Journey To Cambodia

It's 8:30pm on Wednesday, December 21st. I'm at Golden Angkor Hotel in Siem Reap and the Internet connection is pretty quick here, hehe. It's cost about three times more though, but still cheap! We had just checked into our rooms after having dinner at Bopha Angkor II. We spent just a little under $50 on dinner for 13 people (including our rental driver). The food was actually pretty good. The restaurant was recommended by my relatives' relatives on our way here. Well, the drive up here to Siem Reap wasn't bad at all. Much of the major roads are asphalt now. We were originally going to stay for only three days or something, but we had to make a lot stops visiting relatives (grandma's side) and it was quite emotional to see the reunions between my yeays and their relatives. They haven't seen each other in over 30 years! That basically took the half the day so we decided to stay for five days instead since it'll take several days to check out some of the 200-something prasats/temples/wats around here. I don't know if that 200 is just in this region or in all of Cambodia.

Anyway, as I mentioned my relatives from back home joined us on Saturday. On Sunday morning we left to Kompong Som (aka Sihanoukville). We had a rental driver in a Mercedeez van, which was interesting. The drive was about four hours. I didn't know my mom lived in Kompong Som for one or two years while she was attending school for something. The beach we went to was called Nature Beach. There were umbrellas and little tiki huts all along the beach. We rented a spot and ordered food to eat. The beach was reaaaally nice and it wasn't too crowded either. It was very salty though. I didn't believe my cousin when he told me that. I swear I turned into chruek, haha. It's like a pickle, but doesn't have to be cucumber. There were a lot of tourists, but I'm not sure if any were Americans. They were most likely Europeans. Little kids roamed the beach and huts selling beach attire, beaded jewelry and food. There were also young women offering massage services. After the beach we went to a hilltop over-looking the coast. Kompong Som is Cambodia's only port. After that we went back to our hotel to shower. We stayed at the Princess Hotel for one night. That night we had dinner at a nice waterfront restaurant/hotel. I forgot the name of it. The food was pretty good. The view would've been nice if we had been there during the day time.

On Monday morning we decided to drive south down to Kampot again since we already drove all the way out there, but first we went further south to the fishing/crabbing shore that we went to last time to buy fresh crabs and shrimps. We had the crabs and shrimps cooked for us again and had lunch at the beach down there, which wasn't as nice as Kompong Som. After that we made a quick stop at the suspension bridge in Kampot again. We took pictures, drank fresh sugar cane juice and ate some sweets that were our favorite from the last time we went. It's like a rice cake rolled up with sweet sticky rice and coconut nut filling. Even watching it get made was interesting. On the drive back we drove through Ta-Kmow. We got there just when all the garment workers were getting off work. There were many, many of them. I think the workers makea about $50 a month. That night my two cousins (they're really my aunt but I just refer to them as cousins) from home spent a night at my uncle's house. The next morning we had noodles for breakfast and then went out to Psar-Thmei to so some shopping. My aunts picked out some huol and phamoung to get outfits made as well. While they did that I picked out some minature paintings in the adjacent booth. I also buoght more souvenir t-shirts and mini silk pouches. I found myself an Angkor Beer tank top and a new bag to carry my camera, camcorder and everything else for Siem Reap. After we went shopping we stopped by the tailor shop again. About half of my outfits were done and I was able to try them on. They're really simple designs, but pretty! They came out just how I imagined them to be so I'm happy, hehe.

Well, I better get back up to my room and shower. We have to wake up early tomorrow morning. We're starting with the farther temples and saving the closer ones near the end of our stay here. Ahhh, my trip is almost over! It's going to be crazy when I get back to Phnom Penh. I hope we have enough room to take everything back. Some of my relatives and in-laws from Battambang said they would try to go to Phnom Penh before we leave or on the day we leave to escort us to the airport. I'm also trying to arrange a meeting with two people on Monday. *sigh*