Temples, temples everywhere

It’s been a busy few days. Siem Reap is a great town with loads of things to do, great food and people visiting from every corner of the earth. The big attraction is Angkor Wat of course, and our visit coinciding as it did with Chinese New Year…let’s just say that personal space invasion has been a bit rampant. And it was worth it!

Ancient Angkor is a collection of more than one thousand temples spread out over an estimated 1000 square kms.  Some are nothing more than mounds of repubble of course, but there are at least 50 or so that can be visited. I am no expert on the history of the place, partly because we managed to avoid buying a book until the end of our visit… Don’t ask…

Much of the tour the first day was on foot. We were thankful when the path led us into forests and through the hulking buildings themselves which offer cool respite from the relentless sun. Our tuk-tuk driver was never far away either, although he slept for much of the day. Smart guy.

On day two, Ponlok informed us he had family business to attend to as he introduced us to his replacement. Rocky is a little older and a go-getter. He was reading books on business development as he lounged in the built-in hammock in his tuk-tuk…I have no doubt that this dude will go far; he sold us the Angkor book that one of his clients had given him as a gift, and took us to his place to get it. He lives in one room with three other guys. They park four motorcycles in the room at night, and sometimes have overnight guests. Think about that.

You can’t walk one metre in this town without being asked if you want a tuk-tuk. Or a coconut. Or a pair of alibaba pants. Or dinner. Or a foot massage. We took them up on the latter after our first day in temple land and it was the best $6 I ever spent.

We found a restaurant where we could swim as long as we purchased at least $5 worth of food or drink. Heaven…