Siem Reap et une dose de changement

Finally, a computer to write. I have been using my ipod since I left and the process can be slow and tenuous. I am in a little quiet guesthouse in Siem Reap where a bearded man takes care of the homeless cats, and all the computer backgrounds are pictures of kitties.

Fun facts about Cambodia: holy shit did they get it rough these last 500 years.
Everything is priced in US dollars and the ATMS don't give Riels.
Everyone is very nice.

I woke up at 7am with a bad hangover, as if the forces of Stannis Baratheon were hammering the gates of King's Landing, in this case my head.

I went for one last breakfast with Ben and Jen and jumped into a taxi that would take me to the bus station, and on to Cambodia. I had purchased a ticket the previous day, Bangkok-Phnom Penh.

I slept the entire bus ride and woke up at the Thai-Cambodia border at high noon, some small chaotic town where the pavement has been overtaken by red sand. The heat proved taxing since I had grown accustomed to the cooler climates of Chiang Mai and Pai.

I quickly learned that the bus ticket I bought would take me no farther.

I avoided scam after scam and finally got into Cambodia around 3pm.

Fake visas, fake government offices, fake passport pictures, fake forms, fake uniforms.

On the other side now, in this new country unknown to me, a smiling man greats me with an offer I apparently cannot refuse. He informs me that there is no more bus leaving the border for the major bus terminal and that he will happily take me there on his motorcycle for 400 bhats.

I tell him that I will wait a little bit to relax but in truth I wanted to gather information. Soon after however, a free shuttle bus arrived and a group of 7 tourists got in, so I decided to follow them. They had a tour organiser, cambodian, that I paid 400 bhats to let me join their group, and that saved me a lot of trouble and money.

They were all going to Siem Reap and I decided to follow and change my plans a little bit. Phnom Penh was a night bus ride away and my body let me know he didn't feel like making another 8-hour journey.

In Siem Reap a tuk-tuk driver took me to a guesthouse where I met 2 australian girls in the lobby. There were only dorms left, and a 3-bed room (classic scam) and so we decided to share it.

On the rooftop was a bar selling 50 cent draft beers and so after a quick shower we ended up there, where we met another australian, Sam. Younger than me by 6 years, he reminded me a lot of my little brother, he even had the same humor and way to laugh at my jokes. We talked plans and decided to visit Angkor Wat together the next day.

At around 11pm my companions went to bed but I stayed up until 1am talking to this 40-year old brazilian guy who was pretty awesome. He had just broken up with his girlfriend and felt like talking about it a little bit and so I listened. He had quite a few stories about acid trips as well, and inquired about my bamboo tattoo.

My room's window was directly opposite the night bar and so the cheers and yells from german drinking games kept me up all night. I got a few hours of sleep in, woke up at 6 am and met up with Sam.

Angkor Wat is very hard to describe. First of all you can buy a 1 to 3 day ticket since it is so big. We hired a tuk-tuk driver for the day and he took us to the biggest and most interesting temples. The cambodians are hard at work renovating, rebuilding and reorganizing this biggest temple complex in the world, and thousands of tourists made this visit a little bit chaotic.

Huge temples with faces built into their towers, terasses dedicated to elephants, bridges with their walls fahioned into warriors holding a giant snake, statues for Buddhism and Hinduism, moats, reflecting pools.

Tourists, tri-lingual local tour guides, tuk-tuk drivers playing their version of hacky sacks, stores, vendor girls, vendor children...

An odd feeling of guilt and something else I cannot identify had been following me since Sipokazi returned home and I took it as a sign that I should remain single for the reminder of my trip. I would like to specify that I have not slept with anyone since departing from home, so it is not simply to bed as many women as I can.
I prayed at a Buddha statue under the watchful eye of an old woman who then blessed me, while tourists took what seemed like a thousand pictures. I asked that Sipokazi would understand and not be hurt too much in the process. The woman tied a pink string to my left wrist afterwards. I wonder how long I will be able to keep it.

Sam pointed out that I seem to attract vendors, they orbit around me and linger, and so I started to joke with them and offer ridiculous prices to get rid of them. 2 kids would not leave me, followed us for up to 10 minutes and laughed at my ridiculous requests. A woman asked me to buy beer from her so she could feed the baby she was holding, so I offered to buy the baby, and she bursted out laughing. Another cute girl asked me to buy her scarves and I asked how much for a kiss on the cheeks. She smiled and said it was free for me, but I never got it. Mister, you so funny!

Lastly, a woman pestered me to buy her Angkor Wat shirts. 1 for 4$. I needed one to get in the main temple since you cannot walk in wearing only a tanktop, so I jokingly said 1$. She called me crazy but in the end we settled for 2$.

Back at the guest house around 4pm, Sam went for a nap while I had a long and hard discussion with Sipokazi.

At night me and Sam ate at the rooftop bar and watched Hellboy. A group of quiet australian hippies sitting under the tv decided to close it without asking anyone, and so I told them that we had no choice but to sit with them now. We ended up starting a drinking game, but one of the girls seemed to hate me with a passion and so I remained distant.

While drinking a bucket of vodka-sprite-red bull we met a really cool american couple who told us their travel stories. They get in the craziest situations... flooded hotel, mud river overflowing, hostel burning down 5 minutes after they arrived, almost mugged by a thai gang...

We decided to try the night life and soon hated it, so instead we got a huge bottle of vodka and juice, and went back to their room to drink it up. We had a really good time and I woke up the next morning in my room with no idea how I got there, alone with a note from the girls telling me they left a day early but still paid their share.

Today has been an ordeal of suffering yet one more hangover and finding a more quiet place to sleep, where I am now, and trying to ignore a feeling of guilt gnawing at my spine.

I went to the pharmacy to buy advil. A little kid was playing at being a ninja and I applauded his prowess. A very young family was visiting the doctor for their very young baby, and I offered to pay for their medication.

I guess Buddhism is leaving its mark.

Water and fruit juices tonight.

Ayutthaya

After writing my previous post, I crossed the street to where the music of accoustic guitar was coming from. I buy a Chang beer and am invited to sit down with a group of youngsters. They are south africans, "brown" as they say themselves, and we had a hell of a good time.

The Finnish man is back, his face completely red from being drunk. He talks a minute with us, but speaks too softly and too close to my ear.

After a moment he asks why we are being so noisy and starts preaching to us. He doesn't realise how stupid he sounds: behind him a man with a guitar is hammering song after song, with 2 english men singing their hearts out.

He asks me why I drink with them. I suspect him of being racist.

"In South Africa there's 3 types of people, one of the kids tell me with his uber-cool accent. Whites, browns, blacks. The brown are the craziest, and we're the loudest of them all!'

We talk a little bit about Die Antwoord and Skrillex and they invite me to their room where they have more beer. One of them decides to go swim in the Guest House's fountain.

The next morning I rent a bicycle and go prowl the streets of Ayutthaya. The streets are large and the traffic relentless, and most of the buildings are made of that beige concrete, with little food stands on the sidewalks. The main arteries follow an ancient moat.

The ruins are everything I was hoping for, and smack in the middle of the city. Old orange bricks form tiny towers that were used for monks to meditate. Now, pigeons fornicate. I walk the halls of an ancient king and get back on my bike.

Something I like doing even back home is to get lost. You often stumble on something cool. And so I arrive at a temple that houses a GIANT golden Buddah. He must be 20 feet high. The holiness if this place is palpable.

I decided to stay 2 nights so there is no rush to go back to Tony's guest house, which is a good thing because I get lost and just gathering the courage to cross the intense trafic by bike usually takes me up to a minute.

At Tony's I meet Mathieu, a french trekker who is all too happy to speak french. He offers me coffee which he brews with his camping gear and procedes to talk my ears off for about 3 hours. He likes to sleep in the jungle and explain how good he is at traveling. I quickly get tired of his company... There's enough braggers, boasters and people who wish I was more like them back home. Another person who thinks his way of living is the best... And every time he sees me he starts talking. I cannot listen to music or read a book, and so I feign a weak stomach and hide in my room for the night. I should have stayed only one night like I planned...

The next morning Mathieu offers me more coffee. I drink a cup, thank him for his generosity and advice, and take my leave. Affer all, he was only trying to be nice...