This is the boat we actually took. We sat on the roof for the entire trip.

Rice farmers

We ended the boat trip in a floating village. There were tons of houses just floating on the water like this one... several of them were actually house-boats.

From there, we got on a tuk-tuk and started the 15 minute ride into Siem Reap. All the way along the road there were little straw/wooden houses like these. We were all really stricken by the poverty here. Most houses were completely open in the front, with their privacy coming from hanging a sheet across the opening. Most had no furniture and only some pots and pans to cook their food.

A good example of how dusty the roads were.

Mom and Dad and their tuk-tuk driver Sam. Sam and his brothers were our drivers for the entire time we were in Siem Reap. He was also a dancer and he took us to his restaurant one night to watch his show. He was actually quite good.