Cozyna Hotel, Siem Reap Cambodia
Early in the morning we were greeted by our new local tour guide for Siem Reap. It took a while but this lady became very likable. She was 21 when the Khmer Rouge period began. During that time she ran 300 km to Vietnam to find safety. She said it was her ability to speak Vietnamese that saved her. But she never saw or heard from her other 7 brothers and sisters again since the war. Cambodia was where she spent most of her childhood in, but she spent her later life away from it until it was safe for her to come back. She possessed a natural interest of her surroundings, and a conversation that started from a simple Cambodian plant that she ran into, would lead to another one involving local history. It was her who made the difference in our travel at Angkor.
We went to Bayon in the morning, Angkor Vat before Sunset, and as many of the must-see as we could in between. It was an extremely hot day, with some stairs to climb. The day was the highlight of our trip. It is amazing we are allowed to roam around at the sites. There were close to no barriers. No hand rails. And minimal signs. Cambodia is far from commercialized compared to its neighboring countries. And that was the beauty of the place.
Early in the morning we were greeted by our new local tour guide for Siem Reap. It took a while but this lady became very likable. She was 21 when the Khmer Rouge period began. During that time she ran 300 km to Vietnam to find safety. She said it was her ability to speak Vietnamese that saved her. But she never saw or heard from her other 7 brothers and sisters again since the war. Cambodia was where she spent most of her childhood in, but she spent her later life away from it until it was safe for her to come back. She possessed a natural interest of her surroundings, and a conversation that started from a simple Cambodian plant that she ran into, would lead to another one involving local history. It was her who made the difference in our travel at Angkor.
We went to Bayon in the morning, Angkor Vat before Sunset, and as many of the must-see as we could in between. It was an extremely hot day, with some stairs to climb. The day was the highlight of our trip. It is amazing we are allowed to roam around at the sites. There were close to no barriers. No hand rails. And minimal signs. Cambodia is far from commercialized compared to its neighboring countries. And that was the beauty of the place.
We bought an Angkor guide book from a kid for $10USD, only to find some other kids selling it for even less. Lonely planet Cambodia is sold for $1 here! After we learned our lessons, we began our bargaining at ¼ the original price and went from there. Most of the time we managed to lower the price to less than half the first price, but even after that we questioned whether we got ripped off.
Children are very cute and bright here. There is a shine in their eyes. They could be cunning at times, but sometimes they simply want to make conversations even though they meant to sell you things at the first place.
No comments:
Post a Comment