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Published: December 3rd 2006
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Hiya.
We woke up very early to get the boat to Siem Reap via the Tonle Sap Lake. However as we were rushing to get ourselves together we had a bit of a 'problem' as the reception guy gave us the wrong bill. Maz told him that it was wrong as the amount was too little but he said ''no, no its okay'' so we just paid the lesser amount and then got into the cab that was waiting for us to take us to the port. However! the reception guy soon realised his mistake and called the cab man (very small town)! and put Maz on the phone to him... what a pilarva! Then the reception guy came rushing down to the port and was acting like he didnt remember us giving him any money this morning!!!! Luckily though when everyone calmed down a bit he admitted his mistake and we were allowed on the boat to make our journey to Siem Reap. PHEW!!! (Not a place you want the police getting involved)!
We were told the boat journey would take 5 hours but it ended up being just over 6 and as we opted to sit on
top of the speed boat we were starting to burn!
Part of the package that we took when booking the boat journey was to get a pick up from the Siem Reap and be taken to a hotel of our choice. The driver was really friendly and informative and drove us to two different hotels which Leena and Maz went in and chose from. They ended up choosing Mekong Ankwor palace which has a swimming pool which we couldnt wait to dive into!!!
After our swim and some food we took a tuk tuk to the old market to have a look around. Then we went for a drink but Leena and I were exhausted so we took a tuk tuk back to the hotel and left the brothers to it to feast! They ended up going to the 'dead fish' restaurant and had a very good meal.
We woke up at 4.20am the next morning to get ready to catch the sunrise over Ankwor wat. We had booked the driver from yesterday who told us that he would drive us around and be like our tour guide. However, what that was only half the story... he
Elephant trekking
ahhh look how happy they are! didnt tell us that a guide to the temples needs to be an authorised guide and one employed by the ministry so as he doesnt want to pay the $500 he is not allowed to enter the temples with us and by then we were past the entrance gate and there were no guides hanging around as you have to arrange one in Siem Reap. We were pretty gutted as you need a guide to explain and appreciate the temples (We did try to listen in or join a group but no kidding the only guide tours we could find were japanese or german - the rest only had what we ended up with too - our cr appy lonely planets)!
The sunrise over Ankwor wat is lovely but it took us a while (as we had no guide) to figure out where to go until we saw LOADS and loads of people surrounding the left hand side of the lake. After the sunrise and breakfast we headed by elephant to the entrance of the Banyon temple which was pretty cool. Leena hadnt been on an elephant before and she was so cute and excited! Our tour guide said
that the elephant would take us through the forest but it ended up being by the side of the road between trees!
The Banyon temple is amazing. Faces everywhere. They say the face was that of the king at the time. How vain?
Next stop was the terrace of elephants where the king used for parades and ceremonies. We then walked to the Royal Enclosure and phimenanakas which we climbed to the top off.
After lunch we went back to Ankwor Wat to explore the actual temple. We saw the engravings on the wall from that time and the remaining buddahs which hadnt been lost or stolen during the years. Outside there is a huge building with really really steep steps. Leena rushed ahead and then boucs, followed by Maz... Shesa (me) decided to find an easier way to get up the stairs rather than these raw bricks... I found a really narrow staircase and started to climb holding on to the frail rail for dear life and then I dont know what happened but I literally froze. I shouted for Maz and I knew that the people below were starring at me but I didn't care. Maz never heard me so I had to start the descent with people below laughing and shouting ''one, two''. So disappointed in myself! When I got to the bottom I was met with applaudes so I bowed and went and hid from embarressment but these two gay guys found me and asked to take a picture with me? ANNA - I GOT DISCOVERED! Back at the top, Maz and boucs had a hard time coming down and had to do the decline with the smell of a fart that had been let go by the chinese man after him who was s hitting himself about having to climb down. hehehe.
Leena, our little dare devil had decided to find a challenging way down and found the raw steps again on another side (literally they just really narrow ancient stone). She decided to get on her bum and go down slowly but when she went down the first step the climb is so narrow that she couldnt see any further steps below her and slipped a couple of stairs. She got really scared but managed to save herself from falling any further. When she got to the bottom a girl was looking at her in awe and announced - wow, no one ever comes down from this way! hehehe. I wonder why!
When we met our driver, he informed us it was a big night as the Korean government was over or something so a party was being held so the temples were closing early and we only had time to do one more which was the Ta Prohm which was so wicked! It's where tombraider was filmed. Theres trees sprouting from the ruins in the middle of the forest. It's wicked. Basically the trees were plants in the actual temple all those years ago and their seeds fell into the ground and began sprouting. The pictures (which are coming) dont do this place justice. Its amazing!
That night we went to the funky monkey for dinner which is owned by an English couple who were supposed to go travelling round the world for a year. Cambodia was their second stop and they stayed. Its a small but really friendly place. The food is wicked too. We played Jenga and got drunk on their funky monkey cocktails. They gave us free shots of gold tequilla and when they found out it was the twins birthday they kept on bringing them!!! Good night!
The next day was the boys birthday! Maz and I woke up early and went to the swimming pool to wait for Leena and Boucs. When they finally awoke it was 1'ish. At about 2.30 we went to a place that the couple last night told us about called Aqua which is basically a place with a huge swimming pool, cool music and chairs. (food is awful though)! We bumped into the guy who owned the restaurant last night who was drinking tequilla with us last night and he had puked when we left and looked so rough (and stoned)! poor thing. At night the boys wanted to try some wierd meat so we went to a Cambodian barbacue restaurant. Maz asked if they cooked the meat for us so we didnt have to go through the whole 'steamboat' drama again. They said yes but we ended up having to cook again for ourselves and it was quite disappointing as they didnt even have the crocodile meat the boys wanted. They did have snake, Kangaroo and Ostrich though which the boys enjoyed. After we went to a couple of bars and the Temple bar had good music and we spent the rest of the night busting our moves!
Maz says thank you for all the birthday messages. XX
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