Cambodia - Part 1

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

To get to Cambodia we took a bus from Ho Chi Minh to Phnom Phen. The ride itself was pretty boring but podcasts kept me pacified for the most part. We were more interested in getting to Siem Reap ASAP so we only stayed for one night. We got up pretty early, had our last breakfast at Joma Cafe (think Starbucks but better and owned by Canadians,) and hit the tourist highlights. I wish we had more time because PP is definitely a city I’d like to go back and spend so more time in.


The ride to Siem Reap was a little more interesting. We had booked a VIP bus for the early afternoon and the driver was terrible.  He destroyed the clutch driving out of station and we had to swap it out for a slightly less than VIP bus. After another 5 minutes of driving I bet Charlie that he would either keep the bus under 50 KPH or that he would fry the second bus as well. I lost the bet I’m pretty sure the driver took a good 5 years off the life of that bus’s engine. Later on while we were still 90 minutes away from Siem Reap one of the passengers had some kind of significant medical episode. He lost consciousness and his girlfriend completely lost her cool. I know a little bit of first aid so I went to the back to try and help but there was already a big crowd of people trying to assist so I figured it would be better to stay back. Someone tried to give him CPR but he regained consciousness as soon as they started (from what I saw they didn’t check to see if he had a pulse…) The guy said he was fine but Charlie and I offered up our seats at the front of the bus where there was a bit more fresh air. The rest of the ride had no other issues. (PSA: Here’s a video of Vinnie Jones explains how to actually do CPR) 

Charlie, Phi and Me

We spend the next three days checking out all the temples of Siem Reap with the assistance of our amazing Tuk Tuk driver, Phi. Phi gave us pointers of the best ways to walk around the temples and he also came to drive us at 5am on our last day so we could get some pictures of the sunrise at Ankor Wat. Another great part about our time in Siem Reap was the dog who hung out near our hotel who we nick-named Lady. We fed her some ham and she became our best friend and we became the givers of belly rubs.

Lady

On our last day we saw Ankor Wat at sunrise and then spent the rest of the day getting ready for the next leg of the trip. Most of the beer is ~ 0.50 cents so we also went out for a few drinks and a foot massage at a VERY up-scale massage parlor.