Day 11 Siem Reap/Temples of Angor and back to Bangkok

In Cambodia, there must be a Zagat's for mosquitoes that mention a fine delicacy called Japanese girls' elbows. Specifically, the left one. I am not kidding that I have a cluster of bites that has been itching me to death, despite the DEET that was supposed to keep them away and the hydrocortisone that is supposed to stop the itching...

Anyway, it was starting to rain like crazy when I wrote yesterday. Well, it continued for an hour. My poor driver guy (his name starts with S and I can't pronounce it so we'll just call him "S" for the blog) apparently doesn't feel comfortable sitting in the lobby of the guest house with me, so he waited outside next to his motorbike, squatting in the way only Asian folks can for a long time. Now you'd think that traffic pretty much stopped when it was monsoon time in downtown Siem Reap -- but no, everyone was out and about, mildly annoyed with the rain but it didn't stop them from being out and about. Kids were on grown-up bikes, a family of 3 was on a motorbike, etc. etc. I was in awe. When the rain finally let up about an hour later, I finally gave S the go-ahead to head back into Angor. He is so sweet, he made sure he went slowly so my feet wouldn't get wet/dirty (they were already wet and dirty anyway) and drove extra carefully. When we got to the street along the river, it looked like a river!!! The drains are so clogged up that the street had about 4-6 inches of standing water. But the Cambodians are a tough bunch, they just keep on driving. A motorbike ahead of us had stalled (where the heck is the engine in these things, but it can't be that high up!) but S cleverly sought out the highest ground/shallowest areas and navigated through that flawlessly. We never took that stretch of street again (smart guy!).

So I have to admit that I was so worked up about these ruins that the first day was kind of a downer. But that afternoon, I saw Bayon, which is near the main Angor Wat ruin, and fell in love. There are HUGE Khmer-style heads with the all-knowing eyes and creepy smile all over the place, jutting out between crumbled piles of boulders, all with a jungle background! I couldn't get enough. You won't believe how many photos I took of the ruins -- I am sure I will never be able to identify which shots were from which temple when I get back, but I just can't help myself. The whole experience was much more enjoyable after the rain, as the temperature dropped about 15 degrees and was almost chilly as we zipped around on the bike going 40km/hr (not sure how fast that is in mi/hr). As we were going from temple to temple, I noticed some monkeys on the side of the road, and S stopped for me (I squeal each time I see animals) so I can "take photo." And whaddaya know, we passed the Swiss couple from the sunset mountain hike! It's pretty cool when you randomly run into someone you know in a big place like that (for those of you who may not know, the Temples of Angor span about 40 miles total). The monkeys were cuter from the road, because they were pretty aggressive. They lunged for S's plastic bag with books, thinking it was food. When I made kissing noises at them, it swiped at me! Time to go.

I am not sure what happened, but S has decided that instead of waiting for me outside of the temples, he will join me on my sightseeing. I thought that $20/day or $40/3 days was a steep price for admission even for one of the most amazing World Heritage Sites in the world, but it's actually free for Cambodians. I'm glad it's free, but I am not sure why they say that only licensed guides can go in with tourists. So we go in separately, and he finds me later on, far away from the guards. Instead of having a ton of shots just of the ruins or of hordes of strangers, I started taking pictures of him, which make it seem like we are... a couple. Pretty funny. Cambodians think that I am Thai (and that he is too), so we seem like Thai tourists. S has started to try and guess Japanese/Korean/Chinese with the large tour groups, and it's pretty entertaining.

After I was done watching temples, I asked him if he could drop me off at the Red Piano, a bar that Angelina Jolie frequented while filming Tomb Raider. I hate to be such a tourist, but I wanted to check out where she would hang out in the Psar Chaa (old market) area, which was the place with the dirt/mud streets with a million power lines all over the place. I invited him in for a drink, but he said no (he is 20 but I am not sure what the drinking age is there - maybe he's not old enough? - or if he said no because he is working). I had a mixed fruit drink on the 2nd floor terrace overlooking the busy intersection.

I need to make a comment about traffic here. I am not sure how old you have to be to drive in Cambodia (esp. the motorbikes) but there seem to be only two loose rules of the road: 1. Don't hit other vehicles, people or animals. 2. Try to stay on the right side of the road, but this rule is highly optional. There are almost no traffic signals, and people move into oncoming traffic when they are about to turn. Keep in mind that there are motorbikes with a family of 4 all over the place, in addition to pigs in a basket, tuk-tuks, motorbikes pulling little carriages, tour buses, moms with 2 year olds precariously balancing behind them, 6 year olds on grown-up bikes, pick up trucks with about 16 people on the back (that's what the locals use as taxis, even for 3 hour rides to Phnom Penh). Utter chaos! I have to close my eyes every time I get to a busy intersection for fear of making sudden movements that may endanger me and my driver. Not to mention that there are huge puddles everywhere that won't recede because the drains are all clogged.

While having my fruit smoothie, my eager to speak English waitress asked me 20 questions. "Excuse me miss, where you from? How old are you? Are you married? Are you lonely (people often confuse "lonely" and "alone," an understandable mistake which has me thinking about how we differentiate it)?" etc. etc. She grew up a few hours away, but came to Siem Reap to go to college. She likes Siem Reap because it gives her lots of work opportunities where she can interact with foreigners and practice English, but she misses her family. On and on she goes, until her colleague calls out to her that she needs to deliver an order to another table. She seems bummed to go back to work. It's funny how everyone asks me about my age and my marital status first, which is a bit taboo in the US. I think it's totally understandable for them to wonder, as it's unusual to see travelers alone, and it's easier for them to approach a "lonely" person in conversation. I am definitely interacting with the locals alot more now that I am traveling solo.

Okay, this is getting super long. S drove me back to the guest house, and I went out for dinner at CVSG across the street again. The girls remembered me from lunch and I got to take pictures with them. They did the peace sign that all Japanese people do for pictures, and I noticed that their body language was pretty Japanese too! There were large groups of Japanese people, presumably volunteers for CVSG visiting from Japan. The kids (most of them are 16 so they're not that little) hover around the tables a bit awkwardly, wanting to chat with the group but finding it hard to jump into conversation... so they come over to me. They are so eager to please, and so eager for attention. I really hope that their language skills get them good-paying jobs (like it does for the tour guides and drivers!). There are little signs on each table (in Khmer, English and Japanese) that explains that this is a training restaurant and apologizes in advance if they scold the children in front of the clients. But I didn't see any get scolded, just shooed away from me when the kids linger a bit too long. The food is tasty and the service slow but so earnest, that I just love the place. Plus my entree with drink costs me $2.50. I thought about buying a t-shirt as a donation, but I really don't have room in my bags for more stuff.

I headed back to my room early so I can organize my stuff for checkout tomorrow and to get to bed early for my 6am departure to watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat. While watching the same story repeat on both CNN and BBC, I did laundry in the sink and hung everything up to dry in front of the air-con unit. Maybe not such a good idea to start laundry at 11pm, but it was better than packing clothes full of terracotta dust, mud, dirty water, sweat, sunscreen and DEET. Oh yes, I am feeling extra sexy these days.

I woke up at 5:30am and was ready to go at 5:45. I headed downstairs to find S waiting for me, and we headed out in the dark. As we rode out toward the ruins, the sky was getting lighter and lighter, but they were full of clouds. I suspected that it would be pretty busy for watching the sunrise, but it was PACKED in front of the reflection pool at Angkor Wat. The Korean tourists were nowhere to be seen, but the Japanese retirees were all out and poised with their cameras. Unfortunately, it became clear that we wouldn't see the sun rise as it was far too cloudy. I was a bit bummed.

The next item on our agenda for my last day of temple watching is the small but most beautiful temple, Banteay Srei. It's a bit far away, I read, about 45 minutes' drive from the main temples. As we headed out, it started to rain (not as hard as yesterday) and when we saw that it didn't look like it was letting up anytime soon, S went and bought some ponchos for us to wear. I had a yellow one that looked like I was wearing one of those cheap shower curtains you can buy at the grocery store. Going 40km/hr, I had to close my eyes so the rain wouldn't wash away my contacts. S isn't wearing goggles or a helmet so I have no idea how he could see anything, but he kept on going. We stopped for breakfast (Grilled chicken on rice -- there is no distinction between breakfast, lunch and dinner food here) at a kind of scary looking village, but it was tasty. I got a bit worried when I saw the girls fetching water from a well (it may have been one of CVSG's 400 wells they dug for the locals) and hoped I wasn't going to get a stomach ache. I was okay.

When we got to Banteay Srei, it was raining steadily. But gosh, it is an exquisite temple. It wasn't commissioned by a king, but by a Brahmin priest, and some archaeologists think it may have been designed by female artists because the intricate decorations are so much more detailed and elaborate than temples that came even later. S found me in the temple after locating an umbrella for me so I can continue taking a million photos of every little detail. It turns out that he asked one of the vendors outside if he could borrow an umbrella, which I figured out later when we stopped there to buy bananas (but we just ate!). There was a puppy there named Toto and his proud owner (a teenage girl) as very proud to show him off to me. Anyway, Bayon is still my favorite site, but this one comes in a close second. If you ever go to the Temples of Angor, cough up the extra bucks to drive out and see this.

We rushed back to check out of the guest house, and we headed back in the park to see more ruins. We eventually went back to Angor Wat and hung out there for a long time, sitting at the top of the highest level, watching people crawling up the steps. I am very impressed with the Asian retirees who insist on climbing up all the while complaining about how steep/scary/hot/hard it is. It might be easier if they didn't have their cameras/umbrellas/fans in their hands! One Spanish girl was almost at the top and decided to hand her buddy her backpack... but it slipped off her shoulder and tumbled down the steps. The steps are about 50 feet high, and everyone gasped as it tumbled tumbled tumbled down the steps and landed in a puddle. A guide fished it out a nanosecond later and hurried up to deliver it to her. Now I had heard them speaking so I knew they were from Spain, and I couldn't resist trying to chat it up with them. They didn't seem all that surprised that I spoke Spanish, so I was a bit disappointed.

S was bummed that I couldn't hang out to see the sunset with him, but it as time to go. We went back to my guest house at 5:00 so that I could be at the airport 2 hours before my 7:30 flight. He gave me a postcard of Angor Wat with his phone number and address and asked for mine. It was kind of cute. I gave him my card (I printed some up with my email address on it before the trip) and wrote my address on the back. He said he would call me (what, you have to be kidding!) so I said email is better with the time difference. He seemed thrilled that I offered him $12 for today because he took me much further, for a total of $20 for both days. I later heard in the airport that the average Cambodian worker in resort areas (receptionists, cleaning crew, etc.) makes about $100/mo. So S hit the jackpot when I fired my driver and tour guide. I'm happy for him though -- he sure earned it in my book!

OK the internet center is closing for the day. I am heading to Phuket tomorrow morning, and boarding my boat which will stay at sea for 4 days, so this may be the last entry for a while. I will try to write tomorrow, but I am not sure I can. I am so excited to go diving!!!!!

love,
asami :-)