By day 3, we had gotten quite bored with stones and temples, and were moving on from site to site at a rather quick pace. Whenever Mr. M told us that this site would probably last us 3 hours, we completed it in 1.5 hours. As such, we came up with a new touring strategy.
Whenever we arrived at a site, we did a quick scout of the area. Then we would find a cool spot, in the shadow of a building away from the sun. At that spot, we would sit and read our guide books, or sleep.
By doing so, we were able to relax and at the same time understand more about what we were viewing. It was a good feeling, to sit on a collapsed column, which probably dated back 1000 years ago, eating a modern day ginger biscuit.
There was always a serene aura around these temples, cows grazing casually near the walls, monks taking a stroll in the park, naked kids running around like no one's business. While at one of the sites, I saw this Chinese tourist taking repeated camera shots at a child peddler with his SLR. The kid probably didn't think much about that, the curious tourist had a bewildered look on his face, like he was shooting some animal in the zoo. After he was satisfied with his photography, he just walked off, without buying something, and well, not even a thank you.
I walked up to the girl, bought a bunch of handmade paper cranes, which cost on 1USD, and took a picture with her. She was rather sweet, though she could do with a good bath.
In general, peddlers in Siem Reap were polite, and not too insistent. If you want to buy, then he/she will be most happy to do business with you. If you are not interested, they aren't looking for trouble and would just smile back. Everyone has this simple easy way of dealing business. Except for one little girl.
When she asked CCY to take a look at her items, he smiled and walked off. The girl was persistent but after a few failed attempts to win his heart, she started to hurl some verbal abuses at CCY. Though rude, the conversation was rather funny.
Girl: "Why you no talk?"
CCY: Smile.
Girl: "Mr. Don't Have Mouth. Why you cannot talk?"
CCY: Laugh
Girl: "Mr. Don't Have Mouth. Mr. Impolite"
Come dusk, we headed to a mountain, phnom bakeng to catch the sunset. You could choose to walk up the winding path or choose to pay 20USD for an elephant ride. As abled-body young people, we chose to walk (as stingy young people, we chose not to part 20USD). At the summit, facing North direction, we could see Angkor Wat on our left and the sun setting on our right.
It was rather easy to walk up the mountain, but difficult to climb the steps of the temple because the steps were high and slippery. But we could not complain, as we saw there were quite a number of elderly climbing on all fours, just to reach the top to catch the beauty of the sunset. Full admiration to them.
CCY and I found a spot which had a good view of Angkor Wat. As the sun slowly set, Angkor Wat was slowly being bathed in a holy golden colour, until eventually everything grew dark. We reckoned that it would be very difficult to descend the mountain in complete darkness and hastily made our way down. True enough, we tripped over tree roots and rocks a couple of times, but still managed to reach our driver safely in the end. Though, Kenneth went missing for 20min, but rejoined us eventually.
Mr. M brought us to a restaurant which served Khmer food, buffet style. It was a bit pricey, but there was traditional Khmer dance as well on stage hence rather worth the experience. I am sure Mr. M had a commission for bringing us there, but he was not aggressively recommending it. He told us to go in, check out the restaurant and if we like it, then stay. The great thing about him, and the Cambodian people is, nothing is compulsory. They are polite, they don't force people. Buddhism way of life I guess.
Indeed it was a worthy dinner. The food was mediocre, but the ambience was fantastic. Khmer dance and music, traditional decoration of the open air restaurant. I called Michelle on the spot and shared with her this experience. I am sure, she would like it if she were here with me as well.
