A Taste of Cambodia

Our first impression of Cambodia was chaos, total and utter chaos. We queued at the border for two hours for our visa and then queued for another two hours as we exited Thailand and entered Cambodia. In the blazing sun and with backpacks on it was fortunate we met Katie and Will, lovely English travellers of the same age, or we would have been very grumpy by the time we hopped onto the next bus.

Whoever said that the journey is more important than the destination, obviously has not travelled on the road from the Thailand border to Siem Reap in Cambodia. Although it was only 200km, the journey, in a rickety old bus with little air conditioning, took six hours. Six hours of feeling like we were on a toning table. Six hours that to scratch our faces meant poking ourselves in the eye. Six hours that sports bra manufacturers would do well to test their products on. For a while though it was light and we took in the dry lands of Cambodia - in total contrast to what we had imagined of lush green fields. Instead we saw dry burnt looking expanses of land, so flat that it makes Norfolk look hilly. Then we realised it was dry season so instead we drank in the details like the wooden huts on stilts in small settlements with pits of stagnant water full of children bathing, laughing as they untangled themselves from the weeds. When night fell, the horizon was punctuated with fires as the peasants burnt the rice plants to encourage regrowth.

After 15 hours in total, the bus finally arrived in Siem Reap at 10.30pm and dropped as off a little outside the centre at the Soc San Guesthouse - obviously an organisation that gives the bus company commission. We were determined not to be cajoled into staying there but the warm welcoming smiles of the Cambodians, the great rooms with hot water and our own bathroom of a standard far higher than Bangkok, combined with the fact that it was only $5 for the night saw us readily agree. After our first taste of Khmer food - less spicy than Thai but richer with pineapple and coconut flavours like the lovely 'amoke' dish - and several Angkor beers later with Katie and Will, we collapsed into bed.

The following morning we set out to explore the town of Siem Reap. As a small town the market forms the centre where they sell everything from rancid meat and colourful fruit to traditional 'karma' scarves and books on the Khmer Rouge era. We soon realised that compared to Thailand, Cambodia was going to be expensive as their currency, the Reil, is weak and therefore prices are charged in the de facto currency - US$. Not so great for bartering because the denominations are in smaller units and they don't use cents. Mind you, after what they have suffered we couldn't blame them really.