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Published: April 26th 2019
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We arrived at Siem Reap in the evening. I went to my host (Dee and his girlfriend Thida) and they were waiting for me with dinner. That was a nice way to arrive. After a while I found out that Dee is a chiropractor and that he helped many people with problems that others couldn't. Just by looking at your movements or at body parts like the face or feet he can tell you about the problems you have inside your body. I told him about my scoliosis and that it's so bad that I don't think anyone can help me with it. He told me he could give it a try. We would have to do 3 treatments a day for a week. Anyway I would have to wait for my card to come and I wouldn't lose anything by giving him a try to fix my back.
The first day I was trying to get a hold on my bank. First by emailing, then they told me to contact them online by chat and there they told me to call them and they then told me I should contact my office in Playa Blanca. In the end they
couldn't help me and I had spend all day and a lot of money on phone charges just to end up being frustrated. There was no way they could send a new card to Asia.
Now I had to find another way to get money, because I had not much cash left. First we got the idea to send money from my account to Dee's and then go to the ATM to take it out. To transfer money from my bank to his would cost a lot though, so that wasn't an option. Eventually my dear sister was able to help me. I would transfer money to her (within europe there's no transfer fees) and she would then send it through Western Union. Sending it to Cambodia would be more expensive than sending it to Thailand, so I would stay until the 7th to finish the treatment and then go to Thailand.
In Siem Reap it was very hot and it's nowhere near the sea or a lake, so I have to be honest and tell you that I've spend most of my time in Dee & Thida's airconditioned home.
One day, Thida took me for a little
tour. First we stopped at a small buddhist temple where people leave offers like flowers (lotus usually), food (mostly fruit, but there was a pig amongst the things too) and scent sticks. After that we went to a lotus farm. There are many of those in Siem Reap and I guess because many people use them to pay respect or to offer to Buddha. What I didn't know was that after the flower drops its leaves and the centre turns green, you can eat the seeds from the pod. We bought a few so I could taste them. They don't have a strong taste, but are said to be very healthy to eat.
After visiting the farm we went for lunch at a local restaurant. From there you could see some men working. If I understood it well, they pumped out the water so they could catch the fish. I made a short video of that process and they saw that we were watching them. After a while, one of them came with 2 lotus flowers that he took from the water for us. It was so nice! So for the men who don't believe this: all girls love flowers
(even the ones that say they don't) and you can put a smile on their face just by gifting them one.
That same day, the power had been off all day and was supposed to come back on around 17:00h, but it wasn't. It was getting dark and we couldn't put on the lights or charge any device. Since Dee had to go for a visa run the next day, he needed his phone to be charged, so we went hunting the city for a place that had power. We found a very fancy coffee shop with light, where we had a very nice frappé and a banana cake to share. About half an hour later, Dee got a text from the landlord that the power got back on and we went back home.
The next day Dee was gone and Thida and I just chilled at home most of the day. Before it got dark we went to get some street food. I got a sort of omelet filled with veggies and a few mini pancakes (sort of poffertjes) made from rice. We also took a walk through the Pub street before going back home.
Then the
day arrived when I finally went to visit Angkor Wat (the main attraction of the city). I had made a group on the couchsurfing website to ask if anyone wanted to join me. It would be cheaper to share a tuk tuk and it's nicer than going alone I think. a Girl from Asia and a guy from Poland joined me on this adventure. We left at 4:00h in the morning to be able to see the sunrise. We also thought it would be a bit more quiet because it would be too early for most people. We were wrong. There were already very long ques at the ticket counters. One entree ticket costs $37 for 1 day. I would have regretted it if I wouldn't have gone, but in my opinion it's not worth that much.
The driver took us to different temples and it was nice. He was very friendly and told us a lot about all the temples. Some were really crowded, others not so much. It was very hot though, so at one point we enjoyed riding the tuk tuk more then walking through the temples and climb all those stairs.
Of all the temples I
liked the Bayon temple the most. It was very detailed and really well kept. It was impressive to see the heads carved out of the stones. The Ta Prohm temple (the "Tomb Raider" temple) was a bit disappointing. It was overcrowded and the famous building with the tree growing through it wasn't surrounded by forest or anything, like it did in my imagination. Instead, they built a wooden walkway with a fence all around it.
All together I had a good day and I was glad that I went to see it.
On the 7th I left Siem Reap and Cambodia. Due to my money problem I wasn't able to travel any further. I would have liked to explore more of the south and some islands, but it's ok. I had a nice time with Dee & Thida, they were really nice hosts. I'm not 100% sure if the treatments on my back helped. If I look in the mirror, there is still a bump in my back, although it seems to have reduced a lot. Maybe it's the muscle that is much stronger on one side than the other that forms the bump? If I follow my spine
using my fingers it feels way straighter too, but I can't really see it and people I will meet from now won't know how it was before. I will have to wait until I'm back home and ask the ones who do. Probably I'll get an xray taken to compare it with the old one. It would be really nice if it did help!
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