Advertisement
Published: November 29th 2014
Edit Blog Post
Krabi welcomed us with bruised purple clouds from the storm. The orange and pink sky looked distant behind the massive cloud reaching from the higher atmosphere down to earth like a God. Intermittent lightning flashed between the mountains of clouds and the fading sunset to call back attention to the show that is Mother Earth. Welcome to the islands and one of the most fantastic sunsets I've seen on this trip!
***
Backtrack though: Cambodia... I suppose you were a place I had set expectations for and when my reality didnt line up, I was left sour. We had arrived in Siem Reap smoothly and with a full day to explore.The Siem Reap Hostel (highly recommended) had a free tuk tuk ride for us to the hostel. We were lucky to have a room filled with awesome girls so I took a sunset trip to Angkor Wat with my new friend, a Brazilian by nationality and Korean by heritage. We got to walk through Angkor Wat temple and sorta saw a sunset, though it was hidden off behind the trees somewhere. Kristen got sick that day so she rested while the rest of us checked out Pub Street and the
night market. Wvery tourist city has its own Walking Street decorated with neon signs, ladyboys in show costumes, way too many tuk tuks, bars, and all the stuff you dont need to buy but will probably buy anyway.
We ate at an uber fancy restaurant called Amok with cold towels and samples of their pumpkin soup. My veggie dish was $7, to give you an idea of the fanciness ;p typically my meals were averaging 80 baht which is less than $3.
At sunrise the next morning we set out for the small circuit tour of Angkor Wat, which includes the major temples. For $5 each we had a your guide for the Angkor Wat temple and he was not only highly informative but also a fantastic photographer! The temple that is depicted on cambodia's flag actually has 5 spires but they line up perfectly from the entrance so photos only show 3. In the complex, it is the only temple to face west. It switched between Hindu and Buddhist 4 times based on what the current king was feeling. Both are similar so it wasn't a huge difference, and the people were loyal to the King. The
temple walls show the entire story of the Ramayana, wherein Sita is captured by Ravana and Ram has Hanuman save her and jump across to Sri Lanka. Awesome carvings. The temple has statues and carvings to represent both Vishnu and Buddha.
We also saw the temple shown in Tomb Raider with giant trees and the temple both coexisting and battling each other. Though each is destroying the other, the temple is the foundation for the trees and the roots of the trees have grown around the walls to hold them, for a few more decades at least.
Exhausted and hot we returned to the hostel. Later that night we saw the famed Cambodian circus Phare: an acrobatic story like cirque de soliel performed by Cambodians. Great story that you should read about. There was no dialogue and it was told through the energy of the performers and their dance.
We had 5 nights in Siem Reap. It's a small town and there's not much draw aside from the temples. I was frustrated because people kept telling me the Cambodian people are sooo friendly and it seemed that I was only being bombarded by the vendors and drivers.
Thai men paid me no attention, but Cambodian men weren't the same. Typical of me to get pissed when a man says something.
I got sick from good our second to last night. Barfed for the first time in who knows how long ( a few times) and it was way more work than if imagined. My body was run down for the evening, night and most of the next day, but I managed to get out the next day to see the floating village. My legs were too shaky to walk much so sitting on the tuk tuk for 45 mins and then a boat for 3 hours was great. My appetite never did come back that day, but I was back to being a hungry hippo the next day.
We spent our final evening in Siem reap having a spa spree. Massage, body scrub and facial for $38 (usd in Cambodia). It was nice and princess like, but the salon couldn't read their English menu so I missed out on a few things. Can't complain for the price though. Hopefully ill get another scrub before I head home. (Also got an $8 mani pedi, but that
Tuk Tuk driver
Napping on the job is part of the norm got ruined getting to our accommodation in Tonsai).
Siem Reap hostels have relationships with tuk tuk drivers so you can always know the set price and have a driver you've already met right outside the door. Convenient. All day temple driver was $15. Airport was free on the way and $5 going. Nice to have that relationship set up for us.
So that's Cambodia. The adventure of getting to Tonsai Bay is your cliffhanger, and trust me, you want to hear it!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.096s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 6; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0405s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb