Sleepless in Siem Reap

Number one child and the Scouser 

are getting towards the end of their

amazing trip. Can't wait to have them

home! In the meantime...

Cupcakes, pancakes and fruit 

shakes. Batman Tuk Tuks, Jianzi, 

dollar massages. Baby Alligators. 

Temples.

Welcome to Siem Reap.

Known as the gateway to Angkor 

Wat, Siem Reap is a big tourist 

destination. With treelined streets, 

a river and you know it's coming - 

French colonial buildings, it's a handsome
town filled to the brim with great
little cafes and the more schlocky Pub
Street for the younger, drink-fuelled
backpackers.

We arrived by the notorious night bus, in spite of having been warned of how 

dangerous it is by every single travel guide and blog I had found on the internet.

Why then, you ask, did you go on it?

Because someone convinced me that I was being a... cluck cluck. And I'm too 

easily riled.

Having been promised a spacious double bed, air con, free water and all the 

perks (am I sounding incredibly naive at this point?) we found ourselves in a 

vehicle which could have masqueraded as a sex parlour. And probably did. 

Dark red curtains and tiny cells not fit for a life-term convict, we found our bed 

directly under the engine at the very back of the bus. Air-con out of action. 

Hairs on the pillow. Shady stains on the mattress.

Relatively claustrophobic, having once had a complete paddy climbing the 

staircase to the Whispering Gallery at St Paul's Cathedral, I found myself 

breathing pretty short breaths in muggy air convinced that the mephitic 

fumes of the engine would probably kill me overnight. The corridor reaching 

our budget boudoir was so narrow, all passengers had to walk crablike. One 

escape route, with us at the back of the bus.

Currently agnostic, I cannot say I 'found God' on this journey but I did pray 

multiple times overnight when I was suspended in air or spooning the wall 

when the driver slammed the brakes down. (Being at the back, we were 

sideways on).

The Remedy

Sleep deprived with a rats nest on my head and desperate for a wee, we arrived at a sunny 6am in Siem Reap. At this point with no placable sarcasm apparent, Alex said:

"Well that was much better than the night bus in Laos!"

Genuinely. I wanted to kill him.

At least he didn't say 'What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger".

But food always cheers me up and two pancakes with berry compote, creme fraiche, maple syrup and bacon at Cafe Central did a grand job.

You know that I can't write a blog about Siem Reap and not talk about 

Angkor Wat. And whilst we took some incredible photos, they will probably 

look just like everybody else's - no matter how much time is spent editing 

them. So I will attempt to not to go into minute detail about every temple 

we saw but share the more entertaining bits. But prepare yourself for lots 

of photos, tough luck on that side of things.

At 4.30am, my favourite time of day to wake up, we took a tuk-tuk which 

we had negotiated down (good cop/bad cop routine is still working) to 15 

dollars for the day. We had decided to leave the best til last, so we 

maturely turned our heads to the left whilst passing Angkor Wat on the right.

First stop 5.30am

Baksei Chamkrong was our choice for the sunrise, an early 10th century 

Hindu temple which looked a little like an Apocalypto head-rolling 

sacrifical slide. Our driver got out his hammock and hanging it on his 

tuk-tuk, went back to sleep whilst we peered blankly into the dark at the 

very steep stairs we were standing in front of.

Having climbed to the top, whilst murmuring about health and safety 

hazards in a very British way, we sat and ate our breakfast of 

pineapple and mango whilst Alex listened to the bats that were 

chirping in the temple. I protected my hair with a sarong.

Breakfast time in the dark.

Having been to Petra in Jordan, the capabilities of what 

humans can do never ceases to amaze and when you 

stand amongst the faces of Bayon that awe and splendour really 

hits you. What was all the more special was that because all the 

tourists had flocked home after sunrise for breakfast, we were 

pretty much the only people there. Passing it a couple of hours 

later, it was like a sea of faces.

I pride myself with having a good vocabulary, but after seeing 

a couple of temples you do struggle for words to describe them. 

Rock. Stone. Carved. Sculptures. Buildings. Temples. Meh.

Alex bitterly disappointed me at Ta Prohm for refusing to be 

videoed pretending to be Lara Croft in Tomb Raider. He was 

never going to be Angelina Jolie but he could have been a very 

believable young Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones.

Later that day, we discovered the best cupcakes we had ever 

tasted at Blossom Cafe, so we ate lots of them. Though my 

sister is not a bridezilla, I still have to watch what I eat 

apparently so I am not a fat bridesmaid so I won't mention 

how many we had or how many times we visited in our 

week in Siem Reap.

Two of .... many!

Wednesday was a good day as it was a chance to 

see a face from the past - David and his wife Vina. 

Both his daughters are close friends of mine. They 

were both staying at a hotel a considerable upgrade 

from ours - the Victoria Angkor Resort which boasted 

a very nice swimming pool, those seriously cool old-

school elevators which you have to slide the door to 

close and a baby alligator pond. We had a bizarre 

moment when discussing my failure to break Hollywood 

and it materialised out that one of the few people I had 

met was his best friend from school. (The only person 

he knew in LA). It's a small world.

Another day at the Angkor Wat Archeological Site 

involved riding 'the Grand Loop' - 30km on mountain 

bikes. The ride was brisk as Scouser Wiggins likes a 

good pace. I almost crashed into several bins that 

were waiting to be recycled on the road. Then 

almost did it again on the way back.

Trusty Steeds

Neak Pean was an island temple accessed by 

a long causeway and the views were reminiscent 

of the end of the second Lord of the Rings, when 

Isengard is destroyed.

"Some of my kin look just like trees now, and 

need something great to rouse them; and they 

only speak in whispers." (Treebeard)

Spooky stuff.

Isengard /Neak Pean

Alex's birthday falls on Valentine's Day and 

we were in Siem Reap to celebrate it. We 

spent the day doing most of his favourite 

things. We started with a pancake breakfast 

then watched a film in the Green Leaf Book 

Cafe (An Extraordinary Theory of Everything - 

is it only me who bawled their eyes out the 

whole film?) We then had a brunch of more 

pancakes with Alex's favourite Mango Shake. 

Lunch and the early afternoon was spent with 

Alex watching the cricket and rugby on two 

screens at the same time. Then we went for a 

Dollar Massage.

Massage parlours are everywhere in Siem Reap 

- to relieve the weary loins of tourists traversing 

Angkor Wat. Most of them have the same deal - 

a dollar for a ten minute foot massage. Being 

generous, we decided to go for three dollars.

It was not a pleasant experience.

The man who was lathering globs of unlabelled 

cream on my feet and legs had elongated molars - 

aka vampire fang dentistry and was giggling 

tonelessly in a high pitched voice to his neighbour. 

His idea of massage was to smack my feet and legs 

then place his pudgy gargantuan hands on my little 

toes and pull them out of their sockets as if he was 

having a tug of war with the entire Japanese Sumo 

Wrestling Team. This he then repeated two other 

times, once every ten minutes.

1$ foot massage. You get what you pay for.

Insanely after our dinner at 'Genevieve's 

Restaurant' - for where else were we going 

to go for Alex's birthday (it's also the number 

2 restaurant in Siem Reap), we decided to 

go for another massage. This time I broke 

into hysterical giggles when both of them got 

into the downward dog position and put their 

hands on our groins, rubbing us in circular 

motion. The Khmer massage techniques are 

really not to be missed.

Then we watched Six Nations rugby well into 

the night with a few beers to help us along.

The Angkor Wat sunset was our last experience 

in Siem Reap before we took a bus and crossed 

the border to Bangkok. It was a marvel, worth 

waiting for. Alex took lots of pictures of the 

reflection of Angkor Wat in the lake whilst I made 

some friends.

Sunset at Angkor Wat

Making friends

Six weeks of travelling around Laos and Cambodia 

and it comes to the final thing we see to know that the 

crazy experiences we have been through have been 

worthwhile. That sitting under a bat-infested temple in 

the pitch black and watching the sun rise over Angkor 

Wat Archological Site made the entire trip worthwhile. 

There have been some incredibly unremarkable places. 

There have been some horrible, horrible bus journeys. 

There have been some gruesome, harrowing sights. 

There has been a lot of the views of the Mekong. That's 

all part and parcel of being a backpacker. But the 

majesty of being at Angkor Wat - and it only takes one 

time - leaves you feeling pretty special. That you've seen 

something that that old cliche 'once in a lifetime' truly 

fulfils.

A representation of 80% of photos taken.