Dec 30, 2010

Last of Cambodia


 Feeling like fat maharajahs... bikes are definitely more our thing.
 Landmine 'museum'.


 We like food.
 Pretending it's Christmas. Oh wait, it was!

And now, lots of temple pictures, just to make you as templed-out as we are.

























Have to give one last shout out to the Cambodians. Left my camera behind twice, got it back both times (most of the town had had it at that point, I had to chase it around with a moto... ' no, sorry, I just gave it to my friend...', 'what, no, I already gave it to my cousin...' but I got it back!) and when my bike broke down after sunset, with a two hour walk back to the town,  a guy who was driving home from work managed to fit both me and the bike on his moto after seeing me walk alone in the dark. ('You crazy girl!')
Siem Reap did not show the best side of Cambodians though, but I don't think it showed the best side of us farangs either...

Bangkok

Arrived in Bangkok two days ago.
Feels like we've left Asia.

The border... we're used to being a couple people walking across the border, and the no-mans-land in between is usually a field/ Now suddenly it was a town full of Casinos and we had to stand in queue with lots of other farangs. Strange.

The strangeness didn't stop there. The driving here is INSANE!
For the first time, there are actually more cars than motos. There are street lights. And guess what, the cars stick to one lane and use the blinker when turning or changing lanes? CRAZY! I bet most cars/motos even have headlights... and use them!
Traffic jam... getting closer to Bangkok.
Ruut 'enjoying' here pedicure
 One of the reasons we headed to Bangkok for New Years - met up with the crazy Dutch from the Trans Manchurian!
 The Dutch live in a fancy hotel with a swimming pool on the roof...
...and since our dorm beds aren't 'quite' this cozy, we decided to crash their room.
 Sophia and Djeff on Khao san last night.
 Same street from above.

We live on Khao san road, also known as backpacker ghetto. This means music, bars, restaurants, ATM's, food stalls, cloth stores, hotells... all basically on one street. They do everything to make you think you'll never need to leave. Hmm. Let's see how many days more we'll think it's fun...

Dec 26, 2010

Templed-out

Despite of what everyone's saying it's entirely possible to grow a little tired of all the splendor and magnificence of the Angkorian temples.
The first day was exciting and jam-packed with temple sighting. By the second day we all felt somewhat jaded. Come the third we had definitely depleted our reserves of curiousness and interest.

Don't worry you people, we didn't yawn our way through this UNESCO World Heritage Site, we did learn loads about the temples, its carvings and its people. Everything we heard and said was immensely thought-provoking and  intriguing! Growing weary of the omnipresent tuk tuk drivers and food vendors was not a very laborious task. I expect it to be no different in Bangkok... Sigh. One more day here in SR and then we're off to the city of angels, the Venice of the East.
The ceremonial name of Bangkok being:

"Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Phiman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit.
It translates to "The city of angels, the great city, the eternal jewel city, the impregnable city of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarma"."

So there you have it. Quote from Wikipedia.

//R

Dec 25, 2010

Christmas and the temples of Angkor Wat - Day 80

I hope everyone at home has had a fabulous Christmas, with lots of snow! (Which I know you have, haha)
This is how we celebrated Christmas yesterday:
 Ta Promh. This is where they filmed Tomb Raider. We of course felt exactly like Lara Croft, and filmed a dozen treasure hunt videos to prove it. To bad it's not possible to upload them...
 Ta Promh






Can you spot Sophia?


 Pre Rup


 Eastern Mebon





 Ta Som



 Neak Pean


 Preah Khan












 First Christmas dinner of several....
 Trying to get into Christmas mode
 The night market. My wallet and my budget hates this place.
 Getting ready to celebrate Christmas Eve with a couple of French, Swedes, Indians, Ukrainians and Spaniards.
Right now....
Okay, so might have gotten a little carried away with the pictures, but have nothing better to do when Ruut and Sophia are sleeping, and the temples truly were awesome! We got slightly tired of them in the end though, and saved the big hitters, Angkor Wat itself, Bayon and the town of Angkor Thom for tomorrow.
....so be prepared for even more pictures then!