Trâpeăng Véal Poŭch

Back to Cambodia. At 1st sight it seems dusty, dirty and impoverished. I wondered why we had been so charmed by her. No public transport. The men sleeping in their tuktuks in hammocks, the women in mismatched pajamas, children barefoot and in rags, stray dogs barking and sniffing the rubbish. No bright clean malls and supermarkets, just dirty stalls and rows of plastic chairs haphazardly on the pavement making up the restaurants. The people are undoubtedly the charm of Cambodia. It only took meeting the receptionist and her kids for me to fall in love with the cambodian way again. There is something so genuine, content and sweet about the people. Thailand is called the land of smiles and it's true you receive polite smiles from all.... but rather the polite smiles that you give to your estranged cousins. The Cambodian smile is like that of your naughty cousins, full of fun and glee.
We rented a moped for the day and just got lost among the innumerable temples around Angkor Wat. Joe was delighted when I messed up the navigation and we ended up on a jungle path. We avoided the main tourist temples of Angkor Wat and Prasat Bayon Angkor Thon. The advantage of a repeat visit. The detail and magnificence of the carvings are mind-blowing. You could spend all day at just 1 temple. I find the interplay between the man-made and nature the most beautiful. The way the trees snake their limbs around the stone is breathtaking. We think that man is so civilised and clever, such impressive architects but nature makes a mockery of all our education and pride.
We spent the evening enjoying the street life in Siem Reap, revisiting friends from the Wild Flower tour. So nostalgic to see our stickers still up and heartwarming to meet the children who we had connected with last time. One little boy was still upset with his Dad for not allowing him to go out to our show last time. He's going to be badgering them again this time for sure.
The street food is cheap and fresh. The flavours are not quite as fragrant and delicate as the Thai. Maybe it's shrimp paste versus fish sauce, just like Spanish olive oil versus Portuguese. I did enjoy the garlic aubergine last night.
We met up with Troy who will be accompanying us on the drums here and in Indonesia. He's a charming, sweet man and we're going to be grooving all over, that's a guarantee. We popped into Laundry Bar where the tour officially kicks off tomorrow night. I was horrified to see my face on posters all over the bar and on flyers on the tables to boot. Oh well, gives me something to stamp on tomorrow night.Read more