August 25, 2007

• angkor wondrous

   

  SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA | THE BLUE PUMPKIN, FOYER è

  

  it’s our third and final night in cambodia, and we sit outside a quirky but cute cafe, bogarting the complimentary wifi.  (don’t worry; we paid our dues with some tiramisu, mint chocolate ice cream, and pastries for tomorrow morning’s pre-flight breakfast.)

  angkor has been breathtaking.  it is so amazing to me how complex and expressive civilization was over a thousand years ago.  it’s incredible that these temples still stand today, and as i was walking the grounds of angkor wat (the largest religious temple in the world), i had flashback moments of what it was like for there to be an entire bustling city on this very compound.  all sorts of frantic activity mixed with the solemn company of priests, shrines, and prayers.  an ancient world so vastly different from our own.  a community unlike any other.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  but our time in siem reap hasn’t been without fault.  paul and i have realized we don’t particularly like drivers.  unfortunately, the only way to get around the expansive angkor complex is by hiring a driver, whether taxi or tuk-tuk (a small, open-air carriage powered usually by a motorbike).  fearing the heat, we opted for the pricier taxi, but didn’t realize we were also buying into a world of commission-driven mayhem.  you see, i would consider myself a bit of a savvy, self-sufficient traveller.  i don’t like to be told where to go, or do i like it when what i would like to do is discouraged or shot down.

  paul and i were stuck with a fellow who–though probably meaning well–should for most of the time kept his mouth shut.  unfortunately, passive as we are, we let ourselves get roped into a few disappointing lunches and dinners, and we didn’t get to explore the (surprisingly) fun downtown until tonight.  i have a feeling our driver lied on a couple points, and for some reason he felt compelled to lecture us constantly about the country’s dire poverty situation.

  so we’ve learned our lesson, and though the milk’s soured, we won’t complain further.  i suppose he did do his job–take us around the angkor complex–and much is to be said about angkor.

  tomorrow, we attempt a tight connection to denpasar (bali), indonesia via air asia.  nervously for us, the low cost carrier refuses liability if we miss our connection in kuala lumpur, as it is “a strictly point-to-point carrier.”  but given the ridculously low fares, we had to route ourselves REP-KUL-DPS.  lets hope leg one has absolutely no delays, and if anything, that leg two is horrifically delayed.  otherwise, it’s an unplanned outlay of cash to take the next available flight south of the equator.  (my first time being under latitude zero!)

  farewell, cambodia.  it’s been good, not great.  paul suggests laos spoiled us.  naughty naughty laos, you somehow even outshone this:

  

   

  • 11:10 am
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