Out for dinner in the main bar street area of Siem Reap, Cambodia. My new server/bartender local friends.

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@wanderingpeppers
Out for dinner in the main bar street area of Siem Reap, Cambodia. My new server/bartender local friends.
Out for a stroll with our new Holland friends- in the infamous tuk tuks... Yes I stole the drivers helmet.
Cambodia arrival, stop #1 Siem Reap
So we arrived at the Siem Reap airport and during our flight met this Dutch couple who were just lovely. They had travelled all over the world together and were really nice and funny. Sander and I had a tuk tuk waiting for us from our guesthouse at the arrivals side of the airport, and Irene and her boyfriend had not yet chosen a place. They tagged along in our tuk tuk to check out our guesthouse we pre booked to see if they wanted to stay there too. It was sooo hot and dusty in Cambodia and I could feel my asthma coming back from my childhood almost immediately, but my god- what a beautiful country. It was such a mix between nice classy hotels and architecture and very poor areas and conditions. You could really tell they made all their money on tourists coming here, it's just sad you never saw the community being the receivers of this influx of money. We get dropped off at our guesthouse and check in. Nice place, big outdoor "lobby" and lots of neat little shops and cafés and shack stores all around. We got a place that was right near the night market and downtown bar streets that apparently were filled with restaurants, bars, clothing stores and little pop up shops. We settled into our BOILING room and blasted the air con hoping for relief. We waited, and waited and waited... Not getting cooler. We decided to leave it on cool and head out for a quick bite to eat. We went to what would for the next four days be our local breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner spot called My Cafe just down the street. It was delish food and about 1-3$ per meal. As we got back into our room it felt like the temperature got if anything- hotter- than before we left. We were on the top floor in a double room and were on the side of the building where the sun shines all day. So clearly it was a case of room positioning rather than broken air con. We changed rooms and immediately felt the effects of the air con. We were back to being only 50% covered in sweat. That's a good amount. Usually you are anywhere from 70-110% covered and dripping in sweat in south east Asia. So we relaxed and chilled in the room for a bit to cool down and later that evening walked around the city to get our bearings. We decided to meet up with Irene and her boyfriend for dinner and drinks downtown on the main bar street. It was such a change from the area where we were staying and pretty much based for tourists. But it was awesome. Bright lights, loud music playing everywhere, carts and trolleys all over the place selling trinkets and snacks and jewelry. And then we learned about the tuk tuks... These guys were insane. They were no ordinary tuk tuk drivers. They were on a mission and their sole goal was getting you into their tuk tuk and taking you somewhere, anywhere- as long as you went for a ride. It got so annoying by day four I was just walking and saying "No thank you, no thank you, no thank you" over and over again to the air but that wouldn't stop them. They would have about 40 in a row and every single one would ask you to go for a ride, even if they heard you say no thank you to the previous 15, because apparently by tuk tuk number 10,000 you would decide that in fact- you do need one! It was draining. The other fact about Siem Reap that I was previously aware of and so was able to warn my fellow travellers about- were the children scammers. They were all over the night market and bar street area, and they were RUTHLESS. So many times I lost count they called me a witch, bitch, cunt... Told me to fuck off, punched my arm, grabbed my arms, etc, etc, etc. Their Schtick was to ask you very solemnly with the saddest eyes ever for a bag of milk, or some baby formula for their little sister. They would say how poor they are, that their family needs this bag of milk to survive. It was smart, I'll give that to them. Here they are, not asking for money or- well money. How could this be bad? Why not just walk into the store with them and buy them a bag of milk? How could this be harmless or wrong? Well, I can answer that for you. These children are forced to go and work the street and ask everyone for this "milk". Once a tourist does buy this milk, the kids wait for them to leave and then go and return the milk to the store and get the money back for it- the store is in on it too. Then they walk the money over to the "pimp" who is standing on the street and hand all the money over to them. So this useless guy is forcing these kids to work, and doesn't give them anything in return. The kids get super mean and follow you down the street grabbing your arm, (probably trying to get their hands in your purse- another thing they do incessantly) for what seems like eternity. I was so annoyed by these kids after the first hour I honestly wanted to bend them over my knee and spank each and every one of them, but C'est la vie. This is what happens, and there is nothing you can do about it. Other than the crazy kids and the relentless tuk tuks- Siem Reap is pretty cool. The bar street was super fun and we walked back home after a big meal and crashed pretty hard. It was a long 24 hour journey to get here, what with all the hookers and rip offs and stress- a nice sleep was exactly what we needed. The next day we decided to hit up the war museum, and the following day Angkor Wat and all it's surrounding Temples. Until the next adventure, Stefanie #hendodoesasia out
Our alarm to get up and outta the sex trade operation we were in the middle of... the plane ride on Lao Air to Siem Reap, Cambodia.... (Lao Air highly recommended!)
Our delicious meal roadside just off the street from the brothel. So.Damn.Good.
Bus ride to Vientiane, Laos
So I stayed at a Whorehouse in Vientiane.
It didn't happen on purpose, and it sure didn't look like a whorehouse, but within an hour or so all the pieces started to come together and the puzzle was solved. Basically it started like this... Sander made a reservation at this hostel for the night that was close the airport, and a little off track from the main city centre of Vientiane. We were getting up at 430 and heading to the airport to catch a 6am flight to Siem Riep. Great idea- why waste money on a tuk tuk downtown and a more expensive guesthouse when were only there for a few hours sleep?! So he booked the room (not on my trusted hostelworld account with up to date user reviews; but some other place where he said he never read the reviews as there is no point-- I know hold my ground as to why there IS a point- but then again I would not have gotten this amazing story) and we get ready to leave Vang Vieng. We head out on the "VIP Bus" which is a 40 yr old bus with barely working AC vents and a terrible shock system and seems to only go 35-40 clicks an hour. It's fun and I enjoy the scenic route so I don't mind. The route from Vang Vieng to Vientiane is not nearly as hilly and awe inspiring than the route from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng- which was completely breathtaking every second and blew my mind. But I digress, the ride was easy enough- about 5 hours. Then the real fun happens, and we get dropped off at this shady "bus terminal". No one knows where we are, if we are even in Vientiane and the drivers speaks the worst English. Some people are heading to Hanoi, some to Bangkok, some to Pakse, and us just having a pit stop in Vientiane. We look at the GPS on Sanders phone and realize we are just outside the city centre, and I also notice a plane landing in the very near distance so we must be super close. When talking to the tuk tuk drivers we ask about the distance to the hostel, first they look at the address like they have no clue where it is asking each other... Which I don't buy for a second. Then they are all saying the name of the "hostel" to each other and laughing. This should have been my first hint as to where we were heading. Screw it, we saw a plane- we must be near the airport! We must be super close to our hostel! This will be super cheap! NO. It won't. Unless you are willing to argue, haggle, walk away, go back, leave the area, act like a mother scolding a bad child and basically have a meltdown inside your heart. All for a dollar. But it is the principle and I am BIG ON PRINCIPLE. Scam me once, shame on me- but scam me twice? NEVER! So here we are asking how much to get to our hostel, (which btw we didn't have a map-- mental note for next time-- but we're going by memory of a map we saw online the day before- which was a foggy memory at best) and they start at 60,000 kip which in CAD is 7.50$ Absolutely not! We do our thing. They do their thing. Now it's 40,000$ kip... Still not gonna happen. So we say fuck it- we saw the plane landing, we MUST be close. The walk begins... We get just off the street from the terminal and ask another tuk tuk guy, and this time we get it down to 5,000 kip each, $1.25. That's more like it! So we head to the hostel/brothel and once we get to the place, it looks nice enough, but slightly out of the way and on some side road in another little "village" away from the city. There is about 5 locals running the reception, which is just a desk outside in the parking lot. No one speaks English, no one knows about our reservation. That doesn't really matter though cause we never pre paid. So we just ask for a room, and they try to charge us more than we know we're supposed to pay- so once again were haggling with him, showing him the email with the correct price and finalize a deal. He takes us to the room. It's fine enough- bathroom, bed, table, shower, fan. We're only here for 10 hours or so. We drop off our bags and decide to eat. We are tired, hungry, slightly cranky and people have been trying to rip us off every three mins for the last 2 days. It's really hard in Laos, as there are great people with the best smiles in the world and such kind hearts, and then there are people who just see a rich tourist who they must try to make money off. Its super frustrating and even though it's only about .50- 2$ each time- like I previously stated- it's the principle. That's one or two meals for me, and if I was so rich- I wouldn't be staying in the places I am. I worked hard to get to this side of the planet, and while yes, maybe I have it easier- no one in Laos ever seems to be working. Just sitting at tables all day waiting to rip someone off. It's the people with the smiles and the kind hearts and the hardworking cooks who toil and sweat all day that deserve my tips and my money, and they certainly can change my aggravated attitude around quickly and remind me that there are always good and bad out there everywhere you go. So deciding that heading out for food will change our attitudes, we stumble upon this side stall restaurant BBQ-ing pork tenderloin. It smells amazing. We ask how much it is, joking about the ridiculous price they will probably charge us. To our surprise (this is why I love people in the food industry) they say 15,000kip which is a mere 2$ for dinner. YAY! Honesty! Politeness! A smile! We don't think twice before sitting down and we order fried beef and sticky rice and pork veg noodle soup. The soup was massive and outstanding and so was the beef. We grabbed a big bottle of Beer Lao and enjoyed for the first time in a day or so, tranquil eating and happy people. They had English CDs playing Jonny Cash and Black Sabbath. We were the only farangs there, and I'm pretty sure in the whole town. The place was clearly loved by everyone as people kept pulling their cars over and jumping out to grab some bags full of meat, veggies and rice. The lady cooking was awesome, so quick and fast at her job. She would cut up the veg and spices and herbs so fast and throw them in the biggest mortar and pestle I have ever seen, mashing them up one handed while working the rice with the other. Once we chilled out there for a bit we decided to walk back to the hostel and sort out accommodation for Siem Reap. We get back and the wifi is not working in the rooms, I notice there is a balcony with fans overlooking the "lobby/reception/parking lot" and we sit there. This is where it starts to get weird. Within 5 mins a Laotian woman comes up to us both and sits in between us. She can barely speak English, yet asks if Sander is my boyfriend or just friend... I don't respond. Then she asks Sander what his job his. He replies he doesn't have a job. Then she is talking in Lao to us, I'm staring blankly at her laughing trying to understand, and Sander just decides to reply to everything in Dutch, since she is only speaking Lao. She gets up and leaves, and from what I could gather was that she was looking for Sander to support her. This was my second hint something was going on. We laugh it off and keep on searching for hostels. Then below I notice a couple of the young guys who are all still just hanging out at the desk get on motorbikes and drive away, returning minutes later with young girls on the backs of the bikes. They looked about 14-15 and either high on drugs or drunk. The girls are just standing there kind of swaying and the guys go back to the desk. Then one guy takes one girl upstairs, past the upstairs balcony we're on and into a room. Third hint. Then the swaying girl left downstairs follows one guy into a room on the bottom level. Now I'm interested. They could be young and just hanging out, they could be doing drugs, I don't yet jump to the whore house conclusion but it is most definitely a possibility on my mind. I tell Sander my thoughts and he is a bit wary at first. He hasn't been watching like me the craziness of what's happening downstairs and he couldn't understand the Lao lady who came out to see us or the tuk tuk drivers and their sneaky laughing about the hostel. But I could. And I knew something was weird. I wait and watch some more and before you know it, two more girls on the backs of bikes arrive and then two more 5 minutes after that. All going to separate rooms all around our balcony. Then men show up who are not the guys at the desk, and money exchanges are happening. They take a couple swaying foggy minded girls to more rooms. When the girls from earlier emerge from the rooms, they get back on the bikes and get driven away. This happens more times than I can count and I cannot believe that we somehow are in the middle of a sex trade operation! It's things like this that happen and you can't help but just laugh at the crazy shit that goes on in other parts of the world that you so easily can be involved in without even realizing it. We escaped the hotel at 4am and attempted to walk to the airport. We lasted about ten minutes before haggling with tuk tuks for 10 minutes over a matter of a dollar and got the FUCK out there. Let me just say, although unreal and totally ridiculous while happening- I couldn't have asked to be blessed with a better story and whenever I tell people this from now on, I have a feeling that their reply will be something along the lines of "Only you, Stefanie... Only you." Which seems to be a reoccurring theme in my life- but you know what? I wouldn't trade these crazy stories and amazing tales I have to share for anything else. If I was put here for a reason, it was to tell overly detailed, gregariously told, fully true but maybe just slightly exaggerated stories to the world. Anything worth hearing isn't always the truth. That's up to you to decide. Until the next tale, Stefanie #hendodoesasia out.
Leaving Van Vieng on the bus to Vientiane, Laos.
So we booked our tickets from Van Vieng to Vientiane, Laos and made our way to the bus stop. Once again the bus ride was super uncomfortable, super bumpy, and unreliable. But it was fun, we had our headphones and we had the scenery... Sander booked the room the night before and i never saw where we were staying. He just booked something cheap and near the airport, as we would only be there for a few hours leaving for Siem Reap on a plane at 430AM.... this is where the story gets good. it was sad to say goodbye to Van Vieng, but it was nice to know we were getting back to some cultural things and gonna take it easy for a bit. Bring on Angkor Wat!
Oh how could I forget to mention that EVERY bar and restaurant in Van Vieng played Friends on loop, ON LOOP... All the time. Everyday.
WE FOUND THE BLUE LAGOON!!!
Beauty Mekong River in Van Vieng, Laos-- en route to Blue Lagoon...
Bike ride through the mountains to find the elusive Blue Lagoon in Laos
Welcome to Van Vieng, Laos-- a much needed Beerlao
The little bungalow we stayed in for our Van Vieng journey. It was so nice and totally in its own little oasis away from the craziness of the high street. And it was about 12$ a night. Thats 6$/each... so insane.
Van Vieng, Laos.
What can I say about Van Vieng. It's a crazy tourist town meant for drinking and partying and tubing down the Mekong river while stopping at bars and playing drinking games. The "mornings after" consisted of sleeping most the day for the majority of the city cause they're all hung the hell over. The rest of us decide to discover the Blue Lagoon, about ten miles or so out of the city limits. Because it's Sander, he was not hungover and because it's me- I was dealing with a slight headache... Adding to this his Dutch heritage and their love of cycling, he decided we were going to rent bicycles and ride to said lagoon which was known for the insanely treacherous journey on the off road, ridiculous dirt rock and hill filled undrive-able trail. Sure! Why not!! I finished my Advil in Perhentians and was looking for some serious workout after a night of drinking and hanging out with a dog named Roger for three hours on our front porch (don't ask). So there we were, driving off the beaten path, watching fellow travellers break their spines taking the same route on a tuk tuk....but at least they just got to sit, whether or not it was comfortable doesn't concern me. Let's just hope this waterfall/lagoon is gonna be worth it. We went through rice paddy fields, tons of herds of bulls, kids playing and running to the street upon seeing us screaming "Hellooooo!!!!!" while racing beside our bikes giving us high fives and women selling hand woven silk and scarves on the road. We kept on keeping on and eventually after a few snags, we made it to the lagoon. I was legit down about 15 lbs from starting the bike ride based purely on the calorie burning sweat filled hellish sun in the middle of nowhere beating down on my face, chest, ass and back. This lagoon was known to be crystal clear, turquoise and apparently even just a foot or two from the edge where you climb in, super deep. So deep in fact that you could jump in from a tree with 2 different level swings and jumps for the fearless. It was so cold as well (which was such a rarity for the waters in South East Asia). It was the most rewarding plunge ever after that insane ride. I was so proud of doing the bike ride and not pussying out like everyone else and taking the tuk tuk there. Sitting on a giant wooden swing that sunk in the water about a foot under the surface and chilled there regaining strength for about 2 hours. I was starting to feel better. Then I remembered we needed to bike home. UGHHHHHH.... Thank the Lord it started spitting and dropped down in temperature about 5 degrees, making it slightly cooler and a much easier ride getting home. I am actually super glad we decided to bike and felt good to get some exercise after not having done much in the way of physical activity since the jungle trek in Chiang Mai. The tubing the previous day was awesome and everything I had hoped it would be from the stories I had heard, and nothing like the bike ride to the Blue Lagoon. The tubing had gone under a bit of a renovation over the last few years, with a short term of it being shut down completely. There had a been a while where too many people were dying as the tubing consisted of about a zillion bars down a path of the river and rope swings and jumping points into very shallow water, where people were breaking their necks while they were wasted. It got so bad with deaths and serious life altering injuries that they shut it down. The craziest part is that Van Vieng has no health or safety standards and no hospitals, so if you get even remotely injured where a pharmacist can't help you- you must take a plane to Bangkok. They have since re opened it and now it only consists of 4 bars along the river route and no swings or jumping points. Just tubing, stopping along the river bank (the locals have btls of water filled with sand tied to a long rope they toss at you and pull you in to bring you to the waters edge) drinking beer and getting bracelets for each free shot you take, playing volleyball and ping pong etc. and then you repeat, and repeat and repeat until your done tubing down the river and have stopped at all 4 bars. It was so much fun, we made a lot of friends along the way and I had an absolutely memorable blast. We made it back in time to get our deposit back which I think we were the only ones who actually did, as everyone was pretty wasted by 5pm- and you had to be back by 6pm with the tube to receive your money refund. Being the ever frugal cheapskate looking to save a buck anywhere I can, Sander and I left in our own tuk tuk to head back the few miles to the Main Street, and headed out for a well needed carb filled western meal, meeting up with the rest of the non deposit getting backpackers later that evening. Until next time. Stefanie #hendodoesasia
Best bathroom view ever... more scenery on the drive from L.P to Van Vieng
The scenery during the drive from L.P to Van Vieng, and then the horrible bear paw discovery upon the rest stop.