Feeling a little under the weather, think it may have something to do with being out every night for a month, so have decided to try and chill this evening. This has coincided with it being a Saturday, but in the life of the hobo weekends are meaningless.
Anyway, here's an update. Angkor Wat was magnificent. I spent a great day meandering around temples, although towards the end it was tiring, there's just so many of the blighters. Angkor Wat itself and the towers of Bayon with the faces of Hindu Gods on them are particularly brilliant. If the killing fields are the part of Cambodia's history it cannot escape, Angkor Wat is the part it can never live up to, but that's a bit churlish. They are justifiably very proud and the name appears on everything from hotels and shops to the national beer. In Thailand everyone warned me about Cambodia, but I found it really nice and while the people are not as outwardly friendly as Thais, they are once you get to know them. The only exception to this (in both countries) are the flaming tuk-tuk drivers who endlessly offer lifts, guns (only Cambodia), marijuana and girls. I just tell them I'll take two of each.
Oh, I met the crazy croupier lady in Siem Reap again. She was much saner this time, apart from when she had a happy pizza, but I managed to persuade her that she should see the Killing Fields rather than come straight to Vietnam with me. It's a pretty low act to use the massacre of two million people to my own advantage, I just don't know what to tell you.
Siem Reap is already very nice if also very touristy. Phnom Penh initially appears to be a bit of a dump, but it has a kind of faded beauty. I don't want to go all Location, Location, Location on you, but the French architecture is really nice, it's scruffy but not at all built up like Bangkok and Ho Chi Min City (Saigon), and just needs a bit of a paint job. With a couple of decades of peace, if it avoids being turned into a concrete jungle it could be stunning. Oddly in both Cambodia and Vietnam women wander around in pyjamas, whatever the time of day. I'll try to stick photos up soon, although I have a nasty suspicion my camera has deleted my Angkor Wat photos, which would be a blow.
Anyway, here's an update. Angkor Wat was magnificent. I spent a great day meandering around temples, although towards the end it was tiring, there's just so many of the blighters. Angkor Wat itself and the towers of Bayon with the faces of Hindu Gods on them are particularly brilliant. If the killing fields are the part of Cambodia's history it cannot escape, Angkor Wat is the part it can never live up to, but that's a bit churlish. They are justifiably very proud and the name appears on everything from hotels and shops to the national beer. In Thailand everyone warned me about Cambodia, but I found it really nice and while the people are not as outwardly friendly as Thais, they are once you get to know them. The only exception to this (in both countries) are the flaming tuk-tuk drivers who endlessly offer lifts, guns (only Cambodia), marijuana and girls. I just tell them I'll take two of each.
Oh, I met the crazy croupier lady in Siem Reap again. She was much saner this time, apart from when she had a happy pizza, but I managed to persuade her that she should see the Killing Fields rather than come straight to Vietnam with me. It's a pretty low act to use the massacre of two million people to my own advantage, I just don't know what to tell you.
Siem Reap is already very nice if also very touristy. Phnom Penh initially appears to be a bit of a dump, but it has a kind of faded beauty. I don't want to go all Location, Location, Location on you, but the French architecture is really nice, it's scruffy but not at all built up like Bangkok and Ho Chi Min City (Saigon), and just needs a bit of a paint job. With a couple of decades of peace, if it avoids being turned into a concrete jungle it could be stunning. Oddly in both Cambodia and Vietnam women wander around in pyjamas, whatever the time of day. I'll try to stick photos up soon, although I have a nasty suspicion my camera has deleted my Angkor Wat photos, which would be a blow.
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