Every now and again I make a good decision. Leaving my island paradise where I could have spent many a week toiling away 18 meters under water was probably one of the best decisions I made on this trip. Mind you it was largely made by the fact that I didn’t think that the mask would make a great seal over my freshly aquired wounds, but that’s neither here nor their.
So after a full day of travel making it back to Bangkok, the following morning I boarded a flight to Siem Reap on Bangkok Airlines, “Asia’s boutique Airlineâ€. That slogan of theirs is something that is always said in the same breath as their name. It is true though. Even on a 50 minute flight they served drinks and a proper sandwich and salad, and then made a second pass to deliver individually wrapped ice creams to me and all my single serving friends.
But that flight was not what made the excursion to Siem Reap worthwhile. Rather it was the insane collection of temples I viewed over the next couple days. Like most of south east asia that I have visited to date, the main mode of transportation is the moto or scooter of sorts. After de boarding the plane I chucked my day pack into the front basket of a well dressed moto driver. After getting me to the accommodation Steve had booked when he arrived the night previous, the driver and I came to agreement on a cost and route for his driving service over the next two days. Unfortunately, unlike the Thai islands, tourists are not allowed to rent motos.
The next morning my driver friend showed up early as promised to get a jump on the day. We tore off to some of the more distant temples passing locals on almost every form of transportation.
We then spent the rest of our day working our way back to the sunset over the Angkor Wat, the main attraction here around Siem Reap. Unfortunately though, after climbing the hillside to watch the sunset with the rest of the tourists we noticed the dark clouds blowing in, and rather quickly at that. With hopeful eyes we sat on our perch trying to decide if the clouds might depart just as quickly as they had arrived.
Our hope was drowned about 20 minutes later when it began to pour down buckets (not the vodka red bull kind, thankfully) leaving us to descend the temple steps as well as the hillside mostly barefoot as my relatively new sandals purchased after my drunken night in Koh Tao didn’t look to provide the best of traction on the stone steps.
Eventually Steve and I made it down the hill and located our moto drivers taking shelter at one of the food stands. My driver looks at me dripping wet, and suggests that there is no reason to wait for the rain to stop since I was already wet. So I sling my bag over my shoulder, put on my sunglasses to protect my eyes from the rain, hop on the back of the bike. We drive at a considerably slower pace in the rain, but well, I would freaking hope so considering at some points the drainage on the roads isn’t exactly tip top.
Flash backs to driver’s education and the videos showing cars hydroplaning out of control. I put my hand out in front of my driver’s face to shield his eyes from the rain for a particularly bad few minutes of rain and wonder if the same rules for counter steering apply to a hydroplaning bike.
Twenty minutes later I’m safely back at the guest house and before put too much thought in to building an ark Steve shows up in the same condition as I had, a little bit in shock sporting pruney fingers and toes. We quickly plop down at the bar and order a couple beer laos’ and regale the tale of our ride home to the other travelers already a few beers in which of course helps make the story sound much more exciting than it actually is.
Its moments like that that leave one pondering, “Does my travel insurance cover this?â€