Road Trip to Anlong Veng

Last weekend Phil and I decided to take a road trip. We packed our backpacks, and a lot of water, and each of us drove our 125cc motos the 2.5 - 3 hour trek up to Anlong Veng. We stopped along the way at the East Mebon temple so Phil could see the elephants, Banteay Srei temple (my new favorite), and the Angkor Center for Conservation where we saw all kinds of cool Cambodian wildlife. Unfortunately we didn't get to visit Kbal Spean because it was closed by the time we were done with our late lunch.

Phil at East Mebon temple with Stampy

Banteay Srei

Gibbon

Macaque

Some freaky bird

We got up to Anlong Veng, and checked into what our guidebook described as the best guesthouse in Anlong Veng. I don't want to know what the worst is. Or even second best. But whatever. It was late and we headed over to one of the two recommended restaurants and had some delicious fried noodles with beef (MEE CHA SA-GOW). We think it was so delicious because it probably had MSG and we had freaky dreams that night. The next day we got up, had a weird breakfast, and did some sightseeing. We saw Ta Mok's house, a former Khmer Rouge leader, who had this big lake built by his house that's now full of dead trees. After that we headed up the mountain and found Pol Pot's cremation site, another Ta Mok house, Pol Pot's house, and some other historical stuff. A lot of the sites are difficult to locate, the terrain was incredibly challenging, and at one point I think we inadvertently walked into Thailand before realizing we were probably on the wrong path.

Ta Mok's lake

Casino being built on the Khmer/Thai border

Pol Pot's cremation site

Relaxing on a terrifying cliff

border crossing?

Phil exploring another hole

Pol Pot's house

Phil explores Pol Pot's basement

Dusty.

On Sunday we had a 3 hour ride back, which was pretty brutal and I was really sore. But we ended the weekend at a friend's wedding. All in all a pretty awesome road trip weekend.