Siem Reap, Cambodia

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July 9th 2006

Published: August 12th 2006

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Rodeo

The Cambodian Border

Welcome to the Roads of Hell!

The Journey

After experiencing some bad roads on my previous travels in India I didn’t think it was possible for road conditions to be any worse. Well, I was wrong. Apparently the Thai Government pay Cambodia not to fix the roads from the Thai border to Siem Reap, as they make more money from the flights!

The roads were so bad that every few minutes we went over large holes mostly made by old landmines; the guys at the front of the bus would all turn round, watch and giggle as Tony would crack his head on the steel roof nearly everytime! I fortunately being a bit smaller didn't have that problem. ;-)

Siem Reap

It was a huge relief especially for my sore ass when we finally arrived at Siem Reap (120km & 7 hours on the roads of hell!) Considering Cambodia is the 6th poorest country in the world I was very surprised to see dozens of 5 and 6 star hotels which towered over most of the newly laid roads into the city center and around the airport. You can see how business is booming with the tourist dollar as Angkor Wat is now

Crocodile Farm

Smile for the camera...

one of the biggest attractions in Asia.

The first day we decided to just have a look around the town and we stumbled across a crocodile farm which was home to many huge crocs but not kept in the best of conditions.

After being constantly harassed by touts, beggars and con people my patience was wearing thin so we ventured out of town to a couple of small villages. Despite only being a few km away from the tourist areas, the distance the dollar goes in the locals way of life was very distinct.

We met some of the friendly locals and some kids aged between ten and twelve were fishing for their lunch in a river with only a brick and their hands for tools!? The kids spoke great English and were showing off their knowledge of capital cities all around the world.

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat in a nutshell: Inside the province of Siem Reap in the jungle covering over 70km is a city of temples and forts which were home to various kings dating from back to the year 802. With its soaring towers, intricate carvings and sheer size the most famous

Local Village

Mmmmmm....dinner time

of these temples is Angkor Wat. Described by many as the ‘Lost City’ the site is now one of the ancient wonders of the world and a tourist honey pot.

We had an early start and got up around 5:30am and hired a tuk tuk driver for the day who unfortunately had taken a certain liking to me which highly amused Tony. In Thailand and Cambodia at least there seems to be a 'special' handshake to express one's sexuality. It's a bit of shock when it happen's I can tell you. Tony was on the end of a fair few of these handshakes in Thailand so I guess he was only getting his own back.

There are so many temples it’s impossible to see them all in a day so we checked out the main sites. The most impressive was the majestic Angkor Wat. Understandably a few movies have been filmed here most notably the ‘classics’ Tomb Raider and Kick boxer!

Nightlife wasn't too happening but we did mange to find a local disco with very few foreigners and friendly locals happily shared their whisky with us and taught us some strange drinking games. I'm sure they