Everyone says you need three days for Angkor Wat, and after reading up about it that sounds about right, so that’s what we plan to do.
With five days/four nights booked here, we decided to use day one to chill a bit after the ordeal of yesterday, and set off for the National Museum as our starter for ten. And wonderful it was too – an elegant, well laid out and pretty substantial building, packed with beautiful artefacts and presenting a really interesting and comprehensive (if occasionally somewhat breathless) account of the country’s glory days, a thousand and some years ago.
There were Buddhas aplenty – which we’d expected – along with lots of information about the Buddha and his representations, of which we were woefully ignorant – but also lots of Hindu stuff, which it turns out was very much the original Angkor Wat vibe, along with kings, decorative lintels, even fashion of the era.
It was all beautifully presented, and we emerged inspired, if tired, and eager for the main event on the morrer.
Checked out some local street food for lunch – concoctions of noodles, bean sprouts, chicken, liver (?) and misc bits, with rice – 4,000 a plate, plus 1,000 for the iced tea: somewhere shy of £2.50 all told. A bit bland, in truth, compared to Thai, but a perfectly good lunch. As well as an indication that at least in locals’ places, the Cambodian currency is still used – anywhere even vaguely touristy it’s $Uncle Sam only.
Oh, we also picked up new sims. Communication is definitely more of a challenge than in Thailand – significantly less English spoken hereabouts – but we’re fairly sure we got a month, with 25gb (enough to accommodate my blogging and the occasional Netflix movie when there’s no wifi) for $15 the pair, which, if we’re right, is a bargain. It was supposed to be $10 a head, but you can even haggle mobile deals around here.
And now we have to decide how we’re actually going to approach the whole Angkor Wat business – tuk tuks, permits, how long, how much, where first, what next, the whole bit. This travelling, who knew it was so stressful.