Welcome to Today’s Program

Sometimes you sign up for a program and don’t realize it. As we boarded a morning bus for the Thai/Cambodian border we were met in broken English with the greeting ‘Welcome to today’s program.’ We both looked at each other, questioning what we had inadvertently signed up for.
We tend to take local buses from destination to destination. It is very common to be the only foreigner on a bus and usually it enhances the journey as you are able to observe the local daily life. The backbacker Mecca of Koh San Road in Bangkok brought with it hordes of fellow travelers and the tour companies that follow. Rather than trekking across town to the local bus station we opted to board a local ‘tourist bus’ where we were now being told we were part of a ‘program’. We don’t really do programs well.

First the program director wanted us to buy our Cambodian visa through them. Yeah right. They wanted 1200 baht (around $36USD) when the visa only cost $20USD at the border. Cambodian borders are notorious for corruption and we knew we might have to fight to pay the right amount, but we were going for it any way. It took us 4 hours to get to the border and the whole while the tour company people came up and down the bus aisles convincing everyone that they would have to pay even more than their 1200 baht rate at the border so everyone should go through them. And most people did. About 90% of the bus. When we finally made it through the swine flu check and to the guards we handed over our passports and paperwork with a $20 bill. The guy tried to give them back to us and said ‘1000 baht.’ We said no and gave them back. Then he said ‘ok, 200 baht more’. This whole time we are standing under a sign that says a visa is 20USD. It was laughable. By this time a small scene had started as a few other travelers had joined our cause. Now they just wanted us gone so they could bribe the next group that came through, so they processed our passports and we were off. VICTORY! HA.

With the crossing behind us we just wanted to get to Siem Reap and we did, about 7 hours later in the pouring rain (trip should have taken 3 hours). With our program complete we fought off the pesky tour company as they prodded us to go to their chosen guest house. Needless to say we were not their ideal clients as we did not buy into the ‘extras‘ they offered.

On to Angkor Wat. Chad had previously been there and was excited to show me around. We arranged a driver to pick us up the next day to buy tickets and watch the sunset. Instead of hiring 2 motobike drivers we went with a relatively new mode of transport, a remorque-moto. See the picture below to get the full idea but it is basically a cart pulled by a motobike. Our driver Duk picked us up and we headed out for my first glimpse of Angkor. We hiked to the top of a hill with about 300 of our closest friends, and decided we weren’t crowd people and explored a couple ruins before heading back home for the night. The next day we headed out early, around 4:30AM and were the first people into Angkor Wat to

watch the sunrise. It was a bit early to be walking through the temple in the pitch black with bats flying around your head, but we were rewarded with a quiet solitude and a beautiful sunrise. We spent the rest of the day exploring the ancient temples and ruins while trying to dodge the multiple Japanese tour groups parading behind flagged leaders. We had a blast and managed to cover everything we wanted to see. Angkor Wat is truly amazing. It is a magical place that has to be seen to be believed. We ended the day with 50 cent draft beers at one of the MANY local cafes and bars.

A visit to Cambodia would not be complete though without acknowledging it’s dark past and the Khmer Rouge. From 1975-1979 the Khmer Rouge and it’s leader Pol Pot essentially destroyed their own country to create a ‘pure’ state. 2 million people were murdered, mostly the educated middle and upper class as well as peasants (they targeted people for such things as wearing glasses). There are two main sites that serve as reminders to this tragedy in the Phnom Penh area: the security prison S-21 and the infamous Killing Fields. We first visited the former high school turned prison of S-21, a short walk from our hotel. Over 20,000 persons were imprisoned, questioned and tortured here over a 4 year period. Of those numbers, only 7 prisoners survived to walk freely when the killing ended. After the interrogations and torture of S-21 the actual murders took place 10 kilometers outside the city center at the Killing Fields. We took a remorque-moto into the country side and visited the site. A memorial now stands in an open field containing the skulls of some 8,000 victims. Open pits where bodies were removed exist as a somber reminder to the scale of the murders. Signs displaying the numbers of bodies removed from each pit and noting trees which children were slammed against to their death are also noted. Again as with our visit to Rwanda, it is shocking to behold what some persons are capable of doing to other human beings.