Siem Reap pt 1

Walking down the street at night can be an adventure. Avoiding all the obstacles that terrorize my view.

This was a pretty cool and smart kid. I bought a book from him.

Cramer and I on top of Phnom Bakheng near sunset.

On top of the world with the storm moving in.

They're climbing the stairway to heaven.

T the tuk tuk driver taking us to our first temple.

The old market. The smells were pretty interesting.

Good Mexican in Cambodia? Who would have known.

We'll take one of everything. Thank You.

The next morning we walk down the street to the old market. It is a large covered area which sells all kinds of things for both locals and tourists from soveigners, clothing, and jewelry to meats, vegetables, and fruits. I purchase a shirt and a few souvenirs and Cramer does the same. Somehow being in this tropical environment with all this asian food has made me crave Mexican food big time. Currrently I'm burned out on asian style rice and noodles. We're in luck Siem Reap has a good Mexican restaurant called Viva. $1 Margharitas, $1 tacos, 50 cent tap beers, this should be good. I get the Chimichanga. Funny its the best one I've had in years, I guess I need to go half way around the world to an asian country to get good mexican, who would have known. Our tuk tuk driver T is picking us up at 4:45pm so we can take some pics in the light of the setting sun. We think we're going to Angkor Wat, guess again. He drops us off at a place called Phnom Bakheng. Tons of people are walking up a long steep path. I guess we just follow the crowd. We get to the top of a large hill and there is a temple on top with steep stairs, similar to something in Mexico. Here you can still climb all the temples, even though it may be dangerous. This is suppose to be an awesome spot to get sunset pics, but huge black clouds are rolling in on the horizon. Cramer and I climb to the top and take some pics and check out the scene. We thought maybe we could catch a hill top view of Angkor Wat, but nothing. We head back down as the wind begins to howl. When we get to the bottom I get my first taste of the non stop barrage of the kids and locals selling souvenirs. "Meesta $1 buy for girlfriend, Meesta $4, Meesta cold drink, water?, Meesta 3 for $1....." They are like flies buzzing a carcass or maybe swarming locusts. No means nothing to them, and if you even look at them or engage them, your that much closer to buying something from them. They have every come back for any answer you give them. To say they are persistant is an understatment. I finally walk back to the tuk tuk with a book on Angkor Wat, a scarf for some unknown lady in my life, and a wall rubbing. I consider myself lucky to only have spent $10, as 8 more people were circled around me as we left. We hit the Happy Herb Pizzaria for dinner. After having Mexican I'm now craving anything other than Asian food. I devour half of a spinach and garlic pizza, as another kid off the street gets me to buy a book on the tragedy of the Khymer Rouge era called First They Killed My Father for $2. Most of these kids are middle school aged, and they are out of school for the summer. This is like a summer job for them. Most of them can speak English extremely well and many are trying to sell books to make money to pay for Summer English lessons which cost about $12-15/ month. That doesn't seem like a lot, but after talking to many of the locals most people make about $50/ month, thats if you have a job. We talk to the kid (I wish I could remember his name) for a good 1/2 hour about school, soccer, and what he wants to do when he is older. The amazing thing is many of these kids can speak up to 5 languages, just because it will help them sell more stuff! A few of them had great personalities and a good sense of humor. My advice would be if you ever get over here and some kid engages you, but is cool and funny, buy something from them. A few dollars does a whole heck of a lot more for them than me. After dinner Cramer and I decide to get a massage. A legitimate one... We walk into one of the many that line the streets and both decide to get a 4 hand massage. I will have 2 girls massaging me with lotion for an hour for $10!!!??? How can I not get one? We strip down and our treated to an extremely pleasurable hour. It was kind of funny since Cramer and I were laying right next to each other and there are 4 girls sitting on top of us rubbing us down. They are asking us questions and giggling the whole time. I think one of them loved Cramer. Hahaha. It remains professional and they tells us to come back tomorrow. I think I will, I think I will. We head to bed feeling very very relaxed.