Siem Reap - 18th July 2009

Despite my plan for a fairly early morning, I seem to be getting into the rhythm of 8am gettting up and being out by 9am, possibly laziness based on Cambodian standards. I put some laundry in, and hope that it will come back dry and smelling sweetly!
I set off to the temples on my push bike. It's so liberating being able to cycle places. Lucy phoned just as I was approaching the check-point for the Angkor Wat, which I had thought I could just cycle past, until the guard whistled at me to pull over.
I was shouted at by two girls offering to look after my bike for me whilst I went exploring temples, in exchange for buying a bottle of water for $2. It was a bit ridiculous, and after others saw me giving money out, they swamped around me trying to sell me scarfs and other such things. I bought a scarf, as I wanted to wipe away the sweat with something other than my hat, and then I hurried inside to see if I could find Lucy and the rest of the SKIP group.
I was met by two keen tour guides, both of whom study history at a university here, and in their spare time act as tour guides. They were helpful, and provided some interesting information, but I was anxious to meet Lucy. Shortly after, I found Lucy, and left the two guides with a tip. Only three of the 14 had managed to get up, the rest had a hangover from the night before. I was shocked to learn that one had been so drunk as to be sick outside one of the bars. I really couldn't imagine a location suitable for such behaviour. Also, today was their only day for visiting the temples, so they are really missing out on an important part of Cambodia.
Angkor Wat used to be a Hindu temple, but changed to a Buddhist one. Inside are the three gods, although I can't remember their names. There is a statue of the wife of one of the Gods, people often come and pray to her in the hope they will get pregnant.
The temple looked most impressive from a distance, where its shape and size made it spectacular.
Lucy and the two others, had taken a tuk-tuk, and were going for a short tour around the central temples. I joined them and our next stop was to Bayon, which is famous for the faces in the stone. Some of them were obvious, and others not so. It was really quite beautiful. These faces are often painted in the common paintings sold everywhere. There were quite a few locals sitting and painting, some a lot nicer than others! It would have been nice to have supported someone I could actually see doing the painting, but I've already bought plenty paintings of Cambodia.
The following temple was Ta Prohm, known for its part in Lara Croft Tomb Raider. As with the others, when we got out of the tuk tuk, we were immediatly swamped by children trying to sell us things. Most of them were very pleasant and cute.
The temple was a stunner, we didn't really look at the detail of the actual temple, it was the huge roots bigger than even an American, wrapping themselves around the temple that fascinated us. I hadn't realised until leaving that this was the Lara Croft temple, maybe I was too amazed by it! But I wished I'd found the part where Angelina Jolie had picked the flower from etc.
We stopped for lunch, where I had noodles and vegetables; the cheapest thing on the menu, and with no drink; I was rather pleased with myself! The service was a bit slow, but it was a very touristed out restaurant, and it was packed!
We went to another temple, one which I hadn't heard the name of before; Bantay Kdai. I don't really have many recollections of the actual temple, the only thing that made this temple special from the others, was a small boy, aged 6, who had ADHD. He was so adorable! Instead of selling us things, which was obviously what he was supposed to be doing, he was making funny noises, pulling faces, and making us laugh, which in turn, made him laugh! He was so full of beans! He made one noise, and then when a tourist passed, he made another noise, which made everyone laugh! He was an absolute sweety! We asked him to give us a tour, and after taking us two metres, he asked for the money (in a cute way!), and so we said again you take us around... and so in leaps and bounds, he skipped along, making it difficult for us to keep up, and then he would stop for us to catch up! My jaw ached from smiling so much! We paid him his dollar for his 'tour' and then we walked back around to where our tuk tuk driver was, fighting off people trying to sell us things we didn't want.
After seeing that temple, a girl named Sally who had tried selling me books on my entrance to the temple, shouted Joy! and came running after me. I really had enough books, and didn't really want to read even more about the depressing Cambodian history. I've read two already, one on the Vietnam war, and I have one to go, plus one on the Sex industry in Asia, so that'll be cheery reading!
A boy who appeared friendly at first, invited us to buy drinks off him, and other things, after looking over a lake, we went to have a look, a couple of us bought t-shirts, and two of us didn't. The boy kept on harassing us, to which I replied that I was sorry, but I didn't want anything. The little brat replied, 'you a bad tourist, keep your sorrys for your mother'. I thought it was polite to just ignore the rude comment, as keeping face, and not losing ones temper is one of the Khmer attitudes, but obviously not for this little twit. Even more shockingly was his older siblings spoke in the same manner after one of the other girls refused to buy more than one t-shirt! She'd already bought one! The brats should be thankful; not shouting insults at us when we left. Some other tourists overheard and commented 'how rude!' which I was quite thankful that someone else had witnessed the awful behaviour of these very un-Khmer Cambodians.
Frustrated and put off by such manners, we all had been rather templed out, so decided to head back to town. I got dropped off where my bike was, where a few other SKIP people happened to be; they'd managed to make it out of bed by the afternoon!
I decided I'd have a look at the Tonle Sap museum on the way back, but I seemed to miss it, so instead crossed over the river to the side where SKIP members were staying and go in search of various cafes I'd eyed up in the lonely planet. On my cycle around town I tried turning left where it was a one-way street, so had to swerve round like a very indecisive tourist! Why do they put the road-signs on the wrong (technically the correct) side of the road! It's so confusing! The motorcycle behind chuckled at me, as I was laughing at my lack of road-sense ability!
I needed the loo, so didn't actually make it to any of the cafes, but found a cocktail bar instead where I spent a bit too much on various fresh fruit juices and a dessert. There goes my cheap day! It decided to start chucking it down whilst I was there, to which I just ignored it and read my book for ages; Paul Cohelo - the Devil and Miss P...; which I'm thoroughly enjoying!
I cycled back to the hotel, getting a bit wet in the process, and thinking of my washing that is probably out to dry, and now is getting soaked. I decided that I was on holiday and really should be doing more relaxing, so after a shower to get the dirt off me from flying along the roads and getting grit and dusk everywhere, I sat down on my bed and read my book whilst listening to the music on the TV.
I left plenty of time for going to a Beatocello concert that was taking place in a hospital, a weekly occurance, to raise funds for the free childrens healthcare service that runs at the hospital. As the concert was free, the cellist, who is also an amazing man, who served as a doctor before he was forced to leave in 1975 when the Khmer Rouge invaded, came back to Cambodia and set up various hospitals, has done amazing work fundraising for them too. We watched a 35 minute DVD telling his story, and the children's story, and he spoke quite a bit, and then as a breather in between, he let his 'Italian Citizen' cello play some very enjoyable solo Bach to us, which was really pleasant. Maybe I was tired, but I nearly started crying for quite a lot of it! It was so beautiful!
Apparently 65% of all Cambodians have TB, which was a shocker, and the vaccine we were given for BCG, doesn't work. The hospitals are 90% funded by private donations which I found a bit crazy. I bought a copy of the DVD we had been shown.
After the 'concert' finished, I received a text from Lucy when I switched my phone on, but I think our times and wires must have crossed as she wasn't at the place where she said she had been heading. I sat and had a drink on Bar Street, the place filled with rowdy English tourists (and other Nationalities) hang out and get drunk. It was more a scene from Benidorm than Cambodia. Surprisingly enough, this rowdy street was the one I had been looking for previously, but hadn't found; crazy as it was loud enough. I sat in a restaurant drinking whilst plotting for the next few days where I was going and what I'd do there. It was 10pm before I finally headed back to my hotel, I was completely exhausted!