Cambodia and Angkor Wat!

We made our escape from Bangkok before any of the serious flooding came to town. People seemed to be getting more and more worried about the floods coming from the highlands, so it was the perfect time for us to head east back into Cambodia to give Angkor Wat another shot.

For our last night in Bangkok we went out for dinner with a few friends who've lived there for a long time, then I decided to go out for the night to see some of Bangkok's infamous clubs. We had a 6AM train the following morning so I figured I'd get to do the partying that I had missed on my birthday and that I could just pull an all nighter and sleep it off the next day on the train. The all nighter was awful, but the train was a great way to get past a hangover. The 6 hour train to Cambodia cost 1$, and we were able to hang off the side watching the rice paddies whizz by as the train rattled along the rails.

We got to Siem Reap in Cambodia and were relieved to find that the city was not entirely underwater this time. We were going to be able to go see the temples! There are tons of different temples throughout the countryside, and our favorites were the ones that were less busy and allowed us a bit more freedom to roam, explore and climb around.  The temples were built 1000 years ago as Hindu worship/holy sights... this is interesting because now, most Cambodians are Buddhist (the same is true in Laos and Thailand).  The temples were incredible to see and the detail and creativity of the carvings was mindblowing. Each carving and each temple had a mythical/spiritual significance which we were able to piece together from a cheap guide book we bought (a proper tour guide was way out of our price range). We bought 3 day passes and hired a tuk-tuk driver who was able to drive around to different sights. 

One of the temples seemed to come straight out of an Indiana Jones movie. It was called Ta Prohm, and was set in the middle of the jungle, mossy crumbling walls were being swallowed up by gigantic white trees that looked like octopi. This temple seemed like it was designed with dripping tree roots and soggy walls in mind.

Another great temple was called Bayon. Full of the iconic giant faces which were modeled after the King who had commissioned the site. Over 200 giant faces, atop tall 4 sided towers. The faces were carved into huge charcoal-grey blocks of limestone that were fitted together seamlessly.  This temple was a definite favorite.

The following day we decided to go a little further out of town to see a smaller more intricate temple dedicated to women and children, and cut into a different pink stone, as well as a series of carvings scattered throughout a mountain and riverbed and waterfall. 

We also went to the landmine museum which was fascinating. The best part of the day was the hour or two of driving in the back of a tuk tuk through the countryside. The flooding in Cambodia seems to have pushed village life closer to the side of the road and it has concentrated village life to high grounds that have stayed above water. Every single house, and scene from life here is postcard worthy... Kids playing with empty gas cans and fishing in the electric green rice paddies, surrounded by dark gray water buffalo covered with green algae from the paddies, coconut trees, tin-roofed stilt houses built to sustain the floods, with clothes lines full of bright scarves and clothing. There are little stands on every stretch of the road selling bright pink dragon fruit, with bunches of bananas hanging from trees by string. They have stands full of gasoline in 1 liter recycled whiskey bottles for the motorcylces and tractors driving down the roads, and every 300 meters or so, a narrow burnt orange clay path divides the fields for the farmers.  Unfortunately, the tuk-tuk was so fast and bumpy it made picture taking very tough.


We had an amazing drive and the saw the sun and blue skies for the first time in a while. Seemed like a great omen for this next leg of travelling.  

After 4 great days in Siem Reap, we packed up our things and bussed back to Phnom Penh to apply for our Vietnam Visas. This was the 3rd visit to Phnom Penh, and we were only there for a day, so we didnt feel bad for taking it easy. We did go out for a great dinner to one of the BBQ beef places that are so popular with all the Cambodians. I bought a grilled water-snake from one of the street vendors after a few beers and the lovals were very impressed... it tasted like swamp though... After that, we planned the next leg of the trip in Vietnam, and put together a loose itinerary. Then the visas came in and we hopped on another bus headed for SAIGON, VIETNAM!

                     

Back in Bangkok (and Gone Again)

The ride back to Bangkok was by far the worst ride I've EVER had, in any country, anywhere. While we were told it was going to be an easy nine hour journey, the process ended up taking 17 hours. It involved an overnight 9 hour bus to the border, in which the driver sat on his horn the entire time keeping everyone awake, then a 2 hour stop at the Poipet border crossing, which was absolute chaos, and in the blistering heat, then a 3 hour wait to get into one more cramped van to do the 3 hour drive back to Bangkok. Kev was really suffering with some mystery illness, and I was in no mood to be jerked around like that. By the time we got back to Khao San road, we were spent, it was pouring, and we didn't have anywhere to stay. We roamed around looking for a place, and ended up finding somewhere that seemed cheap and clean enough.

We hadn't spent any time on Khao San road (the Bangkok backpacker strip) yet, and it was quite an experience. It was literally exploding with sights, smells, food, people, things for sale, live music. It was cool for a day or two, and we definitely got our moneys worth of dollar noodle and kebab plates. We spent the next few days recovering and hanging out, getting ready for our first job interview! I had emailed an English camp posting on Craigslist, and they got back to us inviting us in to interview. I bought a new dress and everything for it, and we were pretty pumped to be getting things moving. The interview was at an office that was an absolute nightmare to get to (tuk-tuk, subway, 10 minutes of wandering, AND a cab). We realized on the way there that despite our worries, we had somehow managed to forget to print out resumes, bring any identification, or our passports with proof of a visa. Luckily, the interview was a breeze, it was really just a meet and greet. The office and the people seemed cool, and right away they set us up with our first job, a three day English camp at a hotel outside of Bangkok, we would be paid 1000 Baht per day (about 30 US$) and our accommodations and food would be covered. We were pumped to have landed something so soon after arriving, and we were set to start the day after the interview. So we headed back to the hostel to repack our bags, and get ready for camp!

Camp was a whirlwind experience. We got there at 6 am, met the other staff and loaded the bus. We realized right off the bat that we were the only two Western staff, and therefore the only two people that were going to be at camp who did not speak Thai. The staff were really cool, and we went to pick the kids up. It was exciting to be around so many Thai people. I love kids so much, and even though they weren't warm off the bat, I was still really excited to be a part of camp. The bus ride to the hotel was cool, Kev and I were on different busses- he just watched a movie with his kids, while my bus sang songs and played games. I was on the mic announcing bingo words and singing Justin Beiber karaoke. It was a good start. We stopped over at a couple local attraction, the kids got out, took a million pictures on their cellphones, bought ridiculous amounts of toys and food, and reboarded the bus. (The kids who go to this camp are pretty rich and spoiled) The spots were pretty cool, places we never would have gone on our own, but it was super cool to see some of the spots that Thai people would vacation to!




The first night at the hotel was pretty easy, we had an ok dinner, played some more games with the kids, and then headed back to our rooms. The next morning was the big, full day. Kev and I were each given 3 hour-long lesson plans to teach a group of kids. As easy as the lessons were, the kids' English was very weak, and our Thai was non-existent, so it ended up being very difficult to communicate the ideas. Lots of blank faces kids texting back and forth... enthusiasm and high energy lessons dont do much when the kids realllly dont understand what youre saying. We were on our own though, so we each had to make do however we could. Unfortunately, the cultural differences were apparent when it came to the kids, they weren't very playful or affectionate, there was no horseplay and we couldn't really joke around due to language barriers.  The days were looong though, and we ended up working 13 hour days, mostly on our feet, singing and dancing to "The Farmer in the Dell", "The Grand Old Duke of York" and other brutally lame songs like that.  Enthusiasm waned fast and early. We did have some fun, there was a Halloween themed party, which we dressed up for, and we got a few minutes to ourselves to hang out at a pretty nice hotel, with good food for free!

It was an okay time, and we decided we'd do a few more camps for the moth of October. We hoped to make enough money so that we could work a few days and pay off the days that we werent working in Bangkok. Camp staff said we'd be able to get tons of work, and it seemed like it could be an okay way to spend a month in BKK without spending much of our own money. The next camp that we had scheduled was cancelled and then they signed us up for one day of camp 4 days later. This meant we were going to have to spend our own money to hang out in a hotel in Bangkok waiting for the call from work. We had heard that these camps can really jerk people around, and it became clear that it was going to be more trouble than it was worth, and we didnt want to spend any more money to kill time in BKK. It definitely wasn't a total loss, but it did force us to really start questioning whether we wanted to be teaching and living in Bangkok for the long term.



The good thing that came out of camp was that we got some first hand experience spending time with Thai kids. It wasn't much time, but it was enough for us to get the idea that it wasn't going to be the cakewalk we had been imagining. First of all, the communication is extremely difficult. If their English is good enough to communicate, chances are we wouldn't be teaching them English. Second, the interactions with the kids weren't fun in the way we were hoping, or in the way we were used to with Canadian and American kids; we wanted to enjoy ourselves, and these kids didn't make that easy. Third, the money we were slated to make was next to nothing, and it was going to make our lives challenging, Bangkok may be cheap, but its all relative, and if we weren't making any money, we weren't going to enjoy ourselves there very much. Pack this all in with the fact that we didn't like the city itself very much, and we were just about ready to ditch the idea.

No need to bore you with the minute details and endless conversations that we had surrounding the issues of whether we were going to stay and teach, or not. Needless to say, we were hesitant to give up on the dream of teaching English, but being the pragmatic people that we are, we looked at the issue from every angle. We exhausted ourselves talking about what the right move would be. We knew there was no clear answer, we were going to have to make a tough call, and we very well might regret our choice. But after talking it out, talking to friends and family we decided that we were not going to look for work in Bangkok, or sign on to a year contract. Instead, we would travel for a while longer, hit up Vietnam and the Thai islands, then head home to make the next move. It was a tiring process, but we did it together, and we were both happy with the decision in the end. I know a lot of people are going to question it, why not live abroad and do something cool while you can? But ultimately, we had to trust our instincts, and they were telling us that life in Bangkok was NOT for us.

SO, we spent the next few days celebrating Kev's 23rd birthday, we went out for a couple nice dinners, had drinks with friends from along the trip, and saw some of the sights that we hadn't gotten to yet. We had a great day adventuring in Bangkok, we went to the Jim Thompson house, which is a house-turned museum from the 1950s that was owned by an American ex-pat, who was the face of Thai silk exports. We both really enjoyed the tour, it was such a beautiful house, the architecture was incredible, the kind of place you dream of building yourself, but he actually did! After Jim Thompson, we headed to Bangkok's one and only park, called Lumphini park. It was a really nice, big park with a pond and nice shaded streets to jog in. It was super busy, kids and running groups and aerobics classes, lots to see! We went out for a few great meals here and saw some great bars with friends who've been living and teaching in Bangkok.

We planned the next leg of the trip, and got ourselves SUPER pumped up for the travels ahead. The first half of the travelling before Bangkok was a bit stressful, trying to deal with the question of work, the issues of money, and the challenges posed by rain and bad luck. But this time, we knew we were going to travel right, plan a bit better, hit up all the things we wanted to, give ourselves the time, and do it during the dry season!

  

Road to Riches: First Stop; Phnom Penh, again...

Soooo, after having our last bits of traveling rained or "flooded out" we decided it was time to end that part of our journey and head back to Thailand to see about finding work. If we went back to Thailand directly by bus, we would have been entitled to a 15 day tourist visa. With this, we would have had to find a long term job immediately, and then have our employer fill out some forms so that we could get a Working Visa.  We've started to realize that it is never a good idea to be in a rush in Southeast Asia, since eeeeverything takes at least 5 times longer than is reasonable. From the 100 kilometer van rides that takes 6 hours, to the extra 50 minutes of waiting time for the skytrain, while watching the 3 scheduled, sardine-stuffed subway trains stop at the station, absorb one lucky person from the waiting subway platform into the mass of bodies, then close and go on.

We knew that with 15 days it would be near impossible to find a suitable job, and get all of our paperwork taken care of, so we decided to head back to Phnom Penh, Cambodia to apply for a 60 day Thai tourist visa that would give us more flexibility with the job hunt. It would also give us the chance to work (under the table) with some of the interim English camps, that are held between school terms in September and October, instead of signing a year long contract as soon as we got back to Bangkok.




We took the bus back to Phnom Penh and got in late Saturday night. Our spirits were high, and we were getting very excited to go back to Thailand and start the next phase of the journey, with jobs.  We thought we would have to spend one night in Phnom Penh, but we found out on Sunday morning that the Thai Embassy would be closed until Thursday.... terrible news. This meant that we couldnt even apply for our Visa until Thurs, and that we wouldnt get to Thailand until the next Monday. We were going to have to spend another 8 days in a place that:
          A) most travellers spend 2 days in
          B) We'd already spent 5 days at the start of our Cambodian travels

                         (elephant, moped, car and bus congestion was waiting for us in the heart of the city)


Needless to say we were pretty crushed. Our (my) money was really dwindling, and we didnt want to have to waste any more of it staying in a city that didnt have anything to offer us.  After going place to place talking to different travel agents it became clear that we were going to have to wait out the Embassy.  We went to bed defeated. Since we were going to be staying in a place for an extra week that we hadnt budgeted for, we settled for one of the cheaper hostels we could find, that seemed to be in a decent area. Scraping the bottom of the barrel with hotels isnt always the best idea when traveling we've found. If its dirt cheap, and you hvent found any reviews of the place, there's usually a reason for it.  Bad things only got worse when Melissa woke up at 4AM that night scratching all over with bed bugs. I didnt have a single bite on me, and she must have had 30. She's been the one to get all the mosquito (and other  tropical bug bites) since the beginning of the trip, but this seemed ridiculous. There wasnt much we could do at 4AM, so she angrily had to get back into bed and scratch herself to sleep that night.

We woke up and packed our bags in the morning and headed to another place. After a hellish night, we decided to spend the extra few bucks and get a decent place. We found an amazing guest house, in a quirky old building. Each floor of the place, seemed to have been cut out of a completely different building, with different tiling, lighting, window sizes, height from floor to ceiling, and doorways. We ended up on the top floor with a corner bedroom, with a balcony overlooking the city and two big walls of windows. We werent paying much more than before (probably because we had to climb 7 flights of stairs to get there) but the room made the the rest of the week much better. Meliss nursed her bites and I got into some reading. Later that day I went to get a hair cut and a shave... Cambodian barbers probably dont deal with heavy ginger beards too often, so it took him a half hour to buzz my beard off, and he shaved parts of the beard in the weirdest order. After about 10 minutes I looked like this, and in the end he left me with some long chops: K Sleaze (after his questionable work on the beard i passed on the haircut). Melissa was throwing up in her mouth during the whole thing.

It was a Monday, and the first real day of the holiday that was keeping the Embassy closed. We didnt exactly realize how much the city would clear out, but it slowed down dramatically. All of the people closed their shops and went back to the countryside to stay with their families for 3 days. Malls and markets shut down, and the streets lost their some of their constant buzz.  Imagine Canal Street in New York, emptying out. It was cool to see this side of Phnom Penh, since all we had known was the craziness from our first visit. Also, once the city cleared out a bit we were able to pick up on some of the more subtle things that were hidden in the madness of the bustling streets; Cambodian beggars recycling paper and plastic (amazingly fast and efficient).


We actually had friends passing through Phnom Penh, and were able to meet up and go out for drinks at some cool new places. We felt like we were locals there since we had spent so much more time than most travellers, and it ended up being kind of cool to really soak in a city and get to know a few of the local spots. I spent a few hours on the riverside one afternoon reading by myself, and met a few older local guys who wanted to chat and practice there English. Older Cambodians learned French in schools, so I even got to try out a few of the French words I know. They were excited to get me to eat some of the real Cambodian food that they get from the market; sticky rice with coconut shavings. And soon enough Melissa and I were getting it for ourselves. In the end, we had an amazing time in Phnom Penh. Cheap guesthouses, cheap food, interesting markets, happy people, and less hustle than in Bangkok.

Killing time in Phnom Penh actually ended up being something of a treat. We had no agenda, no schedule, we had seen the sights, and so we got to really slow everything down and relax. We could take the afternoon off and sit by the river, or take the night off and catch up on emails without feeling like we were missing anything. We didnt have to bring a camera or guide book around either.

We had told a tuktuk driver of our visa troubles and he told us that his friend was a travel agent who could get us an expedited visa quicker than the embassy, and that we wouldnt need to book a flight out of Thailand for proof of onwards travel. (This would have cost us an extra 150 bucks at least). The "travel agent" plan sounded kind of sketchy, but we decided to go meet the guy at his place. I wouldnt exactly describe it as an office. It was more like a family living room under construction, with an empty desk at the front.  Alex was the agent and he told us that he could call someone he knew that worked for the Embassy, and that he could get us our Visas by Friday evening. That would save us from having to stay for an entire extra weekend in Phnom Penh, so we figured it was worth looking into. We did some google searches and looked in forums for travellers who had gotten visas this way and it seemed sort of "legitimate". Cambodia has a lot of corruption, and it sounded like everything functions with different sorts of payoffs and through connections with friends. Trusting this, we decided to give Alex the travel agent a shot. Trying to form a logical decision in a time of desperation, makes shady things seem like bulletproof plans. We gave him our passports and some photos and trusted him. Against all odds, Alex came through. The very next day, we had shiny visas glued into our passports and we booked the overnight train to Bangkok the same day.  We payed a little bit extra to get them expedited, but by doing it through an agent and not having to book onwards travel (which we would have needed had we done it through the Embassy, we saved over 100 precious dollars each).  I had come down with some pretty bad virus, and getting on a 9 hour train ride terrified me, but it was time to get out of Cambodia.

We killed our last couple of hours and hopped on the bus to head back to Thailand.  We were feebly trying to excite ourselves for the prospect of finding work, but a job hunt based out of hostels was still daunting.  And we still needed to find a place to stay.