Cambodia...Wat?

Cambodia was full of temple time and "ummm hmmm"s directed towards our guides. We arrived in the evening and headed out to the center of Siem Reap for food. The motorbikes were in full force, as was the dust they all kicked up. "That's why everyone is carrying a scarf and covering their face." As we were wandering down the main street (Pub St.), we noticed there were no lights on and everyone was using candles. We thought, "Was this normal in Cambodia?" "Were they trying to conserve energy?" But halfway through dinner, the lights magically appeared and we said goodbye to the romantic candlelight. After dinner we went to another night market and found some great art.

The next day, Friday, we did our first Wat tour starting with Angkor Wat. Very impressive and our guide had lots of information, although we only grasped about 10% because of his accent. Our tuk tuk drove us to Bayon (spelling?), the temple with the faces, and Pro Tahm, the temple with trees growing all over it. It was truly incredible...maybe the 8th wonder of the world.

Saturday we went on another tour of the outlying areas and temples. It was fascinating to see some local Cambodian families go about their normal lives, in addition to some great Wats and the landmine museum. There were some great photo opportunities which Patrick seized.

That night we went to dinner and tried a 4 hand massage. It was the worst. To date Phuket had the best value and quality of massage. But this one was amusing...the girls found Patrick's beard and underware hysterical.

Sunday morning we rose at 4:30 a.m. to see sunrise at Angkor Wat. It wasn't as magical as I had anticipated, but beautiful all the same. Then we napped and went exploring Siem Reap in the daytime. In one of the markets, we spied some girls doing their toes over the meat they were selling. "Would you like a side of cuticle with your pig intestines, sir?" Crazy!

We got a tuk tuk to take us back to Angkor Wat before heading to the airport because the afternoon light was perfect for some more pictures. By the way, Siem Reap's airport is beautiful.