We could barely contain our excitement on Friday. Let's just say that when the clock struck 4:00pm we were out of the office and on the road to the airport to catch our flight to Cambodia. The excitement was a combination of our first trip together to Cambodia (I had previously been to Cambodia in 2000 with my friend, Erin), but mostly that we were going to meet up with friends from home, Shane and Suzy! Shane and Suzy were flying into Siem Reap, Cambodia from Bangkok about a half hour prior to our arrival. We purchased our visas, got through customs and walked out of the airport to see Shane and Suzy enjoying an Angkor draft while waiting for us. We found our driver and were whisked off to our hotel, Palm Village Resort. The hotel resort included bungalows for two, a breakfast menu with my favourite, banana pancakes, and a pool in the garden that was perfect after a day of sweating from walking around the temples. After check-in, we jumped in a four person luxury tuktuk to go to the Dead Fish Tower Bar, a quirky Siem Reap bar that housed crocodiles. After a few drinks, we decided it was best to go in pairs to the restrooms since they were convieniently located near the croc pen.
Kevin and Shane holding on during our tuktuk ride to the Dead Fish Tower Bar.
We awoke early on Saturday and after breakfast jumped into an A/C van (which would later turn out to be our best decision of the day) and headed to the UNESCO World Heritage Site and world renowned ruins of Angkor.
A group picture with our A/C van as we started the day.
We started off at Bayon where towers of carved faces looked back at us. It was beautiful but eerie all at the same time. And then it was off to more temples including Ta Prohm, a group favourite. Ta Prohm, another Buddhist temple, was unrestored and left to be swallowed by the jungle which resulted in huge trees engulfing the ruins. Our cameras barely had a break including when Kevin and Shane discovered a monster of a spider.
The many faces of Bayon.
Shane and Suzy exploring Bayon.
Ta Prohm engulfed by the jungle.
Too close for comfort!
After a Khmer lunch of fried, fried, and fried we were ready for some more temples and some more "please, sir, $1." The children selling postcards, cold drinks and t-shirts at each site was overwhelming and rather than good sales lines, they resorted to whining. We also discovered that pretty much everything in Cambodia cost $US1 - no matter how young a child was, they could clearly say "$1 dollar." For many of these families though, this was their main source of income so we were happy to buy bottles of water in the +40 degree heat and a couple souvenir t-shirts but the offers of whistles and bracelets were a bit tiresome. After viewing the incredible bas reliefs of Angkor Wat and hiking to the top of yet another temple in the hopes of a picturesque sunset, we were exhausted. The cloud cover which we were thankful for in the afternoon meant that sunset wasn't too impressive so we made our way back to the Palm Village pool to cool off. After an amazing dinner at Abacus, we had drinks at the Red Piano where we sampled Angelina Jolie's drink of choice, the Tomb Raider. The movie, Tomb Raider, was filmed at Angkor Wat.
A picture perfect frame.
Scaling the temples in flip flops was an adventure in itself.
Angkor Wat
Day two in Siem Reap started a bit later as we enjoyed a bit of a sleep in and relaxing breakfast by the pool. We found our friendly tuktuk driver from the previous night and he was thrilled to be at our service for the day. We got dropped off at the Old Market which was a pleasurable (i.e. no whining) shopping experience full of terrific bargains. Suzy and I had our bargaining gamefaces on. Suzy came away with some lovely gemstones and we were rather pleased with the carvings that we both walked away with for well below half the original asking price. Kevin weaved us through the fish and meat market and eventually we came out to a row of restaurants where we tried Amok, named after the local Khmer dish. We sampled the amok and Khmer curry which were both delicious. After a bit more shopping we jumped into our tuktuk and heading south to Tonle Sap Lake and the floating market and fish farm. The experience turned out to be more traumatic than anything. The channel we took to the lake was more of a mud bog and we got stuck a few times. When we eventually got to the lake and the fish farm, there were fewer fish than snakes. Snakes that were being carried by small children. They wanted their pictures taken with their pet snakes by us for, yep you guessed it, $1. I think I would have been more inclined to give them $1 if they moved away from me with their snakes. Some of the parents were noticing the fear in the eyes of Suzy and I and were yelling at children to bag their snakes. But it was too late, we were ready to get out of there! It was quite an adventure. We got back to Siem Reap wet from the spray of passing boats and smelling like fish ready to hop on the plane to Ho Chi Minh City!
Lunch at Amok Restaurant, Siem Reap.
Back in Ho Chi Minh City, we are thrilled to have Shane and Suzy staying with us and look forward to more laughs and adventures with them this week!
(If you are interested in more Siem Reap and Angkor Wat pictures (and there are lots more), stay tuned as I work at putting together a digital album)
