A few years ago, it must have been a small, sleepy town, but now this town is growing at an astonishing rate. Angkor Wat has become a huge tourist attraction particularly for tourists from all over Asia. The number of hotels is unbelievable and still more enormous, opulent hotels are being built. This is probably the last moment to see Angkor Wat without being put through a tourist circus. The driver who took us to the airport said that during the height of the season, in November and December, all the hotels are fully booked and people without a prior reservation are roaming the streets trying to find a place for the night. The town itself is quite pretty and has many attractive restaurants and cafes. One of them, called the Red Piano was frequented by Angelina Jolie when they filmed Lara Croft, the Tomb Raider in Angkor Wat. They still serve a cocktail named after her and have her picture in the menu. Outside of town is typical Cambodian countryside-- lots of wetlands and poor living conditions. In town and even more so in the archaeological site, there are hords of kids trying to sell postcards, books, scarves and other local stuff. They are pretty good at that. They latch on to you and will talk you to death until you give in and buy. One young girl had diamond ring. Another produced tears which they said was caused by not purchasing anything. One child asked Bo where she was from and when Bo replied Poland the girl quickly said “capital Warsaw”. Another child insisted that if I buy the item, my wife will love me forever. Another child challenged us to name a country and if she did know the capital we would buy something. Cambodian (Khmer) women are very lovely, with beautiful faces and graceful bodies. The main means of local transportation both in Phnom Penh and in Siem Reap is the tuk tuk, there are no taxis.
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