What a week...
Ok so I left you in Phnom Penh. We were just about to move from our luxurious hotel with a pool to a basic guesthouse. The guesthouse was fine just very spartan but the man who owned it was so nice. He was brought up in Paris so he has a slightly different perspective than most Khmer people. We went out for a lovely meal at a restaurant called friends where street children or I should say ex-street kids are trained to work in the hospitality trade. Chatted to a couple who were older than our parents for hours!
Unfortunately that night I got a V+D bug so I spent the following 24 hours in said spartan hotel room but I am fine now. It was very very difficult eating plain rice when there is so much cheap lovely food around. Every person we meet has had their fair share of Khmer tummy trouble. Think it is just normal for Cambodia. Perhaps it should be called the Cambodian Curse?
We then got a bus to Siem Reap, the little town near to Angkor Wat and all the other temples.When you are on the bus you pass village after village of wooden houses on stilts. People store their water in massive clay containers. You pass buffalo and cows, puppies and scrawny chickens. And hundreds of children running around laughing. Old men on bikes held together with bamboo and women carrying huge quantities of fruit or dried fish on their heads.
Siem Reap is small and very touristy in parts but it has a nice feel to it at the same time. We've had some lovely meals here (surprise surprise). Blue Pumpkin cafe and the Khmer Kitchen to name a few and a little shack by the market served amazing spring rolls.
We bought a 3 day temple pass and took a tuktuk at 5am to Angkor Wat for sunrise. The sunrise was terrible (it's been hazy every morning we have been here) but it was amazing to sit in the dark and gradually make out this enormous building. It would be mind-boggling if they built it now, let alone all that time ago. And the carvings take your breath away.
We then went into an old city boundary and wandered around a few buildings there. Our favourite temple was Bayon, much smaller than Angkor Wat but like a maze with staircases and huge carved heads everywhere. We then decided to get back in time for a late breakfast much to the tuktuk drivers surprise (most people cram as much into one day but we didn't want everything to end up in a big blur).
The next day we went for a massage at a place set up by an NGO here for blind people to make a decent living. They are well trained and then given a property to use for the massage. Well we went down a little alley and someone called out and a guy came dashing out of his flat to talk to us. We were both a little surprised that they were men as nearly all massage therapists are women here. However we thought well at least they can't see our naked bodies. I don't think he was used to bras like mine though as I had to help him undo the clasp - very embarassing. I then got the best massage I have ever had.
We went for a walk up the river the other day to escape the centre of town and were invited into the local wat, cemetry and school by a monk. He wanted to ask lots of questions about English like 'What do you call parts of the eye?'and 'What do you call this? (pointing to roof tiles). We had an interesting look around but he then invited us to his house at which point Alex and I realised we really had to get back to town for something.
Then yesterday we got up slightly later to go to some other key temples. One was quite far away and very cold in the back of the tuktuk before the sun was up properly. It was so small and had really intricate carvings. Then we went to a famous temple which has been left with trees growing out of it. Quite interesting but incredibly frustrating with hoards of Japanese and Korean tourists all taking 100 photos of each person at each turn and seeming not to have any awareness that maybe other people may want to take a photo without them in it. Next time my strategy will be to stand in their photo until they leave hehe
The hostel here is a perfect mix of clean spacious hotel and friendly hostel with chillout areas on balconies and a little pool. So we have met a few guys and been out for dinner with them a couple of times. Been nice to have a different dynamic to our travels!
My big news is that I have started to drink beer...WEIRD! I shall update you on my progress with this characteristic but I sense it will save me money in NZ :-)
Tomorrow we are flying off to Luang Prabang in Laos. The flights were really expensive compared to other low cost airlines round here but so worth it. We have heard many stories already about crossing the border between Laos and Cambodia and terrible buses etc. We have saved the money for a cooking course in Luang Prabang so really looking forward to going to market etc.
