It's my birthday!! Happy to me! We woke up this morning at 4:30 am so we could watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat. It was a bit cloudy but really nice to be in the temple with few other people when it was really cool with no sun. We walked around a little and then headed back to the hotel for an hours nap and some breakfast. Then we rented bikes!! Ainhoa has not rode a bike since she was 10 years old so she was a bit nervous to say the least, but I convinced her she wouldn't have forgotten and she shakily took some practice laps before we headed out onto the main road. She rode well, but like a grandma. I virtually didn't pedal the whole way trying to coast to go slow enough for her to keep up. I kept shouting back encouraging words and telling her speeding up wouldn't hurt, but she stayed at her snail pace the whole way there. We started at Angkor Wat, picking up where we had left off that morning. We stayed in the temple for over 3 hours going through all of its halls and courtyards. We had a wonderful guide book that told you the stories of every inscription so we spent a long time walking around spotting stories from the Ramayana and Mahabarata as well as some Cambodian creation myths about how the gods got their immortality. Then we went to lunch where the women next to us got ambushed by about 20 kids and then she proceeded to buy one thing from each of them. When we left her she had a coconut in front of her with many bracelets and postcards and she was haggling over the price of some magnets. God only know how long she stayed there. We hoped on our bikes and went out of Victory gate to that other temple and then one more Ta Keo, not worthy then biked to Ta Prohm the one in ruins. We were kicked out of this temple because it was getting late and the sun would soon be down. As we were leaving it started to rain and then we biked in the rain for a good hour at least. We went sooooo far many miles! I had a great time, We sang and just embraced the fact that we were getting soaked. God bless Ainhoa for her first time on a bike in years being so adventurous with it and not hating me forever! We got home and showered and then went out for dinner and a drink. We wanted to celebrate my birthday but were so tired from our day we literally had one beer and then turned to each other and said 'bed?'. We talked to our waiter for a while who spoke better Spanish than English so said Ainhoa, Lost my camera! next day more temples
Went to Phnom Penh saw the memorial at the killing fields went to a night market I got a ring, i lost the ring the next day... of course went back to bed next day had a whole exploration plan but decided to sleep a bit longer instead and it was a good idea i went out into the city around 10ish and accomplished everything I had wanted to do in under 3 hours. I saw the Palace, National Museum, their big Wat and walked along the river for a while. It really only took me those few hours to be completely sick of Phnom Penh so i headed back to my hotel and drank a coke in the lobby and watched looney tunes with the kids until it was time to go to the airport. I don't necessarily blame Phnom Penh for my disinterest in it. I think I was just sick of traffic, dirtiness and so many people. Luckily I was off to the islands! Now, when I started my trip My bag was exactly the regulation size that Air Asia would accept to carry on board. In the past month, however, I may have done some shopping... In fact I have accumulated some pretty odd shaped souvenirs so when I turned up at the airport I figured it would take a miracle for me to not have to pay the checked bag fee. I went to an empty bag scale and put my bag on. A disgusting 13 kilos... I had to get it down to 7. I opened it up and began to take out clothing until the bag reached the precise weight I wanted and then I proceeded to the bathroom. I put on 2 bras, underwear, 2 bathing suits, 2 pairs of pants, 2 pairs of shorts, 6 shirts, over all this a baggy legged jumpsuit, and on top of all that my Bali temple shirt, I then wore my sarong as a decorative scarf - I was a vision. I nonchalantly pushed my cart up to the actual check in desk, trying not to sweat too much in the Cambodian heat under all my clothing. It was going well... 'Anything to check?' 'No,' I replied 'I think it should be alright.' She eyed my misshapen bag filled now with a giant puppet and bulky wall hangings I had bought from the temples. 'Would you please put it up on the counter?' 'Why of course!' The scale took a while to determine the exact weight and then landed exactly on 7 kilos. 'How much am I allowed, again?' '7 kilos' 'Wow, what d'ya know?! Lucky, huh?' I was grinning from ear to ear. I only saved about 20 dollars, but the satisfaction of getting past people trying to nickel and dime you is one of life's finer pleasures in my opinion. Once safely past security I went to the bathroom and came out 8 kilos lighter. Off to some island paradise!
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