10th March - The journey from Laos to Cambodia was hellish to say the least! They crammed as many people as they could into the hottest, smallest minibus ever made and drove through the night across a dirt track full of massive potholes. I’ve heard stories from other travellers that the airlines are bribing the Cambodian government not to develop roads leading from the other countries so that more people will fly there instead. It doesn’t suprise me either - it’s probably true as corruption is rife over here..Arriving in Siem Reap we were told by the bus driver that they had tuk tuks waiting for us to take us to our choice of guest houses for free. Bonus! When we got off the bus, it was mayhem. About 20 tuk tuk drivers were fighting to get our business - I’m not kidding. Me, Dave and Laura quickly had a look at our travel guides and decided on a suitable place and asked the drivers to take us there. ALL the tuk tuks ended up going to Good Time guest house.. so much for a free tuk tuk taking us where we wanted! It turns out that the driver was a friend of the guesthouse owner.. Still, it turned out to be the cheapest place ever costing us a dollar a night each and it wasn’t too far away from the action!
As always, the first night in a new place is spent relaxing and checking the place out.
The Angkor What? bar that we frequented in Siem Reap
12th March - We were so excited, this would probably be the highlight of coming to Cambodia, going to see Angkor Wat, South East Asia’s most impressive temple complex - built in the 12th Century for the King. We bought ourselves a 3 day pass and I’m so glad we did. The site is absolutely huge and took us a few days to look around. I think a week pass would have been better though as there was still a lot I could have seen..
We saw the Angkor Wat first which was a massive enclosed stone temple. This was probably the busiest site. There were murals and reliefs everywhere and the fine details on every single wall was amazing.
The room of 1000 buddhas
Impressive eh?
After spending several hours around Angkor Wat we decided to take a look at the surrounding temples. Luckily, we hired a tuk tuk for the day which took us around the various sites. Some other travellers we met had left their bicycles at Angkor Wat and decided to walk it which took them most of the day! The other temples were miles away. Whilst walking through the temples you do get accosted by small children trying to sell you books and postcards. It’s a sad thing to see - they should be at school or at the least playing but they’re often made to work for their parents. I would have liked to have bought a book but I know it’s probably wrong. Even in the city, it happens whilst you’re eating or drinking and then you feel even worse!
This temple was actually used in the Tomb raider film.. the one which my wife stars, Angie
I have so many pictures of Angkor Wat, you should really have a look at them in the gallery if you’re interested in seeing more!
Partway through one of the ruins I heard music and went to investigate! It was a landmine victim band who played to earn money despite their obvious disabilities. Me and Dave went and tried to jam but had we continued it probably would’ve started to rain.
We spent a good while with these guys and I was glad to know that they were making a real life for themselves. There are a lot of beggars out on the streets here and these guys teach and train music and other skills to make people employable once again.
After a whole day of Angkor Wat we were exhausted. We hadn’t had a bite to eat all day and we decided to go out and have an Indian meal and maybe a few pints before bedtime. I was starving. Halfway through my meal I felt something tickling my hand. Turning it over to have a look I saw the biggest fucking cockroach ever. Waving my hands and yelping in panic the cockroach seemed to fly somewhere behind me, thankfully not on someone elses table! Funny thing is, no one else saw the cockroach so everyone just thought I was a loon. We went to the Angkor What?, a bar covered in graffiti by the customers. I even left my own words of wisdom there on a wall by the toilet. I’m such a rebel. Some big guy - lager swilling English lout there called Jon was a source of amusement for all as we watched as he tried to seduce Laura by stroking her arm. We left shortly after.
Leaving the bar (about 3 am), we were attacked by homeless children and landmine victims. One kid who only had one leg wouldn’t let me get back on the tuk tuk home. These kids had real problems and were actually quite aggressive in trying to get money from people. I quickly outsmarted the little shit and walked to the other side of the tuk tuk where a 15 year old girl with a baby started to smack me with her fists. Okay! Perfect end to the night!? Well almost, when we got back to our room, I watched in bewilderment as Dave was trying to plug in a charger and got electrocuted. Hehe.
My journal’s a bit incomplete for this week so I’m not sure what happened each day but I remember the last day. The last day in Siem Reap was a big day. For breakfast/lunch we decided to go to a restaurant called the butterfly garden which is filled with butterflies. The restaurant pays villagers for bringing butterflies to them which helps local communities.
We’d been to Angkor Wat a few times and decided to see a temple some 20km out of the city. Me, Annalise, Dave, Laura and a girl from Belgium (forget the name sorry) got a tuk tuk and motorbike together and set off only to get 2 miles down the road and get a flat. Great. After about 40 minutes in the heat and the tyre repaired we continued on our journey for about 20 yards and the tyre went flat again.. Oh the joy.
After a while we were back on our way to the temple. This temple was as grand as the rest but older and cordened off in some places, something which none of the other temples had.
Ok, I know I did this before back in Thailand, but I was itching to do it again. Me, Dave and Annalise decided to go shoot some guns! We’ve heard stories over here that in some parts they’ll let you shoot guns and for an extra price let you blow up animals! Thankfully this wasn’t one of those shooting ranges. It was a range run by the military using up their weapons surplas from the war over 30 years ago. Looking at our menu, i.e. a wall! we decided we’d go with the AK-47 - every terrorists favourite toy, M16 - Rambo gun, M1 garand (WWII rifle) and a chinese handgun.
Ok, can I have that one and that one and that one?
With the M16 I didn’t hit a single thing. The recoil on this monstrosity was immense and pushed me back a few inches. The AK was equally bollocks but the M1 rifle, even though it’s sight was missing was suprising accurate. For a 60 year old gun without a sight (it was broken off) I mananged to hit the target at 50 meters using all my shots. I think they wanted me to join their ranks after my little display of markmanship.
Now, isn’t that the coolest thing ever????!?!!!
If there’s one thing more fun for a guy than firing a gun, it’s dressing up and playing soldiers which is exactly what me and Dave did, much to the amusement of the other soldiers!
Actually, the pictures you’re about to see are real ones shot by journalists in the field.
Me and Dave, fighting communism. Complete with sound effects.
Bah, these were too expensive to fire! Knowing my aim though I probably would’ve missed and hit a school.
Our last stop for the day was at the landmine museum. Not a major attraction for tourists but still probably one of the most informative and interesting. Also the most upsetting. The museum was started by Akira, a former khmer rouge boy soldier who at the age of 6 started laying hundreds of land mines across Cambodia. Now, his work involves finding and diffusing mines for free whilst the West charges something like $300 to diffuse each one.
We were greeted by Chet a young guy who lost a leg as a child and through working at the museum got his life back on track and became an artist and musician. He took us around the grounds and showed us diffused mines and explained the damage they’d cause. All really grim stuff and it’s so hard to believe that there are still hundreds of thousands of the things still about in the countryside.
The museum was filled with lots of sad stories of death and loss, more profound was that the museum floor was filled with diffused mines that Akira’s work had produced.
Chet was good on the keyboard but even better were his paintings which told of life in Cambodia. I wish I took pictures of them as they were amazing and since art materials are so expensive it’s unlikely he can really continue with it. This was our sad end to a very long day!
