Siem Reap.
The Holy city of Temples, Tuk-Tuk’s and Traveler troubles – Mad Floors and shiz.
Captains Log Day 8 - 22/03/17 10:55 pm. Malaysia Air MH146
The Captain was able to connect back into the grid just before his HCMC departure, lucky enough he did so as he was able to discover that he had received a last-minute email from the hotel that Admiral and he were staying at. The email advised them that the residence was over booked and despite my two-month advanced booking we were going to be moved to the sister hotel that was located 10 minutes away from the venue. This deeply upset both the Admiral and Captain, they had no option, with an angry email to the hotel, they confirmed that they had been shifted and that a carrier would be sent to pick them up at the Airport. However, upon landing there was no receiver waiting. Blood boiling to match the temperature outside, the Captain and Admiral took a TukTuk or remork to the updated hotel discussing remork life, and how we would sell our cars in Australia and just sponsor a remork driver to live with us and drive us around, despite the laughter they both knew that their Cambodian travels had begun on a rocky start. At the new hotel, one could not get angry at the staff, it was not their fault, management had dealt the card to the Captain and the staff were only doing their job. Despite some initial tension, the staff escorted us to our room, they were apologetic in regards to the transport not being present and offered to compensate by offering complementary transportation on departure.
Although upset, the Admiral and Captain checked into the hotel and freshened up. They had organised a deal with the TukTuk driver to take them straight to the mighty Angkor Wat – The reason both the Captain and Admiral had decided to visit Cambodia. Geography Lesson #1: What is Angkor Wat? – “Angkor Wat is a temple complex in Cambodia and the largest religious monument in the world, with the site measuring 162.6 hectares (1,626,000 m2; 402 acres). It was originally constructed as a Hindu temple of god Vishnu for the Khmer Empire, gradually transforming into a Buddhist temple towards the end of the 12th century” – thanks Wikipedia.
A visit to Angkor Wat had been on the Captain’s bucket list for a significantly long time – He had dreamed of visiting the ruins ever since he had seen photographs and discovered in a year 8 quiz that it’s the largest Hindu temple in the world (not sure if his incorrect answer stemmed his desire or the sheer curiosity.) Grabbing tickets, we were taken away from the city to visit the ruins, thus started our temple run. The hot sun blaring on our backs, sizzling our skin crispy, sweat creating puddles across our bodies we ventured out of the TukTuk. Walking through the gates of the Great Angkor Wat gave the captain goosebumps, the surreal feeling overwhelming. Hypnotized by the grandeur of the ruins we tread towards the entry. With barely any sales pitch we agreed to the first tour guide that approached us, after waiting his life the Captain had not had the patience to bargain or discuss price. The tour began, explaining the history of the king and the kingdom that built this temple, the wars that were fought over it and the transition of it from a Hindu temple to Buddhist. We walked around half engaged, our minds just marveling at the greatness of the ruins. Photos don’t do this justice. The Captain and Admiral got blessed and their futures told by a Buddhist monk and shortly after the tour ended. This is where one of the favorite parts of the tour for the Captain commenced. Free Roam. We were allowed to walk around the temple, explore the giant grounds, climb, run, walk, anything. It was great – the Captain gave the Admiral a heart attack when he walked on the ledge of the third storey of the temple. The heat starting to play games on their minds, the Admiral was pointing out a structure to the Captain, to which the heat stroked Captain responded “Yeah, Mad Floors and Shit” – not knowing what he was saying. The Admiral pointed out his poetic comment, meaning it was time for the delusional captain to farewell the temple grounds. Walking back to the TukTuk was a mission. The 400-meter path felt like kilometers in the dessert being crossed by Bedouins. Struggling and finally reaching the TukTuk we stopped for some cold refreshments before continuing our temple run. We then visited two other major temples and spent time exploring, the first was Bayon temple. The Bayon’s most distinctive feature is the multitude of serene and smiling stone faces on the many towers which jut out from the upper terrace and cluster around its central peak – once again this temple was huge. We walked the grounds posing for photos and trying to soak in the glory. After losing the TukTuk driver and doing a round of the perimeter, we finally got in the TukTuk for our third and final temple - Ta Phrom. unlike the other Angkorian temples, Ta Prohm was in much the same condition in which it was found: the photogenic and atmospheric combination of trees growing out of the ruins and the jungle surroundings. Trees and overgrowth over time had caused this ancient temple to collapse, although restoration works are underway the charm of this beast was the large collapsed rocks and the caved in rooms with roots weaving their way through them. Once again the wonder could not be captured, and if photos say a thousand words, being there and experiencing will write you novels. Temple’d out, we headed back to our hotel for some rest, the lack of sleep the night before, the scorching temperatures had the life of us drained.
Refreshed after a nap and shower, it was time for the Captain to enter his element as they got ready to hit up the famous Siem Reap Pub street for a night on the town. The street was full of activity, life, street traders, shops, music bars, the likes of which can only be compared to places like Khoa Sao road in Thailand, or a Portuguese Pub Crawl on NYE. Starving, the Captain thought it was best to get a drink in our systems before we ate, seemed logical right? There it was, Angkor What? Bar, a tourist landmark, famous for its writing on the walls, this place had seen millions of tourists over the years, it glistened on every travel guide. We stopped for a sneaky drink before we started our quest to try and find some burgers (craving) to eat. It seemed like forever before we found some food – mainly because the Captain was interested in exploring although the Admiral had different ideas which were showing (HUNGRY). Bellies full we headed to some shops and some more exploring to burn off some of the carbs, it was at this point the Captain started getting restless as all the night owls came out to play. Finishing up with Shopping we headed straight back to Angkor What? Where a challenge tickled the fancy of the Captain, A deal that said if you get two alcoholic buckets you get a free tee-shirt. To test our limits however we ordered one bucket to start – a measly 6 x 50 ML shot – first up was a Moscow Mule. We shared this giant vessel of euphoric liquid and made friends with the amazing waiter @say – he had some great conversation with us and taught he Admiral some very cool bar tricks. One bucket in and that Tee-shirt was looking more achievable. We ordered a second and asked our new friend @ say if we could get a tee- he pulled some strings and the mission was semi accomplished – the side effects sat on the table in front of us – a Vodka Mojito. We sipped on our oversized beverage and in the true spirt of the bar left a scripture on the table, this one a quote from the mighty Co-Captain @avrill “Never Say No! Mort!”. At this point to our realisation the club opposite to us – Temple Club, had filled up, dancing had commenced on the streets, we watched as the toxins took control of inhibition. As the mighty vessel reached the final drops, we ordered two more cocktails, of a much more reasonable size this time, although the Long Island Ice tea felt like it had much more concentration of alcohol. Feeling ill and the music taking control we headed across the road for a boogie, shortly inside the Admiral and Captains thoughts synchronized to “we are too old for this” leaving promptly we headed to Yolo Bar. Here things were going mental, the crowd in polar opposite to where we had been, A Backpacker hub, where people were dancing on the streets and madness was everywhere. Quickly the two were able to join the madness, it seemed that Mr Mule and Mrs Mojito had led us over the sanity fence and unwillingly we rushed to the other side. Dancing, singing with the others time began to fly and memories start to fade, at some point the Captain found himself at the bar with a tourist who bought him a Jagerbomb, the Captain obliged and out of respect downed the shot. Later in the night a person came over with a Barbequed Snake on a stick, laughing and dancing he took a bite and passed it to the Captain, confused, time slowed down as he took a fairly large chunk off the stick and started chewing. The taste was disgusting, the scales littered his mouth, the chewing didn’t seem to end as it was like eating rubber with a distinct taste, cringing he passed the stick to the Admiral. The look on the face of the Admiral said it all – HELL NO! after some drunk banter and some convincing she took a tiny bite, chewing twice before spitting it out. almost vomiting we rushed her to the bar and ordered two Jagerbombs to wash the taste down, gagging as the warm Jager went down. Stumbling we left Yolo bar, and since it was too early to go home and wanted the snake magic to kick in we decided to head back for a final cocktail at Angkor What? again – bad idea. More Cocktails ordered – the Admiral had an Arm Wrestle with another tourist from Netherlands, the Captain made friends with Divers from Wales, the words came out as a slur. It was time to call it a night and head back to the Hotel. The time was 3 am and with the insistent TutTuk drivers and an inkling that we may get sick – we decided to walk back to the hotel. This was a bad decision. As we walked we saw some of our friends, they walked with us for a bit until they turned off and we continued through a dark laneway to our hotel. We were only 5 minutes from the Hotel where a man on a scooter approached the admiral on a motorbike slowed down and asked “would you like a lift?”, she responded “No No” at this point he snatched her Purse, yanking it, breaking her straps and riding off. The Admiral yelled “Hay!!” the Captain was off, Chasing the bike, without knowing what happened screaming at the top of his lungs “OI, OI!!” too late, he sped off and turned the corner, the Admirals bag was gone. The contents included cash, her cards, her phone. We both praised the lords and the powers that be that her Passport was sitting at the hotel and was SAFE. Distressed we ran to the Hotel where reception called the police and advised us that we need to go to the tourist police station in the morning when it opened. Defeated, drunk and stressed the Admiral spent the next two hours calling the banks and cancelling her cards, whilst at some point the Captain passed out.
Opening his eyes, the pain unbearable the Captain reached out for his medication, the last night’s toxins were in his system and his head felt like there was a jack hammer pounding inside. This was no ordinary hangover, he could feel the onset of a migraine creeping. Looking over he saw the Admiral passed out on the laptop. Taking his pills, he closed his eyes and slept once again. His eyes opened again as the clock hit 2 PM – he got up and woke the admiral who was ready to go, getting dressed quickly the duo left the hotel and rushed to the police to report the incident the night before. The Tourist police had us document our statement and then referred us on to the large tourist police station the other end of town, taking a TukTuk we rushed there as the clock creeped towards 5pm. The tourist police station was a very traumatic experience. At first we were harassed as to why we didn’t come earlier (migraine) and then the conversation turned to why the Admiral did not fall over when her bag was snatched, the tone and constant implication that we were lying getting the better of us when we had an outburst and reached out to call the Embassy. We were encouraged to do so by the police, saying we are only doing our job, and that is what we will tell the embassy. However, we were told none of the phones had any credit – The Captain pointed out “but this is a police station?!” – my observation was acknowledged but no still the officers had no credit. We gave up, and continued our attempt to get a police report made. The police explained how this was now a criminal case, they needed to contact local police and they, needed to have proof in order to make and release a police report. They need evidence that we were robbed and since our incident happened with no one around and no cameras this was going to be hard to prove. Deeply upset and defeated we documented our timings for the night, wrote down the incidents that happened and answered all their questions. Interrogation went on for 2 hours and at the end we were defeated. They did not release the police report and said they would be back tomorrow to the hotel to investigate. At this point we had very unexpected assistance from one police officer, however no report. With no other options left we thanked the police officer that tried to help and headed back to town, hoping shopping will get our mind off things. It temporarily did. It was then time to visit the nicest restaurant in town, and one of the top restaurants in Asia - Cuisine Wat Damnak. This was a highly-regarded restaurant in Siem Reap celeb chef Joannes Riviere. The menu delivered the ultimate contemporary Khmer dining experience. This was fancy, the flavours and textures indescribable, fine dining at its best. The Chef Joannes, heard of our troubles the night before and was nice enough to come over and have a chat about the incident, he was charming and a very nice man. We both felt humbled, our hearts felt a little comfort in this unknown city. A last round of shopping and fulfilling the Captain’s Indian food craving at d’Tandoor, we headed back to stuff pack our bags and complete our final night in Siem Reap. The adventure was almost over, as the Captain and Admiral parted ways, the former off back to base and the latter flying to Singapore to continue her adventure. The Captain was fortunate to have the business class experience during his flight stopping in KL and hitting up the b lounge for a shower and a casual 4 vodka sodas and few snacks. Landing in the best city in the world, he was home. Arriving at 9:30am the captain was at work by 10:30am he reflected on his journey, his adventure overseas was over, he had survived another trip. He returned home with a few more notches on his belt and some scars to show for his travels. The Captain was ready and looking forward to his next adventure but at the moment he was running late to a meeting. He entered the room and said sampeah.
