Siem Reap

As I mentioned before the Tuk Tuk was a beauty, he took us through Siem Reap to our guesthouse, Palm Garden Lodge. www.palmgardenvilla.com , a slightly different name, but the same place. The ride through SR was very different to what we had previously seen in Cambodia, it was clean and tidy and the streets were wide and seemed well planned. The last 400 metres to the villa was by a dirt potholed track through local housing. The Tuk Tuk jumped all over the place and we had to hang on tight.  The guesthouse looked neat and tidy and we met out hosts and moved in. That afternoon we walked into the old part of town and a section known as pub street, 50 cent draft beers signposted everywhere. It was looking to be a fun sort of place. We had a Cambodian lunch street side in a plush looking restaurant, I took the fresh spring rolls, Hilde had the Lok lak, a curry inspired dish with pork. Pork is one of the staple meats here, we see pigs alive and cooked being transported on the back of scooters all the time. After lunch we had a quick look at the old market and the nearby Central Market.
We were in for a shock, the stall holders went at us like rabid dogs hungry for blood. It was to be the start of four days of constant "Mr. Tuk Tuk?", "Madam, nice silver", "Sir, good food" The spruikers were everywhere and constant, mostly they received a polite, "no thank you." It was to get more severe from the scruffy little kids who worked the Angkor ruins, more on that later.
We decided on a USD$1 tuk tuk ride for the return trip to the guesthouse as the mud and water were not that appealing to us, the bouncing was better than the mud.

The tuk tuk from the airport had been arranged and provided gratis by the guesthouse, that afternoon we learnt that the driver did not receive any payment for that service, but hoped to be compensated by way of being our transport around the Angkor ruins. We had been keen to find our own tuk tuk guy who was fluent in English and we would retain for our entire stay.
Our guy knew a few basic words and had a family of 5 to feed and I believe this was to be his only chance this week to make any real money. We decided to go with him and arranged to depart at 8am the following morning.

Our tuk  tukguy arrived and surprise us with a different tuk tuk, old and raggedy. I asked where the other one was and he said that he had borrowed it and that this one was his.We also found that his child would be in the hospital all day, we took off to the Angkor ruins,

Our raggedy Tuk Tuk approaching the south gate to exit Anghor Thom 

 it was a beautiful ride and it was apparent that the entire area received attention to make it more appealing to the tourists. Most westerners toured in smaller groups either in mini vans, tuk tuks and pushbikes. We came to the entrance and found that we needed to pay either $20 each for one day, $40 for two or three days. We chose the three day option and a photo ticket was made and away we went. The ruins themselves are something else, too hard to describe in words, but the pictures should say it all.

A part of the overgrown Ta Prohm

We changed the route a little to avoid the coach loads of Chinese, Korean and Japanese who all haunted the ruins in large loud groups. The main Angkor Wat was bypassed and we headed straight to the South gate of Angkor Thom, this was most impressive, from there to Bayon, Ta Prohm and lunch near the Angkor Wat.

Another part of the overgrown Ta Prohm

Still another and the last part of the overgrown Ta Prohm

 By the time we made it back to Angkor Wat it was lunchtime, we sat in a roadside restaurant with a fresh fruit shake and a spicy local dish. By the time we were ready to walk into the Angkor Wat, most of the large groups had disappeared. We didn't have it to ourselves, but managed to avoid being smothered by the hordes.
The day was hot and exhausting, climbing all over and inside the ruins took it's toll on our energy banks. Not only the physical draining, mentally we were drained also. At each stop throughout the day we were swamped by people selling anything that could be sold. Children were the most numerous holding out trinkets, guide books and postcards, the tome was always the same, in a sorrowful voice, "only one dollar Mister/Madam"  Tiny barefoot children wearing just grubby shorts and torn tee shirts holding out a handful of postcards walking alongside counting off the cards in English, 1 to 15 and then they would start again repeating the process until either you caved in or started climbing the rocky ruins. One enterprising young lady kept repeating her sales pitch to me for various items, even stuff that she did not have but could get, finally I said, "sorry I want nothing" She said "Ok, I give you nothing, only $10."
All of the children would ask where are you from, when the reply "Australia" was made, they came up with G'day mate ect until one young guy said in a sorrowful voice, "the dingo took my baby"

Perverts are everywhere, this ancient wall statue provided the evidence, her bare breasts were polished smooth by the thousands of caressing hands

Hilde peeping from one of the windows on the highest Angkor Wat tower. The modesty Police were at the beginning of the staircase preventing entry to anybody who was too exposed.

The attention of people selling any and everything had been constant, as we left Angkor Wat this little girl stood silent holding her trinkets, Hilde made her selection, took what she wanted and placed a hand full of notes into her hand. She didn't utter a sound the entire time.

That afternoon we returned to the guesthouse to shower and change our sweat soaked clothes, we agreed to our Tuk Tuk guy for a second day as I could not say no to his look of hope when the question was asked. He was good though, we never had to look for him as each time we came from a site, he kept a constant watch for us and was headed our way with a wave and a smile. The tuk tuk guy was eager to look after us for the rest of the day, but as he had been receiving calls all day in regards to his sick child, we let him go and attend to her. In relation to child health I was to see over a dozen times during our stay, children being transported by scooter, tuk tuk and bicycle all with drips inserted in their arms with the accompanying adult holding up the intravenous drip bag on a stick. Dehydration must be a big problem with children.
The guesthouse had a small pool with nibbling fish, they attended to my sore feet for about a half hour before I headed to the shower and some fresh clothes.

A traditional Cambodian meal, all wrapped in banana leaf.

 We walked into Pub Street to check out a spot for dinner, we sat in one of the alleyways nearby, and enjoyed a local dish, all served in banana leaves.
The second  night was market night and we had great difficulty not buying the massive range of things on offer. Hilde was the selector and I was the negotiator. I found that without too much trouble I could get an average of 2/3 off of the asking price. After each purchase they always had a smile on their face, it was obvious they were still making plenty. I watched a group of Malaysians at a store and saw that the asking price by the stall holders was double that asked of us. A new era, either the Malaysian tourists are more wealthy or we westerners are much more mean.
That night we returned to the guesthouse, we had asked for one of the bedsheets to be replaced as it was old and worn and felt a little greasy, we found that the bed sheets had been replaced and the good one taken away, we now had two old and worn sheets, other than that the room was fine although not as good as any we had had so far.Our second tuk tuk day took us to a few of the different sites, the main ones Bayon, Angkor Wat and Prohm were done on the first day, the groups seemed to avoid the others as we mostly had them to ourselves. By lunch time we were tuckered out and headed back to town, the guesthouse was not living up to our expectations and as described in trip advisor. We found another one nearby, the rocky road would now be avoided. This guesthouse was only $10 per night more, it was of a 4 star hotel standard with a pool.
We wish we had found it earlier. We decided that our third day was going to be by pushbike, out tuk tuk guy was thanked and paid up. That night we struck up a conversation with a West Australian couple, they told us of their tuk tuk guy in Phnom Penh, how he had a facial disfigurement and rented his tuk tuk and bike for $5 a day, after a big days work he would be very lucky to clear $4. The couple felt sorry for him and bought him a brand new tuk tuk and a scooter to pull it, a cost of around AUD$1600. At about the same time this story was being related to me a smartly dressed young lad of around 13 was attempting to sell me anything from postcards, jewellery, tours, he went through his entire stocklist, each item "only a dollar" each time receiving my polite "no thank you" Until finally he said, "peace and quiet, only one dollar" He nearly got it for being so clever.
The next morning we moved out of the old and into the new Guesthouse, it was like a breath of fresh air, I wish we had done it as soon as we had some misgivings. The new guest house was Encore Angkor www.encoreangkor.com. It had a novel fire escape, the property had a large pool that was right alongside if you survived the jump into it, you them needed to survive the 30 large crocodiles, most over two metres in length. That croc pool was also alongside our guesthouse pool, although separated by a 2 metre high fence.

 Next door's pool and fire escape

 We hired pushbikes and headed back the the Angkor ruins, the roads were flat and had a great smooth surface.  When we were out there a tuk tuk guy saw me ride into a parking area and asked me if I wanted a tuk tuk, I said pointing at my bike, "I have a bike," he said the bike could come as well.

Hilde and I on our last day at Angkor Wat

 

 Sharing the roadway with other traffic between Angkor Wat & Bayon

Locals on their way to work at Angkor.

The entrance to the South Gate, Bayon.

The ride out to the ruins and back was around 15 kilometres, it was a very hot ride and it became hotter the more we rode.  Once we returned to town we needed something to cool us down, after a shower we headed across the road from the Guesthouse to a local restaurant. A mango shake hit the spot, the recipe was half ice, half mango flesh, two table spoons of condensed milk and two tee spoons of sugar. Blend it and there you have a mango shake.

A Mango shake

A small river ran through the old town, two new covered walking bridges spanned this river and local children used them to swim from and others  just sat and watched the world go by. This boy (below) equipped himself with some foam to aid flotation.

A local boy enjoying a swim with his swimming aids.

The recycling boy.

 We came off the bridge and saw this boy with his bike, fully equipped to collect waste paper and plastic, we saw numerous boys like him during our stay in Cambodia, obviously very poor and working hard for only a few cents a day. These boys never begged or tried to sell trinkets, they worked hard. I did as I had done with others, dropped a few notes into his hand for a job well done. For me it was the cost of a beer, for him a day or two's pay. A few minutes later I saw him buy a ice drink from a roadside stall using my money.

Probable brothers recycling returning from school

 Hilde and I returned to the Guesthouse to swim next the the crocodiles, (with a fence between us), I returned the pushbikes to the hire place and noticed the monsoon shower getting ready to sluice down the town, there was a slight sprinkle happening. On the way back I notice these two boys who were obviously headed home from school, it looked like they did some collecting to supplement their pocket money. It brought memories of my childhood with my younger brother Chris. I always had him carry the lions share. Here the older boy was even trying to have the little fellow manage the umbrella on top of the entire load.
Shortly afterwards the heavens opened and the rains came and the lights went out. The whole town lost power. Our last night in town was in darkness. We managed in the rain with umbrellas and our restaurant had a generator.

Breakfast on the final morning at SR in the Guesthouse forecourt.

That morning left SR on a cool sunny morning on a Silk Air Flight to Singapore for a last few days in South East Asia.