you want massage ladies?

So, day two in siem reap. time to start the temples. the nice people at our guesthouse organised bikes for us, which were not too scary (although if we were at home we'd probably say they were)... after a few goes at lowering the seat i managed to actually get on mine and we set out for the temples. traffic being on the wrong side of the road remains confusing but not impossible.

so we saw angkor wat and yes the amazing wonders of the world were amazing BUT more amazing:
1. laura's fear of monkeys. at one point she had to choose between riding on the shoulder of the road next to the monkeys, or riding inside me and risk getting hit by a truck. she was less scared of the truck. at another point it was a choice between an elephant and monkeys, the elephant won.
2. laura's fear of chickens. the funniest point being when she had to negotiate her way between a monkey and a chicken.
3. we decided that we needed a massage. hmmm. a dubious choice when in south east asia. we randomly entered the first place we saw that asked "you want massage ladies?" and for some reason we felt a full body oil massage sounded on paper like a good idea. naturally once inside we began to question our sanity. we were not placated by being led up a set of back stairs to room of curtained off compartments. Fortunately or unfortunatley we ended up in the same compartment, lined with four single mattresses on the floor. our massage therapists indicated we should remove our clothing bar our knickers (largeley through tugging at our clothes and removing them for us) so anyway. we probably dont need to go into too much more detail, except to say we reappeared slightly traumatised, but not violated, and glistening with oil... an interesting way to spend $9. More delicious food (we keep eating amok because what if we have something else and its not as amazing???) and another jug of beer and time for us to stumble home to bed exhausted.

in other exciting news i discovered the on switch for the hot water this morning!!

today we're hiring a tuktuk to drive us around the temples for the day - hopefully today we'll spend more time inside the temples and less time at the market stalls outside the temples...
oh and we did get followed by a lot of small children trying to sell us various things yesterday - they have a number of approaches down pat - you tell them you dont need postcards and they'll start with the conversation "where you from ladies" "australia" "canberra! g'day mate!" then they'll start telling you the population of australia, of sydney and the name of the prime minister. when this doesnt impress you enough to buy something, they'll start with a range of other products... when its clear your not going to buy anything they start asking you for presents, candy, food, pens... eventually yesterday we got so far through this cycle with one group they started asking us if we wanted to buy hemp.... and then giggling hysterically at us...

interesting times.

everything remains amazing, and we still have no desire to ever go home. also got slightly more adventurous with our food and, touch wood, havent suffered for it yet!

Time to go find our tuk tuk and see some culture.

one day i'll actually let laura write on here i promise....

enjoy your return to work, suckers!