my first day in siem reap i scooted out of town to the south. cambodia’s largest lake – tonle sap – is about 45 minutes away down a nice, curvy paved road lined by pop-up private crocodile zoos and food establishments. along tonle sap there are floating villages built over the water on stilts, which depend on fishing (and increasingly tourism) for their livelihood.
i also chanced upon a deserted temple called phnom krom, which is at the crest of a free-standing hill in the middle of a plain. i was supposed to have the comprehensive temple pass which i hadn’t yet purchased, but the cop guarding the road up the hill let me pass for $1 if i promised not to report him. there were great views over tonle sap and distant siem reap from the top of the hill, a buddhist temple, and the ancient, completely empty ruins of phnom krom.
