A Week Of Reek

---

It certainly has been a week of reeking, the weather is hot, humid and moist. Just as we manage to dry off we seem to come face to face with either giant puddles or get caught in a sheet rain shower. Squelchy shoes and damp clothing is all too regular but conditions aside the place is so good it's worth braving the elements.

Exploring the further afield Roluos group of temples and Banteay Srei has been incredible. The Roluos temples are some of the oldest Khmer monuments, all of which are centred around Hinduism and built with thousands of little bricks.

It was during this final crusade of these lost temples we stumbled across a polite young man and the polite young mans grandad who plied their carving and sculpture trade at the roadside. The old man had been quite an artist in his day restoring and building temples and models during the sixties and seventies at a time when people like him were generally killed for being talented.
We ended up buying a small stone carving for five dollars of Shiva, always nice to meet the artist.

With the shopping bug well and truely awoken we then went on to purchase a painting of Bayon and a hanging star. We like to think we're doing our bit for the local economies, in reality we may have contributed a bit too much. Oh well.

A week ago two hundred tourists were caught out when flash floods trapped them at Banteay Srei. By the time we made it there the moats were very full but the river had receded totally. Being mindful not to tread into any big puddles all the tourists were carefully navigating their way around the temple on slim edges and stepping stones.

Whilst shuffling my way around a particularly deep puddle I hadn't noticed the head high jutting out rock in front of my face. Needless to say I managed to break my glasses and fall into the water. What a plonker. Following on from that, quote Nolan, ''I gave it the big ass for ten maybe fifteen minutes.'' Luckily it was a hot dry day so my shoes dried fairly quick and it was all smiles later in the day.

One of the reasons for coming away at this time of year was to celebrate the old boy's birthday. The hotel where we were staying had mentioned to me a few days previously that he was trying to arrange a cake so I thought it best if we ate at the the restaurant that night for maximum paranoia and embarassment. Not failing to disappoint after our main courses the staff dimmed the lights and came out singing "Happy Birthday Mr Nolan" and we were presented with a big, delicious chocolate cake.

On our last night in Siem Reap we got ourselves out into town to visit the night market and have a cocktail or two. Like all good tourists we had a Tomb Raider in the Red Piano, named after Angelina Jolie who visited whilst filming here a few years back. We also toyed with the idea of doing a Dr Fish's foot massage, however having stuck our fingers in the tank and felt what it would be like we realised its a bit like being eaten alive very slowly so passed it by.

Onto Battambang tomorrow, looking forward to seeing some rural Cambodia!

---