Scambodia

Got up as early as we could on the 5th and took the water taxi, then the tram to the bus station to catch a bus to aranyaprathet at the cambodia/thai border. Ignored all the calls that you needed to pay extra money for a special visa, and just walked over into poipet cambodia where the visa was simple enough. The busses to siem reap (the city where angkor wat is) were all finished, so we had to take a taxi. The taxi took us to some random place in cambodia where a man, luc, gave us a "free" ride to, not the hostel we wanted to go to, but another one he said that was good, which of course he was connected with, just as the taxi had been connected with him. It was ok though b/c we got a sweet deal at the place we stayed (8 bucks for the 3 of us with free internet and cable tv and hot shower). Of course luc wanted us to take his tuk tuk tour of angkor. We weren't so sure if we wanted his tour, so we walked around town and checked some other places as well as ate at an amazing place with great noodles and fruit shakes. In the end we decided to go with luc on his tour.

The next morning we were up at 5am so we could catch the sunrise on Angkor Wat, which was pretty stunning. Then we walked around the giant temple complex built by one of the jayavarman kings (known to us as javaman). We ate some nice breakfast in front of the temple and then went back to our driver, who it turns out wasn't luc, but someone who worked for him. This new driver showed us the route he was going to take us on, which wasn't where we had wanted to go, which maybe we'd have known if luc had shown up for our 10 oçlock meeting, which he didn't. The proposed route was one we wanted to do on our bikes. And then we had been promised the driver would be a guide, but he just drove you to the temples and then slept in a hammock while he waited for you. So with this is mind, and after a bit of arguing with luc on the phone, we paid the driver for the ride to angkor and then decided to find a different driver. We also bought a nice guide book for 5 bucks (cover price of 30). There are no copyright laws in scambodia, so it makes book prices really cheap. I got a laos lonely planet for 3 bucks (I had bought the indonesia one for 37 in KL) here as well. So with our new driver we told him we wanted to go out and seem some further out temples while we had a tuk tuk so we could bike the next day to the closer temples. So that day after Angkor Wat temple we went to banteay Srei temple with it's incredibly intricate designs. It also had no shade and we nearly died of heat, so we lovingly refer to it as the temple of fire as well. From here we went a ways out to the hills and jungle. We happened to arrive just in time for a tour of a wildlife rehab center, which was pretty cool. Then we hiked up to this area (Kbal Spean) where there were some carvings in the bed of the river. Pretty amazing considering there is a river constantly washing over it, and how one carves in a river is crazy too. But it wasn't as amazing as the freezing waterfall that we showered under up there. A much needed refresher. After coming back from Kbal Spean we went to Banteay Samre temple and then on to Pre Rup for a nice sunset. On pre rup you could climb up to the top and watch it there. We were greeted with cold beers on the top for 1 dolla (everything there was 1 dolla) and we couldn't resist. There was a large japanese tour group on top already (but no problem for us b/c even whitney was much taller) and when the sun sunk they all clapped excitedly, like perhaps it was an event that doesn't always happen.

The next day we rented bikes to do the main circle. We visited the temples of Banteay Kdei, Ta Prohm, Ta Keo, Preah Khan, the victory gates of Angkor Thom, and then the Terrace of the Elephants, Terrace of the Lepers, Baphuon, and Bayon temple all inside of ankor thom. Ta Prohm may have been my favorite temple. It had been left to nature as opposed to restored like the others, so it had more of an indiana jones temple feel (they actually filmed laura croft tomb raider with angelina jolie there apparently). It was sweet b/c it was all crumbly with moss growing everywhere and giant trees and strangler figs just growing out of the temple with their huge roots going down into the cracks in the blocks. I also liked Preah Khan a lot b/c it had the same feeling, but with no tourists there, so we had it to ourselves. And Bayon was also sweet with it's huge faces everywhere. For sunset we walked up Phnom Bakheng to the Bakheng temple to watch the sun fall over tonle sap lake. Of course that night we ended with some tasty noodles and mango shakes and a khmer style massage.

11/8 In the morning we took a tuk tuk to the Ruluos group farther afield from siem reap and visite preah ko, bakong (the oldest of the major temples), and Lolei. We then bussed to phnom penh where we met up with Kyle and Lindsey Sales. We didn't like phnom penh at all as it was dirty, hot, stinky, and just not very nice, so we made plans to get out.

But the temples of angkor were definitely sweet. Amazing that something so big could be built way back then and in such heat. Adding to the experience of the temples was the horde of women and children that were always trying to sell you things at the temple entrances. You were always hearing cold water sir, one dolla, hey lady you want fruit, one dolla. You remember me sir, you come back and buy from me sir. One dolla. Of course cambodia is a place full of bargaining, so we could always get great deals. The walk away method is amazing and I think we always got what we wanted doing that. And whitney is an intense bargainer. As Kyle Sales would say, when he needed a good deal he'd call Catan over (catan is whitney's nickname here due to her skills at a board game back home).