Angkor What?

Day 2 of 3 in Angkor Wat was more of the same with our "tour guide," a term which must be used loosely but we did get to see parts of the complex much different than the previous day. We started off on a long drive to a famous river, which of course required another payment for the extra gas. We certainly felt we were being nickeled and dimed the entire way. I understand they would need more for gas, but $20? Hm, I doubt it. Oh well.

We hiked for about 20 minutes up to a small waterfall and river called Kbal Spean. It's noted not for the scenery, but for carvings (linga) that remain on the banks and on the bottom of the river centuries later. It was especially relevant to us because some of the linga are of the Nandi, the sacred bull of Hinduism, and Aileens last name. We took the obligatory photos of said carvings, both with and without Aileen in them and headed off to the Pink Temple (Banteay Srei), which is grey like the rest of them. It is only called that because the translation is "Citadel of the Women" and it is said it must have been built by a woman, as the carvings are too fine for the hand of a man. After a quick tour around we were accosted once again by women selling their wares, but this time I found the t-shirts they were selling quite nice and left wondering once again how I was going to smash all this in my already strained luggage.

A yummy and cheap lunch and we were off again to the last temple of the day, Ta Prohm, which is now most famous for being the location of the Angelina Jolie film, Tomb Raider. The temple is amazing in its own right, however, as there are massive trees growing in, out and around the ruins throughout. Our guide was very helpful as he said "Tomb Raider was filmed here." Then he brought us to another corner of the temple and declared, "Tomb Raider was also filmed here." Then to another entrance with the helpful remark, "Tomb Raider was also filmed here." I guess he was trying to fill in the gaps in his knowledge and make it sound like he had something to say about everything.

This time we didn't get back to the hotel for lunch and instead had our lovely swim around 4pm and then headed into town for dinner and shopping. I had a fantastic prawn dish at The Red Piano and managed to resist the temptation of the "Tomb Raider" drink, despite the fact that it was "blessed by Angelina Jolie." What was this town like before the movie?

After dinner, we indulged in yet more shopping. The night market was fantastic in it's own right, as each of the stalls were actually thatched huts with smooth, loose pebbles as the walkway between them. With Christmas lights and the brights colors of the products, it was by far the prettiest market I've seen yet. We went a little overboard once again, but luckily I managed to constrain myself to mostly very small purchases.

Then of course we went back into Siem Reap where we bought even more, not so small items from various shops (including one with a photo of Angelina Jolie with the owner), stopped at Blue Pumpkin (site of the "bitchin'" waiter) for dessert and tried out yet another foot massage place. It was even better then the previous night's, as well it should be since it cost SEVEN dollars, rather than five. After a brief stop to buy Diet Dr. Pepper at the local supermarket, which neither Aileen nor I had seen in months, we selected a tuk tuk driver from the dozens that plied for our attention and headed back for the hotel.

We were really looking forward to our last day at Angkor Wat, as we had managed to shake our driver and guide. We told them we were leaving early the next day and our hotel already had transportation arranged (the second part was true) so they didn't need to come for us. So we would be flying by the seat of our pants the next day. How exciting!