CAMPING IT UP IN CAMBODIA..

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now i am in siem reap, alone, tourist capital of cambodia, as it the nearest town to the temples of angkor, including ANGKOR WAT. (i say that loudly as it reminds me of a crap floating dark ride at blackpool pleasure beach, in which me and ekk floated along at 5 miles a hour while various plastic versions of world wonders lit up in front of us while a loud booming scaryish voice would pronounce their names...
''ANGKOR WAT!!!" Ekk amusingly would keep repeating it for 2 days afterwards in a same(ish) booming voice....."'ANGKOR WAT''....

i am here for a week, soaking up the atmosphere of this very gay friendly town. i also have the luxury of a 7 day pass for the temples, of which they are many (see pics), my favourites are the bayon, preah khan and ta prohm. Angkor wat is the biggest but by no means the most interesting. In total there are about 10 major temples, which individually would probably be the star tourist attraction in most countries if they were elsewhere. so safe to say angkor is well endowed. having said that, it is easy to get temple fatigue (N.A.F.T.), despite their magnifigence. but since i have a 7 days pass i can get them in small doses over the week. some people ive met are at it from dawn to dusk on a 1 day or 3 day pass, which especially in this tropical heat is obviously going to lead to distress..

the best transport to and between the various sites here is by tuk tuk, which in cambodia is a small 2 seater trailer crudely hooked onto the back of a moped. i spent a lot of time searching for the most good looking driver. but i have to tell you to beware of '"bait and switch'", a tactic used in many tourist services in asia, including buses and boats, but this time it was my tuk tuk driver. as in the morning my well sought after good looking english speaking driver had been switched to his less than charming older alleged brother!!!

i was here in january 2004, it was mine and ekks first stop in what turned out to be our 7 month tour of SE asia that year. so needless to say while ive walking around the temples on my own ive been thinking a lot about that time and ekk....... (thats when i haven't been trying to run the guantlet of the all too numerous gruesome asian tour groups!) We did it in 3 days then, but this 2nd time round ive seen a lot more. believe it not, the first time i went to the Bayon temple (famous for its 216 huge stone carved faces), i didnt even notice them !!!!( i must have been too concerned with the heat and getting pics of me and ekk, i dont know!) one thing remains the same from 2004, and that is the constant shouts as you emerge from the temples from about 8 competing cute kiddies asking '"buy cold drink from me sir"?!

prior to coming here i spent 2 days on the cambodian coast, though coming from thailand, it seemed a bit lacklustre.. after that took a bus to phnom penh, spent 4 days there, mainly getting ittritated by the constant motobike and taxi touting which accompanied my every move (you get asked about every 10 seconds if you want a motobkike or tuk tuk...). there is also a lot of poverty and squalour there, which often is just a stride away from good french brasseries...

it also is the best place ive seen for the range of copy dvds, they had everything, from complete box sets of "'THE GOOD LIFE'' to the latest action movies...

from phnom penh i took the 23 US dollar boat rather than the 6 US dollar bus. the boat travels from right outside the hotels and guesthouses on phnom phenh's riverfront, up the TONLE SAP river and lake to within 15km of siem reap town. it was a choppy but scenic 6 hour ride, it grounded a few times as we approached siem reap, due to low dry season river levels. Though it surprisingly had rained the night before, leaving the dirt road to siem reap from the dock a muddy quagmire. it resulted in me having to help push my own tuk tuk in ankle deep stinking mud!!

i am staying at a rather flirty gay owned and staffed guesthouse here in siem reap called 'eight rooms'. its very nice for the cheap price they ask, ie 10 us dollars, would have to pay twice that for something similar in thailand, 10 us dollars is about 400 thai baht, which would get you the thatched bambo hut i stayed in on koh chang. rustic huts are ok if you dont mind frogs in the shower and a rat floating in the toilet bowl when you get up in the pitch dark night to go to the loo!!!! (it happened!) also part of the wooden ceiling collapsed when i jumped up to mend the mosquito net... but that was then..

now in siem reap, i have been pleasantly surprised how many obvious gays there are here working in the many tourist restaurants and bars. most of them are impossibly charming. there are even 2 proper gay bars! since 2004 this place has been booming...

i also have visited the new the new angkor musuem. it only opened last week and it still is not fully completed. the paint is still drying! it was very big on style, but short on info, like so many modern musuems...

on saturday im travelling by boat to the city of battambang, just across the tonle sap lake, never been there before. will stay there 2 nights then from there head for the thai border at poipet on monday. from there it is a 6 hour train ride into the centre of bangkok, where i shall await the arrival of my mother for her first thai holiday....

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Photos

SERENDIPITY BEACH
SIKHOUNVILLE, CAMBODIA

ON THE EXPRESS BOAT UP THE TONLE SAP.
ON THE WAY TO SIEM REAP

A FEW OF THE 216 STONE FACES
THE BAYON, ANGKOR THOM, ANGKOR

INNERTERRACE OF THE LEPER KING
NOT DISCOVERED UNTIL 1998. ANGKOR THOM, ANGKOR

THE MONEY SHOT AT TA PROHM TEMPLE
ANGKOR

PREAH KHAN TEMPLE
ONE OF MY FAVOURITE SITES AT ANGKOR

CUTE LOCAL KID SELLING POSTCARDS, WEARING MY HAT..
TA SOM TEMPLE, ANGKOR