I almost don't even want to write about today! It was extremely stressful. I have a feeling the next 3 days will be just as hard. I'm so tired.
We woke up and ate breakfast and got snacks for the trip. The bus/van picked us up and we drove through Bangkok. Driving in the city is terrifying. First of all, they drive on the opposite side of the road, so you're already disconcerted. There seems to be a lot of people actually paying attention when they drive. Mopeds weave in and out of traffic like no other.
We had to change buses. There were 5 other passengers on our bus. We had to make frequent refueling stops. On one of the stops we all got out and bought fruit. The 4 people sitting behind us got us to try some new fruits, and we all started talking. One guy was from Minnesota who had been traveling all around the world for a few months already. He was definitely the travel-savvy one. Told us what the border procedure should be like based on his SE Asia Lonely Planet guide. I think his name was Dominic. The other two were from somewhere in Canada. Very cool, all of them.
We tried snakefruit and mangosteen. The snakefruit comes in 4-inch pods with dry stickers (not sharp). You crack open the dry husk skin and peel it off. Inside, there are 3 lobes of a light orange color that kind of taste like sour starburst and have a big seed in the middle that you obviously don't eat. Mangosteens look like black plums. You tear off the stem and tear the thick purple skin off. There's 4 or more white lobes inside. It's similar to persimmon texture.
The drive to the border from Bangkok was nice, seeing some of the not-urban areas. Cows were skinny, ribs sticking out. SO many tall trees with thin trunks planted in rows. Lots of rice paddies. We stopped at 11 AM and our driver and the guys at the stop wanted us to fill out visa forms and get them for $35. We knew they should only be $20, and we realized they were trying to scam us. At the border,w e went to at least 3 places wanting us to pay $15 extra. We finally found the right spot and got them. I was kind of worried for a few minutes because they took our passports into another room for awhile, but we finally got them back.
The Canadians bought us victory beers, which were not a good idea in the heat. We learned a lot more about haggling and how to be more travel-savvy from these guys. We learned not to book things in advance.
When we finally got to Siem Reap, the bus dropped us off with no choice but to take $2 tuktuks to town. We stayed at the Angkor Voyage Villa. Our tuktuk driver recommended it, which is usually a sketchy way to get a hotel, but it was a nice place. $12 a night for 2 people, near the night market. We tried to find somewhere to eat dinner because we hadn't eaten in 12 hours, but we ended up ordering too-greasy and cheesy pizza from our hotel. Not bad, but kind of made me feel sick.
On the bus ride from Cambodia to Siem Reap, it looked like the world had ended. It was so flat and so used for farming that there were hardly any trees. I would've loved to see it at night for the stars. I am so tired and it's not even 9:30 PM yet.
