The Backpacker Way

Sawadee Kah,
   That's Thai for hello. I'm in Bangkok! My 3rd day here after some time spent in Cambodia which I'll first and foremost fill you darlings in on. Well after a night train from hell ride, the sequel, this one featuring the chainsaw like wailing snores of the petite little Vietnamese man on the bunk next to me (I was torn between laughing at the sheer absurdity of it or crying because it was 4 am) we arrived in Ho Chi Mihn and hopped onto a six hour bus ride to Phnom Phen where we stayed the night. THEN we got on another bus ride to Siam Reap (6 hours), thankfully our desired destination. We ended up saving a lot of cash monies traveling this way. Was it worth it? Yeah....I don't know still. I think I loved Cambodia the second we arrived. How Angelina Jolie of me right? I don't know exactly how to share it via text but I can only emphatically recommend everyone to go and see the county for themselves. They are obviously a developing country and a lot of the people are extremely poor. They have also quite recently gone through a horrible civil war during the 70's and 80's during which millions were brutally killed and families were torn apart. I read a memoir called Lucky Child by Luong Ung before we got there just to gain a bit of knowledge on Cambodia's past. The people are incredibly welcoming and warm and the landscape is breathtaking. We took two days to tour several of Cambodia's temples including Angkor Wat (one of the seven wonders of the world), Bantey Srei, Prasat Bayon, and Angor Thom. Our tour guide was somewhat of a photograph savant and constantly directed us to point our cameras towards this temple and that "where the light is hitting the stones just right. A Kodak spot. Hurry and take one while there's no people". I have more than enough shots thanks to our buddy.
    The Psar Chaa area of Siam Reap is a triangular area in the center of town that has hundreds of restaurants, bars, massage parlors, souvenir shops, basically a tourist mecca. We spent a lot of our nights here and ate some incredible meals. We ate a Cambodian barbecue, quite similar to the one we had in Laos where you cook the meat and soup on a grill in front of you minus a few highly unusual ingredients. Yep.....we did it. Me and Mel two of the most vegetarian friendly, raw food eating, albeit un-picky eaters. We grilled ourselves up some snake, alligator and frog legs for dinner (they came to us raw and uncooked). No big deal. The snake had to be my least favorite, very muscular, and uh.....chewy.
   We also treated ourselves to a couple massages after our arduous tour days, they were 4$ an hour, can you blame us? One of the funnest nights we've had so far was on Pub Street at the infamous Angkor What? one of the original backpacker bars on the street. We started of innocently enough ordering a beer and watching the dance floor from  the sidelines. One local, clad in an all white ensemble was really groovin. It was like a magnetic force, I told Mel we HAD TO dance with him. After 15 minutes we'd had enough and it was time to dance. Some PRIME, and I mean FANTASTIC jams came on in the process got adopted into a large group of Australian volunteers, our age who were working in Siam Reap. They were some of the most wonderful people we've met so far and we ripped up the dance floor with them all night long, dancing on the tables, on the floor, breaking into dance circles. We ended up meeting up with them the next night for a reunion and passed around our cameras which captured some amazing absolutely sweaty pictures from that night.
    It was quite sad leaving Cambodia but I know I'll return down the road. Anyone want to join?  Since we've arrived in Bangkok we've eaten at street stalls, seen the reclining Buddha and walked up and down Koh San road, the infamous backpacker alley, more then 5 times. Last night we took the tram down to eat one of the spiciest meals Ive ever had in my life and stopped into the Saxophone Pub and Restaurant to watch some live jazz over a drink. Music never ceases to amaze me! The way it transcends cultures, its really a beautiful thing. The two sets were great. We saw some truly talented musicians doing their thing, in the front row. The second band's guitarist, an older man with a respectable mustache, kept saying I love you, and it wasn't until the second time around me and Mel realized the comment was directed to us. They said some stuff in Thai and the crowd laughed, I can only imagine.
    I really feel like I'm channeling my inner backpacker over here. I bought some Cambodia pants ( the name is quite fitting) and donned them on backpacker alley yesterday. I hope I can get away with these at home, but knowing my friends I'm sure I'll get some grief. Mom, I have this feeling you'll end up stealing them from me..... I read The Beach by Alex Garland, I don't know if I already told you all but it takes place in Thailand starting on Koh San road, where the characters meet and travel to Koh Samui, "The Beach", and Koh Phangan. What a trip actually traveling to these places after experiencing them through the novel. Definitely a dark book but a really great plot and message, the newest on the reading list for those Christina's book clubbers. We're leaving to the southern peninsula tomorrow morning and staying on Koh Phangan for the first 3 days just in time to catch the full moon party. I'm really looking forward to writing about that one, just as much as I'm looking forward to the neon body paint. With that said.....adios muchachos.
-King