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Published: August 13th 2005
Well, it's been a really long long while since we updated you all with our story, but we thought it's time to do so again. In the last blog, we were dying in delhi, slightly fed up of the whole heat, travel, tout thing, possibly a bit homesick... all in all, we didn't really leave India feeling like victorious conquerors because we knew that we hadn't really seen much at all!
But that was the past. Angkor Wat was the future!
A few years ago, we had been to Thailand, and had intended to go over to Angkor.. Angkor had always been a fascination of mine ever since I read about it in a Readers' Digest article at age 8. But - when we were in Thailand, we made one of those hasty last-minute decisions and went to Ko Samui instead... and while we did enjoy the beaches there, I have always regretted not going to Angkor. So finally the time had come to rectify old wrongs!
To get to Angkor is normally quite easy, but of course, we were flying OneWorld, and hence picked a slightly more complicated route. We flew out from Delhi to Hong Kong,
hung around for a bit ,then flew from HK to Bangkok, hung around, and then finally flew to Siem Reap in Cambodia (which is where Angkor Wat is located). So we got to go through 4 countries in one day! The best part was the flight to Siem reap - there were only 5 passengers on the whole plane!! So, prior to take off, they had to move us around to ensure that one side of the plane didn't have all the passengers. I didn't think the combined weight of the 5 of us would cause great difficulties for a plane, but hey, you gotta assume the pilot knows what he's doing 😊
The best thing about there only being 5 passengers was that we got the best service ever, and hey, if we wanted seconds, and thirds, we could! AND - they served lychee ice cream. Yum.
So - Siem Reap. The town straddles a big dirty river, which is so stagnant and polluted, that I think you could actually walk on it!! However, we opted for the numerous auto-rickshaws instead. Unlike the tuk-tuks that we had been catching all over the world, Siem Reap tuk-tuks are
actually a motorcycle towing a trailer with enough room for 4 people to sit in quite comfortably. Quite clever really!! Of course, the rides aren't anywhere near as exhilarating as your standard 3-wheeled tuk-tuk, but they were definitely more comfy.
We noticed with much dismay the massive hotels, and complexes, that were dominating the otherwise quaint and semi-rustic town. Yes, Siem Reap does get its tourists, and I guess that makes the town completely sold out to them. Of course, the flip side is that we did get to enjoy all the facilities that towns have - like ready access to the Internet, plenty of places to eat, etc. One incredibly disturbing thing though - they actually have NO ATMs in the country!! So if you want cash, you either need to bring it in (we did), or you have to go to a bank, queue up ,and arrange a credit card advance, after paying some exorbitant fees. The good thing is that Cambodia is quite cheap, so we went in with about $200 US dollars, and it was more than enough for the 4 days we stayed there.
Incidentally - when you're in Cambodia, you can use
Bayon
They're watching me...the local currency (
reals) and US dollars interchangeably! Everywhere we went, prices were typically marked in US dollars. And you only used reals if you had to pay for quantities under a US dollar, as they didn't use US coins. So it was quite typical to go out for lunch and pay 1 US dollar and 4000 real (about 50 US cents) at the end of the meal. I've never been to a place where they use another country's currency so readily. It must cause some havoc when the US dollar fluctuates so much, so I hope they constantly re-evaluate their exchange rate of real-to-US dollars .
The abundance of good cheap restaurants meant that once again I got to pig out. Cambodian food seems to come in 2 varieties - Khmer food, and Thai food. Try as I might I couldn't tell the difference, but it was all very yummy!!! (Apologies to the Khmer gourmets out there. Maybe we just ate at the wrong places!)
OK - so let's talk about Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is actually just one of a vast complex of temples that were built in the 12th century. If you've seen Tomb Raider,
Your standard Angkor Wat Shot
Too bad we couldn't get all the tourists to go away. then you've seen the temples - a large part of the movie was filmed there!! The site is protected by the World Heritage Trust (but not UNESCO!) and attracts several million tourists per year. The temples were originally Hindu, but around the 15th century got converted to Buddhist temples. Interestingly, some of the temples are shaped in the cruciform, much like old churches, for some unexplained reason.The temple complex is huge! Most people buy a 3 day pass, which is probably a bit too much, but the only other option is a 1 day pass, which is definitely insufficient. We got ourselves the 3 day pass. Incidentally if you bring along your own photos, you can purchase your pass a lot more quickly.
The temples were amazing. There is a lot of variety at the site, so it's not as though after seeing the 3rd place, you get all templed out. The biggest killer is the climate - it was NOWHERE near as hot as India, but it was still hot and humid enough that after seeing one or two sites, you needed to stop and have a break. Thankfully there were more than enough places to stop and
catch a drink. Although I never managed to get myself a decent coffee 😊
All of the sites have been restored from the original condition, but best effort has been done to keep them looking like ancient ruins, as opposed to ancient ruins that have been done up. We got to walk through some rather large ones. Very intricate carvings on the walls and ceilings. It was weird to see the mixture of Hindu and Buddhist carvings everywhere. I wonder how people reconciled the two at the time!
There's a great ambiance walking through temples that have been completely surrounded by the jungle. It's very serene. although I kept expecting to lean on a idol over
here, and open a secret passage over
there, and discover some ancient treasure. I think Tomb Raider was playing a bit too much on our minds 😊
Incidentally Catherine flatly refused to do any Tomb Raider poses for you guys. 😊
The best time to go temple trekking is early in the morning, ahead of the tourists, and crowds. The sounds of nature (parrots, insects, the odd tractor) mingle into the sublime atmosphere of the ruins to give you that
perfect experience. Plus the weather is a lot cooler. We typically would take a few hours off for lunch, and then continue for the rest of the day. Sunset and sunrise viewings are also very popular - but for us they were a dismal failure. The first day, the sky wasn't very nice, and basically everything just got dark. No brilliant orange fired clouds filling our photo lenses. And the second day it rained. bah 😊
After a 2 day marathon, we had quite enough of temples. Our favourites were Bayon and Ta Phromh. Bayon is a huge complex with several stories. The top level consists of 37 4-sided pillars, with a huge face carved on each side. So you've got these faces looking in all directions. Very surreal. We got to clamber around and take lots of pics of this one. Certainly there were plenty of opportunities to get yourself killed, we climbed up into all kinds of places that I'm sure we weren't meant to be - but you do stupid things when you're trying to get that perfect photo.
Ta Phromh was unique amongst the temples, because they had largely left it in its original condition. So you've got a huge complex (used to be a monastery I think) that has got trees growing right through it. It was very peaceful and calm, and you really felt like you were in another world.
Strangely enough, Angkor Wat doesn't tend to feature on anyone's favourite list. Angkor has the undisputed honour of being the largest of the temples, and of course the most photographed one. We certainly were impressed with it, but felt that it wasn't anywhere near as exciting as the other ones.
Overall we completely loved Angkor!! After so many years of wishing that I could have gone, it was great to finally get there and see the place!! We were a little bit sad to leave - partly because we really had enjoyed it, partly because we felt like we wanted to see Cambodia, but mainly because this was the end of our 4 month sojourn and it was time to head back to life, and the realities of day-to-day living all over again!!
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johnny botts
non-member comment
Thanks for sharing the great info
We're planning a trip to Angkor Wat in Oct. Your info was helpful, and great photos! We'll get our ID photos ahead of time like you suggest.