Siem Reap,
Cambodia
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Another mental bus journey brought us to Siem Reap. Along the road we passed the "Cambodian Entrepreneur Research Centre" outside were two guys sitting on chairs with their legs up on a stool - this reflects Cambodian life to a T! We found ourselves getting off a bus in Siem Reap only to be bombarded by hopeful Tuc Tuc drivers - this has happened many times before but today was the worst we have ever experienced...you actually couldn't get of the bus as the drivers were almost getting on!!! One guy was standing away from the crowd just looking on, so I went to him and he says so coolly "u wanna tuc-tuc (Cambodian speaking in an American accent), I said 'your our man' and off we went hassle-free! We booked into a guesthouse and agree with the tuc tuc driver to collect us at 5am to see the sunrise behind the main temple in Angkor Wat. Few hours later it was 5am....we were like walking Zombies. Sure to his word, the tuc tuc driver's brother was outside to take us. Of course neither Fiona nor I were thinking at 5am to realize our torches would have been gold dust to navigate your way around the temple. So we tagged onto one of the 1000's of Japanese tourists and walked too close for their comfort to them (we thought we were discreet!!!) We got a seat opposite the Temple and watched in amazement and silence (except for the 1000 + Japanese tourists snapping like their life depended on it. This was a sight we will never forget, the sun rises over the 5 lotus towers on the temple, the sky lights up between creams and reds...we were loving it. As we were getting down off our perch this woman in front of us with a Kermit the Frog teddy bear sitting on her hand. It seemed like she was talking to Kermit, Fiona followed her, trying to be as discreet as possible to see if she was, and sure as god she was!!! She was telling Kermit all about Angkor Wat!
We spent two days visiting these temples. Our knees were ready to cave in! We even managed to fight our way through the other tourists to see the temple where Angelina Jolie filmed Tomb Raider; of course myself and Haugh stoke our own pose!! Angelina eat your heart out! We decided we deserved a massage after our temple ordeal and we hit one of the many parlors in the town - things were going good until I could hear Haugh's 'wow wow wow' - sure as god there was Fiona with the massage girl trying to put her into a citizens arrest position /hymenic maneuver - priceless. By the time we left, we were laughing so hard as both of us felt worse coming out than we had going in. Siem Reap is a lovely town, one of the nicest in Cambodia.
