Monkeying around in Cambodia
We arrived to Siem Reap early in the morning and were overjoyed to find that we could stay in a very nice guest house for only $6 US. We decided the best way to see the temples of Angkor would be by bicycle. We paid our 50 cents and were off. After dodging the motorbikes, busses and cars to get out of the city we had our own little stretch of pavement, at least for a little while. There are ruins of the Angkor temples all over and seeing them really should be done over the course of a few days. However, we decided that we would tackle the circuit in one day. The temples are extraordinarily impressive. They rank up there with Macchu Picchu and the Great Pyramids (so I hear). You can check out our pictures to see what I am talking about. Getting back to the bicycling, it turns out that is not a good way to see the temples at all. Without a driver, we got lost a few times, taking us approximately 5 miles off course. That was not such a big problem in and of itself but upon returning from our wrong turn, I realized that my tire had gone completely flat leaving me (or Dan) with another 15 miles of riding on a flat tire.
Despite the impressive temples we viewed, I have to admit though that the highlight of my day was feeding the monkeys outside the temples. I bought a half dozen bananas from a street vendor and held them out to the monkeys. The monkeys would first look at me suspiciously and then take the banana right out of my hand, peel them and eat them up. Some of them are a bit lazy though and would not take the banana unless I peeled it for them. After deciding that I wasn’t wasting our money on bananas afterall, Dan joined in the fun. He took a banana from his bunch to feed to a monkey but the monkey was uninterested, or so it seemed. Dan was caught off guard when the money went for the bunch in his other hand rather than settling for one single banana. Luckily Dan was able to grab the bunch back but you really have to keep an eye on these cheeky monkeys. Another monkey jumped in my bicycle basket and stole my packet of tissues. I thought it was kind of funny and no big deal but the banana vendor took off chasing the monkey on a mission to reclaim my stolen property. That really only made it more entertaining for the monkey who ran around in circles with her closely following him. For us it added up to top notch entertainment.
Paula
Tags: Angkor Temples, Angkor Wat, Cambodia, Siem Reap
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