Exploring Siam Reap

Instead of spending the day at the temple I hired a bike for $2 and went riding in search of an orphanage my friend worked at last year somewhere in town. Somehow nobody seemed to know where it was and so I just rode and see if I could find it. I did not but it was great riding around seeing much of the countryside which only minutes outside the town changes dramatically. Even on the road to the airport many of the locals where staring at me and coming over to say hello as if they had never seen a white person before. I guess most of the visitors are in buses and cars on that section of the journey.
Again the sun was very hot and in the afternoon I decided to explore the Cambodian Cultural Village. A tourist attraction which is supposed to represent all parts of Cambodia in the park. It was probably one of the worst tourist attractions I have ever paid money to visit. It seemed like nobody was there as well. I did at one point stopped to have a photo with some Cambodians who wanted a photo with me but for the rest of the time there was not much reason to stop. I did not stay long and got back on my bike and rode into town.
In the evening I wandered through the same markets I had been through before only this time I stopped for a massage from a blind person. For $5 you can get an hour long massage from a blind person. I have never had a massage before and I had my eyes closed so it did not really make a lot of difference the masseuse was blind. Except that the masseuse on the next bed kept bumping my arm. It was a good experience and I was keen for another but never got around to it.
During the day of New Years Eve I visited a floating village and the Great Lake as they called it on a tour. The afternoon tour took me on a bus to the dock where I got on a boat for a tour through the floating villages. The standard of living is probably the worst I have ever seen and locals will row their boats to your boat to try and collect money. It’s hard to know when you are there what is for the tourists and what is legitimately how they live. The boat made it to the Tonle Sap Lake and the tour guide explained its significance before turning around back to the floating village. We stopped at a crocodile and fish farm. In a small pen there must have been thirty crocodiles, they are poor living conditions even for the crocodiles. After the boat trip we stopped at a former temple which was empty except for the school children who were using it to play hide and seek. I was very impressed and it was great to be able to see a temple so close to town without the crowds. Following the tour I had dinner with a Portuguese couple before returning to my room to get ready for the New Years Eve party.

Angkor Wat

One of the main reasons for me visiting Cambodia was to see Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples. When I was ready to go to the temple I walked the streets and found a tuk tuk. The driver introduced himself to me as Lucky, he was lucky too because he was in the right spot at the right and got my money for the day. I paid Lucky $15 for the day to drive me around. I then paid $20 US to enter the Angkor Wat park and the first stop was Angkor Wat, the largest and most crowded of the temples and I dodged the crowds to climb up, walk around to view the different sections of the temple and see some of the carvings. I must admit I know nothing about the Angkor history therefore I was seeing the temple for how it looks rather than why it was actually built or what it represents.

Lucky was waiting for me as I left the temple having spent close to two hours exploring then just minutes down the road he stopped again at Bayon. I again spent a couple of hours checking out the temple and the surrounding temples. Bayon is famous for its smiling faces. There are tour guides who tell the history of the temples for only a small fee but I decided just to wander around at my own pace and listen in on the different guides.

After Bayon and the temples of Angkor Thom Lucky dropped me at the Ta Prohm, the temple I was most excited about visiting as the trees are still growing out of the temple. I spent another hour and half walking around the temple and found the two Americans I had shared the taxi with the day before and explored with them for a while. Ta Prohm is now known as the Tomb Raider temple as they used one scene filmed next to the tree in the film. Disappointingly Lara Croft was not there on the day I visited. It was my favourite temple of the day.

When I went to find Lucky he deliberately snuck into a small restaurant and the waiters all came out. 'Your driver is in here, come sit down and eat,' it's the little games they play to make you ate at their friends shop. I was happy to play along and sat down for some lunch.

It was getting to mid afternoon and I was beginning to have had enough so I got Lucky to drop me at one more temple the Banteay Kdei, where I explored for around half an hour before getting back in the tuk and tuk and heading for town. I was anticipating on spending a couple of days at the temples although by the end of the day I was sunburnt, exhausted and had been hassled by enough young children trying to sell me things that I decided not to return.

Entering Cambodia

The train was beginning to leave from the platform as I boarded it in the morning heading for the border town of Aranya Prathet where I would enter Cambodia. The school was closed for a week over the New Year period therefore I decided to use the time to see the town of Siam Reap and Angkor Wat. The border crossing from Aranya Prathet to Poipet on the Cambodian side can be a little dodgy with scams and the locals trying to get money off you for fake visas, luckily for me I met a Dutch guy on the train who had passed the border many times. The train pulled into the station and I followed the Dutch guy into a tuk tuk and he was able to convince the driver not to stop at the fake border, which does actually look like a border crossing to the unknowing tourist like I was.

Getting into Cambodia was quite simple in the end, I walked out of Thailand past all the large Casinos. Pokies are illegal in Thailand so the border has many Casinos. Then I entered Cambodia having purchased a visa for 800 Baht. A bus collects you from the border and drops you at the bus station and as I was doing all this the Dutch guy turned around to reenter Thailand as he was only there to renew his visa. I found a couple of other friendly Americans who were keen to share a taxi to Siam Reap as it is quicker and not much more expensive than the bus. I noticed as I got in the taxi that they drive on the opposite side of the road in Cambodia than in Thailand.


Cambodia use US Dollar for any purchase over $1 US, for everything smaller they use their own currency the Riel. At least that is how it works in Siam Reap, I am not too sure about the rest of Cambodia. Having been travelling almost 9 hours I made it to Siam Reap had some lunch/ dinner with the Americans before saying goodbye and went to find a place to stay. On the opposite side of the road to Pub Street there was a guesthouse offering rooms from $3 to $20 a night. I was showed a room with a double bed, hot shower and fan but the selling point was the television was showing highlights of the cricket in Melbourne. I was sold and sat down to watch before heading out again to explore more of the town.

Christmas at school

If you asked a student at St Louis what day Christmas was they would say the 26th of December as it was the day at school this year designated to eating loads of food and sharing gifts. As I walked into school the students were carrying armfulls of food. I had no job for the day so for the first couple of hours I sat around talking to the teachers while the students were working until 10am struck and the feast began.

I made an effort to visit every one of my year 5 and year 6 classes each with tables and tables full of food. Rice dishes, chicken, cakes, donuts and many other random combinations of food. For most of the day the primary school students sit around eating and playing games. In the afternoon I went to see how the secondary students spend the day. Again the classrooms were full of food and every one of them handing me a plate as I walked in. A couple of the classrooms though were completely blacked out and the students had set up huge speakers and were dancing around all day as if it was a nightclub. I joined for a short before sneaking out the door to see what else was going on. A huge jumping castle was set up and the children were bouncing all over it. Somehow they were able to jump on it and not get sick after all the food they had been eating.

That afternoon when I returned home I was so full and exhausted a layed in bed and hardly moved for the rest of the night.

I was up again the following morning for another day of Christmas celebrations at the school. I spent the first hour of so of the day putting fish into cups as the year 5 teachers were selling small pet fish. It's quite common at fairs in Thailand for fish to be sold. There was also a small pond in a plastic container set up where the students pay 10 Baht and are giving a small stick with tissue paper stuck to the end in a ring and the students have to try catch as many fish before the tissue paper gets wet and therefore destroyed.

I spent the rest of the day walking around the school seeing everything which was going on. Every year level had a different set up games and raffles for the students to play. There was also a stage designated to dancing, one for singing and one for a fashion parade. It's something I am fairly sure you would never see at a school in Australia.

The students all left and the teachers were allowed to leave at 4pm. Thirty minutes earlier than usual in order to get home get changed and return for the teachers Christmas Party. The party took place on the edge of the river with free beer and a five course meal. Many of the teachers went on stage to perform in well rehearsed dances and karaoke. Later in the night presents were shared, I was part of the foreigner Secret Santa and received a very good Thai shirt from one of the Phillipino teachers. I can wear the shirt on Thai dress Monday. Following the Secret Santa, the Brothers handed out presents to all the teachers. I got a new pink shirt and new sport uniform.

At about 10pm we all sang 'We wish you a Merry Christmas' before a firework display and as soon as the fireworks were done everybody left in a hurry. I continued on to a pub in Chachoengsao with some of the other teachers as a five day Christmas celebration came to an end.

It's Christmas, it's Christmas Day

For the second time in three years I was celebrating Christmas overseas away from my family. For the first time though I was celebrating in a country where Christmas is not
celebrated and not a public holiday. Luckily Christmas Day fell on a Sunday which meant everybody had the day off work. Most likely I would have had the day off work anyway as I teach at a Catholic School. The Thais go about their daily routine as if it was any other day. I saw this for myself as I walked the streets early in the morning. It was just the same as any other Sunday.

I was invited to spend the day with a few of the foreign teachers at one of my co teachers houses. She wanted people around to remind her it was Christmas Day as she lives with her Thai faincees and his family. As we celebrated Christmas inside around the Christmas tree the Thai family celebrated a sixteenth birthday. Thailand is very much a Buddhist nation therefore Christmas does not play a major part in there lives.

The day was spent eating more food, opening more presents and playing pass the parcel. Fun times although by early in the evening I was exhausted and got a lift home before going to sleep before 9pm.