J on the Flip Side: Cambodia. How I went from totally loving it to asking: Can I go home now??

A long long time ago, I saw some magical looking photos of ancient stone ruins that were engulfed and entwined with the roots of huge trees that seemed to sprout from within them. It was hard for me to believe that such an incredible place was actually real. But it is real. It is a temple complex called Angkor Wat built hundreds and hundreds of years ago as a holy place for prayer in Cambodia. Over the centuries, it had been ravaged by war and then abandoned for 200 years, until it was rediscovered within the jungle that had overgrown it in that time. It has been one of the top places I've wanted to visit ever since I saw those photos when I was young. But all throughout my life Cambodia seemed like such a far away place that would be nearly impossible to get to! So when I had about 5 spare days in between my trip in Bali and the beginning of my India trip, I figured it was my time. Cambodia here I come!

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

My friend Frederica exploring the ruins

We got blessed by this monk

Although later on my trip I was questioning whether he had actually cursed me...

There are tons of kids who want to sell you magnets and other stuff outside each temple.

Angkor Wat was totally amazing, breathtaking and unreal. But the rest of my time in Cambodia pretty much sucked. After Angkor Wat I went to the capital, Phnom Penh.

I hopped on the night bus, and was at first happy to see sleepers! They looked pretty comfy! Until I got on the bus and got to my assigned place, and uh oh, there was already a giant man in the bed. Sudden realization hit me that 2 people were sharing each sleeper and me and Mr. giant man would have to basically spoon all night to fit in there. Ugh. So anyway, I arranged my stuff and got into spoon position.

I stole this photo from the internet, but this is pretty much what the inside of the sleeper bus looked like. I shared the bottom bunk with the man. I am still traumatized.

In the middle of the night, we stopped for a bathroom break. Most of the people were still sleeping, but I had to go so I just hopped out of the bus and went to the bathroom. When I got back less then 5 minutes later, I noticed my backpack (that was hidden at the bottom of my bed and behind the curtain) was askew. I checked inside, and realized, oh shit!!! My stuff is gone!! Someone had gone into my purse that was inside my backpack and taken $100 US from my wallet, and my cell phone. The money, not so bad. But my beloved iPhone!!!!! NOOOOOO!!!! Cue Coldplay **Tears stream down your face, when you lose something you cannot replace** and also GFY night bus thief. This is a Buddhist country, karma WILL get you.

The man beside me had also gone to the bathroom, so I don't think it was him. I talked to the bus drivers (who seemed sketchy - probably them) but they pretended not to know anything. Oh well, it could have been worse since I also had $300 that they hadn't found, my camera and my laptop in my backpack. Thank you baby Jesus that they didn't take that stuff as well. That would have been completely devastating and I would have had to immediately go home and cry in my mommy's arms!

So after that horrible night on the bus, I finally arrived in Phnom Penh and I decided to check out the Killing Fields. For about 3 years during the 1970's the Cambodian people went through a holocaust style genocide, where their crazy leader brought 4 million innocent people to prisons where they were tortured and then sent to fields where they were brutally killed. It was very sad to see the gravesites, where there are still teeth, bone and clothing fragments surfacing from the ground when it rains. It was one of the saddest things I've ever heard about.

At this site, 450 bodies were excavated.

I spotted this tooth coming out of the ground

This tree was used to swing babies against to kill them. They found blood, brain and bone fragments on the tree when this site was discovered. I don't cry a lot, but this made me cry.

Archaeologists have analyzed the skulls from the graves to determine who the victims were.

So after that visit to the killing fields I was in a really sad mood. And I had to head straight to the Indian Embassy to try to apply for my Visa for India. Well, they informed me that I would have to wait 5 days before it could be processed and there was no way to do a rush. I tried to explain that that meant I would have to change my flights I'd already booked and miss the beginning of my tour. I even tried to bribe the man with US$. But he didn't care, he wasn't having it! So I left feeling even more dejected than before.

Later that evening I was walking down the street looking for a restaurant to eat at. All of a sudden I saw a motorbike kinda swerve, causing the woman on the back to fall off onto the road in the middle of horrible traffic. It looked like she hit her head on the concrete. A second later, a tuk tuk ran right over her. OH MY GOD! I thought she was dead. My heart was pounding. People rushed over and traffic came to a halt. Another bystander helped her up and she seemed ok. She limped back to the motorbike and got right back on and they took off!

Just to lighten the mood, check out how much stuff this guy has on his tuk-tuk!

So I decided to get out of the city and headed to a small seaside town for some relaxation while I waited for my visa to be processed. When I booked the bus to Kep, they said the bus would pick me up at my hostel. Well I waited 30 mins and the bus didn't come. So finally I got my hostel to call the number on the ticket. Apparently they didn't know where my hostel was, and started yelling at me as if it was my fault, even though I had written it down for them specifically. The bus company man drove me to the main bus stop on a motorbike with my big backback squeezed in between us, and of course I was terrified because of the woman I'd seen the other day! He kept on yelling at me the entire ride as well, which was lovely. The bus had already left by the time we got there, so after much discussion about who's fault it was (It was definitely their fault!) I just asked if I could get on the next bus, and that was fine.

While I was in Kep, I finally got a case of the shits, which I haven't had at all on this trip. And it turned out to be a town with no pharmacy, so I basically spent my relaxation time sitting on the toilet. Also, the number one tourist attraction in Kep was the Welcome to Kep crab statue, so I don't think I missed too much!