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Published: December 13th 2008
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Not long after arriving in Siem Reap we were loaded on the bust and taken to our first temple to watch the sunset. After a 20 minute walk to the top of a hill it became apparent that sunsets are a popular pastime in Siem Reap. There was easily 1000 people standing on anything they could to get a better view of what admittedly was an amazing sunset.
I wish I could say the same about the sunrise over the main Angkor Wat temple which we had to be up at 4am to watch along with a hell of a lot more tourists. The whole temple complex (of which there are over 100) feels a little like a theme park although I guess if you go to some of the smaller less popular temples you’d have a lot more of a personal experience. Most of us went on a balloon ride that looked a lot cooler from the temples than it actually was. You stand inside a large circular cage attached to a helium balloon and then a winch lets you up to about 200 meters high and then straight back down again. It cost $15(US) each, but only lasted
about 10 minutes. We spent the rest of the day touring round more temple ruins which were all very interesting, but after 5 or 6 hours I have to admit that I got a little boarded.
We did stop off at a museum setup by a former Khmer Rouge child Soldier who defected to the Vietnamese army and now spends all his time detecting and disarming landmines, something he does for free as opposed to the UN that charges $5,000 per mine.
That night we headed to Bar Street (guess why it’s called that) and found a Mexican restaurant that sold cocktails for $2. Three tequila sunrises, three margaritas and an argument about the US/UK/Australian healthcare systems later we called it a night and took a tuck-tuck back to the hotel.
There were a few sore heads the next morning as we headed out to our last temple, Ta Prohm - the one used in the movie Tomb Raider. It’s really overgrown and atmospheric, but unfortunately overrun by Japanese and Korean tourists, all more interested in Angelina Jolie than the temple. Looking back, I was really grumpy that morning, maybe I had more of a hangover than I
thought.
We also went for a little boat trip on the Tonle Sap Lake the biggest lake in Asia. There are an entire floating village of Vietnamese people. When I say floating village I mean that everything is on the water, there’s a floating hospital, church, shops and cafes. I made friends with a little kid who took great delight in scaring Frank, the German guy on the tour with a crayfish he had picked up. On the way back we saw freshly skinned rainbow snakes hanging in the sun to dry, tasty.
On our last evening we went for dinner with a family who where friends of our guide. We were collected by a pickup truck with seats along the back and taken to a tiny little suburb of Siem Reap where we were treated to a banquet followed by games and dancing with all the kids in the village.
Next stop Battambang
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