Siem Reap Part II

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So i made a great mistake by trusting my research on payment/money prior to my departure ... i'm buying dollars with my euros to then exchange it again into cambodian ril ... however it's best to have ril, as depending where ya wanna buy bottle of water it can cost approx $1 (which is about 3,800 ril), but the moment u get away from the tourists (which obviously i try with the bycicle) you can get same size bottle for 800 ril ... 15 minutes from the busy section of Siem Reap i found myself between tin plate shacks and bamboo huts and was in heaven. I found a little path leading to a tempel complex where i got to talk to a young monk who invited mi into his humble one room home. We talked bit bout religion and cultures and soon thereafter i realized he's looking for a sponsor to get an invite into Europe (otherwise he can not leave the country) ... after giving mi loads of papers about himself, his family, a sample invite letter, copy of his passport i was able to finally excuse myself and continued on the temple grounds. I thought it was all temple related, however it turned out to be a cemetary where i was resting. Suddenly there were 5 young girls hanging from the tombs, like little monkeys looking for food approached mi ... one of them actually had a pretty good command of the english language (A little sidethought, i thought aaaah, cambodia, i can practice my french, however most Cambodians try to stay away from the colonial past, thus all interaction happens to be in english ...) so we were able to chat a bit. I didn't get much information from them as they wanted to know everything were i was coming from. It became sort of sherade kind of a conversation ... after sharing my fruit with them i decided it was time to go, however the two little ones climbed on the bike frame between my legs, and two others on the bikerack and so we drove around and around and around, laughing, shouting, enjoying ... couldn't be more in the moment as much of the grounds were just sand so had to REALLY concentrate with such a responsible load ... At night Brandon (my american travel partner across the border) came by to return my Lonely Planet guide and together we ended up in a Mexican place downtown getting drunk on Margaritas ... the next day i thought better to use my strength to bike around the many temples about 10km away from town so i hopped on a tuktuk with the bike) ... As beautiful Angkor Wat is, it was kinda disappointing because of the thousands of tourists in one place, however once i hopped on my bike i really started to enjoy myself ... every little path i noticed leading into the jungle i biked, hiked and walked, sometimes coming to little deserted temples, sometimes just ruins ... and then i discovered the old town of Angkor Thom, and for all those who will ever travel here, this is the place to come ... nothing left of the town, however there are four entrances (north, east, south, west) leading to a large area with one more beautiful temple ruin after another ... most of them commissioned by kings of the Angkor empire ... After a satisfying afternoon of exploration and peaceful moments i hopped back on my bike ... relaxed without any pressure on my way out of the jungle/rice fields a few little monkeys with some fruit suddenly Xed the street in panic, i looked left and noticed a much larger monkey going after them, however it looked like he stopped for the cars and tuktuks, so i ignored him ... dumb ... the next moment he run towards mi and a Cambodian guard on moped didn't see him coming, swirled to the right, his steeringwheel catching my left arm, thus was dragged along for few seconds and the next thing i know, i was flying through the air landing with my left shoulder on the asphalt ... a bit dazed and in shock and checking to feel if all my joints and bones were still in order, i didn't move for a moment (i recently broke my middle left finger, so the sense memory of broken bones helped mi ...) As i got up a Canadian engineer Pierre hovered over mi and helped mi up ... the Cambodian who hit mi didn't fall however he started pulling on my arms and body to see if i was alright ... One angry glance from mi and he apologetically removed himself from the scene ... Thank goodness everything felt ok, but for all my scratches and bruises, and being a very clumpsy person, i always have a first aid kids with mi, with disinfecting towels, bandaids, antibiotic cream etc, so here i was in the middle of jungle attending to myself as Filine "nightingale'... Fortunately Pierre was so kind to offer mi a ride back into town and very sore i collapsed on my bed. Thank goodness for my painkillers and sleeping pills otherwise i don't think i could have rested for another day of exploration. This time left the bycicle home and treated myself to a tuktuk who drove mi around to the temples bit further away from the main tourist temples ... right now m wearing long pants as i look like i just returned from battle, swollen, scratches and bruises on all 4 limbs, however m still smiling and grinning as it could have been much worse ... maybe a bit out of it, however m using it as a metaphore ... m leaving SUCH a difficult year with SO MUCH emotional pain behind mi, that now i can see the pain on my exterior and m attending to my body with slight arnica massages (yes yes, even that i carry with mi) and lots of Tender Loving Care ...

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