Keeping it Riel in Siem Riep

After dropping my bag off at Ideer Hostel iDeer Hostel BKK, Amanda and I began our journey to find the Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok. DMK International is the older, outdated international airport in Bangkok about 19 miles north of the city. There is a train that goes there, but apparently the times are erratic, which makes it quite an ordeal to maneuver. That seemed a bit too complicated to deal with ,so if we wanted to make it to our flight, a taxi was going to be the best option! There's a big street right outside the hostel, so we knew it would be easy to find a cab to take us there right away. We wave down the first pink ride we see. (The taxi cabs in Bangkok are all really bright colors, lime green, hot pink, blue.) As we hop in we ask the driver to take us to Don Mueang Airport. (This is actually really hard to pronounce..neither of us could get it right!) After repeating ourselves a few times, he understood. Before we set off, we asked the price... He quoted us something outrageous, I tried disputing the price and that's when Amanda noticed the Thai Taxi Permit on display did not belong to him. The guy photographed in the picture definitely was NOT the man behind the wheel! We immediately grabbed our bag, opened the door told him no thanks and hopped out of the car. (Maybe he wasn't dangerous, but his price wasn't right and apparently neither was his permit!) It's nice traveling with someone as keen as Amanda! So, we laughed it off and wished for a more honest driver next! Luckily, we found one! Got to the airport with time to spare. Finding vegetarian food there was not an easy feat. Amanda ordered a Greek Salad from the pizza place, I had a mushroom pastry (not delicious). I should have gone with the salad for a few Baht more, but when you're traveling on a budget, sometimes you have to make sacrifices and eat something a bit more economical! Thailand is pretty affordable, but in comparison to India, it's twice as expensive. I was really missing Indian prices ( and curry)! 

Fun @ DMK Airport, the background changes! Here we are in NYC!

Cambodian Customs, we are ready for you! (Notice Amanda's serious burn!)

Sitting in the back in the back of Bahnet's Rickshaw

Our time in Cambodia was a quick pit stop! When we arrived, Bahnet, the Cambodian tuktuk driver, was waiting for us at the airport. Major props to Amanda cause our hostel was perfect, we had a private room WITH A/C and there was even an indoor swimming pool! At The Siem Reap Hostel I even ran into my Samyak Sister, Gabriella! She attended the Samyak Hatha Teacher Training in February, now she's back in the UK firing up her yoga career! Gabriella and I had a much-needed catch up, we decided we would be up bright n'early to check out the famous temples. The following morning we woke up at 530 AM to make it to Angkor Wat before the rise of the Sun. We explored the sites and stretched and bended into some deep yoga poses throughout the land. 

Patiently waiting for the Sun to rise with Gabriella

SUN HANDS

 I wasn't aware that there are actually a series of Wats (temples) that are part of the whole Siem Riep tourist catch. So, luckily, Angkor Wat isn't the only ancient temple/tourist spot! (Like i mentioned in the previous post, I didn't do ANY research or planning before the getaway with Amanda. Which is quite unlike me, I usually spend tons of time online, getting to know the places I will visit. But when you're in India, good internet is hard to come by! Plus, who has time for that anyway? I'd rather spend my time outdoors exploring, than in an old web cafe, suffering through the slowest internet connections and attacks by mozzies (mosquitos). 

This was my day pass to ALL the temples. (Notice the price is in US Currency.)

Step 1. wake up early, Step 2. Go to place to buy day pass, Step 3. Find a ride to take you around/rent a bike

As the sun rose, we trotted around the grounds of the first temple. Angkor is absolutely huge! We climbed carefully up uneven steps and began our photo shoot. It was honestly, completely, utterly magical being there. The thousands of tourists didn't bother me one bit, it's just so vast! and ancient! and detailed! and gorgeous! It seems to go on forever! The temperature outside was perfect for exploring and jumping around for pics! We spent hours there! On the way out got stopped but a damn good sales woman and headed to her place for breakfast. Eggs & potatoes for me, with the biggest coconut in history for some tasty & real hydration!  As we walked out, we easily spotted Bahnet amongst the hundreds of rickshwaws (what a relief!) 

Mandy & Gabs

Where in the world is Gia?

Look at that coconut!!

Our trusty driver took us to the rest of the temples, too.They were all just as magical and marvelous, so much lush richness, detail and peace throughout. Despite all the people, all locations did feel really sacred and quiet to me. After exploring the 3rd temple, we didn't have so much luck finding Bahnet! There were just SO many tuktuks, thousands! and so many people, it was getting really hot, our breakfast was already practically burned off from all the walking. For a moment, I really thought we would never find him again. And it made me sad because we knew he was an honest guy, and we wouldn't want him to think we ditched him! We began shouting his name and he suddenly appeared out of nowhere! 

Cruising these streets with B

I was really amazed at the amount of child labor I witnessed. These kids are really good at selling things! They all speak perfect English, they actually are clever, they know things! They are so adorable, who wouldn't want to purchase things from them? They were selling an array of things, from snacks, to waters, to post cards, souverniers. You name it and they would probably find a way to get it for you! Some of these kids were so young, I saw a few that looked about 3 or 4 years old! It such a tough situation, I felt torn. I didn't want to encourage this kind of abuse, but it presumably for a good cause, and why wouldn't I want to help children.. especially when they tell you it's for their education and they dazzle you with their knowledge of Geography!

Lil' baby boy with his basket of products hung on his shoulder

Siem Reap also has a big pub crawl scene that completely caters to Westerner (not my thing). There are huge neon lights, in bright red, a massive sign that says, Pub Street. Here you can find bars, restaurants, souvenir shops, massage joints and ice-cream parlors.  They accept US Dollars everywhere, when you withdraw money from the ATM, you get Dollars. The currency is Riels, so when you pay at the shops in USD$, they give you change in Riels. The conversion rate is $1USD = 3990 Cambodian Riels. It's usually a better deal if you pay in Riels, since they will round up prices in dollars. But the amounts of money are ridiculous and confusing, so dollars make it a bit more simple.

Cambodian food reminded me of Thai, except creamier and less tasty! 

Once again we had noodles or fried rice for dinner. the prices were cheaper than Thailand, so that was a relief. Amanda found herself some products to relieve her sunburn. Our hunt for something natural/unharmful was not easy! We found that about 95% of skin products had bleaching agents. The obsession with white skin is insane! Among the lotions sold, there is one named "Fair & Lovely". A brand from India (not surprising)! Indians, Thais, Cambodians, they're all equally obsessed with having fair skin. There were a few  times I had debates with Indians about how beautiful their skin tone was. In the South, people have much darker skin so at times they thought maybe I was Northern Indian. They would tell me how much they loved my skin color, and how they were just "too dark"! This is nonsense to me, and we can thank the media for that. For only portraying characters on television, with "perfect" facial features, flawless fair skin and tamed hair. 

So Amanda eventually found something without bleach, after all, she was there to get a tan! not to get bleached! 

 Our 24 hours went by quickly, we had comissioned Bahnet to take us to the airport on his TukTuk the next morning. We are such good travelers, got there totally early and had a smooth flight back to Bangkok. 

Now we were ready to commence our Bangkok couchsufing adventure. ! 

Amanda and I keep it Riel!

-GIA