Our first 24 hours in Cambodia was a whirlwind of traveling. We got off the plane in Phnom Pehn, and immediately went to the taxi counter to see if there were any buses left that day headed toward Angkor. They hurriedly said yes, and started running with us to their taxi. We were driven to the bus depot where we were virtually attacked by a slew of Cambodians offering rides, bread, and other goods. We boarded a public bus shortly thereafter, and being the tallest people in the group, somehow landed tight seats over the wheels. Abby and my legs just barely fit behind the seats in front of us. I felt like Shaq in a Mini.

The first thing that stuck out as unusual to us was a naked baby boy around the age of 2 or 3 sitting with his mother on the bus. Just plain, butt naked. On a crowded bus.

We headed out into the country side shortly after we left the city, and were met by sights of rural Cambodia, I have to say, I was not expecting. It was breath-takingly beautiful, but so unlike anything I had seen before. It’s rainy season here, so everything is covered in water. Everything. There are puddles everywhere, big ponds in front of and underneath people’s homes, and vast bodies of water surrounded by rice patties on either side of the road. Anything that is not under water is bright green.

The houses we passed were all thatched and balanced on stilts high above the water, often surrounded by rickety fences made of sticks and branches. Water buffalo abounded, in the ponds in front of houses, bathing by the sides of the road, wandering through the fields… Many submerged themselves almost fully, their snouts just barely sticking out of the water. Beautiful white cows also dotted the country side. I know ‘cow’ and ‘beautiful’ might seem like a strange combination, but these cows are so well taken care of that there almost seems to be a stallion quality to them. Children could be seen riding the cows, herding them, or jumping off water buffalo into the water. Children were in the water everywhere, playing or fishing. To our surprise, all the boys in the 2-3 year old range, in or out of the water, were completely naked. Just plain, butt naked.

Women could also be seen in the water, wading through to get to their houses, scrubbing pots and pans, or washing their hair with soap, completely drenched in their clothes. Men were often seen fishing or wading out into the fields. No one seemed to make any effort to avoid getting wet.

We passed acres and acres of green rice patties. Everything is flat here, so you can see all the way to the horizon. And all the way to the horizon in some places was nothing but rice patties, with occasional palm trees popping up at random. We also passed quite a few smoky fires burning on the side of the road. Some were made up of trash, while others were just brush.

As it turned dark, we noticed that none of the houses had any sort of electricity or man made light. Candles slowly started to flicker in the windows as we passed.

We arrived in Angkor after dark, and were a bit worried about being dropped off in the middle of nowhere. But when we arrived, there was yet again a pack of Cambodians waiting for us, offering us tuk-tuk rides and hotel accomodations. They were waiting outside of a gate as the bus arrived. When we asked one of the guards inside the gate how we should get to the city, he told us to “wait here.” He went and opened the gate and men poured through and ran at us in a huge wave begging us to take their tuk-tuks. One man was particularly insistent, begging “pleeease! pleeease!” with veins bulging in his neck, an another was knocked in the head by Abby’s framepack as she leaned down to grab her other bag due to his extremely close proximity to her.

We picked a hotel out of the Lonely Planet guide and managed to pull a driver from the lot to take us through town. We ended up at a great guest house with a nice restaurant, a pool table, and a cool hang out area with couches and shell chairs on the deck upstairs. The menu was out of this world, with a few Western options we couldn’t refuse. Unlike Laos food, the Cambodian food isn’t much to write home about. It’s similar to Thai food without the spice, with less taste, and fewer options. I feasted on mashed potatoes and a pumpkin curry soup, tried the Angkor beer, and headed to bed after 13 hours of traveling.