Siem Reap Town

... as arranged. Great service!

We took a “rest day” to see how M was going to do after his tummy upset and all seemed fine. Then it was time to hit the temple trail.

There are a number of temples spread out over several km so a tuk-tuk seemed like a good idea and we armed ourselves with a shiny new guidebook to “Ancient Angkor” so as not to get lost on our tour and the next day we negotiated a day rate to take us ...

... attempting to sell us books and bracelet etc. This time though, instead of just groups of kids they are landmine victims and it's just horrifc. It bring to the forefront of my mind that not so long ago at all this country was in the depths of war and to this day has a long way to go. It's heartbreaking as there is nowhere to look, and why should we look away anyway. Westerners have no idea of the hell that other people like you or I face in the lives, their everyday lives ...

... starting point.

During my first day of visit I saw Angkor Wat and Angkor Thon, they're fairly close to each other and very similar but I have to confess that Angkor Wat caused a much deeper impression. may be because it was my very first sight of such magnificent ruins.

Tomorrow I'm going to Banteai Srey, which is a relatively long way from my base camp in Siem Reap.
Ciao!
Omar

... to Prah Kot (sacred ox statues, and nearby scale models of all the ruins) and finally the impressive Bakong ruins, with sweet elephant statues. Danny made the mistake of favouring one of the vendor children by buying an Angkor beer from "Emma", excluding all the others... they had a fit over it. Beer + cruising tuk tuk - stinking hot weather = positive net comfort.

Side note: driving along the roads here, you notice road side stands with racks of a ...

... walled city with large multi-faced entrance gates. There were yet more gigantic stone faces at Bayon Temple. One book suggested we count to get an exact number of staring eyes, but I was happy to trust Lonely Planet’s count of 216. At every temple we visited, there were groups of children selling food, drinks and souvenirs. In near perfect English they would follow us, calling out ‘Lady, where you from? America. The ...

... tuk home ... there was water and flooding everywhere.
It then rained all night ... and all day today ... so the flooding is now even worse!
We left for Angkor Wat at 8.30am instead of our scheduled 4.30am ... and unfortunately it rained all day - so our photos won't be great.
Its an amazing place though ... most of it from the 10th and 12th centuries ... so pretty impressive.
Guess we'll just have to buy postcards of the nice sunrise pics!
Wasn't too impressed when ...

... He couldn't produce the visa so we began to question if this was the correct office. It's at this point that i noticed "Cambodian Embassy" had been scrawled in black spray paint on the wall in front of us. We thought it best to hold onto our cash for the minute. After initially being jovial the embassy official turned on us somewhat. He put our passports in the draw of the desk and said sternly that ...

Ore 9.00 am, e' ora di ripartire, destinazione Siem Riep (228 Km), la citta' in prossimita' del sito archeologico di Angkor. Ore 15.00 arrivo e sistemazione. Nel tardo pomeriggio, facciamo un giro al mercato centrale coperto evitando cosi' la pioggia iniziata all'improvviso. In seguito il giro prosegue tra le bancarelle del mercato notturno. Notiamo qualcosa di mai ...

... idea where is Ta Prohm, check out Tomb Raider. It's the filming location of Tomb Raider (starring Angelina Jolie) back in year 2001 ...

... Lighting QIC logo.



My room. Nice isn't it.



Tomorrow we will be ...