Day 246: The Kingdom of Cambodia

We had about a 4 hour ride by bus to the Thailand-Cambodia border, which we crossed on foot. The lines to leave Thailand were long and frustrating. They seemed to barely move as other people kept cutting in the line and pushing their way past. Eventually one dedicated officer with a megaphone took charge and locked the door most people were sneaking in through, reorganized the lines, and finally got things going more efficiently so we could get through. Getting our visas and passing into Cambodia was a much smoother and faster process, and soon it was time to get on a new bus to continue on in Cambodia.

Cambodia is an interesting country. Tourism is an important source of revenue for the country, but the vast majority of tourists only visit Siem Reap and/or Phnom Penh. I chose this tour specifically because of how thorough it was at exploring more of the rural areas of Cambodia as well - seeing the farms and small towns and getting a feel for how Cambodians really live. Compared to a lot of other countries Cambodia was also a pretty big mystery to me. I knew a little about Angkor Wat and had a vague understanding of the Khmer Rouge massacres, but things were pretty fuzzy beyond that, and the one way to really get to know a country is to experience as much of it as you can.

Once across the border it was a couple more hours to the city of Battambang, which is the second largest in Cambodia by population, but still rather small by international standards. After a long day of travel none of us were too keen on doing much in the evening beyond going out for a group dinner. Along the way I managed to get some US dollars out of an ATM, since it's really the currency of choice in the country. The exchange rate is 4000 Cambodian Riel = 1 US dollar. Everywhere takes payment in US dollars, or a mix of the currencies, but often you just get back riel. In general, and a bit to my surprise, things are quite a bit more expensive in Cambodia than in India/Nepal. I'm guessing it's mainly that the support infrastructure for tourists here is pretty isolated from what most of the locals use. There is definitely a considerable difference in prices between the big, tourist based cities and the rural towns.