Apsara Holiday Hotel Siem Reap

... a tuk tuk around the temples. Everyone else wanted to ride, but as i wanted to see the sun set, and not risk cycling back at night the tuk tuk was the only option for me. As an aside, i've loved how the tuk tuks vary from country to country. You wouldn't think they would but there are big differences. In Thailand, they are like beefed up Robin Reliants but obviously look much cooler. Most have big exhausts on them ...

... out the tuktuk driver proceeded to demand that we pay him to take us to Angkor Wat - we kindly declined but then he went mental! after a bit of a squabble, he stormed out calling us f*cking wh*res! i burst out laughing and thought to myself sarcastly "now i really want to pay you $13 dollars to spend the whole day with your chat! He clearly had winner people skills!

Had some dinner and a few local "anchor beers" before heading to bed!

All in all, an eventful day!

... as their own! Several boats processed past the royal box close to the bank where we were perched, chanting, drumming and cheering in high spirits. From there we retired to a terrace bar, from where we had an excellent view of the last of the races on the river, and the festivities in the crowds filling the streets below. As it grew dark large illuminated barges drifted up and down, and later we ooohed and aaaahed at a fireworks ...

... roh – a 10 hour bus trip with no bathroom? Maybe I shouldn’t have had so much water to drink before leaving this dorm room. This was going to be very interesting.

Around 5am, we stopped at a gas station so that everyone could use the restroom. I had been looking out the window since 4am, scanning the horizon for a rest area but there was nothing but rice fields and buffalo. By the time we arrived at the gas station, I was feeling ...

... had been found, with no real restoration work undertaken, so it is still very much part of the jungle with silk cotton and strangler fig trees now hundreds of years old sprouting from its walls and hallways. With the 4am start we were feeling pretty knackered by lunchtime, and when the heavens opened with us atop Pre Rup temple we decided enough was enough and went back to bed for the afternoon.


Day three started late. We ...

... have been canceled - Quad Adventure (roads flooded), tours to Tonle Sap Lake (still not safe due to uncertainty on the river), "Day in the Life" where you spend a day with a local family (roads flooded), the bird sanctuary, etc.

The poorest of the poor are suffering greatly. Most of the crops other than rice, taro, and lotus have died, and the fruit from the trees were mostly destroyed in the storm. Work is hard to come by for them, especially now.
Siem Reap, Cambodia endlesssea

... it wll be time to head to Laos.

Leah sen heuy!


Et en francais, maintenant:

Tout recommence ... pour vous, pas pour moi !

L'école,
université, le travail, la salle de gym, les cours de musique,
l'académie de peinture ... tout recommence et pour quelques semains,
vous serez bien occupés... surtout les parents,parmi vous ! J'espère
que vous avez tous passé un été merveilleux et vous souhaite à tous
bonne chance ...

... where they are kept in a fenced off area and fed until they are big and fat enough to sell. We think we had overpaid for the boat, but we enjoyed it none the less (despite the sudden downpour as well, that lasted about 5 minutes).

Later that evening we decided to venture to the main area with lots of restaurants. We ended up having a nice meal, but got a lot of hassle from children trying to sell things and people begging.

... level. Luckily I didn't broke the 800-year-old structure...else UNESCO will be sueing me for destroying ...

... she wasn't feeling well so I went down to Mr Som (our driver) to let him know we needed a couple more minutes.

After doing most of the "small loop" temples yesterday I put together an itinerary that will have us hit the other major temples over the next 2 days. We were starting today with Banteay Srei which is 28 kms to the north and then work our way back to Siem Reap by hitting most of the eastern temples on the “big ...