ANGKOR
I'm pretty upset that this Cambodian computer doesn't like my camera because you can't write about Angkor, you need photos. I'll write a brief description and hopefully when I get back to Thai computers later this week I'll be able to post photos (I know I've been promising photos for a while).
Angkor is this ancient city- I think in its prime it was the biggest city in the world. I could be wrong though...Most of the info about these places is in Cambodian or broken english. The most famous part of Angkor is Angkor Wat (Wat = temple). Its famous for its spectacular sunrises so me and the girls were up at 4:30am to tuk tuk (motorbike with a carriage attached) out to Angkor for the sunrise. The coolest thing about Angkor Wat is that its still used by monks. The steps into the main, tiny part of the temple were steep and treaturous (it was pretty much like rock climbing--you were using all fours) so I only made it half way up to the temple before decidng that if I went any higher I would have to be attached to a harness and assisted down by some kind of rope system. Christine and I waited on the steps while Megan went inside and did her insense prayers/bows to buddha. Our tuk tuk driver took us to see Angkor Thom (I believe part of it was Angkors library) and quite a few other amazing parts of angkor.
The unfortunate part of this attraction is that it has become way too touristy. When we stopped for lunch we were swarmed by all of the restaurant workers begging us to come into their restaurant and offering deals. The worst part came close to the end of our tour though. We were bombarded by 10-ish year old girls when we got out of our tuk tuk selling purses, water and bracelets. They grabbed at us and would not let us enjoy the scenery. If we turned our attention towards the ruins they would whine and there were so many of them that you couldn't ignore it. They'd been taught the capitol city and population of the countries where most tourists come from. So we heard "Ottawa, 30 million people" about 15 times. I bought water from one of them and the rest of them yelled at me and one of them pretended to cry when Megan didn't buy water from her. At our last Wat there was a little girl who was about 2 years old selling postcards. She couldn't speak english yet (maybe she couldn't even speak at all yet), so she had a few friends with her also selling postcards. We didn't stay long as they decided to follow us around as well. They do NOT take no for an answer. Very annoying way to end a day of great sights. We leave for Phnom Penh, Cambodias capitol tomorrow.
Angkor is this ancient city- I think in its prime it was the biggest city in the world. I could be wrong though...Most of the info about these places is in Cambodian or broken english. The most famous part of Angkor is Angkor Wat (Wat = temple). Its famous for its spectacular sunrises so me and the girls were up at 4:30am to tuk tuk (motorbike with a carriage attached) out to Angkor for the sunrise. The coolest thing about Angkor Wat is that its still used by monks. The steps into the main, tiny part of the temple were steep and treaturous (it was pretty much like rock climbing--you were using all fours) so I only made it half way up to the temple before decidng that if I went any higher I would have to be attached to a harness and assisted down by some kind of rope system. Christine and I waited on the steps while Megan went inside and did her insense prayers/bows to buddha. Our tuk tuk driver took us to see Angkor Thom (I believe part of it was Angkors library) and quite a few other amazing parts of angkor.
The unfortunate part of this attraction is that it has become way too touristy. When we stopped for lunch we were swarmed by all of the restaurant workers begging us to come into their restaurant and offering deals. The worst part came close to the end of our tour though. We were bombarded by 10-ish year old girls when we got out of our tuk tuk selling purses, water and bracelets. They grabbed at us and would not let us enjoy the scenery. If we turned our attention towards the ruins they would whine and there were so many of them that you couldn't ignore it. They'd been taught the capitol city and population of the countries where most tourists come from. So we heard "Ottawa, 30 million people" about 15 times. I bought water from one of them and the rest of them yelled at me and one of them pretended to cry when Megan didn't buy water from her. At our last Wat there was a little girl who was about 2 years old selling postcards. She couldn't speak english yet (maybe she couldn't even speak at all yet), so she had a few friends with her also selling postcards. We didn't stay long as they decided to follow us around as well. They do NOT take no for an answer. Very annoying way to end a day of great sights. We leave for Phnom Penh, Cambodias capitol tomorrow.
posted by Heather Short @ 4:57 AM
2 Comments:
At 6:47 PM,
Laura Davies said…
Julia and I agree that your blogging is more than mediocre. but to become an all-star you need pictures. anyway anyhow.
TB2BThailand together and for always
At 11:48 PM,
Laura Davies said…
ahh just made up the coolest evite for tb2bthailand koh samui birthday party but it just dissapeared!!!! hotdamn anyways you're invited....i'm inviting some sweedes too ;)
Post a Comment
<< Home