There are two things that come to mind when most people think of Cambodia; the Khmer Rouge genocide, and the Angkor Wat temples (ok, celeb fans will probably mention Brangelina's adopted son, Maddox, too!). We've seen the 'horrors', now for the temples!
In a word, they were stunning. We went to a selection of the best-known ones, with our guide, who's English wasn't fantastic (on showing us a carving of a mythical battle, we asked, 'so, who won the battle?', 'Yeeesss', he answered!), but his personal views were entertaining! He didn't like the Khmer Rouge (understandably), didn't like Korean tourists (rude, noisy, ate too much), didn't like the French and the Thais (they stole Cambodian treasures), didn't like Phnom Penh (too many gangsters and playboys), disliked selfish people (they stole Cambodian treasures, too), and didn't like European tourists who lied to Cambodian ladies, in order to have sex with them. But he DID love the temples, and was very proud of the Khmer civilisation who'd built them. He took great joy in showing them to us, and knew some great spots for photo's too. He showed us what appeared to be a 10th Century carving of a dinosaur in the 'tomb raider' temple, now that REALLY blew our minds.
There was loads of adults and kids hawking gear outside the temples, on our way into lunch, Sal was knobbled by a little urchin selling fish key-rings made from packing-tape, 'five for one dollah, lady, you buy?', he had the biggest brown eyes, which actually seemed to be bigger than his head! Sal had done well, so far, and fended him off with, 'maybe later, darling'. So he stood waiting while we ate lunch, and stared at Sal while we waited for the car. The problem here is once you buy one thing from a heartbreakingly adorable urchin, word gets 'round that there's a 'live one'! Before I knew what she was up to, Sal had pulled a dollar out, shoved it into the frankly startled boy's little paw, grabbed the fishes, and jumped into the car! The kid's companions were left looking around for the tourist who was 'buying', even as we were speeding to the next temple! Sal's mum would be no good here, she'd be buying all sorts of stuff, 'cos it IS heartbreaking, but the official line from aid agencies is that you shouldn't buy stuff from kids (their parents keep them out of school to go hawking) or give money to beggars (it just goes to their gang-masters), depressing stuff.
On a lighter note, we'd been shopping for gifts at the night-market, and Sal had bought some little toys for our nephews, the receptionist at our hotel spotted them, 'are they for your sons?' she said, then looked at Sal again, and added, '... or grandsons?' Ha ha, how I laughed!
We spent our final day in Siem Reap in a shamefully shallow way, we hired a tuk-tuk, went shopping and had lunch, then returned to our fabulous hotel (Guy Pierce stayed here, you know!) and chilled by the pool, our three-day temple pass glaring at us, reproachfully, from the bed-side table!
Back to PP City, tomorrow, on the VIP Mekong Express Limousine Bus, yowser!