February 22, 2004

The road to Angkor

Kampong Thom, Cambodia

Apart from a couple of border guard bribes the switch from Laos to Cambodia was pretty straight-forward. Just cross the Mekong River. It cost US$2 to exit Laos. The Cambodian guards wanted three dollars. "Three dollars", I exclaimed with surprise, "It's only two in Laos". "Okay, two dollars", they say. Nice to see that everything is negotiable.

After a couple of boat rides down the Mekong and my first exposure to Cambodian roads in a minibus I find myself in Kampong Thom with Evelyn and Natasha. We're here to see the pre-Angkor ruins of Sambor Prei Kuk. A nice little warm-up to the main event of Angkor Wat.

Northern Cambodia is littered with Angkor ruins. Unfortunately there are no roads to get to them. We'd just travelled on one of the most important roads in the country, leading from Phnom Penh to Angkor Wat and on to Thailand, and it was a mess of tar, dirt, construction and destruction. The relatively minor roads in the north would be far, far worse.

Even so, the temptation of seeing almost impossible-to-see ruins was very great. I knew that I could make a long loop to Angkor Wat via the almost lost temple of Koh Ker. It would involve a day by truck north to Tbeng Meanchey, then hiring a moto to take me and my pack west to the temple. The roads here are so poor only motorbikes can make it. The 100km or so trip would take a day so we'd have to overnight at the temple. Then it's another similar day to Siem Reap. Then the driver would have to return. It all added up to significant expense and pain but oh, it was so tempting. The alternative would be to join the girls for the relatively painless eight hours up the highway to Siem Reap.

In the end I just couldn't make up my mind so I decided to leave it in the lap of the gods. I'd go to the bus station early in the morning and just take the first thing that left, either to Tbeng Meanchey or Siem Reap.

Well, it turned out that Siem Reap won the day, a pickup was half-ready to go. After grabbing some breakfast and some munchies we decided to go luxury class and travel "inside" rather than the cheaper "outside". This meant that the three of us plus a nun were jammed in the back seat of the dual-cab. We were squeezed in so tight that I ended up nursing the nun's little travel bag.

A short eight hours later, after bouncing along one of the best roads in Cambodia, but one which wouldn't even be open to traffic in most countries, we found ourselves in Siem Reap. The usual gaggle of moto-drivers crowded around the truck waiting for us to get out. They're initial offers to take us in to the city were way above the mark so we started walking. Sure enough, three follow us and soon offer a price that's a third as much. My driver shows his skill by managing to crash us in to Natasha's bike during a left-hand turn. We just sort of bounce of each other and nothing more is thought of it. Happens all the time in these parts.

Posted by David at February 22, 2004 08:39 PM