For this trip, I decided to go somewhere a little more exciting than the normal trip to Japan or China. It has been a while since I have got out of Korea for more than one or two days, and let me tell ya I was needing to get away. I am in no way saying Korea is a bad place to live, I just needed a little change from kimchi and teaching "Englishee".
As I was trying to decide where to go, I found out my friends were going to be in Cambodia at the time of my vacation. So I thought, what is more exciting than Cambodia. I mean you have landmines, ancient temples, and for a small price, you can actually shoot a cow with a rocket launcher. It sounded like the place for me. After a short five hour flight from Seoul, I arrived in Siem Reap Airport. I knew it was gonna be interesting when I was mugged by about 30 cab drivers all wanting my business. I said "Who can take me to my guesthouse for five bucks?", and a cab driver whisked me away almost instantly. My cab driver was really nice and when I found out there wasn't a room available at the guest house, he took me around until we found me a room. I arrived at 10:00 PM and was worn out from the trip but I decided to check out the surrounding area and find the guesthouse my friends were staying at. As I walked down the dirt road a scooter pulled up and the driver told me to not be out at night alone because its not safe. So I thought, what the heck, and jumped on his scooter and away we went to my friends guest home. The whole time I was worried the guy may take me out in the country and rob me so I filmed the whole trip so at least it would be on tape. :) I soon found out that most roads in Cambodia are not dirt roads, but more like dust roads. The ground is mostly red clay which made the roads really dusty. After I informed my friends I made it safely to Cambodia. I went back to my hotel for some shut eye.
The next day I decided to get a room at the same guesthouse as my friends. The name of the place was "Home Sweet Home". It was really nice and really cheap. Ok it wasn't really nice but it was nice enough. For eight bucks I got a room with TV, a fan, bed, and a bathroom with no hot water. Pretty Freakin Cheap!!!Who needs hot water in Cambodia, and since I had to get up early a cold shower would wake me up for sure.
For three days Marty, Liz, and I explored the temples at Angkor Wat. We had only planned to spend two days but it was way too big to see everything in two days. Even after spending three days, there was a lot we didn’t see. I can’t really explain how awesome Angkor Wat was in words. Tomb Raider was filmed at some of the temples and some of the temples really looked straight out of movie set. The only complaint I had about the whole experience is the people, mostly kids, who attack you as you arrive. “Mistah… need a cold drink? Hey mistah please buy something. If you don’t I will cry because I won’t have money for food or school.” It was enough for me to almost consider drop kicking afew just to make them examples. I understand they have a much tougher life than I would even be able to understand but how many times must I say no thank you? Most of these people would attack you at the entrance but in some places they would even approach you inside the temple grounds, which was really annoying. I must say, I did fall victim to afew of them and bought some little crafts. They were too cute to be mean to.
After an exhausting three days of hiking around temples, Marty and Liz decided to head up to Phenom Phen to meet up with a couple they had been traveling with which meant I was on my own for a day. The next morning, I spoke to a tuk tuk driver and after some discussion on cost and route, I decided to check out the Vietnamese floating village. It was kinda far away and being that the road was really bumpy and dusty it seemed like an eternity. Well to make a long story short, it wasn’t what I hoped for. It was pretty much a floating slum. Not something you want to see on vacation. I did get to stop into a little school and the teacher asked me to teach. I declined but was amazed at the English ability of the students. Hopefully, with some luck, they will have a bright future.
The trip was really awesome and I wish I had a little more time to check out the country. The people were really friendly and everything was dirt cheap. We ate like kings and never spent more than 4-5 bucks on a meal. I was upset I didn’t get to shot a cow with a rocket launcher but maybe that can be something to look forward to if I get to visit Cambodia again. If you ever get a chance, Cambodia is an awesome place to visit.
After my flight back to Korea, I spent two days in Seoul with a friend. I got to eat some awesome Mexican and Indian food and checked out a Van Gough art exhibit. It was super cold which was hard to get adjusted to after spending a week in a really hot climate so I didn’t get to do any shopping. I arrived at home in Daegu 45 minutes before work. As I arrived late at work, I was only thinking about when and where will my next travels take me.
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