Journeys of L: Siem Reap and Angkor Wat

This weekend we headed to Siem Reap to see the famous Angkor Wat temples, one of the 7 wonders of the world. We left Phnom Penh friday after work and took a 6 hour minibus ride to Siem Reap. When we got to the bus station to check in they told us we were going to be in seats 1 and 2 the seats right in front next to the driver. I was less than thrilled and seeing as how it was a 6 hour drive I figured it was worth a shot to see if they could switch our seats. Some guy ended up trading us so we got the best seats on the bus, 2 seaters with plenty of leg room! Sometimes it pays to be the obnoxious American, I know my knees appreciated it. The drive was gorgeous! Phnom Penh is so busy and crowded but the Cambodian countryside is amazing. It's just jungle, so everything is green with crazy rain storms.. i love it. We got to Siem Reap about 7:15 and they dropped us off at the Old Market. We of course got swarmed by tuk tuk drivers and we had the take us to our hotel, The Royal Empire. It was really nice, we were greeted with wet cloths and juice and we just sat on the sofa while they got us all checked in. I was so excited to have a gym and to be able to go for a run so as soon as we were settled we headed down to the gym. Biggest. Disappointment. Ever. There were 2 treadmills but one didn't even turn on the belt didn't move on the other! So I did weights and P90X and Elle did the elliptical which also didn't turn on. We went back and took our first hot shower in a week (not that we needed it to be hot) and went to bed with the AC on full blast! I turned it down to 16 degrees hoping it would take the rest of the week for me to thaw out. I got up early the next morning, worked out and we went to the buffet breakfast which was really good. Elle's dad had hired us a private tour guide and tuk tuk driver so we met him in the lobby and headed off for the temples. We went to Angkor Wat first and spent about an hour there with our guide explaining all the significance of everything and explaining what everything is. We learned a lot about Buddhism and Hinduism and it really is fascinating. You can climb to the top of Angkor Wat and look out over all the jungle but you have to have you shoulders and knees covered in order to climb the temple since it's considered sacred. I was in a tank top and shorts so I had to put on a cardigan and sweat pants in order to climb the temple. There were a ton of stairs and it was super hot but we were only up there for about 15 minutes so it wasn't too bad. After that we headed to the jungle temple where they filmed Tomb Raider. It's pretty cool, there are a ton of massive trees that have actually grown right into the temple walls. We went to another smaller temple and then went to lunch. We visited 4 or 5 other temples and the tour guide acted as our personal photographer and we had a photo shoot at each one. We spent about 7 hours at the temples and then went back to the hotel for a couple of hours and hung out by the pool and Elle got a massage. Our tour guide had arranged for us to go to this dinner and cultural show, so he picked us up again that night and took us to another hotel. It was a huge buffet dinner and the show was Cambodian dancers performing all the cultural dances, it was really fun and the food was so good! After dinner we went to the night market and did some shopping and I got a 3 dollar massage that was amazing. Pretty sure I am never coming home. We went back to our air conditioned room and fell right to sleep! This morning I work up early again for another work out and we went to the buffet breakfast. After breakfast we went to the Old Town market for more shopping. The market was huge and there was so much stuff. I have perfected my bargaining so we got some great deals. After the market it was time to say goodbye to our luxury hotel and brave the heat once again. We had our tuk tuk driver come and pick us up an hour before we were supposed to leave for Phnom Penh thinking that would be more than enough time to get to the bus station. We ended up at a bus station but we had no idea where our bus would be picking us up. We asked him and he told us to just wait and that it would be there soon, but we were supposed to be leaving in 20 minutes so I thought the bus should have been there by then. After standing around for about 5 minutes we went and found the lady who worked there and asked her where we were supposed to be. She told us that it was the wrong bus station and that we were supposed to be back at the Old Market where we had just come from. Great. Our driver was just about to pull away so we flagged him down and told him where we had to go. In his defense there are a million bus stations and even though we told him which one I don't think he could really understand us. Anyway, we head back to the old market with 10 minutes until departure time and he pulls up to this bus station but it still isn't the right one! After consulting with everyone else on the street he finally figures it out and gets to the right station at 2:10 and... the bus is gone. Fantastic. Fortunately they had just left so they came right back for us. Unfortunately we got stuck in seats 1 and 2 again right by the driver. I was lucky enough to be in the middle, and as you can imagine I was less than pleased. As soon as we started driving I started feeling sick and I spent the next two hours actively trying not to vomit in my lap. We had every language in the world being spoken in that van and there were some asian guys behind us talking as loud as possible in whatever jibberish tongue they were speaking and I don't think they took a breath for at least an hour. I tried to give them dirty looks but I couldn't get my head far enough around the head rest so they didn't get the full effect. In addition, the driver left the blinker on for the entire 6 hours. My ipod crapped out yesterday so I had nothing to listen to so I just sat there staring ahead, listening to the blinker click away. Fortunately, after 2 hours we stopped and elle traded me seats. The rest of the drive was slightly more enjoyable after I drank a sprite and got a little bit of sleep. Anyway, we are back in Phnom Penh now ready for another exciting week of work!