All Templed Out...

And the final email from Cambodia...

Well,the sunrise over Angkor Wat was a bit of a washout. It is the wet season, so there are plenty of clouds hanging around. Basically the sun rose into a cloud bank, with very few colours or spectacular effects. It just got gradually lighter, and not much else. Still, it was worth a try I guess...We wont be trying it tomorrow,though - once was enough!

For the rest of today we toured a few more temples. I've got temple fatigue now. There seems to be o end of them after a while, and they begin to look all the same. They're all beautiful in their own way, but trying to cram them into two days is way too much. We managed to see all the main temples, including the one where the movie Tomb Raider was shot. There are no signs pointing it out, but the tour guides don't let you miss any of the important movie sites !

After that, it was just a final trip around the markets looking for souvenirs, then a quick swim in the hotel pool. That part of the day was great. I can always spend time by the pool, or the beach... but after two days of solid walking around temples and jungle it was nice just to kick back for an hour or so.

It's not all relaxation and natural beauty though. At every temple entrance there were bands of musicians playing. They are all victims of land mines, and make a living selling CDs of their music to tourists. There are lots of beggars around with missing limbs too - we saw one boy about 16 working in one of the markets and he had two false feet. It was a shock to see that as he was walking quite normally, until you looked down at them. They're still working at clearing landmines from all across the country (and in Vietnam too) and wont be finished for years yet. The markets are full of books about the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot - the fighting wasn't all that long ago. It's all pretty sad - like I said earlier, this part of the world has had a very rough time over the last 50-100 years. And they're all still incredibly poor. I spent $15 tonight on dinner - the average monthly wage is $40. Anyway...

So the trip is almost over. Tomorrow morning we head for the airport and a flight to Kuala Lumpur. Then on Friday night we're on a plane home... not looking forward to getting home. Maybe I'll just take a plane and head on somewhere else...