Smiles are contagious

---

---

I spent about a week in Cambodia, two full days in and around Phnom Penh, most of a day heading up the Tonle Sap to Siem Reap, and four full days to explore the temples. I enjoy the spicy food, aromatic markets, and crazy cab rides through Bangkok but after merely two days I was glad to be hopping a flight to Phnom Penh. The City is extremely chilled; people watching along the riverside, praying at the Wats, exploring the markets and tasting the strange foods, sketching in the Nat'l Museum or dining on amok, a coconut curry dish with local river-fish served in a coconut and washed down with Angkor beer. One afternoon, a young student moonlighting as a moto driver took me south along Route 2 to Phnom Chisor. What a great little adventure. The kids who live by the old hilltop temple are the most memorable tour-guides I've ever met. I wish I had tipped them better.
To prepare for the trip, I bought a copy of Michael Freeman's Ancient Angkor. I found it immensely helpful in getting the most out of my short time there. It's packed with information, social, mythical and art historical, photography hints, and beautiful pictures and maps to psyche you for the trip and help you remember afterwards. A motodriver met me at the boat dock when I first arrived and helped me to a guesthouse - there are so many I don't think it's necessary to book, even at Xmas. He was great. Everyday, he came and picked me up a half hour before sunrise and took me out to the temples. Typically, I found my way to the sights around 530am, and explored until 1030am, took a break back in Siem Reap or out at the lakeside shacks (on the road that connects Siem reap to the boat) - they serve tasty food for cheap, and it's so relaxing to lay in a hammock and listen to water buffalo munching in the tall grass. I'd return to a new temple in the late afternoon and enjoy the sunset before evening beers and snax with other travellers and the neighbourhood tuktuk drivers. Even if you are super lazy, wake up early and drag yourself to Angkor Wat, plop yourself down in front of the moat and watch the sunrise. It is bloody amazing!

---

Photos

temple roof finial, Imperial Palace
one man's garbage is another man's treasure

icebreaker
I was fortunate to befirend a couple of tuktuk drivers who took me out to a fishing village in the mangrove swamps and tributaries of Tonle Sap, about an hour east of Siem Reap. This little girl was the first in the village to approach me

drying shrimp ( or the boogyman )
the perfect accompaniment to Cambodian beer