{"id":3074,"date":"2026-03-16T02:59:53","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T02:59:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aerowalsh.com\/cr\/?p=3074"},"modified":"2026-03-16T10:52:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T10:52:43","slug":"sat-14-mar-siem-reap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/?p=3074","title":{"rendered":"Sat 14 Mar – Siem Reap"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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An early start this morning to watch the sun rise above Angkor Wat.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Then off to an old Buddhist university within the Angkor province. There are so many areas to this kingdom. This plenitude adds to the impression of a once-glorious, now lost empire.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Hiding from the sun.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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But the sun finds me, always.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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There was something special about these round pillars but I have become a bit monument-fatigued. Time for a change of pace…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Time for Hero Rats!
Hero Rats are a big pouched rat originally hailing from Morrocco that are bred and trained for a year in Tanzania to smell out explosive powder used in landmines and unexploded ordnances.
They are set up in this rectangular perimeter and are forced to run in a straight line. If the rat detects explosives, they’ll start scratching lightly on the ground. The little critters weigh less than 2kg, which is too light to set off the landmines. From there a different team can come and clear the area. If the rat runs the length of the straight line with no signal the humans move a step to the left and the rat runs the new length, until the rectangle is finished.
The rats can clear a patch of land four times more quickly than a metal detector. The metal detector will pick up scrap metal too and it wastes time to excavate the false positive.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Hero Rat gets a banana treat for being so useful. This is such a fun exhibition. There’s facts. There’s a live demonstration. There’s high quality merch. The trainers love the rats as much as we do. They’re damn cute. The program has operated in Cambodia for more than ten years and there have been no detonations in land cleared by the rats. I ask if they are used in Laos and the guide grimaces, scrunching her eyes into an uncomfortable squint, “no, we have the funding but cannot because of the politics”. I recognise this response. It’s the stock standard South East Asian way of communicating disapproval of government without saying anything critical.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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We’re allowed to hold Hero Rat Jordan. He’s not allowed to go into active service because he interacts with the public too much (too many smells) and is just a mascot now. I want to hold him sooo bad. But I don’t. Because I am Responsible Tourist limiting rabies exposure. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I need a come down after all the rodent excitement so I decide to walk an hour back to the hotel. It’s the middle of the day and very hot. I hide for an hour with the cool kids at this cafe on the outskirts of town, which is next to a gallery and antique store. The gallery is owned by a French woman and what I presume is her younger male concubine. The woman has a crazed aura that feels so familiar. I am struggling to put my finger on it… She’s erratic, moving swiftly around the converted open-planned wooden estate like Bellatrix L’Estrange. She’s fretful – Mrs Bennett, concerned that her beautiful paintings will spoil. She’s the spitting image of a character who is somewhere she shouldn’t be and is striving not to go to ruin. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I foresee a vehicle based bonus celebration this August… Now I want a Ranger AND a scooter.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I continue my walk back into town, breaking for a very late lunch\/very early dinner. This is beef Lok Lak: beef, onion and fresh green peppercorns rapidly stir fried with oyster sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, garlic, and black pepper. Very tasty, paired with a pineapple, passionfruit and lime fresh fruit juice.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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7pm rolls around and it’s time for a massage. I went to the most expensive parlour in an attempt to distance myself from the feeling of going to a brothel. But still, it feels illicit. You sheepishly walk in, are asked to take off your shoes. You select your treatment from a menu priced by time. Then your madam (sorry, masseuse) walks you quietly up three flights of dimly lit stairs. You sit while she cleans your filthy feet. Then you enter your room and undress while she waits patiently outside. During the massage there are small checks for consent: too hard? Not hard enough? Every now and then, giggles from other ladies bounce around the halls outside. Oh the things she does with her hands… <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thailand-laos-cambodia-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3074"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3121,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3074\/revisions\/3121"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}