When I last wrote, I was in Phnom Penh, Cambodia getting ready to go to Siem Reap to see the ancient ruined city of Angkor Wat. The Angkor ruins are one of those things that are so built up that I expected to be a bit disappointed when I got there. I have to say, they are quite impressive. The ruins are very extensive, covering many miles. Some are in remarkable shape, some are piles of rubble. Many have full-grown trees growing on, out of, and around them. Of course, being THE tourist attraction in Cambodia, you get innundated by "Wanna buy a cold drink?", "Film?", "Postcards?", every time you walk out of a ruin. Nonetheless, a really cool place.
I'm back in Bangkok now, winding down my tour of Asia. Next week, I head to Europe.
Saturday, 9/6/03
Thien and I got up early and hopped on the bus to Siem Reap. This was a full-size bus with working air conditioning, so we didn't get covered with dirt. For stretches of the road, it was pretty rough. Thien almost got to the point of throwing up and was half dead when we got there.
The landscape on the ride was pretty much what we had seen on the previous drive--lots of big expanses of wetlands planted with rice and trees dotted throughout. Stands of forest. Stilt houses scattered about.
It started raining just as we got to Siem Reap. We checked out the guesthouse that the bus brought us to, but did not like it. When the rain subsided, we went down the street to another. This guesthouse was quite nice, the family running it was friendly, but the noise from the music being played across the street was very annoying.
We walked around Siem Reap just before sundown. It was a pleasant place except for the fact that everyone looked at us like fresh meat for the fleecing. The taxi drivers were relentless. Lots of beggars.
Siem Reap has a lot of large, old trees and a river going through town. There are some decent colonial buildings. It is aesthetically pretty pleasant.
We went back to the hotel, and I actually wanted to watch TV (which I really haven't done since leaving India.) I watched Hannibal (which apparently had the really gorey stuff cut out) and my first episode of Six Feet Under.
The air-conditioner controls were written Japanese, so we had some difficulty getting it to work right. We froze that night.
Sunday, 9/7/03
The blaring music next door woke me up at 5:30. Eventually, I managed to fall back to sleep, in spite of the noise and frigid air conditioning.
We went to Angkor Wat in the late afternoon (you get in free after 5pm if you are buying a pass for the next day.) We took a remorque-moto--a motorcycle with a little two-wheeled carriage towed behind it.
We went through Angkor Wat itself. (The Wat is just a small portion of the ancient city.) It is huge and impressive. I used my failing camera to take a few pictures, removing the batteries after each shot so the camera would not eat them. You couldn't really get any good sunset shots due to the way Angkor Wat faces, and the fact that they kick you out before the sun actually sets.
Monday, 9/8/03
Today was spent in Angkor Wat. We intended to get up early, but because the shutters were closed and we could not see the sun come up, it was almost 10 before we got up.
We got our driver, got some pastries, and headed to the Angkor Wat complex. We skipped Angkor Wat itself, having seen it the night before and went straight to the walled city of Angkor Thom and the Bayon inside it. This is the one with all the faces, and was pretty cool. We tried walking to the Western Baray, realized it was too far, turned back and went by the pyramid of The Baphuon, which was under heavy reconstruction. Here we met two boys who "helpfully" told us about the reclining buddha behind. Obviously, these boys wanted to be tour guides for tips. Mine was actually pretty good.
We went from site to site all day. It was quite cool. I could easily see just spending a day walking around, picnicking, or reading at these sites.
It had been a beautiful day--not terribly hot, and no rain. We ended the day at the hilltop where Phnom Bekang is located. This is the definitive sunset spot. It was quite an impressive view of the surrounding landscape. In view, there was a big lake, lots of jungle, and you could see Angkor Wat from above (although it was too small to get good pictures.) I wanted to wait for sunset, but it was just too long until then, so we decided to leave. The sun set on the drive back, and it looked like it probably wasn't that impressive anyway.
Once home, we ran around trying to arrange my bus to Bangkok and Thien's flight to Saigon. Fortunately, we got them both arranged before places closed.
Tuesday, 9/9/03
I got on my bus to Bangkok. The roads were, of course, mostly bad dirt roads. I talked a lot with the guy next to me.
We hit a traffic jam after lunch for about an hour. A trailer had fallen off on a bridge. When the trailer had been cleared, the traffic on either side prevented anyone from going across. (The left lanes were clogged with people trying to pass the people in the right lane, in order to get to the bridge. Thus, anyone getting across the bridge had nowhere to go when they got across.)
When we got to Poipet, we went through immigration, etc. and our bus company did not tell us where to catch the bus on the other side. Fortunately, I found some of the other passengers milling around.
Nui called while I was on the bus. He was visiting in Bangkok with some friends from Chiang Mai.
Wednesday, 9/10/03
Nui called and we met for lunch. Then we walked over to Pratunam market and shopped for lack of anything else to do. We were shopping for me, but I found nothing. The clothes that I would have bought were not available in my size. Nui, who did not want to buy anything, bought three things.
I met Nui and a friend of his that night for drinks. They flew back home the next day.
Thursday, 9/11/03
I didn't do much today--pretty much just used the net and read. I uploaded my Cambodia pictures and did a little travel planning for Europe. I downloaded the "missing" chapters of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, which I did not know existed, and loaded them on my PDA. If you like that series of books, check them out. (They explain how the dolphins got the earth back and several other things.)
I'll be spending the next several days in Bangkok, planning for Europe and preparing to go home. Hopefully, it will be relaxing, but being Bangkok, it could be very un-relaxing. :) So far, people have been quite amused by my "new look".
Later,
Sid
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