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I had high expectations about visiting Angkor; I also remember it super fondly for one of the most pleasant of the many travel acquaintances I have made. The immense archaeological site is in Cambodia, fairly close to the Thai border; however, it was far from where I was staying and I flew there. For a long time, before it was abandoned, it was the capital of the Khmer empire.
He became famous because of the movie Tomb Rider with Angelina Jolie. I had fantasized about meeting Angelina, but I happened upon one more of my kind.
It is rightly very crowded, particularly there are many large groups of cackling and perpetually posing Orientals. Until I was distracted by something else I put a lot of effort into grimacing when I was (always), in the background of some photo.
The temple I liked the most was the Bayon where more than 200 carved emperor faces watch you from every angle.
Angkor Wat, the main temple with its pools in front, is obviously the most majestic but there are so many. Everything is wonderful because never before has there been such a marriage of man’s work and nature. Over the centuries of neglect, the forest has kind of embraced the temples, ruining them yes, but also giving them something extra.
How to visit Angkor differently
It is also very nice to go from one temple to another because of the surrounding nature. Almost all of them do this by leaning on a tuk tuk driver with whom you make arrangements throughout the day. While you visit the temple he waits for you chatting with his friends.
My spirit of independence did not make me accept this solution. So I decided to rent a bike to have absolute autonomy. It almost seemed as if they didn’t want to give it to me, evidently because they want to favor working kids, and in the end I think there were only two of us with bikes in those days among the thousands of people there.
I had stopped at a bench to take stock of the itinerary and what would be best to see that day and what to leave until the next day. She parked along the road her bike slightly less rickety than mine.
Because of him I acquire a new conditioned reflex.
From my undergraduate studies, I was very impressed with Pavlov’s theory of the conditioned reflex. The future Russian Nobel laureate discovered that our mind induces a specific reaction when we have unconsciously associated it with a specific stimulus. In the famous experiment, a dog was induced to associate food with the sound of a doorbell, and subsequently every time it heard that sound, the dog became watery. There, from that time in Cambodia, whenever I see a woman dressed in white with a straw hat, I get excited. But not all traveling acquaintances are so upsetting eh.
Talk about knowledge on the road
Immediately after his excuse me sir, he took off his glasses and hat. At that moment I was probably already in love. She asked me for information, I answered her and we greeted each other cordially: she resumed her bike and I stood dumbfounded with my mouth open.
After a few minutes, I woke up and decided to join her, partly because I knew she was going to the next temple right along my route. Once there, I immediately identified the bike but as I was about to close mine, I realized that I had left my camera on the bench. I turned back at top speed, but no trace of the camera: panic. I heard a call from a lady who had a banana stand just across the street-she had held it for me!
I came sweating back to the temple where the Parisian’s bike was still there. Once I reached her I asked if she happened to be in Dresden the winter before. I explained to her that it had been the other time I had lost my camera, this time it had been her eyes. I continued visiting Angkor with one who also turned out to be among the funniest of my traveling acquaintances.
Home trip Travel to Thailand and Cambodia: Buddhist temples, stray dogs and a lawyer
Previous stop Visiting Chiang Mai and falling off the bamboo bridge
Next stage What to do in Angkor.
Trips taken, travel stories divided by continent
Countries visited in my travel stories
Anecdotes, divided by type in travel narratives
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