Feb 26 Siem Reap

When we arrived at Siem Reap, Rady picked us up at the bus station. Yesterday he drove us around in his Tuk-tuk and today we asked for him again. After 2 days we were very comfortable with his suggestions and the more time we spent with Rady the more he told us about his life. He lives 50 km from Siem Reap and cannot commute back and forth. He sleeps in a mini bus in the city and goes home twice a month. He drove us around all day and then he worked the evening shift in the restaurant. He is married, but still lives with his parents, since he cannot afford his own house. He has a 2 year old boy and a 12 day old girl. As a youngster (he is now 30) his family made Palm sugar by boiling down the palm sap collected from the trees. He showed us the complete operation at one of the roadside stalls and it is exactly the same as making maple syrup or maple candy. Rady’s job was to sell the candy after it was made.
Today he suggested the itinerary and off we went. We visited 2 temples in the morning and 1 in the afternoon. The day got a little hot (about 35° C) but Joan and I both have Tilly hats so we don’t mind the heat. Along the way I read up on the temples in my new guidebook. This guidebook costs $30 in the stores, but because I’m Canadian they( the vendors -mostly children who are numerous at each of the entrances ) asked only $20. Then I negotiated the incredibly cheap price of $6. I was a little surprised when the boy at the next temple offered me one for $1.
We saw Pre Rup first. The temple is small but high. We were able to climb to the top and we finally were above the jungle looking down. Then we went on to Banteay Srey. This was a compact temple surrounded by a moat. It was nice to walk around the temple before going inside. After getting the 360 view I didn’t feel we had to rush around so we could see everything. (‘rush around’ is a figure of speech – we moved extremely slowly in the midday heat.) The restoration of this temple was above average. The temples were built with the Hindu gods in mind, but they have been converted to Buddhism along the way. Whoever is responsible for all the celestial dancing girls seems like a nice religion.
In the afternoon we visited Angkor Thom, then back to the guest house for a shower and off to HCMC by plane.