Last day in Siem Reap

Saturday February 8th

We took today at a nice leisurely place as we’re both a bit weary.  There are a number of things that we’d like to do including visiting the Floating Village, but we’re pretty sure that we’ll be back one day, so we’ll leave it till then.

After breakfast (which was livened up by the woman at the next table dropping the coffee pot on the floor) we dropped our washing in at the laundry next door ($1 per kilogram of washing) and then walked over to the Artisans of Angkor Workshop.  We saw a number of people working on stone, wood and silk projects.  The stone craftsmen were recreating the carvings and statues from the temples and their standard of workmanship was amazing.  They are involved in the reconstruction work at the temples so it’s fantastic to see that these skills are living on.

 

A couple of handsome guys

We did a lap of the shop and were very tempted by a stone statue which would look great outside our studio, but we had to consider the practicalities of carting it home so we decided against it.

We made our way back to the hotel to meet our tuk tuk driver who was waiting to take us on another trip to Angkor Wat.  When we went on the first day, we missed the opportunity to take photos from the front of the temple so we wanted to go back for another photo shoot.  We had also forgotten to take our ‘John with blue plastic butcher’s bag’ photograph which we’d promised for our friendly Adelaide Central Markets butcher.  We started the tradition in Nara in Japan, followed it with a photo in Kuala Lumpur and have now added Angkor Wat to the series – all featuring John with a butcher’s bag.  OK, I know that’s weird!

 

Angkor Wat

...and again

With our friendly tuk tuk driver

Motorcycle Monks

When we got back to the hotel, we lazed around for a while then had a late lunch at the Hotel’s pool bar.  I had to chuckle when I saw the kitchen door open, with a sign that said ‘keep closed at all times’.  I have just a little sneaking suspicion that the topless girl by the pool might have been the reason for the door remaining open.

We spent the rest of the afternoon reading, dozing and sorting our gear ready to pack for tomorrow’s trip to Thailand, then went back to our favourite little diner for dinner.

We’ve had a great time in Siem Reap and we’re sorry that we have to leave.  On the bright side, I’ve just bought “The Book Thief” for my Kindle and plan to read it on the beach in Koh Chang.  We have an all day bus trip tomorrow which sounds a bit tedious, but I hope we’ll see some interesting scenery while we sit back and relax.