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Published: November 30th -0001
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After booking myself into some fresh new accommodation semi-close to the town centre of Siem Riep I hired myself a motobike driver for the day to transport me around the Angkor Wat Temples. This was essential as the ruins are very spaced out over 3000 square km's in places. Obliviously I wouldn't get to see all of them but I planned to get the main ones in.
My first stop was at the 12th century architectural masterpiece Angkor Wat, the one you always see reference to in pictures. From the pictures I'd seen before coming it always looked stunning but to see it with your own eyes is a sheer pleasure, and that's just seeing it now, in it's heyday it must have been quite the spectacle.
In several parts of the complex where it is dark the strong smell of ammonia is present and if you listen carefully you can hear bats squeaking from above, also the walls being caked in guano was another clear sign. Another clear sign being me shining a torch on them and scaring the guano out of them.... I had a point to prove to myself so it had to be done.
After a couple of hours checking out Angkor Wat I was already starting to feel a bit like Lara Croft, or maybe I should say Indiana Jones. My next move was a couple of miles north of Angkor Wat to the last capital of the Angkor era 'Angkor Thom'. And this is where things went a bit tits and a bad thing happened.
My camera had been playing up on and off for sometime now on my travels and after being at Angkor Thom for just several moments it decided to finally give up the ghost. Which was really shitty as throughout the day I Kept coming across some great little Kodak Moments. I would have to look for a replacement when I reach the capital Phnom Penh the following day.
This didn't put a damper on things to much though as I still got to encounter some fantastic sights and eat one of the worst meals ever. I hadn't had any breakfast and by the time high noon came into effect I was Starving Marvin. So I got my driver to stop off at some stalls at the side of the road. One thing that is 100
times more immense in Cambodia are the hawkers, they come running from miles off and surround you to the point where you can barely move. All trying to sell you food, drink, books, bracelets, sarongs, scarves, towels, you name it! I know they are desperate for the money but it really does become a bit of a pain in the arse after a while as it never stops, it's just constant.
After finally wading my way through the ocean of hawkers I made it to a food stall where I opted for a rather safe sounding chicken and rice and as with many experiences in Asia so far .... I couldn't have been more wrong! The rice part was alright it was just the chicken bit, it was tiny little bits of chicken but it all seemed to consist mainly of little feeble bones with a really really tiny amount of flesh attached. So I wasn't 100% on how you go about eating it. It felt rude to just be spitting bits of bone out considering I was surrounded by about 20 Cambodians. So the only route out was to sneak shards of bone out of my mouth in
a stealth like manor. But this however didn't stop me from occasionally grinding down and swallowing some splintered chicken bone, some of it so uncomfortably sharp, like eating razorblades, not that I eat razorblades but if one was to eat razorblades that is what I would imagine it to feel like. It wasn't a pleasant experience in the slightest and I don't understand how these guys gain any sort of joy from eating it. If all Cambodian food was going to match up to this then I'm afraid it would strictly have to be a burger and chips diet until I get to Vietnam.
Throughout the day I visited many other temples, one that particulary stuck out was that of Ta Phrom. Sadly no photo's but basically this ruin had been left to let nature take it's toll around it and was condensed in vegetation and giant trees were growing through the stonework splitting parts of the temple apart, very impressive.
I had a curious moment at one ruin where some Cambodian guy who spoke barely containable English began to reel off some distorted facts off to me. Once he had finished he said 'Maybe a tip sir?'
Headless Buddha
Apparently when the Khmer Rouge kicked off they were responsible for the beheadings of many of the stone buddhas dotted about the temples. So I handed him a couple thousand Riel which I thought would have been sufficient for the 40 seconds worth of noise he gave me considering it only costs 3000 Riel for a 10 minute motorbike ride around town. But alas the next comment to come fourth was 'Maybe 4000 sir?'
and then it went a little something like this:
Daniel: 'Oh....err...ok then' (handed him another couple of thousand like a sucker)
Cambodian Temple Guy: 'Hmm...maybe a dollar?'
Daniel: 'PFFTTT....NO!'
What a pisstaker!
Bar the camera incident though it was a great place to have visited. There's still plenty of temples I didn't get to see but it is possible to get 3 and 5 day passes. I decided as opposed to having another day or two here that I would put my funds towards The Bokor National Park in the South East of Cambodia. I'll save the other temples for another point in time.
As I finished up my day I found myself with a craving for a game of Tomb Raider, a craving that is going to have to wait another 4 or so months to be fore filled.
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Daniel Van Veluwen
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FUCKEN A mate!
FUCKEN A mate!