Back to Bangkok
The Apple & Date Panini I had for breakfast at the Peace Cafe.
Awesome murals/graffiti at Peace Cafe.
“The Yummy” – Scrambled tofu & tomatoes with toast at the Peace Cafe.
Jill and Choum “playing” Facebook.
Before returning to Bangkok, we had a leisurely breakfast at Peace Cafe. It’s hippietastic, peaceful (hence the name) and we wished we could have stayed longer. I also think there’s a hostel upstairs – I’d recommend it to anyone looking for accomodation in Siem Reap. Downstairs there’s a fair trade shop with tons of local handicrafts for decent prices.
We headed out and had a fairly relaxed border crossing experience. There were certainly some less-experienced folks around us who needed to chill! For example, a super-pissed french couple who kept switching lines trying to speed up the process (please). There may have been an attempt to budge in front of Jill. Key word being “attempt.” We ran into a guy we talked to earlier (who was rather rude to us) about transportation. He left Siem Reap at least two hours before us, but somehow we were both in the same place in line. (Homeboy got scammed). There was the usual small group-of-people-who-take-forever-to-get-through-a-seemingly-easy-process, but we just laughed about it and eventually made it across the Cambodian side. We stopped at a nice cafe in the middle (True Coffee) for refreshments and a super swanky bathroom (for future reference)!
We encountered several dudes trying to overcharge us for a ride back to Bangkok, but we knew exactly what we should have been paying, so we found our original transportation company and hung out until the next minivan left. We made friends with the owner, Choum, who wanted us to make him a Facebook account so that he could learn how to “play Facebook.” He didn’t know how to use the internet very well at all – he actually pays someone to handle the “internet” side of things for him.
Close to Bangkok we ended up hitting Monday rush hour, so because of traffic we ended up getting out of the van, taking the airport rail link to the MRT, then the MRT to Bang Sue Station. We made it home for a late dinner – our host was so nice that she saved some for us – then passed out cold. Home sweet home.