Tori and I made our way over the border from Thailand into Cambodia, where we paid far more than a person should for the 2 hour taxi ride out to Anlong Veng.  Anlong Veng is the capital of Preah Vihear province, though in this case capital is a bit of an optimistic term for a town that amounts to little more than a roundabout and three roads branching off from it.  Compared however with every other location we passed through in the area, it was happening.  I suppose it’s all relative.

The town itself was quite charming in its backwater way, free from all other tourists entirely.  For every interaction, we were dependent on pointing and mimicry with the single exception of our moto driver, the inimitable Salnorn.  He latched onto us from the start, and as the only fellow in town who seems to speak English worth a damn, we stuck with him.  After settling in, we began to sight see, leading off with a visit to the homes and cremation sites of some of the leaders of the Khmer Rouge, most bizarrely including the cremation site of Pol Pot.

His site is tucked off the road behind a stretch of wooden shacks up near the Thai border, a small space under a tin roof.  Our arrival was met with 3 prostitutes hanging out there, burning cigarettes and toasting beer in his honor.  One to a shine to Tori and her white skin, petting her arm and smiling.  I’m glad it wasn’t me.  Even Sal and the other driver felt this strange.  The following day we went out to Prasat Preah Vihear, some 2 hours down the roads of dust and gravel.  There was some minor excitement early on in the journey with Sal and Tori’s moto skidding out on some loose gravel.  Tori got some gnarly road rash on her left hand, a badge of honor and a tribute paid to the Khmer gods of yore.  Or at least that is how I put it.

The Prasat is atop a cliff on Dangrek mountain, a stunning setting and free from other tourists.  The scale is decidely mid-sized for the Khmer ruins, but it was quite worthwhile to see.  It features some dramatic views and good quality of carvings and other architectural elements.  Here nobody followed us around trying to sell things, another nice break.  That evening Sal helped us arrange onward tickets by bus to Siem Reap and then we met his family and saw his house, a typical countryside home, and looked at the crops. I recommend him to anyone visiting Anlong Veng!

 It is only 2 hours on the highway to Siem Reap, but a world away from the rustic nature of Anlong Veng.  In Siem Reap one feels, as Tori put it, as though you are in Disneyland.  Indeed it was hard to argue with the array of food, services, and sites all around, as well as the less-welcome proliferation of other tourists.  But it may well be unfair of me to decry a situation that I myself am part of.  Tori reminds me again and again that I am not actually Asian or Chinese.  We’ll see about that.  We laid out two days of activities for Siem Reap, and at 5 am our tuk-tuk driver met us to take us to sunrise at Angkor Wat.

From there, once we roused him from his nap (this was a similar situation at every place we stopped…) we went north to Banteay Srei, a small but incredibly ornate and nicely preserved temple north of the main cluster.  Here, much of the original carvings and sculpture remained intact and you get a real sense of the artistry behind the thousand year old empire that created it.  We saw the temples of the Rolous group as well, a grouping of pre-Angkorian temples that are supposedly less impressive.  I was not disappointed though, and for all the tourists I’ve heard complain of ‘temple fatigue’, I don’t think Tori or I reached it.

The next day was my personal favorite.  We went 70km northeast of Siem Reap to Beng Mealea.  This is an isolated temple set far into the jungle, and our early morning moto drivers got us there quickly, allowing us time to explore relatively unaccosted.  Here nature has fought back against the ancient builders, seeking to reclaim the land and leaving the site a wonderful juxtaposition of the two elements.  A tourist, for now, has the freedom to clamber over the site as though it were a playground, and it was a wonderful experience to do so, particularly at this relatively large site.

With the following dawn we relocated, setting out south a few hours for Battambang, a supposedly charming riverside town.  The charm was lost on me, though it was serviceable and affordable as a place to stay.  We traveled south with moto drivers again, where I inhaled copious amounts of dust on the road before we arrived at a hilltop temple with wide views of the nearby area.  Hidden in the mountain are a series of caves where the Khmer Rouge sent people to their deaths and it is a grisly reminder of the dark recent history, particularly to see the bones preserved in the shrines.  Farther south was yet another Khmer temple, this on a hill as well, and we did the climb before turning back to Battambang and retiring for the night.  The next day was a marathon of buses and patience before arriving and settling into Bangkok.