Cambodia - Kingdom of Wonder

I'm trying to think back on our previous ramblings and figure out if we've ever travelled with as little a plan as we set out with to Cambodia. I mean, people plan their trip to the supermarket, or Costco, sometimes preparing their list in the order they'll come to it in the aisles. Verna? And yet here we were, in another Country, in the city of Phnom Penh, with only a vague idea of that we wanted to get to Siem Reap. Not least of all because it's a name we can pronounce and we heard there's this place there called Angkor What? that was worth a few days of sightseeing. We were also told to check out a place called "dead fish and good friends" and I assumed once we were close enough our noses would lead the way.

Nancy mentioned that our tuktuk driver from the airport took us to the bus station, but what I think she may have not mentioned was the sign in the tuktuk that advertised the driver could also take us to the shooting range where we could fire live rounds with automatic weapons of almost all kinds, or if that wasn't enough we could blow up our very own cow with a RPG for a few hundred USD. (it's probably a good deal for them because with a few hundred USD they can probably buy a few cows) After much debate, we decided to save that for later in the trip and continued to the bus station. Well anyway, since we've already related our 7 hour bus adventure, I won't repeat myself except to say that if the bus ride was any less expensive the bus company would have to start paying their passengers for the honor of transporting them. I for one think this would revolutionize the industry and possibly make bus travel popular again! Hmm...was it ever popular?

Ok then, we found Siem Reap. It's actually a very quaint place, almost colonial feeling, especially with all the colonists walking the streets, eating at the restaurants, and drinking in the pubs. I know the place is a big tourist draw but I was still surprised to see as many "people from away" as I did. Apparently Cambodia is rivals with McDonald's and have their own version of the two dollar meal deal. They appear to be winning since we didn't spy a MickeyD's the whole trip. Wow, I just read the last paragraph and if you're still with me, "goodonya", you may as well keep reading since it's sure to get easier.

Let see, arranged for Dee to pick us up in his Tuk tuk the morning after we arrived and this ended up being a good thing since we could tell the other tuk tuk drivers we were all set for the rest of our stay. I'm thinking there was some sort of unfamiliar game going on here as we would be walking down the street and a tuk driver, lounging on his ride, would ask if we wanted tuktuk, we would say no and continue walking. The next tuktuk driver, parked right behind the previous driver, also lounging on his ride and just witnessing us decline the previous driver would ask us with much hope and excitement "tuktuk?" This was sometimes repeated as many as ten times. So, with much anticipation and bated breath, well, several bated breaths, as it was dusty and about 20 minutes outside of town by tired moped, we headed off toward the temple complexes.

Undeterred by all the nay-sayers who warned us about temple burnout, we eagerly purchased the three days in a week park pass. This was somehow different than the three days in a row pass for the same amount of money purchased from a separate window. We handed them our money, they smiled, we smiled, they took our picture and put it on the pass. Don't lose the pass or you'll have to buy another and keep them handy as they were checked at almost every temple. Pretty effiicient really. For the record, all you nay-sayers have now made your way onto a separate list of what I call "people I should listen to".

Having not arranged a price with our tuk tuk driver for his services, we decided to make him work for his keep and when he asked "what temple we want to go" we simply said, "you pick." This strategy worked pretty well as we never saw the same temple twice. Our first stop, after driving by the Ankgor Wat complex (oh yeah, Angkor What? is a bar in town as it turns out) and getting our first giddy glimpses of it, we continued on to the Bayon temple area. This is one of the 5 gates of the walled city of Angkor Thom and each has 54 gods on one side and 54 demons on the other apparently inspired by the story of the Churning of the Ocean of Milk. Our guide told us the number 54 was significant as it was the number of provinces that Cambodia once ruled which included most of present day Thailand, some of Myanmar and Laos. Not sure if this is fact or not, I'm not CNN and don't check all my references, except for those that I make up. Bayon, which looks like a huge pile of rock from a distance is located at the geographic center of Angkor Thom and because of it's eastern exposure is best photographed in the morning. As you get closer the pile of rubble begins to resolve and you start to have the impression you're being watched. This may have something to do with the 216 gigantic faces peering at you from all angles and heights from just about anywhere you stand. I think this was one of my favorite temples, I liked the faces and proceeded to take many photos, see below.