Siem Reap, CambodiaOct 22, 2009
|
|
Hi everyone!
Well, we did spend a great last day in Malaysia, browsed around the mall, went to the spa for a massage, spent some time around the pool and later on had one last dinner with Marc-Andre at a mid-eastern restaurant. The massage was... interesting! It is quite different from the massages we get in Canada, but felt great afterwards.
We left really early Wednesday morning (430am) to catch our flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia. We arrived in Cambodia at 8am, and our guesthouse had sent a tuk-tuk (motorbike pulling a sort of trailer where we sit) to get us. He had a sign with my name on it! hehe! Anyways, the ride from the airport to the guesthouse was undescribable. We were totally tongue-tied and shocked. Everything is just so different that it is so hard to describe. They are extremely poor, like nothing I've seen before. Motorbikes, tuk-tuks, bikes and cars everywhere driving in everywhich direction, saw some pigs on the back of a motorbike (there's our bacon!), very small kids naked, barefeet and riding oversize bicycles on their own, etc, etc... Hopefully I can post pics in the next week so maybe that will help you see. When we arrived at the guesthouse we immediately put our stuff in the room (super clean and nice!!) and made a plan for the day. We ended up booking a tuk-tuk driver for the day (we feel like royalty here!) and he took us for a 4.5hour tour of the countryside, and to the Tonle Sap lake for a boat ride. It was a bit scary because after almost an hour of pretty much off-roading with the tuk-tuk, we arrived in the middle of nowhere to see a bunch of people standing there and then our driver told us to follow one of them. We had no clue who he was or where he was taking us but after a 5 minute walk we were pretty relieved to see the boat! I guess I understood the true meaning of 'trust'! What we saw during that boat trip is, once again, beyond words. But we saw a village living in stilted houses due to the flooding that happens during the rainy season here. This time of year people travel in boats propelled by poles they use to push the boat around. We saw pedal bikes tied up on their homes. These are used in the non rainy season as the river becomes a street. Pics to come. After this, our driver took us to a silk farm where they showed us how silk is made. Very cool! In the evening, we were pretty exausted but we made our way to the markets (old market, noonnight market, night market), and walked around a little. We bumped into a guy that was also staying at our guesthouse. He's from Colorado (US), but was actually born in Cambodia and managed to escape the Khmer Rouge and the killing fields when his family fled by foot to Thailand, through the killing fields. He is here volunteering right now. Pretty incredible! It was an early night that night since we had to get up early to visit the Angkor Temples early the next day.
We picked the same driver for the day around the temple. We started at 7am and visited Angkor Wat first (the huge, main one), then Angkor Thom (many all within some gates - the main one in there being the Bayon). At the Bayon we met a girl from the maritimes - a hockey player!! I saw UNB hockey on her shorts so I started talking to her. Turns out she is a good friend of one of the girls I played on Team NB with (Maman: Chelsey Gilbert). Pretty cool being all the way accross the world and still meeting someone from home. Small world. After the temples, we went to visit the Landmine Museum. It has been, and still is a huge problem here in Cambodia so it was pretty neet to see. We spent a few hours relaxing after this and then last night we went to a dinner and dance performance show. Food was a huge buffet and the show was really great! After seeing all of the cows, chickens and pigs on motorcycles, I have become somewhat vegetarian in my days here!!
oh and we were awoken every morning by the crowing of a rooster at 6am sharp. No need for an alarm clock here :)
After the show we walked to the markets again, got a foot massage (3$) and a facial (all natural ingredients - food, etc..), then had a drink at a bar. Later we walked into another bar (just to peak) and as we were heading out we saw the hockey player girl again. Monica had a terrible headache so she went home, and I stayed with her and a few other backpacker friends she had met, for another couple drinks. This was the first time I was up past 10pm in the whole trip! haha!
Now, we are getting ready to leave for Bangkok. We are sharing a taxi to the Thai boarder with an Indonesian couple we met at our guesthouse. Then, we have to cross immigration and then take a bus from there to Bangkok. Should be an interesting trip...!
Have to run now, to get ready for this trip.
Thailand here we come!!!
Manon and Monica
