last day of ruins!!

Today was my last day of touring the ruins. I'm pretty exhausted...in fact, I feel asleep in the tuk tuk on the way from Beang Melea to Roluos. =) Thank goodness I didn't fall out of the tuk tuk on a bump! hehe...

This morning was another early morning - 7am start and we headed out to Beang Melea, which was absolutely awesome! I'm so glad I went there! It was an hour and a half to get there via tuk tuk, but since we arrived at 8:30am I was the only tourist in the site. Of course, there were the grounds staff (thank goodness because it would have been seriously spooky if I was completely alone).

Dislikes - the one guy who was trying to get people to donate money for his school. I wasn't sure if he was legit or not, and it's definitely a cause that I'd back. He offered to show me the school, but then I'd get sucked in. After I heard that he had only been open for a month, I gave him $2. I took his flyer to get it checked out by my friends who live in Phnom Penh. If it's a good school, I may send more money. We'll see.

Another dislike - this guy was hovering around and walking with me, trying to be my guide (without going out there to offer his services). I didn't like his vibe, so I told him I didn't need a guide. He continued to follow me. Then he told me not to use the entrance to the temple because the bridge was broken and he pointed to a different direction. He said that I needed a guide because of the land mines. I trusted my instincts, told him, "No thanks!" and then proceeded to enter the temple using the allegedly "broken" entrance. That pissed me off!

Anyways - after I entered the ruins, I was really enchanted. THIS is what I was expecting to see in Angkor! The ruins were tumbled down, covered with moss and very mysterious looking. I wandered around and took some pretty cool shots, then a little boy and one of the grounds keepers started pointing out paths for me. I felt better because of the little boy and the grounds keeper was a woman. By the time we had wandered about for several minutes, I realized that this woman and the boy had become my tour guides! I didn't really mind because it was an awesome adventure. First you start out walking on these wooden ramps that are built as a path through the ruins, then they started taking me over the tumbled blocks, through windows and all over the ancient ruins. Seriously awesome. It's definitely a once in a lifetime memory.

The lady guide was a bit stinky though, like she'd did the deed in her pants...but I'm not holding it against her. She also lost her left leg from the knee down to an undiscovered land mine. We all stuck to the beaten paths when we walked along the surrounding grounds - especially the little boy! Despite the prosthetic, the lady (who seemed to be in her forties, with her gold capped eye tooth) had no problems climbing all over the ruins!

At the end of the tour, I gave her $3 (dunno what the going rate was, but we spent 45 minutes together) and gave the little boy a couple of packages of healthy IKO buscuits and the rest of my bag of madelines (he was pretty much just hanging out with us since he seemed to be too young to play with some of the other young punks outside the ruins). They were both sweet - the lady kept holding my hand to help me across some of the ruins. I took pictures with them both and will post along with the other pics.

That was pretty much the highlight of the morning. We hit another site - Roluos which consists of three temples: Lolei, Bakong and Preah Ko. I was running out of batteries on my camera (bad move, I forgot to recharge!!) and it was stinking HOT!! Cambodia has been the hottest country so far in all my travels. Also - at the Rolous temples, the kiddies were out from school (they finish at 11:30am) and they were out begging for money, candy and pens. Their trick is to offer you a flower, you take it and then they HOUND you throughout the ruins. I saw it happen to a couple of unlucky travelers. In Nepal, there would often be little old ladies or men who would offer to place yogurt dots and tumeric on your head and then ask for money afterwards. I've learned my lesson not to take anything from anyone while traveling these days. (One disclaimer was a young girl who gave me a bracelet as a gift even after I refused. She said she wanted me to have it...)

Anyways - I was pretty glad to start heading back to the hotel at noon. I was hungry because I skip breakfast at my hotel in the mornings (either fruit or muesli and milk or bread/not toast)...I snacked on soymilk and 3 madelines but I was ready for lunch.

After a nice comforting (and fattening) lunch of nachos at the one mexican restaurant in town, I headed back to my hotel room to rest and shower. I had a 3pm appointment at the Bodia Spa (www.bodia-spa.com). It's definitely a step up in price from the $6/hour places I've been visiting...but OH SO WORTH IT. It's one of the best spas I've been to, period...regardless of country. They had the most thoughtful little touches. You were greeted with a cool cup of tea and a cold washcloth. You are given a basket to place your shoes and you receive a pair of house sandals to use in return. There was a nice little lotus pond on the treatment floor, and they had REAL massage tables. Underneath the massage table, where you usually stare at the floor, was a large shallow wooden bowl filled water and frangipani blooms. You undress and place your clothes in another basket before you lay down on the table. The facial made my face a bit red, but the massage was one of the better massages that I've had in general, not just in South Asia. It was definitely worth the $60 for the two treatments I got. If I feel like splurging again, I might go back for another massage for $30. We'll see.

Now I'm off to grab some dinner. I'm thinking french. Then I've got to call E to see what the plans are for tomorrow since I've offered to babysit. It'll definitely be a nice break from touring. =)