waiting for friends...

Got an hour before i have to head out to the airport to pick up the 2 babes =) thankfully internet in the afternoon is so much faster than last night, when every other page refused to load or just took a damn long time, which was why i didn't blog.

anyway, sunrise at angkor: FANTASTIC!! definately worth getting up at 4 in the morning for. A freezing moto ride in the dark, under a clear sky filled with stars, then walking the causeway towards angkor wat with the stars above, the siloulette of the temple towers in front of me, the stars reflected in the moat/pools, and almost nobody there when i first arrived. No birthday could have started any better =))))

unfortunately the tour groups soon arrived in droves, as they would, but i'd already staked out my little piece of real estate on one of the libraries (the one facing the pond filled with lotuses), so it wasn't too bad, and the group that settled around me was a chinese tour group so i could listen in on some of the tour guide's commentary. Actually, I've been doing that a lot. The official angkor guides that many of them hire do notice me and know exactly what i'm doing, but unlike european tour guides who shoot you a dirty look and try to avoid you, those here just smile at me or even talk to me while their sheep are phototaking etc. Helps to know both english and chinese. hee. would have been better to know some japanese or korean though: it seems that koreans and japanese are 2 of the largest groups of visitors to cambodia.

I am a very slow temple visitor and i think i took a very long time at each of the temples. could't even finish the petit circuit. good thing i have 5 days to see everything i guess =P Have not yet seen an angkor sunset because i was so tired by 4.30pm yesterday. Actually i really sped up at the end cos i felt, for no good reason, quite paiseh to be keeping my driver waiting! Maybe would have been better to cycle like i usu do at these places, but i guess i can cover more and feel less tired this way... and the temples are really fantastic. really really.

Today i went to see the roluos group of temples in the morning. Less people, and only 3 temples of any note. The main one, Bakhong , is really very much like borobodur. was supposed to be inspired by it, but boro is in much better condition.. Done pretty quickly (relative to me) so my driver, Polin, took me to see the sights in town (which are all really close and walkable from anywhere in siem reap). Also saw where all the cheaper guesthouses, quieter neighbourhoods and where the locals go to market etc are, ie the kind of places and areas i would normally have stayed on my own, but i guess this is a different kind of experience too! the mid-range no need to learn the local language or change to local currency kind =P

but at least i have found a non-tourist food place and mama-shop in the middle of tourist central here =) phew. no point paying US$1-1.5 for a bottle of water when the locals pay just 1000 riel (US$0.25)!! i mean, i don't mind that price around the temples cos that's expected, but i won't do that in town... and i hate the separate tourist/local menu and sitting areas in most fo the restuarants and even roadside stalls in this area. And don't get me started on the million and one tuk tuk and moto drivers or restuarant touts on the sidewalks asking "lady, you want tuk tuk? angkor? some food? water?". give me the local market where people just ignore me or look at me as a curiousity rather than as a bag of money!!