Hester
After leaving Bankok (we spent the morning of our flight day checking out the Grand Palace, and another Wat (temple), we arrived in phnom pehn and headed for the lakeside area to find a hotel. The hotel suggested in our guidebook as a cheap one to try seemed to have doubled in price in the last few months, but we thought we'd take a look and, well, got properly won over by the room - balony facing over the river - it was gorgeous!!And very expensive (comparatively), but "yes, we'll take it" kind of popped out of our mouths. We had dinner at a really nice restaurant adn then went for a wander and had a drink in one of the river front bars. I have to say it was a weird experience, and quite difficult to dwell on the contrast between the tourists in the bars and restaurants along the river front, and the endless families sitting by the side of the road. I don't think I have ever seen poverty like there is here. Also, the number of people who have been maimed by landmines is pretty shocking and very upsetting. Aparently there are 700 casualties a year. I can't een imagine how it must be to live somewhere where you dont even know if it is safe to take a stroll across a field.
Sorry for that somber moment. Anyway, back to Phnom Penh - after spending one night in relative luxury, we decided to head to the lake area of the city, which fitted a bit better with our budget, and in fact was a much nicer experience. The place we stayed had a veranda on the lake front, so we could sit there and chill and recver from the day of walking round Phnom Penh. Then got talking to a German guy, who heard us speaking dutch (yup, its true!!) and came over to join in. I never thought I would see a situation where there are three people of different nationalities, and they choose dutch as the common language!! Random.
Earlier in the day we had been to the Grand Palace; it was touch an go whether we would be let in as I was wearing clothes that were deemed inappropriate. So I had to by MASSIVE white t-shirt (they only had XL) and stomp around in that all afternoon, much to brendon's ammusement.
The next day we headed to siem reap, a 6 hour bus journey which was pretty much bliss because ogf the air conditioning (the heat is dominating me!! I don't think brendon quite know what to do with me, as I am barely talking; it takes all my energy just to sweat....). We arrived and got a tuk tuk to our hotel (where we are now), and arranged with our tuk tuk driver to come and get us the next day to take us to ankor wat (think Lara Croft films, or ancient temple complex for the more cultured of you...).We went out for dinner and I had the nicest salad i think I have ever had - Banana flower - It was lekker!!! Next morning we waited and waited for the tuk tuk driver, but no show, so we decided that in the 30+ degree heat, the best thing to do would be to hire some bicycles and cycles the 30 kilometre circuit "mini tour" of the temples. I think we must have been delirious at this point. But we did it, and it was awesome!! We saw ankor wat, the main temple, then ankor thom which it covered in massive faces, and then several other temples, including the one thats been all overgrown by trees, which was used in the lara croft movie. It was all pretty spectacular- the archaeology geek in me was very excited (obviously this was inward excitment, as to have expressed it outwardly would have involved far to much sweating). We came back feeling like we had conquored the world, took a dip in the hotel pool, then had dinner here and fell asleep.
Yeaterday we hired a tuk tuk driver and did the “grand tour of the temples” – was a bit worried that we might get templed out, but they were so different from the ones we had seen before that it was all good. Hopefully soon we’ll get the pics on…
Last night, another restaurant, we had lok lak (a beef and garlic and tomatoe and onion dish), and some bbq squewers. This one seems to have given us both “the toilet problem” which kind of cut today short. We went this morning to see the furthest away temple, which was really ornate, and the journey there and back was thought loads of little wooden hut villages so worth going the 1 and a half journey there (buy tuk tuk). For lunch we had curry and amok from one of the road side stalls, which were really really lekker. However, this afternoon we wanted to see ankor wat and ankor thom again but I was feeling a bit dizzy and sick ,and then Bren started to feel the same, so back here to the hotel earlier than planned and a chance to write up the past few days. Its all going so quickly and yet I feel like we have been here for ages, as every day there is something completely different from the last.
Next stop…… elephant trekking in the east of the country…
