Arun Guest House Siem Reap

... are melting over it. It's a cool place but overrun with tourists.
We then stopped at a Khmer place for lunch - great spicy soup and terrific amok. Then headed home for a nap.
Greeted with the news that Sammi (our dog) had been taken to the pound after escaping. Stressful having to deal with that.
Kids woke very late so we decided to forgo the rest of the Angkor complex today. We decided to hit the Night Market. Immediately, we found the kissing ...

... look where you walk, shuffling your feet may cause you to trip.There are many obstacles to avoid on the walkways and overhead.

This is not the only building in the whole complex.There are many others,quite a distance from each other and you need either a car or hire a tuk-tuk to take you around to all the places like The Bayon,Terrace of Elephants,The Baphuon and those temples around Angkor Thom.

Phnom Bakheng is the place I made a mistake to ...

... the other end of the hall. She then led me to her office, a small travel company, and kindly changed my kip into dollars. Lovely. I walked back through immigration, arousing suspicion until they recognised me, had my bag scanned, again, presumably in case I'd used my five minute absence to load it full of banned items, then took a seat once more. A few minutes later the flight was called, and we were once again on the plane. Another hour, and we were at Siem ...

While in Angkor at the Citadel for Women a small group of men and one woman were playing music to raise money for prosthetic limbs. Whenever I am out I think of my friend Allen from yoga and his percussion group from CCM. There is a street in Hanoi full of shops with all manner of traditional Vietnamese musical instruments and one day I'll get down there and check them all out. But today it was all about this little group in ...

... safety logos and contract not to be part of people trafficking operations as this guesthouse does, and as did Boddhi Tree in PP.

Anyhow, the President of South Korea was in town and the streets were emptied of traffic.There was a heavy police presence and a young lad on a moped hadn't slowed down in time and consequently ran into a blockage. At that point the nearest cop bonked him on the head with his baton. It wasn't hard but I ...

... your price then, or they won't. Usually they do. The secret is to not care if you get it or not. They all speak English, so no worries. If they do meet your price, be sure you buy it. It's considered very rude to have them come down to your desired price, then you walk away without purchasing it.

Restaurants and shops all accept American dollars, or the Riel. The American dollar is the unofficial currancy of Siem Reap. It ...

... dirt road. I saw crowds of people lining the streets dressed in rags with empty, desolate, somber, sullen looks in their eyes. All I could really think to myself was that this country witnessed some of the worst acts of genocide in human history. I figured that these looks were the result of a society that just survived the Pol Pot regime and I wonderd if Poland had these same looks when my parents were young...

We drove through parts of town which had ...

... to the next, we were constantly met with little kids running up to us trying to sell all types of goods; bracelets ("miss? 3 for a dollar?"), bangles, water, tea, flutes, etc etc. It was constant. Became a little tiresome saying no all the time to all the puppy-dog eyes. Got to the point where Mark did a runner on me. Thanks for that. But they are persistent, I'll give them that!
After a full-on day of hot and total sweaty ...

... we finally reached Ta Prohm. This is the parking space where the locals sell souvenirs and handicrafts.



The symbolic ...

There used to be a time, twenty or thirty years ago, when the uniquely magnificent temple complex of Angkor Wat enjoyed the unpressurized luxury of being unknown and virtually unheard of. Then, it was perhaps an adventure in itself getting to the place as well as being able to see it. Sadly, this novelty has since very much degenerated, particularly today when legions of buses are conveniently laid-on to wheel-in half the world's tourists. Its over ...