Hello Cambodia!

The journey from Thailand to Cambodia started early. We took a bus to a gas station.  At the gas station a number of the travelers I was with applied for their Cambodia Visa.  I kind of wish I had done this at the border, too.  I purchased an E-Visa.  It was $25 online through the Cambodia website and only took 3-4 days to get the appropriate print out to stick in my passport.  However, it doesn't LOOK awesome. The normal Visa they will place in your passport and it looks all official and has all the nice stamps on it. It is also permanent.  Mine is just stapled into the passport. Boo.

Welcome to Cambodia!

We crossed the border on foot.  There is a market on the Thai side where people sell used clothing. The Cambodian side; however, has a huge CASINO!  Woo for gambling.  We also saw these baskets piled higher than the building being pushing through the border by 10 men.  It was quite a site, and something that a picture really can't capture. After going through border patrol, we hopped on a bus and to Siem Reap we traveled.

It's truly amazing what they can fit on things!

For lunch, I had my first taste of Cambodian delight.  It was a fish amok and it was delicious.  It was just too bad that it was soooo hot and humid and I was eating something soooo hot. Delicious but I think I could have also gone for an ice cream.  We arrived in Siem Reap.  It was really interesting seeing the dirt roads in the city...after all, it was a city and one of the largest in Cambodia. The accommodation were much nicer than I was expecting.  Shortly after arriving, I definitely needed a shower. Oh how I love you shower.

Fish Amok Mmmm

That night we headed to an organization that raises money to send kids to school. It costs $0.75 a day to send a kid to school.  It's a lot for parents in the area so a lot of children sell postcards or other nick knacks on the side of the road instead.  We got a tour of the rice patties and surrounding area.  The cutest kids joined us for the tour.  They were also such hams, posing for pictures and just being plain cute. The lady that ran the organization treated us to a traditional Cambodian style meal.  It was so delicious. I could have licked the plates. I really really wanted to lick the plates.  We then got about an hour to talk to the children.  It was the best.  Their English was so good and I was very impressed. I wanted to stay longer and talk to the kids but we had to head back because the next day we were going to be up at 4am to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat.

Cutest kids in the rice fields

But!! Before that, Jenny, Laura, Anne and I decided to get a food massage :) The heat and humidity and travel really did a number on our feet.  My feet were pretty swollen and it was nice to get a good foot massage in the comfort of my own room with some really wonderful people.  We also knew that the next day was going to be extremely long and wanted to "prepare" ourselves :)  The foot massages were awesome and the hotel was so awesome for scheduling last minute...plus, 1 hr was only $6!! Man! Can't beat that! Can I have a massage twice a day please?!

Laura (left) and Jenny (right) getting amazing foot massages!