Advertisement
Published: February 14th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Face to face
Here I am face to face at Bayon temple I miss Siem Reap. Most of all, I miss the people I met during my short stay there. The temples of Angkor were amazing, but truly, the people are what made my trip memorable.
It's Monday, February 13 (at least it is in Malaysia at the time of my writing!) and I'm in Ipoh, Malaysia. I left Siem Reap, Cambodia yesterday and after one night in K.L., Malaysia, I took a bus to Ipoh, a city on my way to Thailand. This blog entry, however, is primarily about my final days in Siem Reap...
After spending a full day exploring the temples with my tour guide Nak on Thursday and a quick sunrise visit to Angkor Wat on Friday (see previous blog entry), I spent the rest of the day in Siem Reap. The city itself is fairly compact. Although most things are within walking distance, the dust and heat make walking fairly undesirable. Transportation from moto-drivers and moto-trailers is readily available however (I generally paid between .50 to $1 to get to my hotel just outside of town). The dust is partly seasonal (it's dry season) and also from the construction work on many of the roads in
Amok at Abacus
The national Cambodian dish, Amok, at the high-end restaurant Abacus. the city center.
Being a food lover, I tried to check out as many different restaurants as possible. Favorites in Siem Reap include Abacus, Red Piano, and Arun. Abacus is a high-end restaurant with a great atmosphere and decor. It's on the pricey side at $5-$15 per entree (that's expensive here!). Red Piano is very centrally located and a great spot to people watch (the french fries here are amazing). Arun emphasizes Khmer food and is geared more towards locals. It has great food at reasonable prices. Their fish Amok for $3.50 is a bargain considering the large portions.
On Saturday, I used a tour guide named Saroeun (pronounced Saw Ruin). This is a guide that had been recommended to me prior to my arrival but was unavailable until my last day in Siem Reap. He was an excellent tour guide and I enjoyed spending time with him as much as my previous guide Nak.
Saroeun is from a small village near the Mekong River. The village has approximately 200 families living in it (about 500 people). He first went to Phnom Penh to find work as a construction worker but was approached by a businessman who
Saroeun and moto-trailer driver
My tour guide, Saroeun, and the moto-trailer driver (forgot his name!) on Saturday wanted him to work at his guesthouse in Siem Reap. Saroeun accepted but found that the job was not what he had expected. Although he was told he would be paid $40 per month, he was only paid $15 per month. He worked all day, every day. Because he didn't know English or have any contacts, he felt trapped. Eventually he was able to convince his boss to pay for him to take English lessons. This enabled him to pursue other opportunities in the future.
Eventually he became a tour guide at the temples of Angkor. He currently lives near town for free with a friend that owns a house. His younger brother is staying with him also as he learns English. The rest of his family is still in his home town near the Mekong River. I found
Saroeun to be an excellent tour guide, both for his good English language skills and his presentation of the material. On top of that, he appears to be well grounded.
After exploring some temples, I headed into town. I ran into a girl that had sold me postcards on my first day in Cambodia. She is one of many
Siem Reap kids
Kids selling books and postcards to tourists kids that walk the streets trying to sell postcards, books, etc. She's a 14 year old girl with a ready smile. The banter with these kids is interesting. They have learned the tricks of the trade. They usually ask where you are from, and they are almost always able to tell you the capital of your country or state. Sometimes they'll lie and tell you they used to live in your country. Yeah, right! Anyway, after I started talking with this girl, 4 other kids came up to me (all of them 13 or 14 years old). One thing leads to another, and I end up buying a meal for them at a higher-end restaurant in town after negotiating a price with the owner. It was pretty entertaining really. I ended up feeding 5 kids for $10. Pretty cool.
On Sunday, I checked out of my hotel and went to the airport. My Air Asia flight was delayed 2 1/2 hours. No biggie. I arrived in K.L. at about 7:00 p.m., checked into my hotel without any reservation (Katari), and bought my bus ticket (at the bus station across the street) to Ipoh for the following morning.
My
on the bus to Ipoh
A picture of Shira and me on the bus heading towards Ipoh, her hometown. bus ride this morning was a quick 2 1/2 hours where I met a nice Muslim girl named Shira who is in her first year at a university in K.L. She was returning to Ipoh to visit her family for the day.
I've been traveling 39 days and have 28 days left before I return to the U.S. So far this trip really has been amazing. There's been some challenges but that's all part of the adventure. I have met so many people from all over the world. Although my travels have only been in SE Asia, I have developed friendships with people from Canada, U.S., Sweden, Germany, Australia, Holland, Turkey, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, and the Philippines. I feel so alive while traveling.
Ok, I've had 3 Pepsi's at this internet shop (well, 2 of them are Pepsi Ice's since I took the last Pepsi already). It's probably time to move on...
Plus, everybody around me keeps looking over and commenting on my pictures.
Look! There goes Dave!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.24s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 14; qc: 84; dbt: 0.1163s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
John Grubaugh
non-member comment
I had a fun weekend of reading
Dave, I finally found your blog and enjoyed getting caught up on your travels. Very jealous of the days of scuba diving (you should have joined our dive club at Westmont) and James Bond Island (The Man with the Golden Gun is my all time favorite). My prayers are with you. John