Siem Reap - Cambodia

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Welcome to Cambodia people! Siem Reap is the town nearest to the Angkor Temples so here I am! Well its pretty wild compared to the well ordered Malaysia and the touristy Thailand. Clouds of dust fill the streets, small children work all hours of the days trying to shift nick nacks to the tourists, drugs are offered blatantly in the street (hey sir, you wan cocaine and lady? er, can I have a lady made out of cocaine? apparently not), tuk tuk drivers are like vultures to those new in town laden with backpack. Man its got atmosphere!

Went out to the temples yesterday with an Aussie guy called Grant (told ya, you cant get rid of em) - cool geezer. We did 3 of the biggies on bicycle. First up was the famous Angkor Wat (its on the cambodian flag). Not sure I'll do it justice in words, but the whole feel of the place was very special, very still and timeless almost, even with the crazy japanese and their massive camera fetish. Best check out the photos to get the idea! (if I could upload them...my IT is failing me!) We then did the Bayon, the one with the massive carved faces, and then moved on to the one I have been looking forward to most - Ta Prom (this is the one were they filmed some of Tomb Raider. It was amazing, a grand battle between nature and the creation of man. Huge trees have somehow merged with the temple stones creating a surreal sight. I felt like Indiana Jones, and just had to buy the little bamboo mouth organ thing that I saw a guy playing.

Phew, we did a lot of cycling, about 25 miles probably, but Siem Reap is not as humid and hot as Bangkok thankfully. Bangkok was a furnice, siemp reap is merely gas fire! The ride back into town was hairy to say the least. No lights on our bikes and its now dark with heavy traffic. Of course we have to handle cycling on the right side too. Motorbikes swerving everywhere, tuk tuks beeping their horns and barging through. Well Grant was lucky not to get knocked off a couple of times - a motorbike pulled out of a side street without looking and just missed him. Oh and just to make things trickier some motorcylclists feel its ok to ride of the wrong side of the road straight at you!

After that we needed a drink. So off to 'Angkor What?' bar. I heard this was the kickin place to go (you all know I am major party animal - er not). Well it was pretty sedate for the 1st hour, but after a bucket of vodka red bull we hit the dance floor! the place was rockin by 11, placked with party people and everyone dancing. One more bucket along and I am trashed so we head off about 2. I scored some weed in the street too (I was wasted afterall!) for 4 dollars - it looks pretty good too.

So hungover today, i didnt get up til about 12! Probably head to angkor to see the sunset in a bit if I can muster up the energy - may right the day off. I am on holiday afterall 😊

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Photos

Backflip kid
this little kid did 1 dollar back flips for us!