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After a nice comfy 6 hours sitting on a bus from Pnomh Penh with a whopping headache from consuming a few too many fermented vegetable drinks the night err better make that a few hours before hand we finally made it to Siem Reap. Feeling fairly shaky still though the signs of a hangover finally wearing off. In contrast to all the other majour cities we have visited this is by far the quietest and also the more spread out in terms of layout.
As we were fairly late getting into the city it was a case of cheking in and getting out and getting some much needed lunch to dry and dry up whatever alcohol might still be flowing through me. Apart from that in my delecate state I decided that was as exciting as i was going to be that night and got an earlish night - well apart from watching a few of the films on the TV that is.
The day after (30/10) it was up at stuipd o clock to watch the sunrise over the famous Ankgor Wat. Much the same as Ayres rock a few years ago i was waiting for a massive light extraviganza to come shinning through over the historic building and yet I stood there still waiting when it was noticably light reralising to myself that obviously it must be a TV thing that only happens to Harrson Ford in Indianna Jones. It was a pretty setting and it was nice to see (though lack of fireworks though). After that it was off around the huge complex comprising of various other temples with different shrines and trees growing out of funny places. Strangely enough after visiting 2 temples, wat's or whatever's and wioth the 4 o clock start i was kind of feeling like old historic temples should be banned. After perciverence, and about 4 other temples along with Interesting - was i still awake, History facts we had covered walking round the masses and off for lunch.
After that it didn't end there. Lunch was just a breather to get back some sanitity before trudging back to the Spactacular Ankgor Wat (don't get me wrong it is beutiful - well it was till the novelty wore off) for a indepth tour of every carving that made the various galleries which were long walls with etchings on them.
After some conderable amount of time it was time to leave Ankgor Wat and head to the Landmine Museum. This is a place set up by one guy to help the victims of Landmines get through there injuries and educate them into the sad destructive truths about landmines them selves. By this you start imagining a hospital type building but the truth is somewhat downscale. A series of wooden shacks with corrigated iron roofs make up the small enclosure which to a small amount of people is what they now refer to as home.
There they have a selection of decommisioned landmines and show you how they are used and the damage it can do. It is estimated that there are still 20,000 undiscovered landmines in Cambodia alone and every hour 3 people are killed due to landmines. The grusome truths are available to see through the suffering the poor victims at the center have had to endure. Some have limbs missing, some have burns or have suffer sight problems. Most are just children ranging from 4 - 15.
The day after (31/10) was pretty much a nice easy day. A few of us went up to the local Childrens hospital too give blood. It was there I got the good knews of all the sickness through the food and things had made me loose wait - don't think it was to last though. The donor section is headed by a swiss Doctor and much to clair's sheer panic is quite clean and clinical. For our efforts (few - it was hard work) we got a can of coke, a T shirt, stickers and some Cookies (they were sick by the way as you will find out later).
After that the nice cushy day came to an abrupt end as Myself and Mike met up with Linda and Dave and went of on an EXTREME bike ride. The first part was fine but the journey back which someone decided was accross sandy track, rough terrain, blistering sunshine and other enviromental hazards. Ok so some of its a slight exageration. but halfway back I was absolutly Dead. The route took us through the west gate by Ankgor Thom and past Ankgor Wat. check out some of the EXTREME biking photos - Notice the person ready to collapse. No prizes for guessing but yep it was me!!
Later that night it was off to a resteraunt down the road for a few drinks and a nice Thai Green curry before collapsing ready for the bumpy ride the next day on the back of a pick up truck.
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