At the end of our day of Cambodian genocide history, we felt a bit low.
Fortunately we found Katie (above, playing the guitar), one half of the fun pair we'd met the night before. We went out with her and some other traveler friends of hers for pizza and dancing in Phnom Penh's downtown. Desperate for air-conditioning (which we didn't have) in heat beyond that which even I could stand, we ended up crashing in the extra bed in her room that night and moving our stuff up there the next day to split costs. The three of us spent the next day putzing around, finding sneakers for me, and sorting out Tayler's dilemma of where to go next. To Burma, or not to Burma? That was the question. That night, T and I hit up a rather tame Couch-Surfing meeting and then met up with Katie and an old friend of Tayler's for some infamous Cambodian pizza and a few strong drinks.
Disclaimer #2: Somewhere in this week, I have lost two days. I know we arrived in Phnom Penh on a Sunday and left on a Saturday. But the middle is all very piecemeal in my mind. What did we do with these mysterious missing days? I have no idea. I seem to remember a lot of chilling in the tattered guesthouse lobby and in Katie's room, but it's all a bit fuzzy, to be honest. So let's just pick up with Friday, shall we?
On Friday, Tayler went to the Indian embassy to secure his visa, only to be rebuked for not having filled in his middle name on his application. After he returned to Katie and I with this disappointing news, we decided there was nothing for it but to hop on a local bus to a hilltop temple in Udong that we'd heard about. And that, for this adventure, Tayler should wear a ridiculously large, lemon-yellow foam cowboy hat.
The locals LOVED this. I cannot stress this enough. LOVED it. Some local girls we saw as we climbed into the tuk-tuk to the bus station? Loved it. The men standing around the bus station when we arrived just in time to climb aboard a bus leaving that very minute? Loved it. The kids on the other-than-us entirely Khmer-populated bus? Loved it.
The motorbike drivers we hired after much haggling? Loved it.
Basically, T was the most popular guy around. Even this monkey?
Well, no. That monkey just looked pissed off. Probably depressed about her obesity. But the hoard of school kids who alternately followed and led us up to the temple? You know it... They loved it.
And they took to passing it around between themselves.
We reached the landing beneath the newer of the two temples now perched upon the town's eponymous peak.
Despite the muggy, drizzly weather, the view was lovely...
... simians included.
The ornate temple reflected the recent growth of the Cambodian economy.
But as always, the little things fascinated me far more, particularly the gigantic beetles around the base, like the one this little guy pocketed as a snack for later.
Across a small bridge leading from the new temple...
... stood the original, where we spent some time entertaining the kids with stories...
... and being entertained by them.
Katie and Tayler practiced their superior photographic techniques with the kids as their subjects, while I thought of ways to use our nearly worthless 100-note Cambodian riels.
Eventually, we descended, tipped the oldest of the kids on behalf of the whole group for legitimately providing a heap of historical information, hopped once again onto the backs of the bikes of our waiting drivers, and just managed to catch the last bus back to Phnom Penh. I spent most of the journey playing peek-a-boo with the adorable kid in front of me.
And Katie proved to be the prettiest bus-sleeper I've ever seen. (I, on the other hand, cannot sleep sitting up without my head rolling back and my jaw gaping open.)
That night, we chilled out in the room, Katie and Tayler trading photog knowledge and me attempting to improve my shameful guitar skills.
Katie left for Laos before dawn the next morning, despite my best attempts to detain her in Cambodia, and I headed south to do volunteer work in a small school/orphanage, Tayler tagging along to wait out the requisite three days to reapply for his Indian visa.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Phnom Penh, Cambodia
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