To farewell Koh Chang we got to meet a baby monkey which had been chilling out next door to our Thai mums hostel. It was so tiny and so cute and playing the puppies. Not something you see every day.
Arriving in Cambodia on the other hand a different relationship is taken on with dogs. They are not afraid to admit they eat them (not that they don’t have pet ones too though). This piece of information was provided to us by our super chatty guide for the first day of Angkor Wat and the surround temples.
 |
| Me at the border crossing |
Before I get to ahead of myself, a few words on the trip from Koh Chang Island (Thailand) to Siem Reap (Cambodia). This was my second ever over land border crossing. The experience was nothing short of horrible. We were signed with a company to get us all the way from point a to point b, which included them taking our passports and sending us to the border to wait for them. It all worked out fine and legit, but I wasn’t a happy camper. Lots of waiting and mucking around and such.
Siem Reap greeted us with the most flash hotels I have ever seen in one place. I get the felling this city only still exists because of the temples (and the money brought it by the crazy amounts of tourists). The people are still really nice though (no matter how insistent to sell you something).
Day one of the temples we headed to Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm. We started the day later than recommended as we were too tired from the travel – but shelling out for a guide was totally worth it. He filled the day with facts, stories and jokes. He has been a monk for two years himself so he could share his knowledge on religion and history (as they have to study to be a guide). He thanked us for choosing to come to Cambodia and sharing our money with the people here.
 |
| Me getting my future told at Angkor Wat (the guide translated it for me) | | |
It sounded like someone had shaken a bottle of coke and it had burst, but no, it was our tyre. Once he had recovered from the shock (and Spike had helped push the tuk tuk down the road) our guide took us to some street stalls where we ate deep fried kumera and money was exchanged with another tuk tuk driver to get us to the next temple while the driver went to fix the tyre. I played a counting with two little girls who could speak a little bit of English. There is a big range in what English the children speak here. Some can only speak what they need to know to sell some things and others speak as well as a native speaker would at their age. As it is anywhere is always sad to see the children put out to work (e.g. sell post cards to tourists) who are taught only what they need to know and have no idea what they are really saying. In their minds it is probably just a way to make money so they don’t get in trouble when they go home.
 |
| Our flat tyre and one of the little girls I played counting with |
Day two was a late start, after Spike logged onto online banking to discover his credit card had been stolen and was being exercised in Bangkok. The bank was great though and all his money has been refunded. He headed way out of town to a couple of the more far away temples Kbal Spean (a 1500m walk into the jungle for ‘underwater’ temples) and Bankeay Srei (impressive amount of detail). We finished off with the land mine museum, which was an interesting experience. To understand that people are still suffering and being injured. Getting a bit further away from Siem Reap was nice. It took about an hour and half to get out to the first temple, so we got to see a bit more of the ‘real’ Cambodia and people going about their normally daily lives. Children biking to and fro m school, trackers transporting wood for homes and people pumping water from wells.
 |
| Sunrise |
Day three was an early start (4:30) for the sunrise at Angkor Wat and then straight back to chill out for the day. Our tuk tuk driver from the day before was waiting for us as promised and we were back for breakfast not long after 8. It was really nice, but not overly draw droppingly amazing. The crowds were pretty horrible too, every man for himself – getting in the way of peoples photos and such. Some people even ran round the front – so would have been in like 2000 peoples photos. Luckily we were there early enough to get a good spot, with the help of a boy (aged about 7 or 8) who took us in with his torch telling us all about crocodiles and things (and of course selling coffee) and showing us the good place to be to see the 5 towers.
No comments:
Post a Comment