Angkor - Wat a Wonderful Place.

With the speed of a snail we leave the island behind us on our ferry and say our goodbyes to our favourite Norwegian. Equipped with enthusiasm for an Indiana Jones adventure we head for the city of Angkor in Cambodia. We hop on an extraordinarily cheap bus to the town of Siem Reap in Cambodia. Of course if something seems too good to be true then it probably is, as we find out when 4km away from the border we are asked to pay the $80 Visa-fee. After rejecting the polite offer and subjecting ourselves to threats of queuing for hours and missing the connecting bus we decide out of principle and experience, to take the risk on our own. Some arguing later we effortlessly cross the border, without paying the 200% higher 2-minutes service fee, and in fact reaching the next bus even before the rest of the passengers had been herded into the country. Scams are big business in South East Asia but for once we can say they didn’t get us this time.

Siem Reap offers a cheap and lively night life, which is taken advantage of by a strange mixture of young party-goers and middle-aged Germans in full khaki jungle exploration wear. Resting on a 50cent pint we watch two rather plump 'ladies of the night' having their fun hunting a Westerner down the road. He appears fairly disturbed and embarrassed by the situation, which for them only acts as playful encouragement.

For the next days we embark on a history safari on a pair of squeaky old dollar-a-day bicycles. About 8km north of the modern town, protected within a large forest, lies the ancient complex of Angkor. Once a flourishing city, the ruins of hundreds of temples are testament to this once mighty kingdom. In the boiling heat we bike 40km on our first day, only to find out we have done the 'small loop' through and around the city. Hard to imagine what must have went through explorers' minds when they found this unbelievable site centuries ago in the middle of the jungle. Tomb Raider herself found it a worthwhile place to stop by anyway.

Having bought the three-day ticket (for a not cheap $60), we have plenty of time to explore. Pictures cannot describe the magnificence of this 1000 year old wonder that was once home to a million people, and the extra days are necessary to take everything in. What the main temple, Angkor Wat has in shear magnitude and design (based on a scaled representation of the Hindu universe), Prasat Bayon shows in decorative intricacy with its huge timeless stone faces looming over the bustling tourists below. Most of Angkor was built in only 40 years, which was only possible by the hands of a heavily skilled army of 50,000 workers. Yet as with many blooming societies it found an end through the lethal grip of overgrowth and enemies. Temples like the one featured in Tomb Raider - Ta Prohm - stand testament, being as much tribute to nature, as to the Khmer empire, with huge trees enveloping these relics of a lost time into the jungle.

Having experienced the ancient Cambodia we decide to have a look into the new one as well, hopping down to Battambang for a couple of days. We start the visit with a rather depressive but humbling excursion to the 'killing caves', a massacre point of the Khmer Rouge during their rein of genocide just 30 years ago. During this time, most of the educated population, men, women and children, were tortured and killed. With such a violent and painful legacy, which many of the population were alive to witness, there comes a renewed respect for the light-hearted, cheerful and welcoming people that inhabit the country.

Whilst driving through the flat countryside with our scooter, I can't resist stopping to take pictures of one of the many wedding parties going on. One of the men signals me over and before I know it I'm delivered into the messy situation of wedding crasher.. being placed right next to the monks and opposite the praying bride and groom. Indeed I might have looked like the (second-)best man. Locked with 20 people in a 16sqm room just as the chanting begins I am left with no choice but sharing the prayers. 30 minutes or so later I use my chance of escape disappearing out of the room with the giggling of the ladies behind me. Enough of local Cambodia for me.