Let the Tour Begin

Seven hours in a minibus is a long time.  Don’t let anyone tell you differently.  It’s also oddly exhausting doing nothing but sitting and taking in the frequently ridiculous sights.  Our tour through Exotissimo has shown us some fun things, but the best part may have been the people watching through the windows of the minibus.  We saw scooters holding whole families, scooters delivering livestock, scooters transporting produce and products and scooters pulling snack carts.  Around Southeast Asia, scooters are the cheapest, easiest and quickest means of transportation, so they are everywhere. 

Our view in the minibus

People and transportation observations aside, there were some great sights too.  Because of the long day in the bus, we stopped frequently.  Our first roadside-attraction was to a lotus pond.  Nyp, our guide (pronounced Neep), showed us each of the stages of the plant’s life and explained the symbolism in Buddhist teachings.  We are born in the mud, life our lives in the water and flower in the air of heaven.  He also taught us how to eat the seeds from inside the round head of the plant.  The nuts aren’t a bad little snack, but we agreed they would taste better after roasting.  Nyp paid the pond’s farmer for our treats, and off we went again. 

After another stretch of road, we stopped at a town nicknamed “Spider Town.”  The settlement is a tourist attraction featuring, you guessed it, spiders.  You can purchase the insects as a snack or the town’s children will place them on your clothes for the chance to have your picture taken. 

Our group agreed this wasn’t our favorite attraction even in the 10 minutes we spent there.  Dirty, squat toilets aside, the children were very friendly and knew some English, but their sole purpose in interaction with tourists is to sell fruits or spiders.  Although adorable, they were on the verge of aggressive with their sales pitches.  Without asking, two tarantulas were put on my arm and shirt.  I didn’t love the experience, but according to Barb, if they had tried it with her, everyone would have heard her screams back home.  Maybe sneak-tarantula attacks aren’t the best approach to winning over every tourist. 

On a much more pleasant stop, we visited a twelfth century temple, Wat Nokor.  Nyp explained that it contained both Hindu and Buddhist elements because the Khmer empire collectively switched religions at one point in its history at the preference of a new king.  A small handful of old wise men make their home at the temple and offer their services to visitors.  We were each given a small, braided yarn bracelet in red or pink (holy colors by Buddhist standards) for good luck.  The Buddhist paintings inside the temple were colorful and lovely, but the real attractions to me were the carvings outside.  Made out of volcano rock, the structure definitely doesn't show its age after this many centuries. 

After the temple, we stopped in Kampong Cham for lunch.  The restaurant Nyp picked overlooked the Mekong and served a delicious lunch of morning glory (a vegetable grown in water) and eggplant.  We also had our first taste of iced Cambodian coffee with sweetened condensed milk.  It’s not a beverage for drinkers of black or decaf coffee, but we’re in love!  We’ve been ordering it every chance we get. 

Following our leisurely lunch, we were back on the road, and what a road it was.  The final two hours of our drive contained possibly the worst streets any of us have ever been on.  Our driver would switch from driving 80 kilometers an hour to crawling through stretches of pothole-filled dirt roads.  While staying on the same street, we would go between stretches of perfectly paved, striped asphalt and clay with random foot-wide gaps.  He did a great job of missing most of the problems, but it was impossible to miss them all.  It was a long, bumpy ride. 

Finally, we arrive in Stung Treng, which would serve as our base for two nights.  Nyp didn’t sound too convincing when recommending two nearby restaurants, so we decided on a dinner of various snacks found in our bags and fresh fruit picked up along the way served in Barb and Holly’s room.  Overall, it was a pleasant but very long day, so bedtime came around 8.  We all slept well.