Angkor Wat??!

Siem Reap

We don’t seem to have much luck with transport in SE Asia. The journey from Otres beach to Siem Reap was a long one indeed. We were advised beforehand that it was supposed to be 10 hours overnight. 10 hours became 13 hours due to the fact that our drivers were swapping every 30 minutes, as well as stopping for cigarettes constantly. Our journey was made even less enjoyable by the size of the ‘beds’ on the bus, as they were about ½ the size of a comfortable single. Also, to add to the annoyance, we had some locals talking to the bus drivers throughout the night and due to the fact that our beds were right next to ours at the front of the bus, we were left frustratingly tired and unfortunately angry. We were very grateful that the tuk-tuk driver who worked for the hotel where we were staying decided to stick around, even though we arrived over 3 hours late.

Siem Reap is a lovely city, especially in comparison to somewhere like Phnom Penh, and it is clearly being set up as a tourist destination for westerners with the major fast-food chains evident again throughout. It also has the grand ‘Angkor Wat’ complex only a short 20-30 minute tuk-tuk ride away. It took us 2 days to see the temples of ‘Angkor Wat’, soaking up the history and magnificence of the temples and it is clearly a place that the Cambodian’s have great pride in as the name Angkor is everywhere, from billboards to beers. On the second day at ‘Angkor Wat’ we set off at 5am to view the sunrise with what appeared to be thousands of other people. As we walked in darkness with flashlights leading our way, the only thing that we could make out was the pond where we stopped and waited for the rising run. Although our view of the sunrise was obstructed by cloud cover, it was still a glorious experience to appreciate and to see the sky lighten with every passing moment and watch as the temple appeared magically in front of us. After the sunrise at Angkor Wat, we visited another temple which Jane assures me was used for the films Tomb Raider and Raiders of the lost Ark. As I still haven’t verified this we will just have to take her word for it on this one.

We spent New Year’s eve in Siem Reap at a fittingly named place called ‘Pub Street’ and drank until the early hours along with a friendly Canadian chap and his girlfriend, beating them convincingly several times at connect4 and discussing our teaching plans for the future. At this time we were considering the real possibility of teaching in Korea and funnily enough he had been teaching there for the last 13 years. Unfortunately Korea is not for us at this time (we are heading to Barcelona instead) but I think long term it will be a likely destination and we are grateful for all the advice we received that night. We left Cambodia after Siem Reap to return to Thailand but due to its history and the Cambodian people it has truly left a mark on me in a way that I didn't think it could.