Wednesday 7th May – Saturday 10th May – Siem Reap
On the Wednesday I explored the town and went to the local market. As soon as I walked in I realised that this could be another place that I get stuck and end up spending too much money. I bought some awesome jewellery, bags, trousers and earrings and then decided that I really needed to get out of the market. All of my purchases only came to ten dollars so I guess it won’t technically break that bank!
I headed over the river to try and find a butterfly bar that I had read about. Apparently they pay local village children to collect butterflies and then release them in the garden. Ever the cynic my first thought was, should you really be encouraging children to catch butterflies and shouldn’t they be at school?! I then read on and realised that was what the money was for. Ho hum. I managed to completely miss the butterfly bar and went on a mammoth walk in the hottest part of the day up a dirt track. After a considerable amount of time I succumbed to one of the guys trying to get me to take a motorbike. I showed him the name of the place and a map. He then proceeded to drop me off at a completely different bar which was only about 200 metres up the road. I walked in and they had a swimming pool which was soooo tempting but I didn’t have any swimming gear. The man who owned the bar (John) was English and told me that I was miles from the butterfly bar. So I walked back, found a better motorbike and eventually arrived at the butterfly bar. The place was lovely but I couldn’t help thinking that they needed to pay the children more, or train them in butterfly catching as the numbers were slightly low. There was also building work going on nextdoor which interrupted the tranquility somewhat. They were using creosote nextdoor which I looooove. I ordered a watermelon shake which was so what the Doctor would have ordered if they were there.
My walk in the heat has since turned out to be a profitable one as I went back to the bar with the pool with one of the people I met at the guesthouse and it was a lovely place to chill out and have a drink and a swim.
So far I haven’t actually managed to go to any of the temples. My best intentions have been marred by the ever present markets, shops to wander round and, okay some rather fun and funny bars and clubs. Last night we went to a club which was a combination of a bar, nightclub, strip joint and brothel. I still have no tolerance for hideous old Western men picking up stunning local prostitutes so we didn’t stay very long.
I have vowed that I will visit the temples tomorrow as I really need to speed up my journey through Cambodia and into Thailand if I’m to get there for the next full-moon party which is around the 20th May.