Lady Luck

After a few good days in Thailand, my luck was bound to run out. Today it did. Our wily trio started out the day with a trek to a floating market about 70km outside of Bangkok. The market was interesting - a series of shops on canals that can only be traversed by long boats. It was neat to see, but the boat and taxi were severely overpriced and the market was absolutely clogged with tourists. I'm glad I saw it, but it was honestly a giant tourist trap.

The Floating Market

In the afternoon, the three of us boarded a flight from Bangkok to Siem Reap in Cambodia. Upon landing in Cambodia, I was one of the first in line for Customs - I had gotten a visa in the U.S. and everybody else had to wait in the visa line and then clear Customs. Despite being the first in the Customs line, I was the absolute last to clear Customs. Yes, even Woodson - who was the LAST person off the plane, went back onto the plane to get the wine he forgot, waited in line to purchase a visa and then waited in the Customs line - beat me. Ridiculous.

Fine Merchandise at the Floating Market

After collecting my luggage, the rickshaw from my hotel was waiting at the exit for me. Ahh, something went right! We drove into town, but the rickshaws here are relatively slow. Also, this was my first time in nearly two months riding on the right/American (and, therefore, correct) side of the road. The rickshaws here are essentially mopeds with a carriage harnessed to them. As we got into town, my driver was going straight down a road and then all of the sudden the rickshaw was destroyed. He had hit a woman on a moped who turned into our lane without looking. Nothing happened to me, but both my driver and the woman went flying. Bother were okay, but both bikes were pretty much totaled. I made sure both of them weren't hurt and then a bunch of locals gathered around to see what happened. Not wanting to get caught up in any of this, I got another rickshaw and bolted. There's NO WAY that I wanted to get involved with the Cambodian police officials... if they even report accidents here, that is. Another rickshaw driver pulled up next to the wreck and gave me a lift to my hotel at the direction of my previous driver. Yet, upon reaching my hotel, he had the nerve not only to ask for money but to try to rip me off. It was obviously a ridiculous notion, so I talked him down and paid him a couple of bucks to go away. Ahh, beautiful and exciting Cambodia!