Angkor wat?

Dear friends and family

It has been a week since my last update and a lot has happened again. After returning from Sihanouk with Simon, I gave myself two days of rest, catching my breath after a week of partying so to speak. During these two days I wrote a little report with preliminary results, and I already realized I made one mistake, but at least it can still be changed. I can hardly belief that I so easily wrote 10 pages full. Luckily Simon took really good care of me those days while I was working, and as Oie is in Bangkok, we went out for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Yes it did feel a little bit decadent. I realize that it has been over two months, since I cooked, cleaned or washed anything myself. What a shock it will be to come home and having to do everything again. They never were my favourite chores.
Simon had quite a busy start of the week, there was a group of VSO visiting Kampong Cham, as there were workshops to be held, and people to be entertained. Luckily I could easily attend the dinners, all westerners working in Education or Health.
On Wednesday Simon had to leave for Kampot for a retreat with work, and as I didn't get a hold of Dr Crabbé, I decided to indeed go to Siem Reap to visit Ankor Wat, and this is what happened.
Wednesday morning I got up really early, Simon had already left, so I just closed the doors behind me, and took a moto to the bus station. Simon suggested I would travel light, so I had just my small backpack with me, and the rest was lift at his house. At the bus station I managed to get a ticket for the first bus going, which is fortunate, as usually you need to buy the ticket a day in advance. The downside was that I was sitting on the last row of the buss, and even though the road to Siem Reap is not one of the worst, it is always more bumpy in the back. Also I was the only foreigner on the bus, which resulted in people openly staring at me. But the worst was still to come. Arriving in the rip off capital of Cambodia. The bus arrived, and moto drivers were trying to get the passengers to come with them, but as soon as they saw me, as in a potential 'lets have one foreigner rather than 10 locals' bringer of lots of money, they jumped all over me. Luckily I had booked the guesthouse in advance, and someone with a smileys sign was waiting, which resulted in free transport to the guesthouse. So there I went in the tuktuk, oh boy, if that didn't give me a decadent feeling, being driven around in these little carriages behind a moto, colonial times must have felt like this. After a nice ride i arrived at my guesthouse it was a really nice one, with a courtyard and a restaurant and a clean room (I checked under the bed this time as well).
As it was a long and bumpy drive, I first treated myself on a shower and after that one some lunch/breakfast. As I was eating I was already meeting some very nice people. Around 4.30 pm I headed towards Ankor Wat, if you buy your ticket around 5, you get a free sunset, as the ticket does not start until the next day. Accompanied by an Israelian guy, I forgot his name, I headed off for the park. After some moving around, shifting from line to line, I finally was able to buy my ticket, a terrifying amount of $40 for 3 days. After the ticket check we went towards phnom bakheng, it is the sunset spot in Angkor. On the road there I got my first few of Angkor Wat, and I could not wait for the next day when I would see the sunrise there. However when I saw Phnom Bakheng I was wondering how to get up there. It was a steep climb up a pile of rubble, but not being too discouraged, I started the climb, and with me 100s of others. We made good time, and when we were at the top, it was not yet too crowded, so we found a good spot for the sunset and just waited. However the sunset seemed a bit disappointing so we climbed down the temple. You have to understand that those stairs are steep, and it is not as if you can just walk up and down them, no you climb up and down, and in the mean time you pray that your feet won't slip resulting in a painful tumble down and a broken neck. But as you can tell by me writing this update, my prayers were answered. We walked towards the sun, and sit down on the hill (instead of on the temple at the top of the hill), and we could see a perfect sunset, quietly, with just 7 people and not 500, as they were still on top of the temple. It was breathtaking beautiful. After the sunset, there was still a terrifying climb down, and I wondered why I had not taken the elephant path. That night I decided to go to bed early, as I knew I would have to get up at 5 am to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat.
So here we go, Thursday morning, still sleepy, I made my way downstairs, climbed on a moto and headed for Angkor Wat. Walking into this complex is thrilling, the size of it!!! It's even bigger than you can imagine. As I first walked over the causeway and later over the walkway, I recognized a few people from Sihanouk. Jimmy and Ian had made their way to Angkor after all. So I joined them and a few others girls for an exploration of Angkor Wat. But because we were talking too much we did not really pay all that much attention to the hidden treasures of Angkor and as I was making my way out of Angkor Wat to head for Angkor Thom, I decided I would go by myself, Being able to read the books and stories about the buildings as I went to explore independently, taking as much time as I would like. Angkor Thom really is walled city with lots of buildings in it, so I went to visit the main ones, the main attraction in Angkor Thom is the Bayon, its a temple with 200 faces, and is seen by most as the runner up after Angkor Wat. However it was getting very crowded, so I headed north to visit Preah Khan 'sacred sword', which is a beautiful little monastery. Ok, here I will skip a few ruins, otherwise it is going to be just a name game. But my dear friends, Angkor Wat really is worth the $40, I would not have wanted to miss this. As I was going around the temples alone, I sometimes had some difficulties with climbing up and down pyramids, huge steep stairways and other rock formations, I was most times lucky to have a helping hand of fellow travellers, as was the case at Ta Keo, here I met 3 really nice French guys, I ran into them again later, and I enjoyed them on the exploration of two other temples, and later that night I joined them for dinner, and as they were all working men, they even paid the bill, such gentlemen! But I can tell you by 10 pm I was exhausted, I must have passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow that night.
The second day, I did not go to Angkor Wat for the sunrise and instead headed for Angkor Thom for some further exploration of the city, and to my surprise there was absolutely nobody, so I climbed up and down the ruins, enjoying the silence mixed in with the sounds of the jungle. Being able to escape the crowds makes Angkor and even more exciting experience, and during the entire morning as I made my way from temple to temple, I avoided the crowds. Of course this had one drawback, I was not making new friends either, and my French friends had already left. In the afternoon after some well deserved rest from climbing, I went to Angkor Wat, to see the bas reliefs in peace, just so that I would not curse myself for not paying enough attention later, and around 6pm I headed back to the guesthouse, this time alone, as I had made no new friends on this peaceful day. However when I went for dinner at the guesthouse I saw another traveller alone, so I asked him to join me. This time it was an American, who had lived in Thailand for two years, and was travelling, getting ready for the trip back home. It was a quiet and pleasant evening, but again followed by an early night, as I wanted to see the sunrise over Sra Srang, apparently the best place for a sunrise, and I had saved the best for last. What a mistake!!! It was raining, there was no sun to be seen, and I just waited and waited, but it wouldn't stop. In the end I persuaded my driver to use the tuktuk, as it had been raining all night and morning and no sun had been out, it was actually quite cool (relatively) that morning, and I wanted to go far away. SO I wanted to avoid getting wet and cold. Eventually he agreed so I went to see Banteay Srei 'citadel of the women' a little gem between the temples, and with right deserves a place in the top 3. The carvings are so exquisite, nothing like it in Angkor, everything is carved with the most delicate of carvings. Unfortunately my camera had long run out of batteries the next day, and as I had no charger with me, there are no pictures to show you, but this is an absolute must to seen if you ever do go. By the time I got back to Siem Reap, I decided that I spend the afternoon gift shopping, I now have a huge pile of stuff, now all I need to do is decide who gets what. A good advice for travelling around Angkor is to go there on weekdays, because it’s maddening in the weekend. In the evening I went back to Phnom Bakheng to see another sunset. This time, I climbed the rubble and walked around the temple, going directly to the same spot where I was 3 evening before that as well. It was so peaceful, later on I was joined by two other people, and it was just a peaceful and quiet sunset, with 100s of people just piling up on the temple behind us. This time I did take the elephant path down, which was a really good thing to do. On return to the guesthouse I joined two other travellers for dinner, and it was all good fun. But again an early night to make sure I would be able to get up on time for the buss.
On Sunday morning I headed back to Kampong Cham, and again I was the only foreigner on the buss, but this time I was sitting on the first raw, giving me an excellent view of the road. I arrived in the beginning of the afternoon, so I just sat back and let myself be spoiled again by Simon, he had made fresh bread, and I just had a very long shower and watched CSI, feeling very much at home. Yes for sure, 'home' in Cambodia is Simon and Oie's house. In the evening we picked up Brigitte, a Dutch woman working through VSO in Kampong Cham, and went for the sunset at the abandoned airport. Unfortunately the sunset wasn't too great, but we did see a beautiful thunderstorm approaching. And I'll tell you this I slept like a baby that night. Today it is Monday once again, and I walked around Kampong Cham in the morning to take some pictures, and to keep myself occupied, before coming home and writing my update for you all. I am not sure what the next week will bring me, but you will hear it again on Monday. Miss you all, thank you for all your kind messages. Marnix, just go and do it, go to Germany, who cares that the others are older than you!!! Caroline, thank you so much for your message, it is great hearing from you!! Mum and Dad, love you and miss you lots.
Marieke, thank you so much for your kind messages and emails, its great hearing how you are doing in Germany, I cannot wait to catch up with you again about our studies and life. I guess that might still take a few months. All my other friends and family, I miss you all too, it's just 3 more weeks before I am home again, I am curious what has been happening at the home front, I have been so out of touch with the news. Talk to you again soon!!

Lots of Love,

Loes

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