Siem Reap

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Ok you lucky readers, we have managed to find an internet 5mins walk from our beach hut instead of the hours plus walk internet we found the other day!! Phew for us - more time on the beach!!! So without further ado here goes for the next update!! Sihanoukville to Siem Reap .....

..... Our bus trip was eventful as ever. The first five hours to Phnom Penh saw us suffering the aroma of dead and rotting fish - how nice. On arriving on the outskirts of Phnom Penh we ground to a halt in ever increasing traffic. Pensive looks towards eachother and our watches saw that we had about forty minutes left before boarding our connecting bus. This really didn't help our troubled minds when once clear of the traffic our bus ground to a halt (read - broke down). We sat for a further 20 minutes or so while they thankfully managed to sort out the problem. Finally we got back to the office where we originally started from. Once off the bus we were ushered over to the next waiting bus for Siem Reap. Having got to it and parting with our tickets, the guy dissapeared into the distance, we were then informed by someone else that this wasn't the bus for Siem Reap afterall. None to impressed we headed into the office along with lots of others. We were then taken back to the bus that we had just got off!! It was now going to Siem Reap - could it get anymore confusing!!

As it wasn't leaving for another forty minutes David headed off to get something to eat - well it was now 1.00am and we hadn't eaten since the night before! The destination being a KFC five minutes around the corner. As he set off, so did our bus. After a split second of thinking I'll call after him, I realised that this was not an option and hopped on board the moving bus to be with our luggage - well someone had to be there for it!! We slowly drove round the block and various corners and various more blocks for about the next fifteen minutes. We returned back at the office but there was no David in sight. We set off again. This time we didn't cover as many blocks, and sensing that time was drawing nearer to move off, I began to get a little worried. Then as we headed out towards the main road I spotted David sauntering back, KFC bag in one hand and a Coke in the other. Then began the international hand signs out of the very small window from me, saying something to the effect of - it's me at the end of this arm poking out of the six inch gap of a window, this is our bus, stop casually admiring the view and drinking your ice cold coke, get on this bus!!! Somehow it worked (I must have had plenty of practice over the last nine months!) and he oh so casually boarded the bus, with a look of 'hey what's up?' over his face!!!

Thankfully the rotting fish smell had gone and we had moved seats to those of the broken variety! We were sat over the air con unit which made the floor and side of the bus so hot I couldn't put my feet down. I moved from dangling my legs over the arm rest, over David and over my rucksack and spent seven very uncomfortable hours like this. We stopped many times en route, for breaks and to pick up lots of locals on unscheduled stops!!! On one stop David decided he would try a local delicacy - Tarantula! It was crispy and black, its friends were alive (not sure how much longer for) in the bucket next to us!! I declined the offer and stuck to the fresh pineapple - the hair on the bbq'd spiders finished it for me!

We arrived in Siem Reap in the dark and it instantly reminded us of India - it did get better. We were met off the bus by the bus reps who were trying to get us to wait in a particular area away from our bags. This is a no no as you want to get to your bags before anyone else does! They won in the end and thankfully our bags made it to us aswell. We had two days here and our first day saw us doing an awful lot of nothing as David wasn't too well - no honestly it wasn't the tarantula. However, the next day saw us heading off to the temples. First was Angkor Wat - this is the big one. We crossed via a long causeway effectively over a moat. This led us through a gateway and onwards upto the actual temple itself. It was blisteringly hot even at 10.00am and we were glad to find some shade in the temple itself. There is a 55m tall tower surrounded by smaller towers which are interconnected by galleries and alcoves all containing carvings, reliefs and sanscript. Very spectacular and very impressive. However it didn't quite do it for us - so to speak. When we headed off and covered some of the other temples we were far more impreesed. We entered the area of Angkor Thom which is guarded by a bridge of buddhas all facing you. We would have stopped to take photos but the heavens had opened and it we would have been soaked in seconds. We climbed up into the temple of Bayon. Here you are met by 216 huge carved heads of Avalokiteshvara. They are superb and serene. This as with the remaining temples we visited were now set in the jungle. With dark and brooding skies, thunder rolling aournd we were in a natural theatre playing out to us - very magical. Again like all the temples they are just covered in carvings. We headed onwards to Baphoun which is currently under restoration but near here is the terrace of elephants. This is a 300m long terrace which was originally topped with wooden pavillions. Bas reliefs of elephants adorn the terrace and again are super. We then visited Ta Prohm. Discovered about 100 years ago little has changed and the jungle is now being carefully left to consume the temple. The huge tree roots are growing in and over the walls and provide a truly surreal landscape. Narrow and dark walkways lead you into the temple and around every corner you can't help but go 'wow'.

The whole are is a mass of temples and we have done little justice to the area in the little time we have had here - there is far more to see and far more greater experiences I am sure.

Just to add we have had a couple of obscure moments here.

First we spied some american guys peering at the ground. On approaching them they declared they were looking at the biggest grasshopper out. Well as soon as I saw it and they had moved on I told David that actually it was a Praying Mantis! We watched this very fine specimen for some time until an american girl approached us and said 'wow a butterfly' - I kid you not, I speak the truth! We had to leave!!

Secondly we naturally stopped for a drink and were besieged by many children selling tat. One girl repeated to us 'just one dollar, I give you peace and quiet' and a lad of about four years old kept saying to us 'one dollar' ....... one dollar ........... one dollar........ one dollar ........ one dollar ........ one dollar ..... one dollar .... you are fed up after five seconds, imagine us after half an hour!!

Oh well can't say much else for Siem Reap as our next stop was Kualar Lumpar ..... I shall be moving to another internet to update the blog for that one!!

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