Angkor

A few years back I remember quite clearly watching Gordon Burns on North West Tonight saying that Preston College wanted people to enroll on the creative stone masonry course as it was a dying art. It was then that I decided this was my back up plan in life and at some point I would finish this course and become a master craftsman. For some reason i've always been attracted to stone carving, so it was with excitement (and groggy red eyes) that I set off on bike at 5am to see the temples of Angkor. I'm not here to give you history lesson so follow the link, parouse some photos of the sights and listen to the sounds I recorded throughout the day.

We arrived at Angkor Wat just before sunrise along with Aki and Mervin who had rode with us. Aki is a 27 year old Finnish restaurant manager and one of the few people i've met who likes food more than me. Mervin is a 20 year old German who loves Angelina Jolie a bit too much and has a penchant for body popping, which we found out later that day. The sunrise was nice but the lake was swarmed with tourists and "photographers" whose utterly miserable faces killed the buzz a little. We tried our hardest throughout the day to take decent photographs with a camera that broke in the jungle and now rarely turns on and only comes in to focus occasionally. Whilst spying the pictures from the rest of the day, listen to this clip of an orphan band playing traditonal music that I saw near the first temple.

Pagoda band at Angkor Wat by LogaMcr

I also took some photos in black and white in an attempt to look arty. For this I would suggest listening to a clip of a band of landmine victims playing Khmer music.

Angkor Landmine Victim Band by LogaMcr

This wasn't the end of the music either as on our bike ride home I chanced upon a brass band rehearsing outside a youth club.

Siem Reap Youth Brass Band by LogaMcr

After getting home and washing an unthinkable amount of dirt and dust off us we joined Aki and Mervin again for some beers. The highlight of the evening was ending up playing pool in a tiny bar that we thought was innocent and sweet but was actually a front for a brothel as Natalie found out when she went to the female toilets upstairs. It was here that she drunkenly asked the barman to play 90s RnB before putting on a Shaggy CD that the madam quickly turned off. All in a days work ey.