Siem Reap – Day 3
We saved the biggest journey for our last day in Siem Reap. Bantrey Srei is probably the most ornate and beautiful of the temples – at least of the ones I visited. It is carved from red stone, and while it isn’t grand and imposing, it is awesome in a more understated way. Oh and it took 40 minutes to get there on our tuk tuk.
It was to be a day of minimal temple exploring, so after Bantrey Srei we headed back into town for a final exploration. The markets were a bit crazy. As well as the usual taunts to ‘buy somesing’ before we’d even looked at anything, we also saw a man sawing giant blocks of ice to fit it into big canvas bags, as well as whole fish being sold loosely from the floor. The jewellery section of the market made us giggle. We weren’t actually interested in buying any jewellery (the gold was a peculiar shade), but we had to walk though it to get to another section. As we walked through each stall turned on their lights. It were as if we were walking down the red carpet with flashes of light coming on with each step we took. Maybe they were saving electricity. Maybe they were keeping the place cool.
After such a tiring day we headed over to Seeing Hands massage where for around $5 an hour a blind massure works wonders on those tired muscles. The project was set up as a way for blind people to be skilled up and able to support themselves. Surprisingly enough, I think AusAid even had a hand in getting it running.