SIEM REAP and ANGKOR WAT

thats wat all the fuss is about

WHERE: SIEM REAP and ANGKOR WAT

WHERE (less detailed): north Cambodia

the face looks familiar

WEATHER IS: even more oppressive. Even our tuk-tuk driver turns to us and declares “Man it’s hot today!”
DAYS: 161-165

just in need of a little pruning

PEOPLE ARE: “I can’t look at him,” says Paul of our Angkor Wat guide with the biggest booger in his nose. Despite pointing out the offending item twice, handing him a hankerchief and blowing his own nose in a show of solidarity the booger remained steadfast.
FOOD IS: awesome, we find this beautiful place around the corner from us that does daily BBQ and offers two chicken, onion and green pepper skewers and a pint of beer for £1.40! HIGHLIGHTS/LOWLIGHTS: hard to decide between the stunning temples and our hotel that fails to mention the mosque next door and the associated 6.30am, 12noon, 4pm and 9pm calls to prayer. Probably the temples by a whisker….

as far as the eye can see

...arriving in Siem Reap on a 11hr ‘sleeper’ bus from Lazy Beach. The buses feature seat backs that are at 45 degrees and holes in the seat back infront where you wedge your feet. If you’re a midget its relatively comfortable, if you are allowed to ride the big roller-coasters at fun-fairs its akin to being locked in a small box… fortunately Paul spots a bunk at the front with ample leg room and abandons Rhaani to her sleep….arriving in Siem Reap and being locked in the bus station as whordes of tuk-tuk drivers offer discount fares through the chained gates… the temples themselves are a mixture of spectacular decorative design and ingenuity. The stones used to build the temples all have sizable holes in them from when they were dragged along by elephants from the quarries 50-odd miles away…

the understated east gate

....the whole complex is up there with the Pyramids, Taj Mahal and the Terracotta Warriors….our guide turns out to be a right lazy bugger with his catch-phrase being “you be careful on the climb up there, I wait down here,”…. His repetitive offer of post-sight seeing massage or souvenir shopping ensures we don’t retain his services for the next day… Rhaani loves the drawn-out accents of the venours who offer her Pineappppppple? Mangoooooo, Bananaaaaaaa throughout the day… in yet another effort to escape the heat we head to another swish hotel who must have known we were coming because for $15 they have a swim, lunch and massage offer which we nearly rip their hand off for…

....leaving the city we experience one of those “Well I guess this is travelling moments” when our 10hr bus journey to Bangkok stops 5mins outside the city limits and all the passengers are ushered off our luxury coach and into a school minibus. Of course we are stuck with the temporary, fold-down, cloth dragged over plastic seats, on the bright side we weren’t told to leave the bus by the police (see Huangshu post) so I guess things are on the up…. For once Rhaani’s patience snaps after our bus ride to Bangkok is subjected to an impromptu 3hrs lay-over in a service station just passed the Cambodian border. Our driver and guide both disappear leaving us clueless.
UP NEXT: BANGKOK, Thailand home of luxury air-conditioned, table-serviced, reclining-chair cinemas, and ladyboys.