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The first thing I do when I move into a new hotel room is to check out the view.

Thailand and Cambodia 2000 - Part One - Bangkok & Siem Reap

Dougburnett
2003-11-22 17:55:13

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a day driving the car. He had been doing it for about three years. He said he lived in a nearby village and uses a bicycle to commute the 10-km to Siem Reap each day. He lived with his uncle and had left his home village because it was in Khmer Rouge territory.

We also talked about food: we both agreed we liked chicken and then he asked me if I liked dog. I said that dog was a problem for us Americans - we see dogs as pets, members of the family, and not food. I told him that I had never eaten dog. There was a little silence and then we choose a new subject.

Our next stop was at Pre Rup: there were very few tourists. The day was overcast and much cooler than yesterday - while not exactly cool, it was more bearable. I climbed the narrow, steep stairs to the top and sat in the shade of a spire. I could see across the flat, open land. There were clumps of trees and a lot of open space covered with brown grass. This was the dry season and many of the trees had also lost their leaves. I could hear the birds calling to each other and there was a little breeze. There are so many temples at Angkor that there must be many lovely, quiet places like this that you can have to yourself.

Our last stop before lunch was at Preah Kan. It, like a lot of Angkor temples, is a long walk back from the road. On the way a young Cambodian boy attached himself to me. He started walking along with me, pointing out various carvings and attempting to explain them. His English wasn't very good, but he was still interesting company. He told me he was 16 but he looked to be no more than 12. I asked him why he wasn't in school and he said he didn't have the money for this teacher. Probably true, but no doubt he was also softening me up. He pointed out some carvings of Buddha that had been scratched out, in ancient times, he said, by some conqueror or other. He also pointed out carvings that had been broken off and sold ...