Day 5 - Siem Reap

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Reason to be in Siem Reap: to visit Angkor Temple Complex, but not today. We spent the whole day by the pool doing NOTHING just reading, sleeping, eating and drinking. We arranged with T to be picked up tomorrow to go to Angkor Complex. In the evening we walked to the city centre and stumbled into the Water Festival. The streets were beautifuly decorated (just like Christmas) and in the middle of the Tonle Sap River there were candles flowing down the river. These candles were adorned with local flowers and offreings such as food, and were placed on the river by families. Some candles would not flow from the river bank so we saw some child 'entrepeneurs' charging a few riels (local currency) to swim them out to the centre of the river. We wondered how they kept their money dry, and all was revealed when a young lad opened his mouth and his money popped out. We were lucky to find these celebrations and glad to have been a part of it. The Water Festival is a tradition that celebrates the rains.

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