Ankor What?

Actually it’s called Ankor Wat (Wat means “temple” and Ankor means “city”), but there was a great bar in town named Ankor What? Many bars/restaurants are plays on the English language and it has been a hoot reading their English (one of my favs: “Please don’t flush foreign bodies in the toilet”). Ankor Wat is a must-see as it houses an array of impressive temples, buildings, paintings and carvings of Hinduism. The story of Ankor Wat is almost as disturbing as Cambodia’s past as many raids have ruined the statutes and all the jewels have been stolen. The place however still exudes otherworldly feelings and it truly deserves its standing as one of the 7 manmade wonders of the world.

Siem Reap is the city closest to Ankor Wat and it was so much more relaxing than Phnom Penh – and not just because of the readily available $5 massages (I had a massage by a blind woman too and it was great), but just way less urban and a centralized location (called Pub Street of course) for foreigners to kick back. I made the trip with my new Mexican friend Benjamin whom I met at our cinco de mayo party in PP and we met a bunch of cool Canadians (I later traveled with 2 of them thru Thailand).

I decided to make the next leg of trip by myself though and I still regret it. They offered a boat from Siem Reap to Battambang, on the way to Bangkok. The boat was crowded, hot, totally uncomfortable and lasted 8.5 hours! Although the water life was interesting to see (houses, shops and schools along the river), it was painfully slow and the river was extremely dirty (even though that didn't stop locals from bathing, drinking and washing their dishes in it). At some point we even had to get out of the boat and push it because the water was too low for the engine. So painful…and I completely wasted an entire day because I was dead by the time I got to Battambang and the next morning I headed out to Bangkok. Now I need another $5 massage!