Monoreach Angkor Siem Reap

... the plastic, where they are caught for eating."

Okay, maybe not like rural Hawaii.

I know I can't see the houses that can't afford lights at night. Or those that keep farmers' hours and go to sleep very early and rise very early. I am aware that there is abject poverty here. I don't know what I'll wake up to.

Finally we reach my hotel. An oasis. So beautiful. For now, home.

... we stepped into a "Free Government Bus " that took us to the place of Hell and Friendly Taxi´s !! .." No not Hell......his whole family was there waiting for us in old Mitsubishi´s and Opel´s....Okay we gave in.....I admit he was good.( he good do wonders in Europe ) So we shared a taxi with another Dutch couple and his Uncle brought us to Siem Reap.
Note; In any country in the world you pay a taxi fare from A to B. That is one price. My Brother From My ...

... him to. Nothing fazed him including buffalo, calves running, children screaming សេះ (horse in Khmer, took me ages to find that!) and motorbikes. He had a great canter which came in handy as we rode between the rice paddies where the ground is very undulating. The 3 hour ride was amazing as we were able to ride through small villages and visited a temple where a trainee monk showed me around as Ahang grazed happily. People were so excited and friendly ...

... had many stone piles blocking doors and entrance ways. This temple is less visited and it absolutely stunning. At Angkor Wat, this was my favorite temple.

At all of these temples, the guards give you free rane to go wherever you want and to climb anything you see. Of course this probably isn't the best thing for the temples, but it allows you to see rooms that are not accessible by pathways. I had such a great time here and am sad to leave.

... kings capital city and state temple. It is the most famous of all the Angkor sites, probably due to it's size, but for us, it lacked the character of some of the other smaller temples. With all that said, as you enter through the main gate you eyes are met by a very impressive site. A long stone walkway leads up to the main building, with it's very distinctive three towers, now a national symbol of modern day Cambodia. It is, as I have said, the ...

So it was about time we ran into our first major problem, and yet again it was due to the useless but friendly travel agent that we booked a whole load of stuff with in Thailand. And what a mistake that was.

We had heard pretty bad reviews about Lao airlines, but due to time constraints had decided we would book a plane anyways and save us the trouble of attempting to traverse Southern Laos. So when we got to the rather ramshackle airport ...

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... so next week we are on to naming animals and will be revising age and names!
The fund has picked up 3 street children this week who are not yet into selling books on the street corners, so they are trying to integrate them into the orphanage life. Apparently if the children have started to earn a living they are difficult to integrate and also their family do not want them to stop becoming a source of income. There are a lot of drug problems here and young ...

... cleaner fish. i didnt quite fancy it. there is a street called pub street (exactly as it says on the tin) and dollar street where everything is one dollar. cambodians mainly use US dollars as their currency. we've mainly eaten at street venders as is the cheapest. amaazing food but seem to be having noodles and/or rice for every meal of the day.

went out for drinks and dave the pisshead aussie took us to the quickie mart where we got loads of beers ...

... Wat are approx 900 years old. The city was abandoned after a defeat to the Chamra (Viet) and only rediscovered around 1850 by a French explorer. It has survived the encroachment of the Cambodian jungle, treasure hunters and the destruction at the hands of the Khmer Rouge who seemed bent on killing and destroying anything 'enlightened' in this country from 1975-1979 when the Vietnamese Army defeated them. Our one day tour of the ruins was plenty, if the boys and ...