1 bus to Aranyaprathet = B164
1 tuk tuk to the border = B20
1 Cambodian visa = B1000
1 shared taxi from Poipet to Siem Reap = B1000 (my share B350)
2 day hire of motodriver = $18
3 day pass to temples = $40

Constantly harrassed by swarms of women and children who desperately want to sell you things.... FREE!

I bought a 3 day pass to the temples (USD$40...It felt strange to be so far from home and yet having greenbacks in my wallet. Cambodia prefers US dollars, probably b/c the Riel is more closely related to Monopoly Money. I had been told not to use ATMs b/c you will need to get a wheelbarrow to cart away all your Riel, but they dont have any ATMs in Siem Reap. 1000 Riel equals 1 quarter and so the riel is used mostly for giving small change.) but I only lasted 1.5 days. 18-20 hours of templing was more than enough for this old Viking. I saw (1st day) Banteay Srei, Banteay Samray, Mabon, Ta Som, Nipon (sp?), some temple on a mountain, (2nd day) sunrise at Angkor Wat (which was quite disappointing for all the effort involved in getting up at 515 AM!), Angkor Thom (which includes my favorite temple the Bayon), and the jungle temple of Ta Prohm.

The temples were quite impressive in size and number and intricate carvings, etc... but after a while they all start to look the same anyway. Especially when you aren't allowed to explore in peace. Every time you go in or come out of a temple you are attacked by the "Hello Mafia", which consists of women and little children incessantly trying to sell you things. "Hello you want cold drink?" "Hello maybe you want some lunch!?" "When you actually do want something to eat or drink... it was such a hassle, b/c the attack becomes fiercer. "You eat here... I know your driver." Yeah right. The women leave you alone after you sit down in a place, but thats when they send in the little kids. Its well documented that I have a high tolerance for little children. I especially love it when they incessantly pester you to buy things. "You buy postcard." "You buy bracelet." "You buy cowbell... two for one dollllllla." I had been told the kids were fun to talk to if you could get past the initial sales pitch. This was not possible.

"Where you from?" (the favorite question in Asia)
"US."
"Captial...Washington D.C."
"Yes"
"You buy postcard?"

"You have boyfriend?"
"No. Do you?"
"No. You have siblings?"
"Yes a sister."
"You buy bracelet for sister."

looking at my sketch.."Angkor Wat."
"Yes. Do you draw?"
"No I can't. You buy cowbell. Two for one dolllla."
"Do I look like a cow?"
this kind of stumped the kid... "You buy cowbell. Two for one dolllla."

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I would have been more than happy if I had skipped the first day's itinerary entirely... actually I wouldnt have been unhappy w/ skipping Cambodia entirely. You are forced to become rude since polite "no thank you"s don't work. If you tell the first kid selling bracelets you dont want bracelets.... then its obvious you'll want to buy them from the second kid selling the same crap bracelets 15 seconds later. Gruff "NOs!", evil looks and the cold shoulder, don't make you feel really good... especially when you know their country was decimated by the Khmer Rouge only 20 years ago and the people are so dirt poor. Really it just sucked all the fun out of Angkor.

Well I didn't enjoy Siem Reap much at all (except for my haven at Earthwalkers, where you can escape the onslaught of the Hello Mafia) and was shocked to find myself glad to be heading back to Bangkok, but I did get to put my new Singapore-purchased camera to use. So check out the Angkor gallery for some photos.