Catchin' Up

OK....I acknowledge that a good bit of time has passed since I made my last post, but tons has happened. I'll get straight to it!

The time rolled around for me to renew my Thai visa, so I got to pick a place to go to take care of that. So...where do I wanna go? I chose Cambodia! I can't imagine what other time I'd get to go, so I was up for the adventure! It's no fun to do trips like that alone, so Court came with me. We flew into Phnom Penh and it was one crazy city! As you can see, it was busting at the seams with excitement!

Court and I both agreed that we experienced some culture shock. I'd say maybe it was more of culture jolt. Like, the out-of-controlness, so many people, loudness, honking bumper-to-bumper traffic, and the smell, was all enough to give us a good jolt! A few minutes later, we took a deep breath (of their serious pollution!) and then navigated the streets in tuk-tuks like pros! We were really hungry when we first got to our hotel, and lo and behold, if there wasn't a familiar face on the side of the hotel lobby wall! It was THE COLONEL! Kentucky Fried Chicken was connected to the lobby of our hotel! So, in a moment of desperation, we went and ate a KFC "snack plate"--2 chicken legs, mashed taters, and slaw. We were surprised to find that they wanted US Dollars! Everything on the menu was in USD. We came to find out, nobody wanted Cambodian Riel, they wanted US Dollars!

Anyways...once we got rollin', the first order of business was to take care of my visa. Check! That was done. Then, we rode a local bus for about 7 hours to Siem Reap to see the famous Angkor Wat! This was the weirdest ride ever! On the way there, we HIT A COW in the middle of the road. I wouldn't have believed it, but I saw the cow go flying to the side of the bus with my own eyes. The young, embarassed, and uncertain driver wasn't sure what to do but argue with the passengers on the front row about it. He finally pulled over. About 10 men get off the bus and they all walk to the front of the vehicle. They all cross their arms, stand in silence, and look at the "leftovers" on the front of the bus, shake their heads, and got back on the bus. Then, the driver went on like nothing ever happened. He was more cautious for the rest of the trip! For that I was grateful!

We finally reached Siem Reap and go see Angkor Wat(Google it!)! It was amazing! Very old and historical and dusty and well....important! I'm glad I had the opportunity to go see it! Siem Reap was a chill town with coffee shops, a market, and great places to eat and hang out! Shout outs to The Ivy for dinner (best Khmer curry!), Dragon Soup for another dinner (We were ready for pizza!), and the Blue Pumpkin ice cream shop! We had a great time!

Check out the photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/wrshelton/CambodiaCraziness