This morning, we were slightly late ala Malaysian standard. Mr. Ram, our tour guide and tuk tuk driver were already waiting for us. We had a quick breakfast of noodle (RM4 per bowl), quite like yesterday night but tasted better, at the shop, just opposite of the guesthouse. Then we headed straight to Angkor Wat.

Mr. Ram, 24, still a university student studying English and Culture something something, was a chatty guy. He told us plenty of information and stories, and that his nick name was DJ Ara Black, or so it sounded. Although sometimes I’m at lost of what he said, he was a cool and fun guide to have with that day. Dragon fruits were sold cheaply there, so we bought 4 costing only RM6.50. Back home, dragon fruits are expensive but slowly getting cheaper because more and more people are planting them, following the footsteps of Cambodia and Vietnam. By the roadside you could also see bottled gasoline of cheaper grade, usually used by motorbikes.

One could not help but began to feel the majestic air of the ancient times and the tall trees lined at the road sides contributed to the cooling atmosphere as we breezed towards Angkor on a cramped tuk tuk. The fee to Angkor cost $20 each and all tickets will have the buyers faced printed on it. Pretty cool, isn’t? According to Mr. tour guide aka DJ Ara Black, the beautiful girls working at the counter were mostly university students who could speak English. There were also 3-day tour in Angkor Ruins alone which you can opt for but ours was a one-day trip. After a short briefing of our routing that day, we rode into the first destination of the old kingdom – Bayon.

You have not visited Cambodia unless a trip to the Angkor Wat. To see with your own eyes the wonder of the world is to be amazed by the grandiose structure stood tens of metres high, piled ceremoniously one on top of another. The sculpture and carvings on the wall of the sandstones blocks were masterpiece in their own rights, and they told about the tales happened long long time ago. Back then, sandstones cut with long knife into cubes were brought by elephants and labours to construct this magnificent fortress. Imagined how strong, determined and clever they were in those days to build something like this without the use of modern mechanism, save the pulleys. I was like “how the hell they build that?!?!?”.

For first-time visitors I strongly recommend hiring a tour guide to explain about the interesting stories. FIY, locals need not pay to see the Angkor Wat. Mr. Rom was more than a tour guide, he is a friend. He told us not just the tales from the walls but also his life, the past, present and future. It was too much to be told here but we thoroughly enjoyed his company and sharing each others’ stories. As much as the ruins were a sight to behold, it was also a borderless playground for photograph enthusiasts. One could spend the whole day capturing moments through the lens and still felt insufficient – such was the wonder of the kingdom whose land is huge beyond imagination.

When we finished Bayon, half of our energy was already exhausted from much walking and climbing. Make sure you have a good pair of shoe and prepared to climb steep stairs. We proceeded to another main temple, all along taking pictures and basked in awe of its mere presence that still stood through the times of war and savage. Children especially will come with goodies, asking and half begging visitors to buy things ranging from key chains to shirts and from fans to coconut drink. However tempting (some quite reasonable actually) we fended all of them away, no matter how pitiful they look. They could be really good in persistence, and sometimes it pays to be just that. At any place and time of the day, you could see foreigners all over the place befitting Siem Reap – the number one tourist area in Cambodia. Tourism in Cambodia was only much promoted few years back. Signs of pilferage were obvious as many statues of Buddhism and Hinduism influence were devoid of head and limbs. Some were taken back to France and some sold for their worth. Much restoration work still needed to be done in those ruins. Sometimes one could see piles and piles of sandstones lying on the ground that needed to be sorted out, cleaned and restored. The French, Japanese and Indian were the ones hard at work preserving and restoring the sites.

A visit to a sky kingdom (also a ruin) left us a dollar and 1,500 Riel poorer. Mr. Ram did not follow us all the way up, so we climbed ourselves to the top. There, two impeccably English speaking youngsters welcomed us and started explaining this and that without us asking them to. We were suspicious the moment we see them but being polite, we did not ask whether or not they are doing it for free. At the end of the short tour, they asked for tips. So if you encountered people like this, kindly ignore them and say no up front if you don’t want unnecessary guide. Furthermore, their stories weren’t quite accurate according to Mr. Ram when we told him what happened at the top.

At lunch time, Mr. Ram brought us to a nice restaurant which spelt “Place $pecially for foreigner$ to Empty their Pocket$$$” We were skeptical but sat down and looked at the menu. Once Mr. Ram went behind for his free meal, we decided to leave. Although it was quite a thick-skin kind of thing to do, we had to do it!! That moment, the waitress mentioned something about discount and that’s when we realised even the food was negotiable. We walked further down and settled at a small shop under the zinc. We had coconuts and ordered food from menu after bargaining for cheaper price. We managed to get some good offer and the food that arrived smelt so aromatic and tasted even nicer than food we had before. Curry chicken was sooooo delicious, so were the vegetables, potatoes, chicken and fish dish, and even then sliced ginger was all walloped! But the weather was so hot, and sitting under the zinc roof did not help. There were no fans too. So we sweated a lot while eating. Moments later Mr. Ram came worried. He said we should have just told him that we wanted to eat here.

One thing to note in Cambodia (and also Vietnam), is that their public toilets were quite clean, and tissues provided. After the hearty meal, Mr. Ram brought us to climb a tall tree. This passage was built by the Japanese in view of their good friendship with Cambodia. The scenery was okay at the top, nothing much to see but it was a really long way up. Mr. Ram said a lot of couples come here for dating. He sometimes brings his girlfriend here to talk and kiss. Cheeky.

To get married in Cambodia, the man will have to pay the girl’s family some amount. This amount depends on the male’s financial situation. If he is well to do with a stable job, he does not need to pay as much. If he’s poor, he’ll have to pay higher, kind of like a higher initial penalty for insurance. Mr. Ram is considered moderately okay, so he needs to pay about $2,000 but he only has $1,000 at the moment. So he’ll only get half of the girl (either bottom half or top half), we joked! Ahem, at this juncture let me report about the Cambodian girls. Generally, I think they are attractive, beautiful girls as Mr. Rom puts it.

Next, we went to more visiting at different parts of the ruins. By this time, the weather was scorching hot, and we were all weary but carried on nevertheless. To me, one-day trip to Angkor Wat was more than enough. We visited place where Tomb Rider was filmed. Angelina Jolie was here. Trees were big and huge and their roots intertwined with the blocks of sandstone and volcanic stones to extent of damaging them. And the authorities can’t do much about it. We finally entered the Angkor Wat (another main temple), no less amazing but with similar features -columns, statues and more carvings. We took less and less picture as we were tired. Here we sat down more and just talked. Mr. Ram was becoming more ‘hamsap’ relating us his friend’s one night stand with a Japanese woman. He showed us carving of women on the wall, naked at the top. From the picture you can notice the breasts and the faces were ‘cleaner, solid colour’ looking. The reason being, as he demonstrated, people like to touch those parts and therefore inevitably made them cleaner. No joking!

About 5pm, we exited through the gate by the bridge. There were carpet greens over the entrance with calm lakes where you could see the reflection of the kingdom. The scenery amidst the sun setting was beyond describable. You just have to go and see it yourself. We went outside the street to catch our tuk tuk. More children swarmed around to sell us things. Albeit tired we still refuse politely mostly by saying “it’s okay”. One girl selling postcards even had the cheek to reply “it’s okay for u, not ok for me” to Jesse. We chuckled but also sympathised them at the same time. They looked poor and hungry, and without sandals to protect their feet. Such were their life – difficult.

Not long into the journey, we arrived at the foot of the hill where we were supposed to climb to watch the sun set at the top. One lady selling coconut came to us and I told her that perhaps later we would buy on the way back. I was genuiene at that time. You could also opt for an elephant ride for about $20. We walked to the top and there sat another ruin, a location perfect for watching the sun set. There were already hundreds of visitors from all over the world. See the picture. We stayed there for about one and half hour until the sun hid behind the mountains afar. And soon after, we too left the place – Angkor Ruins the magnificent. When we got back at the foot of the hill, the coconut lady was there calling from the other side of the street. We ignored her and she swore at me saying I will not have a girlfriend. It went something like “u no girlfriend!!”. Sigh, what did I do to deserve that. The cost for an English tour guide and tuk tuk for whole day was $20 (through guesthouse arrangement). If you contact a freelance like Mr. Ram directly, it will only cost $15. Here’s his contact – Pheara.angkor[at]yahoo[dot]com.

We made a pact with Mr. Ram that tomorrow he will take us to visit more places before we left for Phnom Penh. He asked to keep it a secret from the tuk tuk driver as well as the guesthouse keeper because they will charge for commission. It was a win-win deal. We got back, showered, rested a while, and checked email before taking a tuk tuk to the same night market area. Again we enjoyed the food at a stall. The fruit shake drinks and the food were equally good, especially the tom yam. Indescribable!! Absolutely excellent (cost $1 each type). FIY, 1.5L of drinking water cost about $0.50. Try look for it or cheaper ones but don’t go above $1. We walked to the same night market for some more serious shopping. Jesse, Chunaki and Kelvin bought 6 handbags for $17 from the same lady that chided Kelvin “no good customer” yesterday. She was wide-eyed seeing us again but we gave her business, weren’t we good? I regretted having bought none there thinking they were more in Vietnam. We shopped some more and went back via tuk tuk (no more acting macho) as we were very tired. We washed some clothes, chatted and were sound asleep swiftly.