Temple Time!

(Note: this is a back-dated entry, we are now in Phuket)

Before arriving in Siem Reap, we were beginning to think that some travellers talk a lot of rubbish- we had been told exaggerated accounts of many things in Vietnam, and having spent a few days in Cambodia we could see that the same had happened here. Though there were some people begging and some people trying to sell us things we didn't want, nothing had been as bad as some other travellers had made out- until we arrived on a public bus to Siem Reap!

If what we had been told were true, then every journey we made in Vietnam and Cambodia would have ended like this one. This was the only time we experienced this...

The moment we pulled into the bus station a mob of drivers were struggling to reach the windows to show you their sign which usually read '100 riel to any guest house, i don't care which one'. 100 riel is about 2.5 cents which is ridiculously cheap, but we couldn't work out the catch. When we got off the bus we were each surrounded by people waving bits of paper at us, trying to get our business, we couldn't see each other anymore so just made our way to the baggage compartment of the coach. Once we had our luggage it was difficult to keep up with each other as there were so many people wanting us to go in different directions- we tried to explain that we had to all go together but this didn't deter them. We eventually made it into two tuk tuks and got on our way to Smiley Guesthouse. We found it highly amusing as all the drivers were good humoured and only wanted some business. They seemed to appreciate the comedy element of the situation as well. When we arrived the drivers didn't charge us for the journey, as it turns out that they pick you up so they can be the first to offer you a ride to Angkor Wat. Unfortunately we didn't know what we wanted to do the next day, so we didn't book with them, but we liked our drivers and would have been happy for them to guide us round.

We were especially disappointed that we turned away our driver, as the driver we found the next day to escort us for two days to Angkor Wat was either suffering from severe depression, had suffered a bereavement or both. We're not joking. He wouldn't speak to us except when he had to, and when he waited for us outside temples he drove down the road so he didn't have to talk to other drivers. At times, he looked like he was going to cry- we felt sorry for him so we didn't have the heart to tell him we didn't want him for the second day!

Aside from having a moody driver, Angkor was amazing and to our suprise we really enjoyed walking around lots of temple ruins. It was not what we had expected at all- in a vast area that once was overtaken by jungle, it was a bit like going on a nature walk that included ancient temples. It is hard to believe that this once lost city that is hundreds of years old can still be so well intact in places (and that people have managed to piece together so much of the parts that weren't). Angkor Wat itself was pretty amazing but we have to confess we were more impressed by the ones that were overtaken by trees that had a feel of being amidst the jungle. We even made it there for sunrise! It was definitely worth it though as the coach loads of Korean tourists hadn't arrived at that time and everything was more atmospheric.

In the evenings in Siem Reap we tended to stay near our guesthouse as it was the cheapest place to eat and was pretty busy. We found one bar in town called Brodies that we liked so as usual played pool darts and cards to amuse ourselves. The bar manager (expat) told us that there are only two bars in town that are making money at the moment- Angkor What? and Red Piano- but everyone else is holding out as they expect the tourism to really kick off in about five years time. As it happens, Cambodia was the busiest place we've been to but then we have been travelling through most countries through their hottest and wettest months!

We were sorry to leave Cambodia as we would have liked to have explored a bit more. We found it had a distinctly unique feel to its history and culture that stood out more to use than anywhere we had been. It was very interesting and at the same time sad to see such a contrast in parts of its history from Angkor Wat and the powerful Khmer Empire to the Khmer Rouge and the Killing Fields.

With reluctance we borded our bus the next day to Bangkok, partly because we didn't want to leave yet, and partly because our 'VIP Air-con' coach turned out to be a clapped out old mini-bus with windows that either wouldn't open or wouldn't close! We were stuck with ones that wouldn't open, though we later found we were the lucky ones- about two or three hours into the journey it started to rain and several people sitting by windows that wouldn't close got absolutely soaked! To top it off, the road to Poipet from Siem Reap was every bit as bad as we had been warned, and the 4 hour journey to the border took 6 instead. At times the pot-holes were so big that the people at the back flew right up in the air, and at one point the back end swung out and we nearly went over. When we finally arrived, getting out of Cambodia was no trouble, it was getting into Thailand that was the problem! In the rain, hundreds of people 'queued' 10 people wide moving painfully slowly towards one of only two windows to get your visas from. After three hours, we finally got through and boarded a large truck that was 'taking us to the big bus'. It was therefore a pleasant suprise when it actually did take us to a very nice double decker coach which played an onboard movie (Team America) to complete the last leg of the journey that was couple of hours less than we though it was! We arrived in Bangkok at about 11.30 (it was supposed to be 7.30!) and found ourselves a nice hotel near Khao San Road...

---

---