More Cambodia

We arrived mid afternoon in Siam Reap. We had the day off from touring so we hailed a tuk-tuk and headed to Pub Street. After the 'incident' Judy made it very clear I was not to shout di di mao at the drivers from now on. Pub Street stretches a few blocks and is lined with restaurants, bars and shops. There are little alleyways leading off to additional places to eat and drink. After a quick lunch we headed to the local market (surprise). We wandered around for a few hours, it was inside and therefore very hot and stuffy. I suffered standing idly by and Judy did the same for me as we each gazed up on and inquired about different items. We have found that we both have very different tastes. Not a bad thing in my opinion but sometimes challenging when we are trying to agree on something. It goes something like this, Nick - "Look Judy, that wooden figurine has a woody. Get it? get it?" Judy - "That's nice sweetie." Nick - "Let's Get a woodie." Judy - "no." Nick - "Why can't we get the little figurine with the boner? It's cute! It would look great on our mantle". (BTW these figurines were EVERYWHERE) Judy - "Seriously?" Nick - "He's so happy to see us! Just look at him, if that's not happy I don't knwo what is." Judy - "No". Nick -"OK, maybe we don't need the lifesized one, how about this smaller version?" Judy - "No, let's go." Nick - "But the lady said special price, just for me. You always say I need to pay more attention to sales." Judy - "If you buy that I swear I will ditch you in the jungle somewhere." I love Judy, she has such a good way of making decisions easy for me. After that we went back to our hotel and took a nap. That night we headed back out to pub street again and after dinner wandered our way to the night market. it's like the day market but at night. The next day we were picked up by our driver and tour guide Kim. She took us to Angkor which is an ancient city...better described as an area with cities and temples inside of it. We toured a couple ruins of old temples. First was Angkor Thom. Lots of people. Very annoying. Hot. Very annoying. But incredible to gaze upon non the less. Next we headed to Angkor.....shoot can't remember the name at the moment but it was also called the jungle ruins because of the way the jungle had taken over the ruins. These were really cool because they had not be rebuilt or completely destroyed (unlike every other ruin we have seen). Trees had grown into and over the ruins and in some places even kept them intact. There was much rubble but it was also still put together pretty well. You also didn't have to use your imagination as much as some of the other places we visited where it just looked like rocks scattered across the ground. Bright green moss covered the rocks and with the greyness of the stone they contrasted well together. Roots growing into and out of the ruins as well as holding up parts of the temple made it a pretty awesome sight to behold. I think I enjoyed these ruins the most. Next we headed to the infamous Angkor Wat. Again, hot. Less peole this time as we were able to get in ahead of the crowds on the advise of Kim. These were pretty incredible as well. Very large in scale and area. We wandered around these for a couple hours admiring the artichecture, bas reliefs and our history lesson. One thing that rocks about having personal tour guides is you get more indepth lessions about the history, culture, etc... than the canned overview that the group tours give you. We can also go at our own pace and ask tons of questions always impressed by the depth of knowledge of our guides. Kim actually grew up as one of the little begger children that peddle their wares to all that pass by. Her Mom still runs a shop inside Angkor Wat and we were happy when we had the chance to meet her. I saw monkeys too. My day was happily fulfilled. That night we headed back to Pub Street, there is really about the only place to go which is why we keep going back. After dinner we chilled at a street side table to have a couple of drinks and people watch. We noticed this old guy run out to the street to some she-males and invite them to come sit with his friends so he could buy them drinks. Judy and I wondered if he knew what he was getting into. We were sure if we should warn him but he seemed very delighted to have them so we watched and were entertained. When they got up to leave the guy came over to us and says "don't worry, I'm not taking them home". We struck up a conversation with him and it turns out her knows one of them. Aparently he comes here often, we didn't ask why. One time he started choking and one of the she-males did the heimlich (sp?) on him and saved him. She\he helped him back to his hotel and he found out she was a he. I really, REALLY wanted to ask how he found out but he was nice and I felt it was better to let that one go. Anyway he saw her\him just now walking by and wanted to say hi and buy her\him a drink. I would say 'only in Cambodia' but I bet that happens all the time all over the world. We eventaully went back to our hotel and left the next morning for Bangkok. BTW, I know my spelling and grammer has been at about a 5th grade level. I never seem to have enough time to proof read and then later I read the blog later and realize I make no sense. Oh well, what can you do? Hope all is well with everyone.