Siem Reap and crickets.....
Trip Start
May 03, 2008
1
16
44
Trip End
May 02, 2009
Siem Reap,
Cambodia
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The highlight of the 2 days wasn't actually temple related! Our tuk tuk driver for the 2 days was called Solo so Simon tried to explain to him about Han Solo and Star Wars, space ships and aliens......I don't think they get western films in Cambodia, being a communist country
The "road" to the Thai border
. Still a classic though!We really liked Siem Reap. We were close to all the pubs and restaurants which were conveniently located on Pub Street! We usually ended up in the Angkor What? bar for the same set of songs all night every night. Great atmosphere though. We met the only Irish speaking Cambodian there!! Seriously, he was really good! He's a tuk tuk driver and apparently his Irish customers were teaching him Irish. Seems they mostly taught him chat up lines though - very suspect!
We went to a restaurant that had a crocodile pit. We thought they were fake at first because they weren't moving but then one came running accross the other. Didn't feel so safe anymore!
The tuk tuk drivers were pretty persistent as they block both ends of pub street trying to get you into a tuk tuk on your way home. One even tried to sell us on a tour of the pubs while we were on pub street!!
So now to the title.....deep fried crickets!! I blame Simon for it really. He was keen to try some local delicacies so we stopped by a street stall and ordered 6 (enough for our fellow backpackers back at the hostel)
The "road" to the Thai border
. Something must have been lost in communication because the woman on the stall started shoveling the crickets in. We manager to stop her after about 3 handfulls! Back to the hostel to tell the guys the good news! We all gathered at the bar so as to be close to beer afterwards. They actually weren't that bad, though by the look of the photo of me you'd think it was truly awful! It tasted kinda peanutty really. That said, I didn't have more than one. We gave the rest of them to the barman who wolfed them down in no time.We were sad to be leaving Siem Reap coz the hostel was great and the atmosphere of the town was so relaxed. But we were off back to Bangkok to coninue our travels down through Thailand. There's a rumour that a Thai airline is paying the Cambodian government to leave the road from Siem Reap to Poipet at the Cambodian/Thai border until the last upgrade so people will fly with them rather than face the journey. I'd definitely believe it! It's a dirt track all the way and takes 6 long hours. We were all packed onto a mini bus with our bags lined up the aisle. After a half an hour I realised it definitely wasn't a transfer and settled in for the journey from hell.
I'd say we were on the road for about an hour when we stopped on the side of the road (distinguished by a slightly different type of dirt)
The "road" to the Thai border
. Apparently we had run out of petrol! We thought it was a joke at first but it was true and we had to wait for someone from the nearest petrol station to come top us up! While we were waiting it started to rain heavily and I had visions of us having to push the van through the mud. Luckily it didn't come to that and it was back on the "road" soon enough. I really do hate the travel part of traveling!We finally got to Poipet on the border. It's a really dodgey looking town. Anyway, we had to exchange our tickets before crossing the border on foot and meet another bus on the other side to take us to Bangkok. The only problem was the ticket collector never gave us back our tickets - not good! After a lengthy discussion with the bus assistant and getting nowhere, we agree to continue the conversation on the other side of the border, Cue torrential rain as we drag ourselves and our baggage through customs. On the other side of the border the assistant keeps on trying to lose us! I have to leave Simon talk to him coz I was too angry to talk to anyone rationally - this particular route is notorious for ticket scams.
So the guy who took our tickets swears blind that he gave them back to us and assistant guy is trying to make us pay for an additional ticket to Bangkok or we'll have to stay where we are. Finally Simon gets the ticket klepto to tell the assistant that we did have 2 tickets all the way to Bangkok. After some smooth talking, we got on a bus - destination Bangkok! And joy of joys it was a proper coach with soft seats and a foot rest and air con......happy days :)
