So I awoke following not a great number of hours sleep, probably partly due to the knowledge of my bedfellows relatives scratching around nearby to an unwelcome footwarmer. The screams were bloodcurdling and I fled my $1/night semi-al fresco bed for the relative comfort of the $3 barnhouse cubicle and then ran in the morning before they could work out quite who'd been in the bed (a little like goldilocks I like to imagine), but not before cooking my lunch in the kitchens (the staff were very surprised - i doubt they'd ever experienced such an intrusion before) and took a keen interest in the art of cooking risotto. 11am and the previous night's tuktuk driver had failed to show so I stumbled across Guan who was to be one of the main attractions of Siem Riep!
Guan was to firstly ferry me across to Ivy 2 where the food was AMAZING (actually i should qualify the Cambodian food was good but I think it is difficult with asian food to get beyond good to truly exceptional - recommend the amok though) and I indulged in plate after plate of mezze for $1.50 on a far too regular basis. An hour later after a shower I was off to Ankor which is exactly what I had expected and yet indescribably beautiful. The serenity of Ankor and Bayon surprised me given the weight of tourist traffic but then I realised I was viewing the circuit at reverse timings. Highlight of the day aside from watching the monkeys crawling around the smiling faces of bayon whilst I read a book in a cool corner before being whisked around a local school run by the monks where Guans' son was meant to be learning but appeared to be teaching english! After that, I resolved to pick up a load of textbooks and pens to hand out instead of buying the tat universally peddled by the kids (although a gappie i met informed me that most his class did both attend school and tout flutes/postcards/scarves etc.) which met with approving looks from the mothers who were then inclined to show me where I could eat something and make sure I got a free drink/desert or similar - Cambodians were a welcome change from the Thais who were rather less than pleased in general by young westerners.
Day 2 got off to a very early start and another rat (this one wasn't actually in the bed and so I hopped out the door and later had a word with the security guard to switch to an upstairs room). by 5am I was installed infront of the main complex with a couple of americans intringued by my ridiculous plastic faux lomo waiting (having managed to stumble over the ruins in pitch darkness) for the sun to rise which it did with majestic greatness over the ruins - picture soon I promise. From there a full 13hours of temple hopping interspersed with chats to Guan and his friends continued to the point where I think I got temple fatigue. So we decided to head off to the Roulous group where the sunset over the ruins there with evening prayer from the adjacent monastry in the company of some novices made for a unforgetable night and meant that I had a rather subdued evening since the lures of Siem Rieps 'Pub Alley' appeared less substancial given the preceedings.
Also in the 2 hours waiting sunset Guan and I had come up with a plan to get his tuktuk earning more. So the next day we headed post final ruins to the Silk Farm and I tried faltering french with the owner (who blatantly spoke english) until he understood that we were attempting to pimp out the tuktuk by upholstering it in silks and repainting the sign to proclaim him TukTuk De Luxe. In return guan now peddles their silks from his pukka backseat and offers free transport to the farm if wanted......... you can't miss him if youre in the vicinity! Dinner was served chez Guan by his lovely wife surrounded by children. Not exactly all that traditional fare considering roast chicken and caramelised apples appeared on the table but delicious and an awesome experience all the same!
Final port of call was quadbiking across the paddy fields of the nearby villages at dawn before catching my lunch at the floating villages and finally eating a selection of snake, ostrich, crocodile, frog and catfish at a khmer BBQ before cathcting the midnight bus (just; as experience dictates journeys never go smoothly...) onto Phnom Penh.
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