Langkawi was our last stop in Malaysia. We had a decision to make–how many more places do we want to visit? We had a finite amount of days and a long list of places we still wanted to see. After some deliberation, we whittled down our choices to some combination of Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand. All three would be impossible, we knew. But maybe we could see two of the three? We brought out both laptops and did some digging on Kayak. Our best course of action, it turned out, was to just spend the entire time in Cambodia. Flight schedules just weren’t quite conducive to anything else.

We flew directly to Siem Reap, aka base camp for the Angkor Temples. A sleepy village only a few decades ago, it’s now a full blown tourist scene for everyone who wishes to see Angkor. Brian told us that the backpacker crowd in this area would be vastly different from the crowd we saw in Central Asia and the Middle East. And, for once, he was right.

The median age has probably decreased at least fifteen years. In Malaysia, we were almost always the oldest people in hostels. in Siem Reap, we most definitely are the oldest people in our hostel. There’s a “parents are away, let loose and party vibe” among the other backpackers. Equally strong is the hippie/alternative/faux native vibe. The two combine for a somewhat noxious mix of noise, privilege, and obliviousness. Women wear the ubiquitous elephant print pajama pants while men rock MC hammer pants (no local wears anything even resembling the two ensembles). They sit down at restaurants and ask what’s vegan friendly.

But we’re here for Angkor. And we’ll put up with anything to see Angkor.

Pub Street

Cindy having a drink