Siem Reap

Lately we've found ourselves doing things to excess. Be it eating, sleeping or site seeing we've been prone to over indulging. The rule of excess and our belief that every young man from New Zealand should be able to run a half marathon without training lead us to enter the Angkor Half Marathon. Set around the Angkor Temples the views were great and the temperature was hot.

Having completed the race we now need to update our CV's to include "International Athlete" as a hobby.

Cambodia is notorious for landmines and you definitely don't want to go wandering in the bush off the trail. Evidence is everywhere as beggars with missing limbs try to get "only $1" off of you.
We decided to find out more by spending an afternoon at a landmine museum. Setup by a Cambodian called Aki Ra his motto is "I want to make my country safe for my people". Over the years this guy has disarmed thousands of landmines and a lot of them are on display at the musuem. The museum also doubles as an orphanage and the kids that live there have written their stories which are on the walls to be read.

On the tuk tuk ride to the museum we drove through an army base before stopping at a large shed. We thought that something was up because the shed didn't look like a musuem (even a Cambodian one). A man comes strolling out and asks "you want to shoot gun?" Intrigued we went in and the wall was lined with about 30 different guns. From pistols to bazooka's the full arsenal was there (I tried to take photo's but got told off). This wasn't really our cup of tea so we declined the invitation.

Whilst in Siem Reap we managed to meet up with some Welsh lads who we met early on in our travels on Koh Phanang. It was good to catchup and exchange stories over a pint or two.


Random Fact
Cambodian's love playing volleyball. Neither of us can work out why - no matter how skillful and talented they are - from what we've seen, not very - their small stature is always going to be a major limitation.

Highlights
- Siem Reap town is very small and straightforward. It's easy to find bars, they are on a street called Pub Street and everywhere you can find stalls that sell meals for $1 USD.
- Cycling the city. At the traffic lights it's all out warfare as you navigate your way to the front and through the ensuing melee as the lights change to green.

Lessons Learned
-There really isn't much to do in Siem Reap apart from the temples.
- Marathon isn't pronounced as Marathon - it is "Marraton" (doh us). If you ask how to enter the Marraton you will be sent on a wild goose chase.
- Get up early or you'll get stuck with a really bad bike. There is nothing worse than a small hard seat and a rusty chain that refuses to stay on the gears.