Sunrise at Angkor Wat
Angkor is amazing, breathtaking, spectacular and there are so many temples and other sites there that u can often get to spots which you can actually explore totally alone. Without millions of tourists being your company. Of course it doesn’t count for Angkor Wat or Bayon (the famous “smiling faces”). But still, you really can get into Indiana Jones/ Lara Croft mood in there. I cannot find right word to describe this experience, it’s like having a ticket for the time machine! Awesome!
Bayon, smiling faces
So, my three days in Siem Reap I spent exploring ancient temples, monasteries and palaces. And I just couldn’t get enough. From early in the morning (and I mean really early – like 4-5 o’clock) till sunset I was there, climbing the rocks, walking through forest and basically having the time of my life. I have to say though that there were moments where I was really tired (and the muscle pain guys – beyond imagination!).
Tomb raider ;)
It was not only like a real adventure, it was also a true lesson on history and cultural heritage of... well, basically... mankind.
Apart from that I also made some local friends (thank to couchsurfing, but also thank to some lucky coincidences ;) and so, I spent one day in the countryside, I saw a wedding in a small village (was even invited for a drink over there).
I ate some local dishes - e.g. grilled tarantula, grilled crickets and fried frog, snake, crocodile and even big cockroach and other bugs ;) And I must say, all in all, it was surprisingly tasty!
Dinner time!
I had some funny adventures, for instance, at one temple a Buddhist monk asked me to take a picture with him. I was sure he wants ME to take the picture and eventually I will pay for it like 50 cents or something. To my great surprise it turned out that he wanted to take a picture with me - so, I was the ‘tourist attraction’ ;)
Another adventure: I didn’t apply for a multiple entrance visa to Thailand in advance – I mean in Poland (my plane from/ to Europe was from Thailand), and it turned out that it’s not so easy to get from Cambodia into Thailand as I thought. Basically, I had to change my plans totally and instead of going to Bangkok by bus from Siem Reap, go by boat to Phnom Penh and from here I will fly to Thailand (that’s the only way to be 100% sure to get the ‘visa on arrival’ – btw, I don’t get it - why do the Polish citizens still need a visa to Thailand whereas almost no one else in the UE needs it anymore!). But well...
I had to pay some extra bucks for the flight, on the other side, I had the chance to travel basically through the whole country by boat, which was a great experience (sitting on the roof of a motor boat, listening to the Rolling Stones on my iPod and watching the ‘real life’ on both sides of the river (like floating villages, fishermen etc.) – it was one of these rather rare moments of happiness in one’s life... (so cheesy it might sound, but I hope you know guys what I mean).
Floating houses
I met lots of interesting people and learned a lot, not only about Cambodia, but about the South East Asia in general. When I get back to Poland I will describe my journey in details and I will post some more photos. But in the meantime:
Phnom Penh
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Welcome to the jungle :)
Tomb Raider ;)
At Bayon
And finally - your humble narrator ;) It’s a self-portrait, by the way :)
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