Our last day in Siem Reap started with a reasonable 8:30am tour through Angkor Thom, which gave us time for a real breakfast and some very good news from our hosts.  Our flight out was not leaving for Saigon until 9:35pm, which the hotel somehow was made aware, and when we went for breakfast they offered, without our asking (!), that we could stay in our room until 6:30pm when we had to leave for the airport.  That was the best “free” thing the Amansara folks could have given us.

Rom, our guide, was there right at 8:30am and off we were to another temple complex, this time in the daylight so we could actually see where we were headed.  The tuk-tuk dropped us off and we walked across a foot bridge over the hand dug moat leading to Angkor Thom.  On one side of the bridge are carvings of devas, Hindu good spirits, and on the other side are asuras, Hindu evil spirits.  I only took a picture of the good spirits.  Why press our luck? (They really don’t look that happy, do they? What does it take to make happy Gods happy these day?)

The enormity of the moats and the engineering that was needed to construct them and the temple complex is mind blowing. I know how long it takes our engineers to do my little bit of work, I cannot imagine how long it took back then especially considering they first had to make the paper to draw the plans on.  I can hear the conversation. Engineer: “Yes, King, we can have those plans completed in three decades.  How many copies do you need?” King: “ This is a rush! 2 decades tops!”

There were three really cool things about Angkor Thom:  1) the incredible wall carvings, which Rom explained in detail what they depicted, 2) the archeological workings (the world’s largest Lego puzzle), and 3) the monkeys!  Here’s one of the monkeys that was just hanging out staring at the idiot tourists. 

 
Wall carvings at Angkor Thom

I suppose the other good thing is that it’s much smaller than the Angkor Wat temple complex so we were done in two hours. We are impatient tourists.

Back at the hotel, we were greeted (again!) with sweet Cambodian smiles, hand-clasped bows and cold, wet towels as we parted ways with our wonderful guide, Rom.  While he taught us a lot about the Angkors, the place is so large and there are so many temples, it’s truly hard to keep them all straight. If you happen to be driving by Cambodia, you must absolutely stop and go there.  It’s astonishing and the fact that it was abandoned is even more astonishing.

We asked our tuk-tuk driver to take us into town, which we hadn’t seen much of and of course, he obliged.  We had him drop us off at the main higher end shopping street and told him he didn’t have to wait for us.  We were interested in buying an artifact that we could bring home as a reminder of our time.  I was thinking of a Buddha statue.  Lisa said that it would be weird to bring home a religious object to our house since it’s not our religion.  She’s right of course, but the Buddha statues are beautiful and meaningful even if it’s not your faith.  The more I learned about Buddhism, especially the kind they practice in Cambodia in which you are taught that the journey you take in life is your responsibility and yours alone, the respect you should have for nature, and that kindness and peace are attributes you should aspire, maybe we all need a little bit of Buddhism in our houses.  We were not successful finding anything we wanted to buy, but we were hot as the devil so we decided to stop at this little restaurant we saw and get a couple of diet Cokes.  We ordered our drinks and by this time it’s a million billion degrees outside.  Of course, we’re sitting outside because there’s no AC inside.  This is an Italian restaurant with a French owner and Monsieur comes over to speak to us and he’s such a good sales person and we are suckers for good sales pitches he convinces us to eat as his restaurant.  Pizza, pasta and all the things we don’t eat tasted great since we’ve had a steady diet of Cambodian food.  While waiting for our food, I was checking on line for art galleries and found one on the outskirts of town that was owned by another Frenchie and his wife.  We hired a non-Amansara tuk-tuk driver to take us and after several misses, we finally found the place.  It’s actually a workshop and gallery.  There were about six or so artisans making beautiful, lacquered bowls and boxes.  After walking through the covered, outdoor and unairconditioned workshop, you come to the gallery and the work was exquisite. I saw a unique wooden Buddha head that I wanted to buy, but my travel companion talked me out of it.  Here it is.  (I think I’m going to order it anyway.  Please don’t tell Lisa.)

The tuk-tuk driver waited for us and then took us back to the hotel.  He was SO excited to be taking us back to Amansara, I don’t think he’d ever been behind those hallowed walls.  When we pulled in past the solid green metal gate, he asked the staff if they would take a picture with his phone of us and him.  We obliged and the hotel staff did, too.  Not sure who he thought we were (Brad and Angelina?), but I’m guessing he was eager to tell his kinfolk of his lucky ride today with proof.  I felt a bit slighted that he didn’t ask for my autograph, but I’ll get over it.

We went back to luxuriate for the last time in our now “free” room for the next three hours until we had to leave for the airport.  The hotel delivered our laundry while we were gone. Underwear and socks neatly and creatively folded on a tray. Who does this??

Lisa has a friend who suggested we use her “wonderful” tour guide in Siem Reap. Lisa got in touch with him before we left home, but since the hotel had a guide for us, we didn’t need him.  Feeling bad, she contacted him to see if he would take us to the airport.  Now this guy is a guide, not a driver, so he shows up with a driver and himself charging us for both he and the driver just to take us to the airport.  While it irked me that he knew we were just going to the airport and didn’t need a guide for that, he managed to try to earn his keep by talking the entire one hour it took to get to the airport.  He wouldn’t shut up.  It was nonstop.  I fell asleep three or four times while he was talking, and he didn’t seem to care or notice that he was boring us to death.  We got to the airport, and he charged $35 for the driver and $25 for his tour guiding!  Holding my tongue, something I wish he could have done,I paid it. Truthfully, I would have paid him $100 to shut up.  Siem Reap’s new airport is stunning, and empty. The airport seems like overkill the lack of traffic and I couldn’t think that perhaps there was some hanky-panky going on with some government officials.  Making matters worse, I had one extra bag for which I was charged by the kind folks at Vietnam Airlines $110 cash only! Not sure how they split up the cash, but I paid it, I had no choice. Not exactly the way I wanted to leave Cambodia, but all things considered, Cambodia and Siem Reap, in particular, are magical places and we enjoyed ourselves immensely.  Now off to Saigon or Ho Chin Minh City, whichever you want to call it.  I prefer Saigon, it’s easier.