On this day we did a lot of driving to see the temples that were part of what is called the big circuit. It's definitely worth it to spend a MINIMUM of two days at Angkor Wat.
I found Samson hanging out at one of the temples. I'm glad he didn't really bring it down though; I'm not sure sitting in a jail is on the top list of things to see in Cambodia.
The steps leading up to the top of the temples are all pretty steep. We had wanted to start this day with a stop at Angkor Wat so we could go all the way to the top, but our driver said it's closed every day. Thankfully we could still go to the top of this one.At the top of the stairs, there's a platform that holds four towers--one on each corner--and also one in the middle. Hindu gods were once housed in the towers on the corners.
There are three sets of steep stairs--each set is about 12m tall. Going up is not as bad as going down. :)Travel tip from this morning. There was a friendly tour guide in an official tourism uniform who met us at the top of this temple and was really helping. We let him thinking he worked for the park. He asked us for a tip when he finished; we were thinking he was just being really friendly. I had read in the travel book that if someone was extremely helpful it was not unreasonable to tip $1 so that's what I handed him. Apparently that wasn't enough so he asked for more. He knew Rusty had Thai Baht with him so he asked for some of that saying he needed money for lunch. Rusty handed him a 20 Baht bill which is about 60 cents. That still wasn't enough; he wanted the 100 Baht bill. Rusty ended up giving him another $1 ($2 total from the both of us), and we left that temple a little wiser about the "nice" people on the top.
As we were traveling to the next temple, we passed the bread truck. We couldn't believe how much bread there was everywhere! Mmmm...made us hungry for lunch!
Banteay Srei is the relatively modern name which means "Citadel of the Women," or perhaps "Citadel of Beauty." I especially liked the pink sandstone. It's famous for its small size and exquisite carvings in the sandstone. We liked attaching ourselves to the Thai tour groups we met up with here. We could sponge off of their guide's knowledge without looking like we were trying to join a group that wasn't ours since they didn't know we could understand what they were saying.
We tackled one more temple before stopping for lunch. We met up with a bunch of kids selling stuff at this one. They were pretty persistent, but it was pretty easy to say no since I didn't have any extra luggage space to bring souvenirs back. One girl said that she wanted to give him a bird that she had made and then got upset when he didn't buy any extras. This is also where I learned not to say maybe to the kids. When we left out they remembered that I had said maybe and tried to change it into I had said maybe yes and not maybe no. Ugh! After that I didn't want to do much talking to sellers.
Our driver took us across the street to eat lunch. We were happy since it was cheaper than the lunch from the day before, and it had our Cambodian sandwich on the menu. Yummy! And Rusty was able to get an iced coffee as well. I couldn't handle the Cambodian coffee. :( Our driver ordered a ginger chicken stir-fry that was excellent also. 
Our Wal-Mart truck passing by the restaurant.
Rusty wasn't that impressed by this temple, but I thought it was so different from the others that it was worth a visit. This is as close to the temple as you can get because it's surrounded by water. You would have to take a little boat through the tunnel to get in there.
Our last temple of the day found Rusty being led around by another tour guide who asked for a tip. I handed him a $1 and he asked for more. I asked Rusty if I could give him another one even though I knew $1 was enough. I willingly played the middle man, and it was easier for everyone. Rusty said no, and I told the man no. The man said I could still give him another $1. Um...no I couldn't. So we left feeling much better this time.Throughout the tour of Angkor Wat, I had watched countless tour guides taking pictures of their clients. I realized that I didn't have any of Rusty and me together so I set up the camera in a window and set the timer. Finally...a few pictures of us together!
I'm glad Rusty didn't make this look too realistic!
As we were leaving this temple, this group of locals started pointing at Rusty, our camera, and their cell phones. At first I thought they were wanting to take our picture, but that didn't really make sense. Finally Rusty figured out they wanted to take their picture with him. The language barrier was difficult! A couple of people used all of the cell phones they had and snapped pictures as well. So now a group of Cambodian people have random pictures of Rusty. :)
We left as the sun was setting. There were great views!
We were so happy to have our original remork-moto (tuk tuk) driver with us for our last day. He really took care of us. He stopped and bought us some water instead of just telling us to buy it in the park. He was so happy that we paid for his lunch, but it just seemed like the right and nice thing to do.The driver would usually drop us off at one entrance to the temples and pick us up at a different entrance. At the last temple we went to, Rusty suddenly had to find a restroom. The night before we had ordered a hamburger for supper and split it. We noticed the pink in the middle and knew better than to eat it. :( Bad decision! So anyway, we asked for directions to the restroom, and we were told it was 200m away. After we walked the 200m we asked again and found out it was 500m farther. We were walking, and Rusty wanted to find the trees. I reminded him of what I had read in the travel book about it's better to find yourself in a compromising situation rather than stepping on a landmine trying to find a secluded spot. We made it to the restroom and were on our way back. There was a motorcycle there that we were negotiating with to take us back to the temple when our driver showed up. One of his friends had told him that his customers had lost their way. We were so thankful people were watching out for us!
After that day, we had a quick supper at the hotel restaurant and hit the hay. We were not looking forward to getting back on the van the next morning, but we knew we had to leave our nice little tourist town.
1 comment:
awesome!
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