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Published: November 6th 2008
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Hello there. SO since last time I blogged we got on the long bus journey to Siem Reap. First we stopped at Phnom Penh to change buses and then on to Siem Reap. It had been really wt that day and the bus driver though it would be a great idea to stop the bus in the middle of a massive puddle so everyone got wet and it was almost impossible to find your luggage in the dark...good start eh? Finally we got our bags and got in a tuk tuk to a guest house nearby. Our tuk tuk driver exlpained that he really wanted to take us somewhere he knew so we would book him to take us to the temples in a couple days, fair enough we thought, but we didnt let him stop till he found us a good room for $6 and finally he did. The next day we just decided to have a chill out day, maybe check out some markets but mainly laze around. But our hotel guy told us that if you go the Bakheng mountain, which is just past Angchor Wat, after 5pm it was free if you bought a ticket for the
next day. Here you could watch the sunset. So we got a tuk tuk there and walked up the hill, it was incredible and also incredibly popular, there were people everywhere but we ended up finding a really good spot to watch the sun go down (mainly to the tune of Jay singing 'dont let the sun go down on me', awesome). SO that got us really excited about the next day, going o Angkor Wat.
The next morning we got picked up by our tuk tuk dude at 7am and off we went to Angkor Wat. The first thing that strikes you is the amazing moat around it and the bridge to it. Once inside the gates we hired a guide which was definately worth it as otherwise we would have just been taking pictures and strolling around not knowing what anything meant. Especially the carvings in the wall, he explained what they all meant which was really interesting. He took us to places where we could get great angles of Angkow Wat and also took some really good pics of both me and Jay, one in paticular with Angkor Wat and its reflection in the water in
the background. I'm finding it a bit hard to explain really but it really was incredible being at such an old building an the largest religious building in the world! One thing that did strike me was that Cambodia sold Angkor Wat to a Vietnamse private company so the country don't get a penny from it, just anoher showing of a corrupt asian governent.
So after Angkor Wat we got back in our Tuk tuk and of the the next set of temples, this area was called the Bayon. In here we went to a few temples including one where here are loads of faces carved into the Wat, sopose to be faces of the king at the time looking over everyone. There was also a temple called the temp of the elephants which was pretty cool. After every few temples we would get back in the tuk tuk and go to the next one. Out of the rest that we saw one stood out the most, Ta Phrom or otherwise known as the temple in the jungle. It was incredibe, like the name suggests in was in the middle of the jungle and was overgrown my trees that
seemed to growing out of the walls like I've never seen before. It was almost like some sort of fantasy world. After that we asked the tuk tuk driver to take us to somewhere we could eat, he took us to this resaurant that was quite expensive and obviously where all tuk tuk drivers take westerners. We left A becaus it was expensive and B because we wanted to go somewhere more authentically Cambodian, he warned us westerers can get bad stomaches but we went for it anyway. So after one last temple he took us to this jungle family and they cooked us up some sort of yellow rice made pancake with bean sprouts and mini river shrimps rolled up in it, then you dip that into a peanut/chilli sauce, it was delicious. The family was really nice too, even if all the little girls were almost crying laughing watching us try to eat like they were.
So after our meal with the jungle family we were all templed out after an amazing day and went back to our hotel. That night we booked the boat to Battambang for the next day as after you see Angchor Wat
there's not alot to do in Siem Reap. One more thing about Siem Reap, we went out for a few beers that night and there's this bar called...ÁNGKOR WAT???...get it?! AWESOME! There we drank Angkor beer, the Asians really know how to get the most from their attractions!
So the next morning we got up at 6am and got picked up for the boat to Battambang. We had heard from friends that it was a great thing to do and read it was the most scenic waterway in Cambodia so we went for it. The ride was amazing, we went trough so many villages where all the houses were built on stilts in the river, there were shops, schools, temples etc. all in these small river villages. It was really hard to contemplate life on the river, having to get a boat everywhere you go but it was incredible to see. I was very thankful the weather was nice because there were o many people on the boat including 5 monks that al had seats ofcourse, but becasue the weather was good, we sat on the roof and soaked up the sun, brilliant. On the way we went through
some mebtal bits where I really thought we were going to capsize, it was scary but in a exciting buzz kind of way. We went into these branches at a few points and I got a lash on my back which looks like i've been whipped ha! The whole boat trip was fantastic though and a really good experience, I even had a Buddhist mink affectionatly tug at my beard (which I have now had shaved off, sorry Mr Elkins and Mr Morrison)! The boat had to stop a bit far away from Battambang though as water levels had risen and the boat couldn't get under the upcoming bridges, this meant me and Jay had to get on one moto bike with both our big bags on...I don't even know how we did it but I do know it freakin' hurt! After getting messed around for a bit at hotels and me snapping at a guy who pushed me to far, we finally found a decent place to stay. Thers's not alot to do in Battambang so after a couple nights we are off to Thailand. We are going to a different border than mos travelers so it could be
interesting but we're looking forward it it.
We've only been in Cambodia for around 2 weeks but it was been really good and very diverse, from the bustling city of Pnom Penh, to the lively beaches of Sihanoukville, to the incredible temples of Angkor and finally to the amazing river villages leading to Battambang. Cambodia has been great but we're looking forward to getting to Thailand and Koh Samet. I've got soooo many pics to put on so hopefully this computer wil be a nice little computer and behave. Speak to you soon. x
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