CAMBODIA: 100% pure Cambodian Yo!!
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| Can we not escape the cobra whiskey?! |
-1 border crossing, 2 tuk tuk’s, 1 van, 6 buses, 36 hours of
uncomfortable traveling and we finally made it to SiemReap, Cambodia. As we got
off the bus we all agreed to never do that again......Pheww, it was dam good to be
there and little did we know what Cambodia had in store for us.
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| One of many ways to cruise around town! |
SIEM REAP
-When we arrived at 2:30am we were tuk-tuk'd to a hotel called Siem Reap Temple Villa where we saw a swimming pool
and some young faces so we set up camp there for about $5 a night. Our first
day was spent wondering around the little city, We ran into some familiar
faces and invited them over for a dip in our pool. It was a pretty chill day and got us ready for three
days of some serious tempeling.
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| Frothing over Bananas, Mangosteens and Mangos |
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| Close Call....Gotta watch out for those lady boys! |
-Day 3 We slept in due to the fact that we were awake for more than 24 hours the day before. Around 2 o’clock we cruised back
to the temples for a shorter day. During our lunch with the local ladies, Brian
hopped on the back of a scooter of one in search of a rice hat and
some moonshine.....About an hour later he rolled back with a few water bottles
full of moonshine and his new hat.... Nice work Brain!
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| Gotta love my Cambo rice hat! |
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Sweet Pose!
....Often imitated but never duplicated
-We checked out a few more
temples and set up camp on one of the temples and watching the
sunset....Another awesome day with an epic sunset that you have to see when the
photos are put together.
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-Day 5 Kelly rolled out in the AM to catch his flight to
Bali, Indonesia out of Phnom Phen.....PARTY ON KELLY! It’s been nothing but a
blast!
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| Serious foot massages for serious Templers!! |
-Today was also the start of Cambodian New Year, It lasts 3 days and it is the number one holiday in Cambodia....“Suk Sadai Chonam Tomi!”
-Later that
day we met up with Chen and he
took us to his home to meet his family for dinner and beer...He lives about 3km outside of Siem
Reap in a sweet little village. His family is awesome and super super nice! We
ate fresh fish, Chicken, lots of fried veggies and drank tons of beer....Cambodians know how to drink!
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Chillin' at Chen's
.....Getting CHUXX! |
-We watched the new years ceremony on T.V. and
played lots of games, such as their version of tug/push of war....He then
invited us to come back tomorrow to stay with him and his family for the next few
days of the New years celebration....We were totally into it!
-The next morning we woke up around 10am and by the time we
made it down for breakfast Chen and his friends were mauling food and had beer
on ice. After we had eaten Chen took us to a local temple where we were blessed
with good luck for the New Year and bathed by a monk!......UNREAL EXPERIENCE!!!!
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| Paying our respects after getting bathed by an elderly monk |
-We
then went back to his home and helped bathe the village elders (another new
years ritual that was nothing but amazing).....Once they were all washed up we
were sat down in the same chairs and everyone proceeded to wash us, the white
boys. I don’t know if we have ever felt so clean in our entire lives—not only
physically but also mentally.....What an experience! We then faded for a couple hours and woke
up to more party time, dancing around in circles, playing with the kids and
drinking and eating more than any normal human should!!
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| Nothin' better than a good ole rub down by yours truly! |
-Day 7 Woke up around 9ish and went down to the kitchen for
breakfast and to our surprise the women were preparing fried ants and eel for
lunch...We had some super salty
dried fish for breakfast with rice mush that was not the best food we have had
this trip but as they say "When in Cambodia at your friends local village!"
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| I'm not sure if we want to stay for lunch.... |
-Before we left back to town
Chen insisted we stay for lunch (ants and eel), which we were not too stoked
about, but it ended up to be really, really good!...Sam must have eaten at least 100 big fat
ants or more....We snapped a family photo and then cruised out!
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| YUM!!! |
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| Family Photo...Chen's mom dead center |
-After dropping our bags off, Chen took us to the Cambodian
War Museum which gave us quite the insight to how gnarly and devastating the civil war in Cambodia has been for the country and its people....The people of Cambodia have been through way too much in the last 40+ years and it is amazing how friendly and outgoing everybody
is.... It made us fall in love with the people even more knowing their past and
living in their present!
-That afternoon we went to a local swimming spot called
west Baray and chilled in hammocks and went for a swim with the local crowd.
-Afterword, Chen took us to his friend Kong’s house which was really far out of town
where we got way to chuxx on some Duck soup, moonshine whiskey and jammed out
with some traditional instruments!.... On the way back home we crashed a
local dance party....When we walked in, literally the entire party stopped dancing
and looked at us as if to say “what are these guys doing way out here?”...... We
busted out our local dance moves and everyone was totally stoked and the party continued!.... We danced
around a pole for an hour or so and then took off.....All this dancing and partying was
starting to wear and tear on our bodies.
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| Jamming out!!! |
-Day 8 We woke up early and had to say our good byes... Sam
and Ben went south to Phnom Penh and Brain suck around in Siem Reap for one
more day with Chen and Kong and then was off to Bangkok to catch his flight to
Shanghai.
-Brian’s last day- Chen and I took the scenic route and
stopped off at another dance party for a couple of hours and all of the
ladies loved feeding me shots of rice whiskey and dance with me!(it was Awesome).... We then cruised to Kong’s where I proceeded to drink/eat even more while also raging at another dance
party and ending up passing outside on the ground for the night around 11pm.
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| Too many temples to see!!! |
-The next day I woke up outside at Kong’s pretty hung-over and cruised back with
Chen to the hotel we had been staying at and said our thanks and good byes.....I
lounged poolside for a while and then went back and saw two temples that I
really wanted to see.....Banteay Srei and East Mebon Temples. Made it back by
sunset and swooped some last minute gifts and got a two hour Khmer massage… Best
one yet! Hung out until 2:30am and caught a bus to the border
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| Carvings made by the women who sculpted Banteay Srei |
PHNOM PENH
-Sam and Ben’s last few day- So Ben I caught a bus down to
Phnom Penh and for the next few days we were immersed in the history of Cambodia.....it was extremely eye-opening but quite overwhelming at times.....We went to the killing fields where thousands upon thousands of people were brutally
murdered; went to S-21, an old school that was turned into a torture facility.
It was a really sad/heavy few days but essential to our trip in Cambodia.
-After a few big days in Phnom Penh it was time to say good bye to
Ben and move on....Peace out Ben! I had some of the best times of my life with
you the past few weeks. I took a tuk tuk to the airport
and said my good byes to this little country which had started to feel like a second home to me.
PEACE BE THE JOURNEY CAMBODIA.....
WE'LL MISS YOU!!!
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| Little Monsters......Aren't they just the cutest!!! |
THANKS FOR READING AND WE LOVE YOU ALL!!!
