Nothing to See Here
With one of the all-time bucket list destinations just a few miles away, you’d think we’d be out the door early to join the horde of tourists flocking to Angkor Wat. However, a bit a malaise has set in (it seems my sidekick is somewhat contagious) and we have slept in well past the morning rush. Fortunately, our reputation seems to precede us and their breakfast hours extend until almost noon, allowing us to catch the tail end before heading out to explore the city.
After a hearty meal it makes little sense for our first destination to be food-based, but we have been told the world’s greatest ice cream is mere blocks away which is too tempting to pass up (and as Joey taught us long ago, there is a different can inside your body for desserts). It takes a wrong turn down a back alley or two, and short trek along a nasty smelling river, but we eventually find the place and pick out a table.
On the menu is the Ice Mountain with a selection of fruit flavors. The picture shows a large sundae looking thing which looks innocuous enough, and mango is one of the options so all systems are go. Or so it seems. What appears in front of me is the Cambodian version of the Ziggy Pig.
Somehow it all goes down, but unhappy with the dairy bomb now in its possession, my stomach and I spend the next two hours maintaining a very delicate ceasefire.
Our next stop is the Angkor National Museum where we figure we can get a good introduction to what we’ll see over the next few days. The exhibits are quite well done and, given that the whole complex is a collection of temples, it isn’t too surprising that the content mostly ties back to religion. By the time we are finished though, my head is spinning trying to keep track of Hinduism versus Buddhism, which king followed which belief system, and all of the different incarnations of Vishnu.
With both my stomach and brain now threatening rebellion, a relaxing massage seems like a good way to appease them. There are some cheap places along the road back to our hotel, but we’re slowly learning our lesson when it comes to this sort of thing and decide to spend a few extra bucks (literally a few bucks) and go a bit more upscale. So for $17, we spend the next 2 hours being manhandled by a couple of tiny Cambodian ladies.
Feeling significantly better, we make arrangements for a driver and tour guide to take us to the temples in the morning and sit down for a rather bland and uninspiring meal. And with that, our first full day comes to a close.