Wow. It's been a long time since my last post. I've been busy though. The new school year started here in April, so I was very busy with meetings, farewell/welcome parties, school ceremonies, meeting new students and teachers etc. Anyway, I'll try to get back to my overseas vacation story.

So, it's about Day 5 or 6 (I forgot).

When I left off last time I had just left Malaysia and was flying to Cambodia. Going to Cambodia was in interesting experience for me, because it was one of those places that I'd never imagined going to. When I was a child, around the age that I was becoming aware of world affairs, Cambodia was having a pretty tough time. It was one of those countries that you would never go to, unless you had some kind of death wish. I remember clearly - don't go to the USSR, don't got to East Germany and don't go to Cambodia. Lot's of things have changed over the years, but for some reason that 'don't go to Camboida' mentality stuck with me for a long time. It wasn't until recent years, as Cambodia started to become a major tourist destination, that I started thinking about going there. As I did more and more research, I became more and more interested in going there. By the time I left for my trip, the place I was most excited about visiting was Cambodia.

So, around 8:30 in the morning I was coming in to land at Siem Riep airport. Siem Riep is the town built next to Angkor Wat, and is basically the only airport with international connections other than the capital, Phnom Penh. In my head, I was kind of expecting Cambodia to be a rugged, mountainous country, but the area around Siem Riep is completely flat. From the air it looked like the ground was completely covered in marshland, but once you arrive on the ground it is mostly dry. The airport was one building (a traditional Angkor type building) and the visa process was awesome. Show up, fill in a visa form, stick the visa form, a photo ($1 fine if you don't have one) and some cash ($20 or so) in your passport, hand it to the person at one end of the counter, wait a few minutes, then pick up your passport at the other end of the counter when your name is called out. Easy.

I left the terminal and wandered outside to meet the guy from my hotel who was supposed to pick me up. There was a crowd of about 20 people waiting to pick up tourists. They were all holding signs with names on them. As I walked out they all began to shout and point at me. "Smith? Smith? You Smith?", "Hey! You! You Mister Chan?", "Hey mister! You Sanchez? Sanchez? You Sanchez? S...A...N...C...H...E...Z? You?".

Finally I found my driver. He was hiding at the back and wasn't looking too happy for some reason. I walked up to him, pointed to his sign, said "That's me" and smiled. Suddenly, his demeanour changed, he smiled back, grabbed my bag and we went off to his tuk-tuk. I'm really not sure why, but for some reason he seemed to be really nervous or anxious about something while he was waiting. When I walked up to him it was obvious that I was not what he was expecting (but in a good way). Maybe he was expecting a terrorist or a child molester or something. I guess I'll never know.

The Siem Riep tuk-tuks are the 'two-seater cabin attached to a motorbike' type. Last time I rode a tuk-tuk was back in Thailand and it didn't really excite me that much, but the tuk-tuk ride from the aiport to my hotel was one of the highlights of my trip. It was still early in the morning but already it was pretty warm. Sitting in the back of the tuk-tuk with the cool wind blowing, experiencing lots of brand new sights and smells was great.

I wasn't really sure what to expect in Cambodia (I was hoping for something more adventurous than Singapore or Malaysia), and on arrival I wasn't disappointed. Cambodia is as close to a third-world country as I have been to. Although it is very safe, it still has a kind of wild west feeling.

There are lots of farms that don't seem to be growing anything. There are buildings that are falling down. There are animals all over the place. Some farms have cows which are so thin you can see their rib bones through the skin. Almost everyone rides motorbikes, usually with two, three or more people on one bike. It is dirty and there is trash all over the place. Some roads are paved, most aren't. There are very few public amentites of any kind. People seem to have a very open lifestyle - they cook and eat out the front of their house, and most houses don't have windows or doors (I guess it helps the airflow and keeps things cool). There are kids all over the place (actually, I read somewhere that something like half the population is under 15). All these impressions came from the 20 minute ride to my hotel.

I arrived at the hotel and checked in. The hotel was a fairly new hotel, nice and clean with about 20 rooms, and although it was foreign owned it seemed to be run by a Cambodian family. The whole time I was there there was a little girl running around mostly naked. She seemed to have the run of the place, though at times her grandmother was there to keep an eye on her.

The lady at the hotel asked if I wanted to keep my driver for the day or hire him for the next few days, but I explained that I wasn't sure what I wanted to do so I wouldn't need him that day. Instead, I would think about it and let her know later. I went off to my room, had a quick shower and was planning to take a short nap but instead ended up sitting on my bed watching some cricket on the tv (it had been a while since I'd seen Australia play cricket).

Around midday I decided to head out on a mountian bike I rented from the hotel. As I left the hotel my plan was to just ride around the town for a while and get my bearings. I figured I would leave the temple hopping for the next two days. Instead, as I reached the crossroads with the sign that said 'town center left, Angkor Wat right', I had one of those 'f**k it!' moments. The weather was great and I was feeling great, so decided to go visit the temples on my bike.

If you haven't been to Angkor Wat then you might not truly understand what it is. Angkor Wat is the name of one of the temple complexes, but it is also often used to refer to the whole area. There isn't just one or two temples, there are many of them (hundreds maybe) spread out over a large area. The main tourist area is about 25 sq.km (I guess), and has about a dozen different temple areas. It's the sort of place you can go for one day and have a great experience, or if you're a real temple buff you can go for two weeks and still find something new each day. I'm certainly no temple buff (I figured one day would probably be enough for me), but I thought that if I went there on my bike for a few hours I could at least get a better idea of how much time I wanted to spend there.

Although Siem Riep is the town you stay in when you visit the temples, it's still takes a bit of time to get from the town to the temple area. By bike it took about half an hour I think, all the time dodging bikes, potholes and the occasional car. Along the way I saw lots of thing (including monkeys!), but the thing that I remember most was the people. Everyone was smiling and waving and saying 'hello!' as I passed by. In fact, although I should save this for later, I'll say it now. Cambodian people are by far the most friendly people I have met in the world. The kids especially are awesome, but even the old people are friendly too. I met some older people, the kind of people that would look at me with complete indifference in Japan or Australia, and when I smiled at them they would give me these massive gap toothed grins in return. Any time I met children they would run over to say hi, or to practice some English, or to tell me something funny in Khmer. They have such hard and shitty lives, but they live them with a permanent smile on their face. The most amazing thing is that most of the time they don't want anything in return. Unlike other countries where people say 'Hi! How are you? Can you give me a dollar', Cambodian people say hi just to be friendly. Okay, this is not entirely true (especially in the temple complexes), but my lasting expression was that outside the temples, more often than not people don't want anything in return.

Halfway to the temple I had to stop at a checkpoint and buy a temple pass. They took my photo and I handed over about $50 for a three-day pass. $50 is exorbitant for anything in Cambodia, but it is a very small price to pay to see one of the wonders of the world.

Anyway, it was pretty hot and I was getting a bit tired by the time I reached Angkor Wat (the actual temple named Angkor Wat, not the area). My plan was to do Angkor Wat that day and then head back to town. I could do the rest over the next few days. As I arrived out the front of the temple I was swarmed young girls offereing to look after my bike. "You buy my book, I look after your bike" or "You come to my shop and buy water, I look after your bike!". I wasn't really sure whether this was some kind of scam or not, so I politely refused and decided to lock my bike up to a wooden pole where there were one or two other bikes. However, as I walked over the bridge to the temple I noticed a couple of people checking out my bike. I decided that maybe it wasn't a good idea to leave it there so I went back and unlocked it. One of the girls from before saw what happened and came running over. "I told you! You should give me your bike! I will look after it!". It was like I was a little child getting scolded by my mum. I swallowed my pride and took the bike over to her little drink stall and left it there (after promising to by a drink when I return).

I went back over the long stone bridge to the Angkor Wat temple. Along the way I was followed by a guy who was offering his English guide service. I didn't really want a guide, so I politely refused, but he smiled and followed me anyway. He continued to tell me about the history of the bridge and the entrance to the temple as we walked, and I continued to tell him I didn't need a guide. As we reached the entrance he asked if his tour was good so far. I said 'sure, it's good, but I'm still not going to pay you', and with those magic words he vanished.

The Angkor Wat temple is the most famous temple, though it's not the biggest and arguably not the most breathtaking. Still, it's pretty amazing. In fact, there is little I can say that would be helpful. It's big. It's old. It's a temple. There are walls and towers and statues and intricate stone carvings. It's similar to the Imperial Palace in Beijing. It's all so big and there is so much to see that it becomes impossible to describe it. Instead, I'll post some photos.










This next photo was another one of those WTF? moments. I was walking outside the main complex and there was nobody else around. I turned around to take a picture of the temple, and when I turned back this kid had appeared out of nowhere just like a ninja. He had even pulled some kind of pose. I quickly took the shot. I checked my camera to make sure that I had taken a good shot, and when I looked up again he had disappeared. Just like a ninja. A Cambodian ninja.



After an hour or so in Angkor Wat I had had enough, so I went back to pick up my bike. Surprisingly, it was still there. I had a little trouble unlocking the bike (it was an old and rusted lock) so the girl took the key from me, gave me one of those 'geez, these foreigners can't do anything' looks and tried to unlock it. She couldn't do it either, so her little sister gave it a go, then the girl form the stall next door, then a random lady who happened to be passing by. All the time I was asking for the key back so I could do it myself. Finally, after about ten people had tried to unlock the bike, I got the key back and unlocked it in about 2 seconds. The girl's look changed from the 'geez, these foreigners can't do anything' look to the 'geez, these foreigners are luck bastards' look. So, I bought a bottle of water as I had promised (with a price markup as I had expected) and headed back to the hotel. I relaxed for the rest of the afternoon then went out at night.

As I have mentioned many times, when I get to a new city I much prefer walking places than being driven places. My hotel was about 15 minutes walk from the centre of town, and over the three days I was there I did that walk about ten times. Each time I saw new things. My lasting impression of that first night was that Cambodia is a very dark place at night. There are almost no street lights anywhere, so you have to rely on lights from shops and passing traffic. It's also very hard to see many of the bikes and tuk-tuks at night, so you have to be very careful.

The centre of Siem Riep has a kind of 'wild west mashed together with a typical tourist town' feel. It is mostly dirty and wild, but there are also some places that cater to western tourists who need a more familiar atmosphere. Most of the western style bars and restaurants are in one area, creatively named 'Pub Street'. If you need western food and drinks, most things are available here. Around the town there are also a few market areas, and there is one night market near Pub Street. You can get 'traditional' Khmer souvenirs, t-shirts, jewelery, artwork and there are a few places selling things like cds and dvds. However, it has a different atmosphere to the markets of HK, Singapore, Malaysia etc. It's much more laid back and there is no aggressive selling. I picked up a copy of Lonely Planet Cambodia for about 3 or 4 bucks to read over dinner. Dinner turned out to be a traditional Khmer meat and vegetable noodle dish at a streetside stall. It was one of those places that the guidebooks suggest avoiding if you don't want to get diarrhoea, but I wasn't too concerned. It was delicious and like everything in Cambodia it was dirt cheap. The meal and a drink would have cost about $1.50 or so.

After dinner I wandered around the town for a while just soaking in the atmosphere. I was getting tired so I decided to stop in for a foot massage, one of the greatest things you can do in SE Asia. $5 an hour? I think I can stretch my budget that far. So, about 20 minutes, as I was lying there in a dreamlike state from extreme relaxation, four Americans walk in. Two couples, probably around late fourties or early fifties, and they had obviously been hitting the old cab sav hard for the last few hours. As soon as they walked in there was this explosion of noise. At first I was majorly pissed that they were ruining my relaxation, but by the end it had become so comical that I couldn't help but laugh. The stuff that was coming out of their mouths was just extraordinary. It all began with their wanting a half hour massage instead of a full hour. The lady in charge explained that they could only do one-hour massages but they wouldn't take no for an answer. The whole mess was compounded by the fact that none of the staff spoke English very well, though a few spoke just enough to get by. It was like something out of a movie.

American1: "We want a 30 minute massage."
Staff: "Sorry, only one hour."
American2: "No, no! 30 minutes. 30! 30? (counting on his fingers) 1,2,3... 30!"
Staff: "Sorry, only one hour. No 30."
American1: "Yes 30! Yes 30! We want 30! We pay halfie! You understandy?"
American2: "I don't think they understand. Do you speak American?"
American1: (louder) "DO YOU SPEAK AMERICAN??"
American2: "You know, A..M..E..R..I..C..A.. (does a quick rendition of the national anthem)"
American3: "I can't believe noone here speaks American".
American1: "30... 30!"
Staff: ??
American1: "Okay? 30? Let's start!"

Finally the staff gave up and started the massage. The whole time they were jabbering away about this or that, or asking stupid questions to the staff.

Am: "What's your name?"
Staff: "Anchaly."
Am: "Andy?"
Staff: "No. Anchaly."
Am: "Ambaly?"
Staff: "No. Anchaly."
Am: "Anchapaly?"
Staff: "No. Anchaly."
Am: "Bruce?"
Staff: "No. Anchaly."
Am: "Hmmm.... my name is Roger."
Staff: "Ro.... ger..?"
Am: "No, no! Roger."
Staff: "Roger (pronounced perfectly)"
Am: "No, NO! Roger!"
Staff: "Roger (pronounced perfectly)"
Am: "NO, NO! R..O..G..E..R...Roger!."
Staff: "Roger (pronounced perfectly)"
Am: "Ah, just forget it..."

As I said, it was so ridiculous that it was amusing.

After the massage I headed back to the hotel and crashed for the night.