Siem Reap: Days 2,3 and 4

Day Two: Temples/Ruins continued. But for day two we'll tell you about our trip to the floating village of Chong Kneas. After a morning of temples and a break for a nice stir-fry chicken lunch we made our way to the floating village. After leaving the city of Siem Reap, you can really get a feel for the level of poverty in this county. Traveling on rough dirt roads past small shacks and a few smaller floating towns we arrived at the port to the floating village. We took a bathroom break at the grimy restrooms, doused our hands with sanitizer, and bought our tickets. Seeing the bus loads of people in their tour groups head towards the boats I imagined we would be stuck with 20 other tourists and a guide describing our surroundings in Mandarin. However, to my surprise me and Leah had a huge boat to ourselves. Manned by our 18 year old driver and tour guide and his 10 year old assistant; who in fact did most of the driving.  The tour guide Boun was great; his English was pretty good and he did a great job introducing us to life in a floating village. He actually grew up in this village and this was apparent at every stop we made; friends wanted to talk to him and be introduced to us. We made a quick stop at a floating market and bought some school supplies. Next, we stopped at a school, meet the teacher, dropped off pencils & paper, and played with the kids. After I wrestled the last boy off of my arms we were on our way to the main stop. This large floating shop had it all...restaurant, shops, a crocodile pit, tiny kids with giant snakes and a great observation deck where we watched a beautiful sunset over a couple of Angkor Beers. 

That evening after getting a shower and change of clothes Lai took us to where Cambodians go for fun. We went to a market with hundreds of food vendors selling everything you can and can't imagine. We ended up on a bamboo mat just like Dennis's mom has and Lai ordered an amazing Cambodian BBQ meal. We had a whole grilled chicken, fish with a mango salad, 3 different sauces (lime & pepper, sweet chili and other) after we smashed all this along with a few orders of rice Lai ordered an extra dish: some gamey bird which I will call pheasant. Every bit was amazingly delicious! What made it even better was that we were the only tourists in sight, as Lai told us about his previous customers who ordered him a $100 dinner at their fancy hotel which he had trouble forcing down we knew he doesn't do this for everyone. We met his wife and beautiful 1 year old daughter. But here while you enjoy a lavish meal you see all to well how lucky you are we gave what food we couldn't finish to an old woman and as soon as we paid our ridiculously low $10 bill ( remember a whole chicken, fish and pheasant- with rice and sides) two little girls in dirty clothes picked through our leftovers making me wish I didn't clean the bones so well. No better way to say it than you get the amazing highs and lows here; you have an amazing dinner, but wish that everyone else did too. 

Day Three: Wake up at 5:00am. Arrive Angkor Wat at 5:30am. Had a cafe latte and a croissant from a small vendor. Wait as the Angkor Wat slowly comes into view over the moat and at 6:45am view a beautiful sunrise (and may I add first ever sunrise) over the towers of Angkor Wat. This was our itinerary for the morning. After viewing the majestic sunrise, we made a second stop at Baphoun and Bayon. Felt we had to see our favorites twice.  Next we stopped for a delicious Khmer noodle dish in which our Lai (our taxi driver paid for). Three bowls of noodle soup, 2$ USD. Crazy. After lunch we went to Bantay Srei in which has many intricate and ornate carvings in stone. Although is was only noon by the time we finished Bantay Srei, Lai dropped us off at our hotel we thanked him for his hospitality and showing us around for the past three days and we went our separate ways. 

Day Four: Last day in Siem Reap was actually quite a relaxed one. We woke up at 10:30am, went to a local pizza (very good similar to pizza hit bit half the price) place and typed up some of the blog that your reading right now. For the evening, we went to a restaurant where I ordered the chicken w/ sweet chili sauce and Jeremy ordered the stir-fry chicken with sweet basil/vegetables. I may add they were both extremely delicious. Now as I speak or should I say type an writing this blog entry from a bar on Pub Street, drinking a beer, and in the background Alicia Keys feat. Jay-Z "New York" song is playing. Tomorrow off to Cambodia's capital: Phnom Pehn

Temples of Angkor: Day One

Day One : We jumped right into the heavy- hitters: Angkor Wat , Angkor Thom, and Ta Prohm. 

Angkor Wat- Built in the 12th c. the worlds largest religious structure amazes in two very different ways. You are first hit with the sheer massiveness of the complex. Once you enter you find that every inch is covered by meticulously detailed carvings.  We ran into a group of tourists we met earlier and joined in on their tour. $5 got us a great explanations of events depicted in the bas-reliefs.

Angkor Thom (Great City) is a late 12th c fortified complex in which many breath-taking ruins are located. We'll tell you about a few. Bayon is a ruin that encompasses a collection of 54 gothic towers decorated with 216 coldly smiling faces. The enormous faces of a Bodhisattva bear more than a passing resemblance to the king who financed the project.  As you explore Bayon these smiling faces are always peering down on you from up high, the king is always watching. In addition to the faces & towers, Bayon also is decorated with many bas-reliefs incorporating about 11,000 figures in them. This place behind Angkor Wat was our favorite ruin. 

Other places of interest were the pyramid structures of Baphuon and the smaller Phimeanakas which was worth the terrifying climb, the former is currently in the process of being reassembled. In front of those structures is the Terrace of Elephants which was a giant viewing stand for the king and his court to overlook processions through the central square. 

Another favorite was Ta Prohm Aka Tomb Raider since Angelina apparently filmed some scenes there (guess we should watch that now) This place is unlike any other monument of Angkor. It has been swallowed by the jungle and looks much as it did when the French rediscovered it in 19th c. Moss, plants and roots of enormous trees are covering walls and temple buildings. 

Next Stop: Siem Reap

At last! After a 5 hour lay-over in Tokyo, 7 hour plane ride to Bangkok, 5 hour bus ride to Poipet, passing through Cambodia immigration (where I may add we almost got hustled into an over-priced Visa, but thanks for previous travel safety reading and Jeremy's intuition we decided to make break for it), and finally a 2 hour shared taxi ride we have safely arrived in Siem Reap. - L

Once in Siem Reap, we entered yet another taxi, but this time to our hotel. Our taxi driver (Lai is his name) also happened to specialize in tours in and around Siem Reap. We hired him for 3 days and I can assure you it was worth every penny and then some. -L

After checking into our hotel room we started to get settled in. And by settled in I mean discovering a hose to the toilet was spraying water everywhere turning the bathroom into a nice indoor pool. After a quick swim we were able to change rooms. This one was generally nicer but clean sheets and a shower curtain would have been a nice touch. But for $15 a night a bed in a air-conditioned room is a pretty good deal. A huge plus we discovered was this room also came with a pool! The a/c leaked like crazy, covering the floor by the next morning. (this was fixed by the time we returned from touring temples.) -J

Under New Management

After over a year of neglecting this blog, we are making some changes. Going forward this will be a Co-Blog by me and Leah describing our adventures in cuisine (Dine) and travel (Dash). Contrary to popular belief we will not actually be eating at restaurants and then running when the bill comes.
Please stay tuned as we travel through SE Asia starting this week!