BYE BYE PETE

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At 8am we met Pete on a tuk tuk and went to get our Angkor passes. We stood in line and paid our money, but they didn’t tell us when the picture would be taken. We were planning on framing our passes, but this plan will now have to changed. My picture is really unflattering and looks more like a prison mug shot!

First we visited The Bayon and Banteay Kdei with Pete, but then we had to say goodbye as he had a flight to Bangkok to catch. Andy and I went on to see The Baphuon, which is in the process of being restored, The Terrace of Elephants, The Terrace of Lepers and Pre Palilay before finishing the day with Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat in particular was the temple I was most looking forward to seeing, but as we approached I was sad to see scaffolding and green netting covering large areas.

Cambodia has changed a lot in the 10 years since Andy and Pete last came. Siem Reap town and pub street were just dirt track roads with a couple of bars. Now new hotels are being built all the time, pub street is literally a street full of bars and restaurants and the roads are all tarmac. Even though all these changes happened relatively quickly there is still a warm, close and friendly feel. More bars and restaurants mean more employment opportunities. Tarmac roads mean easy access. In this way the changes can be seen as positive. There is however a flip side to this. If you make somewhere easier to access , you will attract more tourists. This can change the feel of a temple forever. The stone steps that Andy and Pete can remember struggling to climb up and down have now been covered with wooden steps, there are queues to get into the centre with people sitting at a desk checking everyone is dressed appropriately. In the outer areas it is still possible to find a peaceful spot, you may be lucky enough to take some photos without people spoiling the shot, but sadly it is impossible to do this in the main area. The saddest thing of all is that there was once a monk who used to spend all this time praying in the central temple. He is no longer there. I suspect that he was either moved out to make way for more tourists or more likely he chose not to be there any more. I fear that the magic and the charm that I had heard so much about has been taken away for and by the tourists. Feeling like I was adding to the problem, we left after only a short while.

That evening we were sat in the Angkor What? Bar having our usual couple of jugs when Lisa and Nils appeared at our table. We were surprised to see them as they were supposed to be in Battambang. Unfortunately as soon as they had arrived they both became very ill. They looked in their guide book and visited the recommended hospital, but the doctor was more interested in watching television that helping them. The nurse told them they would need a drip to replace all their lost fluid, which seemed like a good idea since they were unable to keep anything down. They were about to check in when one of them needed to use the bathroom. They took one look at the state of it and declined any treatment! With no other options they caught a taxi all the way back to Siem Reap and ended up paying a fortune for their treatment.
After thinking through what they had both eaten, the likely culprit was the rare steak the night before they left Siem Reap. We were so pleased to have seen them because we had eaten at the same place the previous night. Andy wanted the steak, but at the last moment had changed his mind. Since then he had been craving steak and we were planning on going back to try it before we left!

We avoided the bad steak bar and went to a local barbecue place instead. We were given a list and told to pick five different meats. We were feeling a little brave so we chose Goat, Ostrich, snake, crocodile and shrimp - a good mixture of meat we’ve tried before and some new experiences. The barbecue arrived along with the plates of meat, each plate had a little picture so we knew what we were eating. Boiling water was poured around the rim of the barbecue into which the noodles and vegetables were placed, the meat was hen put on the centre of the barbecue and we were left to cook it ourselves.

Both of is had eaten goat and shrimp before, but we had only tried ostrich in a burger. The ostrich reminded us a little of kangaroo - which was no bad thing. Snake and crocodile were new to us. They were both quite tough, but they had a good flavour. It would be interesting to have someone else cook them for us to see if it was just our cooking that made them tough.

Our last few days in Siem Reap were spent visiting many more temples. No words or pictures can do them justice, but rather than detailing them all and giving you lots of information I have included some pictures of each one.

Most people we met were in awe of them and like us the temples were the main reason for visiting, but one or two people really surprised us with comments like “ I dunno about you but I aint into all that culture stuff, they all looked the same to me.” Sadly there are many people now who just pass through. They use it as another place to add to their destination list and as another place to get cheep drink. Maybe when they are a bit older they will look back and realise what they missed out on. Each and every one has something different to offer. If you don’t visit the temples then you haven’t really visited Cambodia.

Our days were filled with visiting temples and our evenings spent relaxing in the Angkor What? bar and finding new places to eat. One of the best places we found was another barbecue place, which was more of a street stall. The barbecue was just as good as the first place we went - although the meat choices were not as exotic - but instead of paying $9 for both of us it was just $4. We also met some interesting people, including Svetlana from Russia and Allessandro an Italian documentary maker.

Sadly our time in Siem Reap came to an end sooner that we would have liked. With flights for the Philippines already booked we needed to get to Phnom Penh to arrange our Visas. We booked ourselves on to an early morning coach and waved goodbye to our most favourite place so far.

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