Siam Reap is going to be one of the highlights of my trip. Of all the cities I have been to, I feel like this is one of the few that I took full advantage of.
Okay hotel had organised accomodation and a transfer to the Yellow Guest house upon our arrival at the dock. It was interesting getting our luggage off the back of the boat without managing to fall in the water, then walking along the very narrow passage way on the side of the boat all the while trying to manouver past people heading back to collect their bags.
We were met at the boat by our guest house and the three of us, as well as all our luggage piled into the tuk tuk. We drove past some very interesting houses on stilts, while I held onto Lauren's and my backpacks which kept slipping from their precarious perch next to me. The staff at the guest house were friendly and were also pretty good at keeping track of all our movements.
Our first day at the temples began at Angkor Wat. We started it with a couple of thousand others at 5am to see the sunrise.... much to Nick's disgust. It wasn't that great a sunrise, I have seen better in Africa and it was over pretty quickly. We were in desperate need of some food, so refreshment followed next and then we headed back to explore Angkor Wat. We had a tuk tuk driver for the day and he took us around the main tourist route for the day. One of my favourite temples is Baylon for all the faces carved into the stone.... and eventhough there were so many people milling around, I could appreciate the beauty of the temple. Many temples later, we stopped for lunch and we happened to sit next to Daniel and Marie who we met in Halong Bay. Lauren and Nick were already feeling templed out so Daniel and Marie invited me to spend the next day with them at the temples. We then stayed for sunset.... it had been a very long day.
Daniel and Marie fetched me the next day and we headed to the grand circle route of the temples. I much preferred this day as it was fun to wander through the temples and explore a little like Indiana Jones. In some parts, we were literally climbing over stone graveyards. Many more temples later, one with the most amazing tree growing through the stone walls, I left Daniel and Marie as they were going to watch the sunset at Angkor Wat. However, I had plans to join them for dinner later.
Dinner was at a buffet style tourist restaurant with Cambodian dancing. It was one of the best buffet meals I have ever had and I really enjoyed the cambodian dancing. It was cheeky and flirty. It was a well organised event and everything was over by 8:30pm, so we headed over to a restaurant / bar recomended by the Lonely Planet. It was really good fun and we were there for some live entertainment.... firstly an australian guitarist and then a thai guitarist. Yes, the thai man sang me a song. The bar itself is worth mentioning for the crocodile pit and the interesting design. It was built like an old warehouse but had different platforms at different levels so it meant that you had some privacy. Food was taken up to the different levels by a pulley system. We had a good night.
Next day, I headed out on my own to a river cruise to see the floating markets. The hour long cruise went past many floating homes, a pig farm, pool tables, shops, churches and of course never forget the tourist stops.
I then headed to the War Museum, where my guide had been injured by a land mine when he was younger. It was a very interesting visit and it made the landmine situation far more real for me. The statistics are quite alarming. I then headed towards the river in Siam Reap and a wander through the main gardens. Siam Reap is very pretty, albeit very westernised.
After a quick pitstop, I headed back towards the hostel but stopped at a wat along the way. It was one of the most beautiful wats I have seen. I wasn't going to go in but I walked past a monk and he ushered me in. He couldn't speak any english but I think that he was just proud of the wat. There was nobody else around so I was able to appreciate it at my leisure.
After a quick pit stop at the guest house, I headed back to DHL in town and then towards the market. After getting some admin done, I was sitting having some dinner at the Red Piano when Megan and Butch walked by. I met them in Halong Bay. They were going for dinner and I was going for reflexology so we arranged to meet later for some drinks. After another good night out, I went back to the hostel to prepare for another early morning departure for Battambang.
