Siem Reap is the tourist capitol of Cambodia. It is obvious that many people who
go there see nothing else of the country, and IF my memory serves me correctly,
someone or other told me that indeed 50% of the country's tourists go only to
Siem Reap. The town itself was OK. Nothing special. Houses on stilts, which we
hadn't seen much of further south, but now we were in the environs of Tonle Sap
(Lake), which acts as a massive backwash when the rainy season comes and the
flow Mekong reverses into the Lake due to the extent of the rains. I read that
90% of the water in the Mekong drains out during the dry season. I'd love to
return to the area during the rainy season and see what the river having 10
times as much water does to the landscape. It made me think that people in
England should maybe start thinking about building their houses on stilts, so
that they don't have to ask for disaster relief every year when their houses
flood.

At least here there were some local food stalls where we could save some money;
much needed after paying the pass to see the temples at Angkor at $40pp for 3
(consecutive) days, and the tuktuk driver to take us around: $12, $15, and $25
for the three days, respectively. Our budget was bust again in Cambodia. And the
beer was dearer than Sihanoukville.

Bayon

Our tuktuk driver (Rak) told us that (in another triumph of capitalism) the
temples were operated by a Korean company. Originally Cambodians were charged to
visit "their" temples until crowds protesting persuaded them to change the
rules; now they get free entry, although the still have to pay about 300 Riel to
use the toilets, although this is much less than the 2000 Riel tourists without
tickets have to pay.

Terrace of the Elephants

Anyway, after our first day of temples we discovered happy hour in "Pub Street",
but had terrible food in the only place we could afford, since we hadn't yet
discovered the local food stalls.

Close up of Terrace of the Leper King

The following day we had an early start: Angkor Wat for sunrise, somewhat
confusingly on Rak's advice, since the previous day he'd told us that the light is better in the
evening. Sure enough it was very disappointing! Angkor Wat was supposed to be
the ultimate in temples, but as the sun rose behind it, rendering it in total
silhouette, the disappointment in the (obediently at the proscibed place) crowd
was palpable. I'm sure it would have looked much more impressive for sunset.
Some people paid to go up in a balloon which I decided we should do for sunset
one evening. It's on a fixed line, so not a "real" balloon flight, but I've
never been in a hot air balloon before, so it seemed like a nice idea, which we unfortunately never got around to doing. The rest
of Angkor Wat was, of course, incredible, but the sunrise was a real letdown.

The long awaited sun

The rest of that day: Preah Khan, Neak Pean, Ta Som, East Mebon, and Pre Rup. Luckily for everyone my camera ran out of batteries shortly after Angkor Wat, and I'd been reserving them even at Angkor Wat, so there are probably a few thousand photos less than there outherwise would be. It
was 37C that day and about 60% humidity. Walking around in those tempratures was
not particularly comfortable, and every time we got back in the tuktuk, Rak took
the time to pause, turn around, look concerned, and say "are you alright" with
real feeling. It was all I could do not to respond "I would be if you got this
f-ing thing moving instread of acting so concerned". Not very charitible I
confess, but every second the cool breeze from the tuktuk's movement was delayed
seemed like a second closer to boiling point. He kept it up though, every stop;
he seemed to think it was dangerous for him to drive while we were so red-faced
and obviously uncomfortable. It was about that day I noticed that Cambodians
don't sweat. I actually asked Rak about it and he said, yes, if he was doing
heavy work in these tempratures he would sweat, but other than that 37C is just
normal for him.

Bas relief

Everywhere you go around Siem Reap there are people trying to sell you things;
more often than not they are children. It was there in Sihanoukville and Phnom
Penh, but here, where the tourist concentration is highest, it is incessant.
Cambodian kids are incredibly cute, and those hawking things have learned to
emphasise those aspects with expect precision. It's very hard to say no, and the
Lonely Planet emplores you to say no as they should be in education instead of
earning money, and the money probably goes to some VIP boss figure, not them.
I'm not sure about the bosses, but it's hard to see how working is depriving
them of schooling if there is no state-provided education anyway. Rak thought
that they probably were going to school, but only if they earned enough money
each morning (or the previous afternoon) to pay for school they next half-day.
Apparently this is difficult for them to do bcause the police extort bribes of
$3 per day from the kids to ensure they are not moved on from the tourist areas. Nice.

Kids climbing Ta Keo

Not wanting to break with tradition (erm annoy their shady spying superiors I
mean) we bumped into Jochem in the supermarket in Siem Reap. The regularity of
this was now passing unfeasible, so to celebrate we agreed to have dinner the
next night. We had more luck with the food that night and discovered Cambodian
street food for the first time: cheapish and OK, but not a patch on Vietnam...
more luck at the supermarket where I discovered a litre of pastis for only $4.

The last day of temples consisted if Kbal Spean ("the riverbed of Lingas"),
Banteay Srey, Banteay Samre, and Phnom Bakheng for sunset. We also managed to
fit in the Landmine Museum, which is a small museum full of deactivated mines and bombs of
various sorts, kindly left there by the Americans. Why is there not some international treaty
obliging the nations responsible for the mining to be responsible for the clean-up and care of
the injured? - oh yeah, because there would be no point as the Americans wouldn't sign up to it,
just like they haven't signed up to the current Mine Ban Treaty (along with China, India, Russia, and so on).
During the day I asked Rak a little bit about the
politics in Cambodia. He didn't know what Socialism was, but when I tried to
descibe it, was fairly certain that the CPP governing Cambodia were not any such
thing (as they claim to be); in fact he said "government is to keep the rich
rich". When trying to explain why people (apart from the rich) vote for the CPP
he cited peoples fear of change; since the time of Pol Pot things in Cambodia
have been better, and it has been the CPP in power, so they are scared to change
anything in case something like Pol Pot happens again. They know things are not
great; they could be better, but they really know how bad things can get, so the
CPP will do because they are not that. Confusing he then went on to tell me
about his own politics: "I like the idea of Pol Pot", which rather surprised me.
He went on to explain further than he likes the idea i.e. everyone is equal, but he agrees there
were a few problems with the implementation, like killing lots of people. I'm sure it can't be a very
common view in Cambodia (surely?).

Kbal Spean

Naturally, we bumped onto Marty, Jochem, and Marty's cousin at the top of Phnom
Bakheng, where we had all gone for sunset, just a couple of hours before we had to meet them for dinner.
We met up for cheap market food again, then went on to "Angkor What?" bar, where they have a happy hour(s)
special of 50 (US) cent beer and cheap buckets (buy two get a free t-shirt). A fun night was had by all,
during which we managed to secure three free t-shirts.

Those with the best view of Angkor Wat