Siem Reap, Cambodia

My camera has started to work again! Not all the buttons, but it looks like it can at least take pictures now.

My last day in Phnom Penh I went to see various sites. I meant to see the Killing Fields, but there was some confusion with my moto driver (or he just didn't want to take me the 14 km out of town) and instead ended up at the Toul Sleng (sp?) prison, where Pol Pot sent... well, pretty much anyone, to get tortured before they were sent to be murdered at the killing fields. After that I didn't think I could take any more depression in one day, so went and checked out the Royal Palace. After the seeing the absolute poverty that Phnom Penh stews in, the opulence of the Palace is a little staggering. I went into one room called the Silver Pagoda, where the entire room is filled with treasures and the floor is tiled with silver. They all have religious and cultural significance, but I couldn't help wondering how many hospitals and schools could be built with the money in that one room.

So I went out my last night in Phnom Penh with some random Aussies/Brits/Swiss/Accents I Couldn't Place. We barhopped around where they were staying (and I have never been offered so many drugs in my life, their neighborhood was like a street pharmacy) for a bit and then I packed it in. And of course, I slept right through my alarm the next day and was woken up by the guesthouse driver pounding on my door. The bus was downstairs waiting for me. So I threw everything into my bag and hoofed it down. Out the door I grabbed my laundry bag from the reception.

The bus ride was a little rough to begin with, since I had nothing to eat and the toilet (like many in Asia) took some figuring out before I got the hang of it. I also bought a disgusting sandwich from a stall at noon that I couldn't finish, and that used up the last of the cash I had on me, so I spent the rest of the trip hungry until I got to Siem Reap.

When I did arrive the bus was swarmed by kids asking for money, or straight out trying to get their hands into your pockets. They were very aggressive, so it was kinda overwhelming. That, combined with being constantly hassled by drivers, made me just want to get out of there (Oh, I should mention, moto and tuk-tuk drivers in Cambodia are the most tenacious people I have ever met. I never walked anywhere in Phnom Penh. I would try to walk to the end of my street, but I would be hassled by no less than half a dozen drivers). I saw someone with a sign displaying the name of my guesthouse (who, it turned out, was not actually the driver my guesthouse sent), so I went to him and he gave me a ride for free (the drivers get commissions from the guesthouses/restaurants for picking up tourists and dropping them off at their businesses). We arranged to meet the next day for a trip to Angkor Wat and surrounds.

Oh, and then I realized that I had forgot my laundry bag on the bus. So I lost all my underwear and most of my shirts. I went on an emergency shopping session in the market, and then took in a early night for my next day at Angkor.

Angkor Wat is AMAZING. I haven't been too sure about Cambodia so far. So far it had just seemed like the poorest country I'd been to yet. But Angkor definetly made the trip worthwhile. I over paid for a guidebook and took that around the site with me. Oh, and Terry, I now share your hate of tour groups. The temples at Angkor were never intended for the masses to worship at, instead they were intended as the homes of single deities, so all the passage ways are very narrow, and when they're packed with thirty or forty Japanese and Italians, it makes it almost impossible to see the bas reliefs and stonework.

My camera still wasn't working at this point, but hopefully the disposable I had with me can do it justice.

After Angkor Wat my driver took me around to some other temples and sites in the Angkor area. It was all very nice, but it was very hot out and the climbs up the temple sides were very steep. This resulted, at the end of the day, of me getting back to the hotel and having a replay of what happened to me in Nicaragua after climbing a volcanoe. I developed a very high fever, horribly aching joints and a massive headache. I spent the next eight hours in bed with a wet cold towel wrapped around my head. This morning I was supposed to see more of Angkor, but had to call it off to give my body sometime to rest. I feel fine now, but definitely did not want to repeat that feeling.

Tomorrow I head off to Saigon in Vietnam. I am debating skipping Hanoi, as it seems to get to Hong Kong I will have to go back down to Saigon anyway, and everyone I've talked to who has gone through Hanoi hasn't been that impressed.