2 Go Cambodia Photos

Our journey to Siem Reap, Cambodia from Bangkok, Thailand was nothing if not eventful and arduous. The journey began at 4:45am, following an all-nighter during which we uploaded our site and wrestled with various technical difficulties. We had hoped to finish the upload by 1:00am or so, allowing several hours sleep before catching a 6:30am bus to the border. However, given the difficulties we encountered which had us working online until 4:30 am, we decided that staying up and catching the 5:30am bus would make the most sense.

So off we went to the bus terminal (1 of 3 principal terminals in Bangkok) from which we thought our bus would leave. But when we arrived, we found that there were no direct buses, but only local buses that would require many changes. We were confident that a direct bus to the border was available, but we were not sure from which station it left as we had received some faulty information from our hotel. Further, trying to get to the next most likely station would take much time, perhaps causing us to miss the bus. Unsure what to do, and amazingly fatigued from a complete lack of sleep, we reluctantly followed the "bird in the hand" principle, and boarded the local bus instead of trying to travel to another station across town in hopes of finding a direct and more comfortable bus that may or may not exist.

Once on board, we were having buyer's remorse, concerned that we were in for a hellish local bus ride of 6 or more hours to the border. After departing the station, the bus soon stopped to pick up more passengers. At that point we made the snap judgment to get off the bus, find a taxi to the other station, and take our chances on finding the direct bus. Luckily, after a 30 minute cab ride we found the right station and the right bus, upon which we traveled to Aranya Prathet, on the Thailand side of the border with Cambodia.

Upon arriving in Aranya Prathet, it was a short tuk-tuk ride to the border, which we walked across and secured a Cambodian visa. The blue gate marks the entrance to Cambodia. The border was a chaotic, dusty, and hot jumble of people and commerce.

Once across the border, the task of trying to find transport by pick-up truck to Siem Reap, some 8 hours away upon the most horrible roads you can imagine, began. We finally opted to go with a driver that would be traveling to Siem Reap directly, and that was waiting for a group of tourists that had pre-arranged his services. With roughly 2 hours to kill before the others were to arrive, Kelly quickly made friends with several children who gathered around her in Pied- Piper fashion. With their attention, she taught the group to count to 3 in English, while they taught her to count to 3 in Khmer, the native language of Cambodia.

2 young boys, in particular, were Kelly's favorites for their outgoing and friendly personalities. One of the boys (who appears to the left in this photo) had a diseased right eye, but it did not affect his happy disposition in the slightest. The 2 hours spent mingling with the children and the locals alike were an excellent introduction to the amazingly gracious people of Cambodia....the type of rewarding experience that is not soon forgotten.

Imagine the worst road possible. Now multiply that image by 10. What you now have is the best portions of the road from Poipet, Cambodia (on the border with Thailand) to Siem Reap. We had been warned about how bad the road was, and how difficult the traveling would be, but only seeing and experiencing it were sufficient. From the downed bridges, to the skeletal bridges covered with make-shift planks of dubious strength, to the ridiculously deep craters that often had the road looking like the moon, it was a hard 8 hours by pickup truck.

With roughly a dozen passengers in the back, and 5 inside in the front (together with the driver), the small pickup was packed to the gills. Thank God we had negotiated to make the journey inside the cab, as the conditions outside in the back were miserable. Here we take a short break.

Finally, we arrived to Siem Reap, where we would enjoy the magnificent temples of Angkor. For our photos or Angkor, see our Angkor photo pages,

Following our time in Siem Reap and the temples of Angkor, we traveled by boat for 4.5 hours to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, from where we would fly to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), Vietnam. Here is a photo of the dock area along the banks of Lake Tonle Sap.

In Phnom Penh, we had one of the most emotional experiences of our trip as we visited the Tuol Sleng Museum. During the roughly 4 years (1975 to 1979) of rule by the Khmer Rouge, as many as 2 million of Cambodia's roughly 7 million people were killed. During those days, the leader of the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot, attempted to restructure Cambodian society into a peasant and agrarian dominated cooperative. All of the cities were emptied with entire populations moved to the countryside, families separated, an army of armed children created, and intellectuals, teachers and other educated people murdered. As the largest prison, detention and torture center in Cambodia during the murderous "Killing Field" days of the Khmer Rouge, Tuol Sleng claimed thousands of victims, many of whose photos are on display. Below, in English translation, are the Security Regulations which were posted in each cell.

Like the Nazis, the Khmer Rouge were meticulous record keepers, photographing each of their inmates, many of whom were women and young children, as seen below. Note also that the young girl to the left has her arms bound behind her back, which is the typical pose seen in most of the thousands of pictures of the inmates of Tuol Sleng.

One of the cells used exclusively for torture at Tuol Sleng.

On a brighter note, one of the ceremonial buildings on the grounds of the Royal Palace in central Phnom Penh.

Continue on to see photos of Angkor Wat

2 Go Maps / 2 Go Actual Itinerary / 2 Go Photos / 2 Go Home Page

PLEASE E-MAIL US. . . WE WOULD LOVE 2 HEAR FROM YOU!

[email protected]