Cambodia Day 8: Temple Adventures Part 2

Today I made my way to Angkor after breakfast to check out some more of the ruins but before I give you the play by play of what I did today I should probably tell you a little bit about Angkor since I’m fairly certain I didn’t write anything informative last time I visited.

Angkor served as the seat of the Khmer Empire from roughly 802 to 1431. It was the site of over 1000 temples. Today these temples seem to be a mixture of Hindu and Buddhist temples although I’m pretty sure back in the day they were mainly Hindu but I have read some conflicting information on this so I’m not positive. Angkor Wat is the temple drawing the most visitors and is famous for being the largest single religious monument. Angkor Wat is also featured on the Cambodian flag. Angkor is also considered to be the largest preindustrial city in the world. As you can imagine since these buildings are in pretty rough shape since they are so old, some have been completely reduced to piles of rubble.

Now with the educational bit out of the way I can start to tell you about my day. Freya and I hopped in tuk-tuk after breakfast and made our way to the ancient city. Our first stop was the famous Angkor Wat. I had visited this temple with the boys a few days ago so I wasn’t overly excited about it but I quickly realized we had only seen a small portion of the temple and I still had a lot left to see. As we were queuing to climb to the top we met Alfie from England and Pedro from Spain and wandered through the rest of the temple with them. It really is a pretty magnificent building. All of the detail put into the wall carvings alone must have taken years. The height of the building is also quite impressive since they wouldn’t have had any machinery to help them out with the heavy lifting. Instead the Khmer people just piled dirt up alone the side of the building making a hill or a ramp for them to climb up with building materials. I’m not sure how long it took to build Angkor Wat but I’m guessing much like Rome it wasn’t built in a day.

From there I think our next stop was Angkor Thom but I’m not positive. I found it quite hard to keep track of all the places we visited, their names aren’t easy to remember and after a while they all start to look the same even though they are all quite different. We also visited the temple from Tomb Raider, which seemed to be almost as popular as Angkor Wat. I have never seen the movie so I’m not really sure what the fuss was all about but the ruins have trees growing on and around them, causing destruction of the temples but also creating beauty at the same time.

We spent a little over four hours visiting the various ruins before heading back to the hostel. There were still hundreds of temples left for us to explore but we had seen all the main ones and all the famous ones and it was about a million degrees outside, okay maybe it was only 35 but it was also quite humid and temple visits involve a ridiculous amount of stair climbing and neither of us had the energy to see any more.

We lounged around the hostel for a bit before meeting up with Rachel (you might remember her from my adventures in Phnom Penh) and headed to Pub Street for dinner. Alfie and Pedro were supposed to join us but it was already dark and we still hadn’t heard from them so we ventured off on our own. It took us a while to decide on a place but eventually we ended up at Red Piano, luckily they have free Wi-Fi so I was able to message Alfie and tell him where we were and he joined us as we were finishing our meals. We waited for him to eat and everyone enjoyed a few beers while I sipped on my coke.

Once we had all eaten it was time to move on. We talked about going across the street to check out some live music but Freya was worried she would fall asleep if there was any more sitting involved so we made our way to Angkor What and spent the rest of the night bouncing between there and Temple Club. It was a much different vibe than the previous two times I’ve gone out here, mainly because I was in a group of people who were just looking to have a few drinks and do some dancing rather than going out on a mission to get laid. I had a much better time with the girls and Alfie and came home rather happy, just annoyed with drunk people.

The plan for tomorrow is to go visit some waterfall somewhere not too far away with Alfie and Freya and maybe a few more temples as well so I should probably try to get some sleep.

Cambodia Day 7: More Lackluster Adventures In Siem Reap

I woke up today feeling pretty gross in the same clothes I wore all day yesterday. I made my way downstairs and was planning on ordering breakfast but there were only a few pancakes left and I wasn’t going to pay $2 for cereal and just ended up sitting downstairs for a while.

I checked at the front desk to see if my laundry was done early but no such luck. I had originally planned to head back to Angkor today but it I went in shorts I would have been limited in what I was actually allowed to see so I figured there was no point. I went for a walk into town and checked out a temple there. Luckily there didn’t seem to be any employees or monks around so I didn’t get scolded or kicked out for showing my knees. I can’t remember the name of the temple, Wat Somethingorother, but it was pretty cool. I liked the area outside the actual temple best though. There was a nice garden with some statues of animals.

I was pretty hungry after the temple since I skipped breakfast so I made my way back to the hostel and had some Khmer noodles. I decided that since I was back at the hostel anyway I might as well have some downtime so I grabbed my laptop and chilled in one of the comfy chairs near the pool. I applied for a few more jobs in Australia so keep your fingers crossed I hear something back soon.

For some reason I cant seem to have a completely lazy day where I don’t do anything at all while I'm on this adventure. I got pretty stir crazy after about an hour at the hostel so headed out again. I looked into renting a bike but between the rusty piece of garbage with shoddy breaks that I took for a test spin and all the crazy Cambodian drivers I figured that was a trip to the hospital waiting to happen and walked instead. I followed the river for quite a while and happened upon a temple and the royal residence. The residence was more of a house than a castle but it had a pretty cool garden leading up to it.

On my way home I stopped at Blue Pumpkin (if you ever come to Cambodia you need to check this place out) and got a scoop of raspberry sherbet. If it wasn’t so expensive I would live off the stuff. Especially in this heat! I desperately wanted to go swimming when I got back but my bathing suit was with the laundry I was waiting to get back so I just hung out in my air conditioned room instead.

My laundry was ready early, which was pretty exciting until I realized my ninja turtle shirt was missing. I had a minor freak out before realizing that it was just in another part of my bag. They did however lose some of my underwear and I don’t really want to know how they managed that or what they are currently doing with it.

In all of the frustration about the ninja turtle shirt I completely forgot to change my clothes before heading out for dinner. I ended up at a restaurant on Pub Street called Red Piano; just in time for happy hour meaning I got a free drink with my meal. I was craving western food so I ordered carbonara (trading one noodle for another seems silly in retrospect). The meal was too heavy to be eating in this heat so although it was good I only managed to eat about 75% of it.

On my walk back to the hostel I saw a sign for a free Apsara show starting in a little over an hour. I bumped into Freya (the German girl who I went dancing with a few nights ago) in the bar and asked if she wanted to join me. A little while later we met Luke, (yet another Englishmen) and invited him to join as well. The sign advertised that the dancing started at 7:30 but it was closer to 8 when they finally got going. The first dance they did was called the blessing dance. I swear the song lasted about 20 minutes and I wouldn’t really call what they did dancing, it was pretty girls in pretty dresses making large movements with their arms and occasionally walking in a circle. It was worth going but we left as soon as the first song ended. I had experienced all the Apsara I needed.

I have just been relaxing at the hostel ever since. Not quite the day I had planned but I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. I am heading back to Angkor tomorrow with Freya and hopefully catching up with Rachel as she is supposed to get in early tomorrow morning. Guess I should probably go get some sleep.

Cambodia Day 6: The Bedbug Debacle

By the time I got home from helping Grant look for his phone last night I was wide-awake, not good considering it was almost 3am but there wasn’t much I could do about it. I tossed and turned for about an hour before finally falling asleep only to be woken up by a group of 8 people in my room getting ready to check out at 4:30am. I fell asleep once they had left only to be woken up again by the rest of my roommates when they got up a few hours later. I figured since I wasn’t going to get any sleep I might as well start my day.

I was completely shattered and feeling slightly hungover as I made my way down to breakfast. I didn’t have a single drink last night so the hangover feeling wasn’t appreciated at all, feeling like crap when you’ve done something to deserve it is one thing but feeling like garbage after a night of drinking water is ridiculous. When I ordered my breakfast I was asked what room I was in and then approached by the hostel manager who said he wanted to have a quiet word with me. I figured I was in shit for Grant waking up my whole room last night but I wasn’t, he wanted to tell me that there had been reports of bed bugs in the room I was in and said he would be checking it out. A short while later I was told the room had been given the all clear, phew! Crisis adverted!

I spent most of the morning hanging in the bar by the pool; filling people in on the silly things they did last night as they all slowly made their way downstairs. I grew restless after a while and made my way into town on my own while the boys sulked back at the hostel. I didn’t really have any particular goals when I started my stroll I just knew I couldn’t spend the whole day laying around the hostel.

I stumbled upon a shop offering a 30-minute massage of your head and shoulders for $3 and it came with a free beer or soft-drink. I wasn’t overly confident I was going to get the best massage in the world but for that price it was worth a shot. The massage itself was pretty good until the end when the guy started slapping me in the head multiple times without a word of warning. It didn’t hurt but I had no idea what was happening and was a little afraid of what would happen next. My body felt very relaxed as I walked home with my free can of coke but the feeling faded after a few hours and I now have more aches than I did before the massage.

When I returned to the hostel I learned that the person who had complained about bedbugs in the morning actually had a picture of one so I would need to change rooms. Fantastic! Nothing like a good bedbug infestation to liven up your day. I moved all my stuff into the new dorm and shoved all of my clothes into a plastic bag, which I took downstairs for the staff to wash. I was kind of excited that I was getting my laundry done for free until I found out that I wouldn’t get my clothes back until 6pm tomorrow, meaning I am stuck in the clothes I am in now until then. It also means I don’t have any clothes that cover my knees so I can’t go back to Angkor tomorrow like I had originally planned.

Once I had my room sorted out I headed back downstairs where I lounged around for a bit before heading back into town. As hard as I try to have a lazy day I just can’t sit still all day, well at least not while I’m travelling. I checked out a temple or two and walked through the old market. I think there might be a mosque fairly close to the hostel because it sounded like Muslim prayers over a loud speaker as I crossed the bridge so I will have to check that out before I leave. I was feeling kind of hungry but wanted to see if anyone wanted to join me for dinner so I made my way back to the hostel.

When I arrived I found Grant and Mitch sharing a plate of fries and they told me they wouldn’t be going for dinner for a while. I stupidly ordered myself a snack as well but I should have just gone for dinner by myself. We sat around the hostel for hours, our group from the night before slowly reforming. The boys decided they wanted to stay until the end of happy hour, which still seemed so far away but I still sat and waited. Happy hour was about 5 minutes away from ending when a group of girls came downstairs and the boys insisted they needed to stay for one more drink. My gut was telling me to leave but I’m so sick of doing everything alone I decided to stay, I should have listened to my gut.

It was almost 9 when we finally left for dinner and we had to pass on almost every restaurant we looked at because the boys didn’t want to pay $1.25 for a beer. We ended up at a restaurant that was a little expensive for my taste but I stayed anyway and had the most expensive fried rice I have had in all my time in Southeast Asia, but hey they had cheap beers so it must have been worth it. Oh wait, I was drinking coke so that didn’t really work in my favour.

The next stop after dinner was Angkor What for some drinks. We somehow picked up a French guy along the way who was apparently staying at our hostel. I was enjoying talking to him, well at least trying to talk to him over the loud music, but he disappeared pretty early. It didn’t take long for all of the boys to find girls to talk to and completely forget I was even around. The girl we were out with the night before was back at the hostel as she was feeling sick so I was just standing in the middle of a club alone looking like an idiot. Okay, Lesson learned: listen to your gut!

I’m not a fan of looking or feeling like an idiot so I left the bar and walked home alone. I probably should have taken a tuk-tuk but I made it home alive and unscathed so all is well. I’m now lying in bed in the same sweaty clothes I wore all afternoon. God I can’t wait to get my laundry back tomorrow! 

Cambodia Day 5: Temple Adventures Part 1

My plans for today changed several times before 10:30am. I woke up and enjoyed a delicious buffet breakfast while I waited for the Grant and Mitch so we could head to the temples together. We had originally planned to leave between 9:30 and 10 so when there was no sign of them by 10:05 I figured they left without me and came up with a new game plan. I was still feeling pretty shattered so I was going to have another lazy day and maybe go for a massage. I had to check out of my room first though because I was changing dorms and by the time I came back downstairs with all my stuff they were sitting in the bar eating and waiting for me.

It took us a few minutes to get all of our ducks in a row but we were soon off to Angkor. I bought a 3 day pass and the boys only bought a 1 day pass so I stuck to the itinerary they wanted to do since I would be able to go and explore on my own a few more times. I stupidly wore flip-flops thinking we wouldn’t be doing much walking since we were taking a tuk-tuk, a decision I quickly grew to regret.

We spent the whole take visiting temples and ruins, climbing a ridiculous number of dangerously steep stairs and trekking through the forest around the temples. We got scammed in the first temple we went into, I kind of knew it was going to happen I just didn’t think it was going to be as bad as it was. I can’t remember the name of the temple but within minutes of entering we met a Cambodian guy who started showing us around and telling us about the temple. He even took pictures of the boys giving eskimo kisses to one of the faces on the temple wall and one of me being kissed on the cheek by the face. I knew he was going to ask for money at the end, especially after he made sure to tell us about his fake leg and how a landmine had injured him as we were exiting the temple. I was expecting to pay him a dollar or so each, a reasonable amount in my mind since he spent about 20 minutes with us and we were paying our tuk-tuk driver $15 for the whole day but when we tried to hand him small bills he said we needed to give him $5 each. We probably should have just given him $3 and ran, I mean he never would have caught us with his bum leg but we stupidly forked over the cash and agreed to ignore anyone who approached us in any of the other temples.

We visited a few more temples before stopping for lunch but on the way back to the tuk-tuk to head for a lunch a little girl who was about 8 years old latched onto Grant, following us for about a mile trying to sell him postcards, he kept refusing and she kept following. This girl was so persistent and I felt really bad when he turned around and bought a bracelet he didn’t even want from another little girl who just showed up out of no where. I was also a little worried that the first girl might get beaten if she went back with no money after being gone for so long. The children beggars were all through the restaurant where we went for lunch as well. I kind of liked one of them though; he was about 9 years old and dressed in yellow shorts and a matching shirt. He asked us all where we were from and when the boys said they were from England he told them the capital city was London and that James Bond come from England and when I told him I was from Canada he told me the capital was Ottawa. He told us he collected coins and showed us a few from his collection and asked if we had any English or Canadian coins, I happened to have both so I gave him a Canadian quarter and an English 10 pence. I don’t normally like to give money to beggars but I mean there isn’t much you can do with foreign coins and he was just so cute.

We visited a few more temples after lunch including the famous Angkor Wat, which was pretty incredible. The whole area was really interesting to visit though, especially learning about how the Khmer Rouge had cut off the heads of all the statues during their reign and sold them in Thailand. Some of the statues have been replaced and others have remained headless. It was also interesting to learn a little about Hindu, although like so many things I have gotten a taste of on this trip I need to do more research.

As we piled into the tuk-tuk to head home we were all drenched in sweat and our feet were caked in dirt. All I could think about was jumping in the pool when I got back to the hostel but the breeze along the way cooled me down and I ended up washing my feet in the shower instead of jumping in the pool. We hung out in the hostel bar and our group of three grew to a group of 8 before we left for dinner.

It looked like I was going to be the lone girl in the group but seconds before we left someone recruited another girl to join us and we were off. I can’t remember the name of the restaurant we went to but they had the most ridiculous menu set up ever. Everything was printed on long hard boards but you needed three of them to see the whole menu, it was very inconvenient and disgusting. I ordered a noodle dish that ended up looking like maggots but tasted quite delicious.

After dinner we made our way to Pub Street to hit up the clubs. It was crazy early still but the clubs were already pumping the tunes so we decided to stick around. We spent the next several hours bouncing between Temple Club and Angkor What. Both very cool bars with very different vibes, it was kind of weird actually since a lot of people seemed to be bouncing back and forth the way we were.

Being the only sober person around got old pretty quickly though so when Grant decided he was sufficiently drunk and ready to head home I was happy to join him. I suggested we walk as it was nice outside and only about 5 minutes to the hostel but he insisted we take a tuk-tuk. I’m pretty sure he is now regretting this decision because shortly after we got home he burst into my room, turned on the lights, and very loudly started telling me about his phone. I quickly ushered him out of the room and into the hall to tell me what happened. I remembered him having his phone in his hand during the tuk-tuk ride so I don’t know how he possibly could have lost it but he did. I quickly checked his room trying not to wake up his roommates then walked into town with him to try and find our tuk-tuk driver. The mission was a complete failure and we weren’t able to find his phone, even after we tried to call it back at the hostel, although that might have worked if he could have remembered his number.

Today was pretty action packed and the night was full of dancing and repetitive conversations so I am pretty exhausted. My three day pass allows me two more visits in the next 7 days so I think tomorrow will be a laid back day by the pool.

Cambodia Day 3 and 4: Lazy Days In Siem Reap

Yesterday I had nothing planned other than my bus in the afternoon so I was in no hurry to get out of bed, especially after a string of early mornings. My internal alarm clock had other ideas though and I was wide awake at 8am. I had a scratchy throat so I lounged around for a while trying to get more sleep but didn’t have much luck. I made my way downstairs around 10 where I found Rachel and chilled with her until it was time for my bus.

The ticket I had said the bus was leaving at 1 and I should be at the station at least 30 minutes before departure so I was stressing huge at 12:45 when my ride to the hostel still hadn’t arrived. I was on the verge of a full blown panic attack when it finally showed up and whisked me away to the bus station where I waited until 2pm for my bus. I was not impressed. It was about a million degrees outside and I was melting. Some good came of the long wait though as I made some new friends Grant and Mitch (two guys from the UK).

We didn’t sit near each other on the bus but we chatted at the rest stop and since they didn’t have a hostel booked they decided to tag along with me to see if there were any available rooms where I was staying. I was thankful to have them along as I had a dream the previous night that a tuk-tuk driver kidnapped me and I was scared it might come true. Unfortunately there were no vacancies so they headed off and soon after they left I found out that my room had a king size and a twin so they could have crashed with me.

It was already dark when we arrived at the guesthouse and the area looked incredibly sketchy so I was scared to wander out on my own in search of food. I hadn’t eaten since about 10:30 so I thought I might starve to death but I was saved because there was a restaurant in the lobby. I ate some fried rice and headed to bed.

I tried to sleep in again today and did a little better than yesterday but only lasted until about 9. I needed to move to a new hostel but check out wasn’t until noon so again I was in no hurry to go anywhere. I did however walk to my new hostel without my bags to make sure I knew where I was going and then crawled back into bed until it was time to check out.

I arrived at my new hostel and it was too early to check-in so I made my way to the pool area and bumped into Mitch and Grant who had arrived a few hours before. We lounged by the pool for a while before wandering into town to look in a few shops. We picked up the items the boys wanted and by the time we made it back to the hostel it was time to check in.

I had the worst strawberry daiquiri in the history of the world, and we all went for a swim. The water was freezing even though it’s an indoor pool but I felt refreshed afterwards. Once I had cooled down I made my way back into town with Mitch and got some cash from the ATM and bought some light cotton pants to wear when I visit temples.

There was more lounging by the pool when we got back and after a few hours we made our way into town for dinner. The hostel was throwing a barbecue and we had originally planned on eating there but the food looked rancid so we headed to Pub Street and found a nice little restaurant. The boys had curries and I had a noodle dish, I was a little apprehensive about ordering it after the vinegar noodle incident but I made the right choice, as the noodles were delicious.

We sat at the restaurant for quite a while waiting for our cheque but our table was outside and it had cooled down quite a bit since the sun went down so I didn’t really mind. When we had finally paid we headed to the night market for a bit of a wander. It looked a lot like most of the other markets I’ve visited before but I will probably go back one night this week for a more in depth look. On the way back to the hostel I some how convinced the boys that they should buy some pants for tomorrow as well, they didn’t seem too excited about it though even though I talked the lady into cutting her price in half.

Now I’m back at the hostel relaxing, thinking I might head to bed soon. Hoping to hit up Angkor Wat tomorrow for the first of three days of exploring the many temples so I probably shouldn’t stay up too late.