TOMB RAIDING ANKOR

I am giving up on trying to play catch up and am just going to do more current entries.

I should mention that we are now in Siem Reap, Cambodia. I have mixed feelings about it here. The best thing we have done yet is NOT stay in the main part of town. The downtown area is centered around one main street, Pub Street. Pub street is NOT Cambodia. It is a fabricated vaction spot set up for tourists that happens to be in Cambodia. Everything is english, restuarants, cheap drinks, drugs, and old men walking around with lady boys or 18 year old hookers. Sitting there for one night I hated it. Everyone there is a tourist and it has no flair, tradition or attitute. It represent the things I think are worst about traveling. As my brother would categorize; it is definately the kinda of spot that would sell fudge (if Cambodians ate fudge that is...) That said we are staying a five minute Tuk Tuk ride away from downtown in an area with actual natives and actual culture. Don't get me wrong; there are some great restaurants, cheap food and drink and a fabulous party scene on Pub Street( which will be ridiculous for New Years) but it is not how I like to spend my time traveling.

What are the good things about downtown....they have huge tanks of water filled with fish that eat dead skin. You can put your feet in and they swarm you, taking little nibbles of the dead skin off your feet. It is hilarious, makes you giggle and tickles like nothing I have ever felt. Downtown there is also a fabulous market with amazing silk products of all kinds. It is so big in fact that last night we were trying so hard to leave but could not find the exit. Everywhere you look there is another thing you want to take home. I need more luggage space...HELP!!!

Finally got to see Ankor Wat today. AMAZING!!. We started our first day with visiting a loop of the smaller/lesser known temples. While there are definite similarities and themes among all the temples each temple has its own unique and beautiful qualities. One is encircled with a mossy moat, another is engulfed with trees growing straight through and over the buildings, one an amphitheatre surrounding a lake, another an elephant theme, and yet another closer to a Mayan pyramid. All are left as they are, no railings, walkways or reconstruction; making it feel like an adventure. You can climb and walk through the myriad on entrance ways, small room, and open courtyards in each temple. If you have seen Laura Croft: Tomb Raider (which parts were filmed here) it really does look like that. It is raw,beautiful, engulfed with nature and magical. With the exception of one larger temple there were very few people visiting when we did. The one frustrating part is the children hawking stuff outside each entrance. They will just keep asking you to buy, pleading, saying they need money for school and telling you they will make good price. They attack you as soon as you get off your Tuk Tuk, calling out to you and will honest to god follow you through the entrance for over 5-10 minutes continually asking you to buy, even if you do not say a word to them. While you certainly feel pity it is quickly overrun by the nuisance of their inability to take no for an awnser and I found myself frustrating that their persistence was turning me bitter.

We enjoyed a full day of temples through the sunset and I got so many photos I don't know how I will ever get through them all. The trip has been like a photo safari; everywhere you look is an amazing moment, person or quality and in one instance I feel like there are a dozen different things I could be capturing and each one would be amazing. It almost gets overwhelming and you realize you have to take a break.