Angkor

Trip Start Jul 27, 2006
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Trip End Ongoing


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Where I stayed
Hilton Hostel
(Siem Reap hotels)

Flag of Cambodia  ,
Sunday, December 23, 2007

Melanie and I were excited to get out of Phnom Penh (Cambodia's capitol) and take off to Siem Reap, hoping to see something a bit less daunting. We boarded a 6 hour bus up to Siem Reap and checked into the HILTON.... hostel. Only in Cambodia! We were lucky enough to snag the youngest, coolest tuk-tuk driver at the hostel who then became our driver/host/tour guide for the following 3 days. We paid 40 USD to get a 3 day pass into Angkor where we could view any and all of the famous wats. The price was steep but upon entering I quickly learned why- it was absolutely amazing. I'm not sure why folks make such a big deal about going to Europe, or visiting the Great Wall in China... Angkor should be just as popular.

Siem Reap is the name of the nearest city, but Angkor is a world of it's own. Off in the country and existing of endless temple ruins. Not Japanese style temples or like anything I've ever seen when traveling through Asia... these were ruins. Think Rome! It was amazing. And unlike anything in Japan, we could actually climb all over them. Climb to the top, walk through the hidden passage ways, take pictures ANYWHERE! At first this seemed amazing... but it quickly got old when we realized that every single picture we'd ever want to take would be cluttered with tourists in bright colored shirts. Still we had fun!

And to top off our wonderful experience in this utopia... our driver RUFIO (otherwise known as RUFUS or RUFIE, because he looked like RUFIO from the Robin Williams version of PETER PAN) invited us to a house warming party. At first we weren't planning to go, but after the 3rd day we were a bit bored with all the temples, and we had no other plans for Christmas Eve. So we dazzled up a bit (as much as we could with our limited attire) and were escorted by all the tuk-tuk drivers, dressed to dine, (they unhooked their tuk-tuks and drove us on their motorbikes) out to the party. We were served an 8 course meal, enjoyed a music show, and were greeted with smiles by the young couple and their loaded family. The groom seemed to be especially glad to have us. Our tuk-tuk friends seemed to be on the mission to get us drunk with them... but neither Mel nor I felt safe enough to drink in that setting... so we befriended one of the servers and had him sneak us juice amidst the 7,983 toasts. In the end we put some USD in an envelope and left it in a big door prize box (because this was what everyone else was doing.)

That night is definitely one I won't forget in a long time. Partly because it was such a cultural experience, and partly because I was a bit terrorized by a series of events. [ask me about it sometime...]
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