BRUCESTATS - CAMBODIA - Both Sides of Paradise

January 31, 2015

BRUCESTATS - CAMBODIA

BRUCESTATS: CAMBODIA

Biking

Cambodian/Lao Border to Stung Treng 38 miles

Stung Treng to Preah Vihear (town not temple) 89

Preah Vihear to Sra Srayang 36

Sra Srayang to Siem Reap 75

Total 238 miles

Bus

Siem Reap to Poipet (Thai Border) 92 miles

Cheapest bananas - Sra Srayang - 58 small ones for $1.

Cheapest guest house - Sra Srayang - $5

Most expensive fried rice in 40 years of Asian travel - Sra Srayang - $3

Possibly the tastiest fruit shake ever - Papaya/Jack Fruit/Pineapple - Sra Srayang

Most Expensive guest house - Siem Reap - $10

Number of squashed snakes on the road - 9

Most people seen on one motorbike - a family of six just a mile or two inside of Cambodia. So many things change when entering a different country. Immediately we knew the Cambodians were the scariest drivers. They seemed very tied to the edge of the road like some invisible force was pulling them to the edge all the time whether there was a bicyclist there or not.

This is pretty much the route we took from Stung Treng to Siem Reap.

Main street Stung Treng with two new hotels.

Stung Treng is on the move. The main street is being widened and paved and already large new buildings are going up everywhere.

The park where main street in Stung Treng meets the San River. This view is from our hotel room.

Common cures Cambodian style. Just look at the images to match what ails you. Inside each package is the suitable concoction of herbs, roots, bark and whatever else. Boil it all up and drink.

We became regulars at this restaurant in the central market of Stung Treng. Delicious food which gave us no ill affects, remarkable considering the filth everywhere.

Raw cockle shells from the Mekong River are all the rage with Cambodians. Cockle sellers push their carts around all day long in the blazing sun and usually sell out by nightfall. If we were to eat any I'm fairly certain we would get sick.

Cambodian kids: Energetic, happy, curious and friendly.

The big bad Hun Sen (dictator and former Khmer Rouge Commander!!) and his handpicked henchmen making it appear as though they're leading as a group. And the gall to call his party the "Cambodian People's Party"! And even more gall to put their images on temple walls making it seem as though his leadership is sanctioned by Buddhism. Just about every temple I saw in Cambodia had one of these signs at the entrance.

This sign of the dictator and his men is fading. Too bad his dictatorship is not.

We saw outlines of bikes and bodies all the time. It's no surprise that motorbike accidents are common in Cambodia because they drive way too fast and carelessly. And now they talk on their phones or text while driving.

Mosquitoes are still a serious problem in Cambodia. They carry not only malaria and dengue fever but worse still, Japanese encephalitis.

Nice patina on this the biggest lingam I've ever encountered. Koh Ker Temple.

These signs are common in Cambodia. They detail the specific areas where land mines have been cleared and which country helped finance the effort. I never saw one financed by the U.S.

This is the main street of Sra Srayang. It was a surprise to me that I would be paying more for fried rice here than anywhere in my life. Some things just don't make sense in Cambodia. To put some perspective on this let's say you are traveling in the U.S. and you check in to the cheapest motel you can find which is $50. That means that when you go out and find some fried rice to eat for dinner your bill would come to more than $30. Some things are just out of whack in Cambodia or some people are grabbing whatever they feel they can get away with.

I loved this bridge which was on the seemingly endless sand road. Originally a sandstone road it leads directly at Angkor Wat from the east.

Temple fatigue? Bayon Temple in the background which is inside the Angkor Thom complex of temples.

Siem Reap has wonderful colonial architecture which has been restored.

Cambodia is a kind of dog-eat-dog sort of society. It's also survival of the fittest and most clever.

Siem Reap has become Disneyland. This is "Pub Street".

A Siem Reap restaurant in a restored colonial building.

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