Be Square, and be there. Part 2 Cambodia

Arriving at Siem Reap airport is a very strange experience, once you get off the plane you have to queue to have a visa stamped in your passport and pay for the pleasure of it. You enter the terminal building told to stand in line before being summoned by one of the twelve or so Generals sitting holding court. Your passport seems to get shown to every one of them twice, before someone makes a decision to stamp it and wave you on your way 20 dollars lighter. We made a point of getting some US dollars before we went because everyone seems to prefer this currency instead of their own and everything seemed to cost 2 dollars.

Our transfers were included in the price so we didn’t have to wait long and it was only a short distance to the splendid colonial style Victoria Angkor Hotel.After checking in we went for a walk to see what was near the hotel, not much really a shopping mall and a few shops, everything else was in town by the market 5 minutes away by Tuk-Tuk and costs 2 dollars. One of the Tuk-Tuk drivers kept pestering us so we asked him to show us round and before we knew it, we were by the lake, paying for a boat trip with the last of the dollars we had on us. 
 
We were shown on to a rickety old boat that you could walk faster than it and headed off into the Tonie Sap Lake,; after 20 minutes we diverted down so inland waterways and past the sea gypsies and into another floating community.

 
We pulled up alongside a floating school and told to get off and have a look around by our “guide” who we didn’t ask for. Once on the boat we went into the classroom containing at least fifty children of varies ages and hairstyles and were greeted by them all. After saying hello a thousand times we went back out on deck and shown live crocodiles that were kept in the front of the boat for food and their skins. It’s quite scary when you are so close to them, it was even more scary when we were asked to make a donation to the schools upkeep by paying for some rice or pencils, they didn’t seem to take kindly when we said we had no more money on us, which we didn’t and thought at one stage we were going in with the crocodiles. 

 
After a quiet journey back, we were met by the Tuk-Tuk man who was waiting to take us back into town, first of all we needed a cash machine which he found for us, we never forgot after that to carry some extra money with us. As he was going along the road, I tapped him on the shoulder and he nearly jumped out of his skin and crashed the Tuk-Tuk, I only wanted him to take us to the supermarket for some wine, which they do sell in Cambodia. After he took us to a couple of supermarkets we found our provisions and went back to the hotel to freshen up before we went out to eat. 

While I was in the shower, one of the hotel workers came to turn down the bed and leave some chocolates on the pillow, for this Trish gave him 2 dollars and for the following two nights while we were there and I was in the shower, he would know when to knock to get his dollars.

All fresh and ready to go we left the hotel to go into town for something to eat, a Tuk-Tuk man appeared out of nowhere and took us to the centre. 
 

The town looked like one of the resorts on the Costa’s in Spain all neon and lots of girls saying to foreigners for money “love you long time”, there was even a heavily pregnant girl there, we joked and said “I bet she says love you short time”. We went down the allies and stopped for something to eat and had to tell the pestering kids to go away while we ate, I had tofu with ginger and noodles and it was absolutely lovely. 

A little walk back out on to pub street and there were signs everywhere for cocktails, two for one and only a dollar, you have to drink them at that price. Trish and I worked our way through the entire cocktail menu while watching the foreigners dodge the ladies of the night and the numerous Tuk-Tuk drivers touting for business. 


After all our cocktails we chose a mask wearing Tuk-Tuk driver to take us back to the hotel, when I said “here will be fine” he started to chuckle as if he was carrying royalty.

The next morning we were up early because we wanted to see the mighty Angor Wat, so we headed down to breakfast to be greeted by a small rotund chef, whose English language consisted of only “Yeees,Yeees” yes yes, not bad I suppose, considering it’s more than I know of their language. The chef was cooking omelettes outside by the pool, so we chose ham, cheese and a few bits and bobs and a minute later we had one of the best omelettes ever.

Once we finished our breakfast it was time to go to Angkor Wat and we had already arranged our Tuk-Tuk the day before and he was waiting outside the hotel for us, off we go.

It was about a 20 minute drive, 6 kilometres to Angkor Wat, first stopping at the checkpoint just before Angkor to buy tickets which cost $20 dollars all done by our driver. Five minutes later down the road and in the distance shimmering in the heat Angkor Wat started to reveal itself in all its glory. We approached the entrance driving alongside the moat until we reached the car park, where the driver said he would meet us later and then walked the short distance to the entrance.

Once inside you can’t comprehend how big it is and how it became lost for so many years, on the way in you can see bullet holes where the Khymer Rouge had been fighting the government factions. It takes a couple of minutes more across the gardens in the baking hot heat to reach the first of the temple buildings and meet the hordes of people looking for shade. Once inside it’s like a maze with endless corridors and numerous window openings looking out onto palm trees and dense jungle in the distance. There are different levels to explore all involve climbing up steep ladders or stone steps. Occasionally you can find a spot where no one else is and take in the views and tranquillity before the next tour comes by. 


 
After a couple of hours we thought we’d seen it all and decided to go out through the exit at the back and see what was down the little path. On the way, we were met by the usual vendors selling souvenirs and trinkets, Trish bought some bananas to stay hydrated I had to wait a bit longer to get some water.  Five minutes later and we came across more ruins that resembled the video game Tomb Raider, we had only just scratched the surface of Angkor Wat. To enter some of the ruins you need to be like Lara Croft because some places are blocked by years of neglect and trees coming out of the wall. There is one famous part of the ruins that everyone get their picture taken, it is the one with the tree growing out of the wall and looks like it’s made of stone itself. Thirty minutes later and we head back out and are met by numerous Tuk-Tuk drivers asking us if we want to see more of Angkor Wat, how big is this place?

We settle on a price, the magic 2 dollars and were off into the jungle, the driver pointing out relics as he goes. We stop at another huge temple site and walk among the ruins amazed at how it was built all those years ago; occasionally you see a statue with a monks robe on that makes you glance a few times before you realise it is a statue. The heat is stifling now so we get back in the Tuk-Tuk and the breeze is a welcome relief till we stop at the next temple site and walk around again. This time it’s the last temple, but still magnificent with all the amazing faces carved into the huge blocks of stone.  The driver then takes us back to the front of Angkor Wat and we then start to look for our driver in the midst of hundreds of Tuk-Tuks, a lady appears and tells us the driver was looking for us and was not happy because we took so long, he didn’t know we were going to visit the other temples. Eventually he pops up like they all seem to do and was fine about the whole thing, think he wanted to stay on our good side for a better tip. 

He drops us off at the hotel and we get changed and head back out of the hotel into darkness, when another Tuk-Tuk driver appears like the moon with his shiny head and says “You know me” and ushers us to his Tuk-Tuk and off to town. We get out and he tells us he’ll be waiting for us no matter what time and pay him later, how is this going to work we thought? We say ok and walk down the main street looking for somewhere to eat, when we come across a place that looks good, plenty of people eating there and a wide variety of Asian food. I look at the menu and decide to have the cheese omelette, something nice and light, when it arrived it looked delicious until I took a bite and nearly threw up. Cambodia’s idea of cheese omelettes are fish eggs mixed with egg, not a bit of cheese in sight, it was disgusting although Trish had a taste and said it was alright. Luckily it only cost about a dollar so wasn’t too bothered, I then played safe and ordered a noodle dish and washed the terrible taste away with endless cocktails.  We decided to call it a night and find our Tuk-Tuk driver when appeared out of nowhere, it wasn’t the driver who dropped us off but his friend, I don’t know how he recognised us but we were glad.

The next day after our “proper” breakfast omelettes, we headed in to town to have a look around, we walked around the local market, had a walk by the river, and then decided to have a massage.  I had a foot massage which was great after all the walking in my trusty North Face boots, Trish went for the full massage and it only cost the princely sum of 5 dollars, bargain.  We then headed out back in to the searing sun, after five minutes we couldn’t take it no more so we went in to the air conditioned opticians and stayed in there for twenty minutes. 

Once we came back out, we hailed a Tuk-Tuk and asked the driver to take us the factory shop that sold coffee, soap and other things like that, but he didn’t seem to know the way and I had to guide him using a tourist map! At the factory the foreman took us on the grand tour, showing us how they made all the goods and even made a special note of pointing out and in his words “here is our disabled workers” who weren’t impressed by him pointing this out. We left sharply and went to the gift shop where Trish bought a few things and made our way back to the hotel.

In the evening we went back in to town and Trish tried the fish spa where little fish nibble on your dead skin and leave your feet looking great, these can be seen everywhere now. After much shrieking by all and sundry we decided to try the local Irish bar for something to eat, we should have known it wasn’t any good seeing there was no one in there. 


After a lousy meal we left and went somewhere else for a drink, but the Irish bar stayed with us for the next ten days with e-coli food poising that wouldn’t go away. The next day we were leaving to go to Penang via Kuala Lumpur, which wasn’t a pleasant thought being on an aeroplane needing the toilet all the time, oh well onwards and upwards? Penang here we come, ready or not!