Life is so good...

We have decided to take the day off from sightseeing and crowds to enjoy the pool at the Blue Lime in Phnom Phen. So far we've had breakfast by the pool, coffee in a cabana, gone for a refreshing dip and listened to the monks chanting at the temple behind the hotel. This is a tough life...
We will be meeting up with Lindsey (friend of Vim's who lives in PP) tonight to head further south to Kampot. I think it will be a 2 or 3 hour ride but we are sharing a taxi so no bus! Woo hoo!  However, all we have to do at this moment is wait until it is socially acceptable to order a cocktail... make mine a double!

Road to No Where

Everytime we get on another bus or into the back of a tuk tuk for a journey over 20 minutes I find myself humming the Talking Heads song, Road to No Where. No matter what is blaring on the bus speakers or what I have thoughtfully selected to play on my iPod, Road to No Where is what I hear. Although today's 6 hour journey from Siem Reap to Phnom Phen might have been better as the Road Through No Where!

I am starting to enjoy the bus rides. It is the little glimpses of life through the bus windows that take the sting out of spending most of the day on the bus. Watching as children play together in their front yards or in the middle of the street, seeing dogs running across the fields and cows grazing in the midst of thatched roof huts and road side vendors. As the sun set on todays drive I was disappointed  to think that I would no longer be able to catch these glimpses. However, to my delight most of the huts were flickering an iridescent blue putting the evening routines of Cambodia families on display. It only took a few minutes to realise that my road side attractions were being lit up by televisions. How funny that they still cook there meals over open fires, bath on a concrete pump slab in the yard, farm for sustenance and yet they all have televisions. These are the glimpses that make it difficult for me to stop staring as we breeze by at 15 to 20 miles per hour on the bumpy, partially paved road. I know they see me staring and I know staring is rude but I can't stop so I smile and even wave... maybe that makes it better?

I have realised over the last few days that there are so many things that I want to write about from the last 2 weeks. However, despite my best efforts it is difficult to find the time and even more difficult to single finger peck away at the keyboard of my phone. I have started jotting down notes to help me remember everything when we are back home. The notes look a little something like this: thousands of naked babies, satellite dishes on wooden huts, pigs on a scooter, monks in the rain, Angor Wat kids and candy, school yards, little legs on giant bikes, crickets for dinner, bald Buddhist nuns... I think you get the point. Since touching down in Bangkok my brain has been on overdrive, trying to absorb as much as humanly possible and at the same time trying to put all of it into words that capture the details as precisely as possible. I don't want to forget a single moment on this road to no where via everywhere.

Dr Jones and Lara Croft take on Angkor Wat (with a guide of course)

Our tuk tuk driver, Mr Sith, insists that watching the sunrise at Angkor Wat is a must... so we wake at 4:30 and meet him and our guide, Mr Khem. It is early but already hot and humid. Mr Khem is a Seim Reap native and only lived away to finish his studies in archaeology... we tell him we will call him Dr Jones and he laughs shyly but smiles proudly. He is a good guide and steers us away from the crowds as best as possible. We watch the sunrise and it is beautiful, peaceful, and we see why this temple is so special to Cambodians. After the throngs of tourists interested only on ticking the sunrise box leave, we head inside. 2 solid hours of purposeful wandering through the galleries exploring the inticate hand carved reliefs and learning the history of the temple that is dedicated to Hinduism and we barely scratch the surface. Our final mission is to climb the very steep stairs to the inner temple, the views are breathtaking!
We leave Ankgor Wat and eat breakfast... it is only 9 am! The rest if the day is spent in and out of temples. There are about 400 temples in various states of repair in the complex. Many are only traces of foundation or less. Again we only barely scratch the surface.
My favourite is probably the Ta Prohm or Tomb Raider temple. Not because of the movie but because you can see the power of mother nature. 400 year old trees have slowly but surely undone most of man's work for the 12th century. The tree roots look like magnificent works of art and the bark is silver in the sunlight. I could spend an entire day here and not see it all. We can only hope some of our pictures do it justice!
Today we are heading to Banteay Srei or The Citadel of Women. No guide, just the intrepid travellers and our dependable tuk tuk driver, Mr Sith!
Pictures: Angkor Wat at sunrise, CK and Mr Khem, and The Bayon faces.

Holiday in Cambodia

A quick hop on our prop plane and we are now in Cambodia! Our first impression: holy wats it is hot! Seriously hot and humid like you wouldn't believe. We had an image in our head about poverty, beggars and constant rip offs. However, I can honestly say that has not been our experience so far. We checked into our guesthouse, dropped our bags and fought the urge to go back to bed. We started off in Phsar Chas or Old Market shopping for souvenirs.  A few high prices but easy to bargain down to reasonable amounts. However, I think I.have heard "hey lady" more in that 2 hours than I have heard me entire life! Hey lady you want scarf? Hey lady you like I make deal for you. Hey lady you want tuk tuk? Hey lady, hey lady, hey... enough to make me want to scream! We headed to Pub Street for lunch and to check out a potential cooking class before meeting our tuk tuk driver, Taul, to take us back to the hotel. The midday heat is absolutely draining so we caught a 30 minute power nap before meeting Mr Sith to take us up tothe Angkor Wat complex to watch the sunset from Bakeng Hill. Beautiful but the description of this event being like Disneyland is spot on. The crowds were massive and lessened.the experience a bit... and did I mention it was hot?!? Drenched in sweat I set about the crowd stalking a few monks for the 'perfect' picture. And all it took was a nice little smile and asking nicely to get the shoot I have been craving since seeing the first saffron clad holy man in LP!
Dinner was homemade Pat Thai and Paneng chicken at our guesthouse. Tomorrow we meet our Wat guide and driver at 5 am to catch sunrise and beat the heat and crowds! Until tomorrow.

Sunset at Bakeng Hill

Me and CK enjoying the sunset despite the heat!

The beginning of the sunset. Look at all the tourists!!!

Sunset at Bakeng Hill in Angkor Wat Temple Complex

In Air Entertainment

Near disaster averted...

Woke up yesterday morning in or French colonial hotel to rain. It was so peaceful laying in bed listening to the rain fall and hearing the creaking of the old wooden floors. Breakfast was delicious including CK's yogurt, banana and honey smoothie. We decided to check out of the old hotel and into the new first thing and then hired a few beater bikes to cruise around town. Unfortunately, the Hello Kitty bike I had at first needed repairs... I've always wanted a Hello Kitty bike! After a few hours seeing the sites (wats, stupas, old buildings and monks in saffron robes) we thought we'd spend the rest of the day relaxing at the Settha Palace Hotel pool. Why not we thought, we've got all day tomorrow to rent a motorbike and see the rest of the lazy little capital. Here is where the disaster started to develop.
The pool was perfect... blue, relaxing, and with a banana daquiri life was good! We finished the evening with an amazing three course French meal at Le Central. More storms after dinner knocked out our internet but we were happy to fall into bed feeling full from dinner and warm from the day full of sun. CK fell asleep the visions of our upcoming scooter day in his mind. Which is likely what saved us...
He had been mailing guesthouses in Siem Reap to arrange accommodation starting on the 2nd. However, we had somehow lost track of time and thought we had an extra day in Vientiane! So CK woke up this morning at 4:30 excited about renting the scooter only to realise our mistake. We dashed around the room, half dressed with toothbrushes hanging out of our mouths stuffing clothes into our bags! I had to wake the overnight staff to check out and we jumped in the back of the slowest tuk tuk yet. We made it to the airport with about an hour to spare. Feeling relieved we headed into the terminal only to have our path blocked by a security guard with no English language saying " no, you go other" and pointing at nothing. Sudden heart dropping fear set in again as we knew the next flight wouldn't be until the 4th... one more day in Vientiane would be ok but not two... as we reasoned unsuccessfully with the guard we saw a rather gloomy building to the right of the international terminal and realised the guard was saying domestic. We headed over and were able to check in with time to spare! The intrepid travellers averted disaster and are currently en route to country number 3, city number 5 and guest house number 6!
Sad to leave Laos and hopeful I can return again to explore more of this enchanting country.