(this one was written in Tokyo but not posted until now due to my delayed photo-uploading)
Following the Halong Bay trip, we stayed one more night in the Hanoi Backpacker's Hostel and its ambience of British gap-year travelers but excellent air-conditioning. Our bus back from Halong Bay took a bit longer than expected because the Vietnam police stopped the bus for speeding on its way to pick us up, then made it stop and wait for about 1/2hr during our ride back (to discourage future speeding?). We then took a bus to Siem Reap, Cambodia.
The bus trip and border crossing was interesting-- there were many rickety push-carts loaded with goods being pulled by hand across the border. There were also poorer-looking beggars and skinnier cows than anywhere else so far. On the Cambodian side of the border there were a bunch of casinos catering to Thai tourists. The visa required a 100baht ($3) fee in addition to the posted $20 price. We avoided a scam for assistance filling out the required paperwork-- at a stop at a restaurant/snack place, they tried to sell us the forms that were available free at the border. Guidebooks are handy for recognizing those. It's also common practice for buses to stop for restrooms/snacks at restaurants or stores at intervals on the drive. I suspect some stores pay the bus drivers a commission. The restrooms are generally adequate (sometimes barely...sqatter-style + bidet is common), and the food isn't much more expensive at these places than elsewhere. Food and some prepackaged goods were fairly cheap, as in Thailand.
Traffic was slightly more erratic than in Thailand-- it's common to have intersections where no one stops and the motorcycles sort of flow around each other, like if everyone decided to treat an ordinary traffic-light-equipped intersection as a roundabout or traffic circle. Traffic lights often have a countdown timer visible, as in Bangkok, I guess to help encourage people to wait. Remarkably, I don't recall seeing any traffic accidents, while in the US I would have driven past several on a trip of this length. Maybe accidents are cleared more quickly since motorcycles are smaller and there's no insurance to require a police report.
Bargaining is also common practice-- at roadside stands selling things like banana chips (really tasty-- more thinly-sliced and sweetened than US banana chips), the vendor will often name an initial price of at least twice what they're willing to accept. I don't want to get ripped off, but I also feel bad asking for a lower price from someone who probably earns 1/20th of what I make (according to Wikipedia, Cambodia per-capita GDP is about $2,000).
The combination of low income and relatively dry weather leads to what I imagine some parts of Africa look like-- green but somewhat dusty, open-front stores full of goods, lots of motorcycles (with narrower tires and smaller engines than most American motorcycles), only a few cars (but there were a few Lexuses with extra-large labeling-- I guess if you can afford the status symbol, you want everyone to know how much of a status symbol it is. however, i did see what looked like a Toyota 4runner SUV re-branded with big Lexus logos), and people working. Food and some prepackaged goods were fairly cheap, as in Thailand. The apparent lack of insurance and licensing requirements gives things an edgier but more efficient feel. I talked to a British guy who claimed to own a massage parlor with his Cambodian girlfriend-- apparently there were no licensing requirements other than a reasonable monthly bribe to the police. In Cambodia and Thailand I have seen many fish massage places-- you put your feet into this tank full of little fish, which swarm about your feet and eat the dead skin. This kind of massage was banned in the US due to health concerns, and I avoided it for this reason. But, a lot of people seem to like it, and I haven't heard any horror stories about it, so maybe it's ok.
After checking into our hostel, we hired a tuk-tuk to take us to Angkor Wat to see the sunset. The Angkor ruins include a bunch of temples/palaces-- over 50-- scattered across a large area.
The temples are incredible-- massive flights of steep steps, hallways decorated with bas-relief carvings of gods and dancers, and carved lions and snakes standing guard or as railings. Back when it was a palace, it must have been mind-bogglingly vast and luxurious.
One scene that occurs in several carvings and statues, as well as in a display at the Bangkok airport, is the churning of sea of milk from Hindu mythology.
It was hot and humid. Fortunately there was some shade amongst the temples, and we weren't there in the afternoon. We saw the sunset the first day, then went back the next morning and again in the evening.
Some monkeys stole Kipp's water bottle when he set it down to take a picture.
The weather was mostly sunny, but it did rain a bit one afternoon.
There was some (original?) coloring left on some interior beams and ceilings.
Most of the temples had been cleared of vines and the surrounding grass was kept mowed with well-maintained paths, but some plants were left on some temples.
We spent only about 1&1/2 days at the Angkor temples, and only 3 days in Cambodia, then continued on to Japan.
