Another World - Siem Reap, Cambodia

I've been to Guatemala. I always thought of it as the poorest country I'd ever visited. And despite that, I thoroughly enjoyed my visit there. Last night as the plane I had spent five hours on approached for landing, I couldn't get over the lack of signs of civilization. It really felt like we were about to land in the middle of a field. There were hardly any lights to be seen and no cars or roads were visible. The irony of course, is that the flight departed from a metropolis that couldn't be more different.It turns out that the flight path had as much to do with it as anything, though the Siem Reap area will never be confused with even any of the airports I've experienced in Mexico. After buying my visa on the spot for $20, getting my suitcase, clearing customs and yet again, passing the swine flu test, I found myself on a tuk-tuk being whisked into the city. A tuk-tuk is the South East Asian equivalent of a chariot. Instead of a horse pulling the cart, it's basically a moped. The driver told me that the hotel which I has reserved in advance (and paid for) had recently closed. I had done some research and knew that one scam that goes on in this part of the world is that the competition for a particular hotel sends representatives to airports, bus and train stations to do precisely this. The driver will then guide the unsuspecting toursit to a different hotel, owned by his buddy. I couldn't believe that right away, I was having to deal with something like this. After the day of travel I had had, I was in no mood, to say the least. I insisted that he take me anyway. The place was a dump. It turns out that he had misunderstood me. I said Angkor Tanh Hotel. He thought I'd said Angkor Town Hotel. International incident averted.After almost 17 hours of flying and a 13-hour layover, I was finally able to put my head on a pillow. One problem: Yesterday I took my second Larium pill. Larium is an anti-malarial pill which illustrates precisely how bad malaria must be. I say this because the list of side-effects is just about the worst things anyone would choose to endure. My favorite is suicidal thoughts. I'm not making this up. I took the first one last week and felt nothing. I took my second one yesterday and when I went to try to sleep...whoah. The most well-known side effect is vivid dreams. Well, they were interesting, more than vivid. But they kept hitting me just as I was dozing off. I don't even remember what they were about, but they'd snap me out of any state of sleep, just as soon as I got close. And it was freaky how unnerving this sensation is. Sounds pretty weenie, but until you've been through it, you'll have to take my word for it! This went on for about 2:30 hours. At some point, I finally managed to sleep. Though I'm sure the medication had something to do with it, I'm hoping the lack of sleep prior, the hours spent traveling and the stress involved contributed as well. I hope so, because I have to take another one next Wednesday.Had a busy first day. Hired me a driver and went out to Baeng Melea, which are the ruins of a temple. I swear, this could've been a set on Raiders of the Lost Ark- the first one, not that stupid last one. Just picture trees overtaking a temple in the jungle, roots swallowing up everything in sight...that kind of thing. Very cool. On the way back, stopped off at a road-side stand where a bunch of women were selling these Khmer snacks. Basically it was sticky rice and a few black beans cooked in a section of bamboo pole. The thing is sealed and thrown on some coals and it cooks. Didn't taste like a whole lot, but it wasn't bad.Also went to one of the temples at the Angkor Wat complex to await the sunset with about 2,000 of my closest friends. The sunset was nice and combined with brief downpour which produced a double rainbow, a very picturesque way to wrap up a good first day.

I'll provide more details about the countryside and the eats tomorrow. Suddenly, I'm feeling pretty tired, so I'm gonna crash early so I can hit the temples tomorrow bright and early.

Z

P.S. Yes, it's hot. Not Kyoto-hot, but plenty sweaty nonetheless. I always must whine about the weather, in case you didn't know.