Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) was our last stop in Vietnam. It's a really trendy, up and coming city and we had to spend an extra day there just to get to the restraunts and swanky coffee shops that we read about in our city guide. We found some fun shops, interesting neighborhoods and a back alley restraunt with big, cold microbrews on tap. The beer hall was full of local workers and we enjoyed the cockroach that crawled out of our menu and seeing the chef net a fish out of the tank then smash it on the floor with a full wind-up in the middle of the tables before taking it to the frying pan. While unnerving at first, it turned out to be a great place with cheap food and quality people watching.
Mostly I wanted to stay in Saigon for a third day to delay the bus trips which would take us across most of Cambodia in 24 hours. I have a pretty high tolerance for long distance buses at this point, but the road conditions and fear factor of Cambodian travel were less than appealing. The Cambodians have had one of the most horrific recent pasts of anywhere I have visited and a lot of the people there are quite desperate for good reason. This desperation leads to aggresive behavior towards tourists with money. Since we were too tired out to visit Cambodia properly and only stuck to the well worn tourist traps and trails, we were accosted heavily, non-stop. The worst of which was an all out attack on us the moment we stepped out of our bus in Siam Reap. So many taxi drivers were trying to get us to go with them to a cetain hotel and were waving their cards in our faces, that we couldn't see eachother or get to our bags which were being unloaded from the bus. I couldn't believe how they were grabbing me and yelling and being horrifically obnoxious. It was bordeline humorous, except for the arm grabbing, which I had to put a stop to. After being chased around like the ball in a 6 year olds' soccer game for a few minutes, we just went with a guy who said he would take us to town for a set price. After we found our first choice hotel to be full, we tried to pay him and go on foot to another hotel, to avoid any commision related price increases when we did decide where to stay. Instead of taking the money, his true colors came out, which were to get us to agree to hire him for several days to be our driver and guide to the temples. When we refused, he wouldn't take our money and drove off in a whirlwind of rage yelling and pointing, "F*%*ing crazy tourists!! crazy tourists! F*#$ you! F!#%!," to all people in a 50 foot radius. Welcome to Siam Reap, eh?
I practiced buddhist calming rituals and reminded myself that seeing the temples would be worth it all. Turns out that they were in a big way. We spent two exausting days going from amazing temple to amazing temple taking in giant carved heads, mayan-style steep steps up to temple shrines, and overgrown vines on ruins in manner of Tomb Raider. It was a very imaginative place and I really felt far from normal life walking around the temple walls and carved archways. On the second day of exploration we opted to rent electric bicycles to get us around. These bikes are part motorcycle and part electric, old person, Lark cart. We zoomed our way through traffic to the temples then slowly down the narrow roads of the temple areas, maxing out around 30km/h. What a fun and environmentally friendly way to get around. Even the sudden monsoon rainstorm that soaked us through, was fun on the bikes.
After feeling sufficiently filled with wonder and awe, we departed Siam Reap for the border with Thailand. This strech of 'highway' is apparently ill-maintained due to airline companies who want to keep tourists flying, not driving in to see the temples. They are doing a fantastic job lobbying. The road was the worst I have ever seen or felt. We paid the big bucks ($35) for a four hour private taxi ride to the border to save us a few hours in an already long day going to Bangkok. To make up the time, the driver had to burn some serious shocks and bounce us the 100-some kilometers to the border. 
I didn't relax the entire time as I was sure he was going to run us off the road into landmine-laden rice fields where we would be eaten by water snakes. It was downright scary as he ignored detour signs and reved us up to 100km/h down dustly, flatter sections of the road. Not to mention he was driving a right hand-driver car in the left lane and freely passing buses and trucks with little more than a prayer for an available space. Somehow we made it to the Thai border and took an interesting combination of transportation modes to get us by dusk, back to Bangkok. What a joy to be back in the Land of Smiles where I can get my favorite foods for $1 and no one wants to rob me or hold me hostage. 
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