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Published: March 15th 2010
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Today's the last day of our Angkor adventure, and--true to form--we were up early. For the first time since we got here, the rooster didn't wake me at 4:30am. But he did manage to wake Julie. Stupid bird.
It was a lively ride out to the Rulous Group 13km outside of town. As we rode through the city, we marveled at how in many ways it seems undeveloped--as though time stood still--but then we'd see a sign for wi-fi at a coffee cafe. It's Saturday, market day I guess, and the street is lined with vendors selling everything you can imagine. Motorbikes are parked in long rows. People turn into traffic while balancing large bags of food between them on their motorbikes.
Small towns begin to form between clumps of trees, people looking relaxed and bicycling across the road in front of us. There was a light breeze in the air.
We visited three temples:
Ba Kong
Preah Ko
Lolei
The first temple--my favorite of the day--was Ba Kong. After walking across a bridge with snake railings (the norm here) we arrived at a huge complex in great condition. Many of the carvings were still clear
and not overly weathered. The stairs were big and easy to climb and descend. The views were spectacular. I would have liked to wandered here longer, but Julie was feeling a little templed-out, so we kept going so we could finish in the morning before it got hot.
Next we went to Preah Ko. Not quite as impressive but still nice. The children were out in full force today. (They try to sell you all sorts of things: cold drinks, books, postcards, flutes, bracelets, etc) and Julie kept telling them that _I'd_ like a cold beverage so they'd pester me and not her. I never did buy anything.
Lastly, we went to Lolei, which is located next to a monastery. There were monks everywhere. The structures were a bit disappointing. They're doing restoration, which is great, but it looks like they're creating whole new parts for the temples, ruining the authenticity. Personally, if I'm looking at a temple and thinking, "Wow--look at how great these carvings are after all these years!" the last thing I want to find out is that they're from last year's remodeling work. It's like being lied to.
We headed back to
Bakong
The girl looked like she was sleeping, but rather she's just resting. town, and requested a trip to pub street. We couldn't decide where to eat after reading LP but then I saw a Mexican restaurant and we ran for it. A bucket of margaritas for only $5 was the perfect way to cap off our adventure and celebrate being done climbing all those stairs! Chips and salsa followed, as did a veggie chimichanga. What can I say, it's hard to get Mexican food in China.
We found a bookstore that had a "copy" of LP that I wanted--the Mekong River one. I'd used Margot's earlier in the trip and often found myself wishing I had one after we parted ways. It will come in handy for future adventures. Julie mailed some postcards back to her family. They didn't have any other books we really wanted except the sequel to "First They Killed My Father," but neither of us wanted to spend the money on another photocopied book we couldn't resell.
We got hour-long reflexology foot massages, leaving us with glorious feeling feet in filthy shoes. We wandered the stalls and went to meet our driver... who never showed. He'd sent a friend (the desk clerk) to get us, but
we never saw each other. Luckily--oh, so luckily--there were plenty of tuk-tuks to choose from. What were the odds?
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Elyse
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Viva-Mexican restaurant
LOVE that place. All of our friends went there while in Siem Reap. It was a must and so cheap, great fun.