Angkor What?

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We decided the best way to see Angkor Wat on the first day was by bicycle, so we set out to rent some mountain bikes and found some good Giant bikes at Green Cycles, just down from Pub Street. They only charged us $6 each for the day, and did not require a deposit or want to keep our passports, which was very trusting on their part.

Angkor Wat is 6 km from Siem Reap and the roads are flat the whole way. We arrived at the ticket centre, a couple of km from Angkor Wat and paid $40 for a three day pass. We only intended to visit for two days but a one day pass is $20 so it was cheaper to buy a three day pass than two one day passes. Once we had our pass in hand, we continued down the road, amid tuk tuk drivers, buses, bicycles, cars and minivans until we reached Angkor Wat. On the way we passed some monkeys by the road side. They weren't afraid of us but we we knew they were quite good thieves and we didn't approach them. I had memories of my water bottle being stolen right out of my hand in Malaysia a few years back, afterall.

When we reached the main entrance of Angkor Wat, we parked our bicycles, while being bombarded by children touts trying to sell us postcards and bracelets. They were particularly relentless, so I finally told the girl who had accosted us first that if our bikes were still there when we came back out, that I would buy some postcards from her. Even though we had locks, we did not feel particularly confident the bikes would be there when we came back out.

Angkor Wat is on the Cambodian flag and is the only Wat that has been in continuous operation since it was built (1113-40). It is the largest religious structure in the world as well and amazingly survived the Khmer Rouge. More incredibly, the sandstone blocks from which is was built cqme from a quarry about 50 km away and were floated downriver on rafts, a feat which is astonishing considering the time period in which it was built.

However, it was disappointing that so much of Angkor Wat was under renovation and a lot of it was covered with green construction material. we were not really all that impressed with Angkor Wat and felt disappointed, as we had been looking forward to seeing it.

When we left Angkor Wat and collected our bikes, which were still there, as the girl pointedly told us, and we paid her $3 for her postcards and bike guarding duties and continued on. Now the Lonely Planet guidebook said we should ride our bikes around Angkor Wat to get an idea of how massive it is, and we saw a trail alongside the moat that surrounds Angkor Wat and rode our bikes down it. This reminded me an awful lot of our singletrack mountain biking days and I enjoyed the ride for its beauty and peacefulness. When we completed the circuit we were tired, and wanted to know where the other Wats, such as Angkor Thom were, and another tourist pointed us in the right direction. Not too far down the road from Angkor Wat was a gate, but prior to that gate we stopped as in the woods beside the road was a pyramid like structure, with stairs reaching up to a doorway quite high up. We got off our bikes to investigate, and Peter, being braver and more able than I, climbed the impossibly steep stairs (crumbling stairs, I should add) and reached the top to find a reclining buddha inside. There was a hole in the roof which leads us to believe it was a crematorium - the reclining buddha is representation of the buddhas death bed. Peter found the climb down to be a little more challenging than he expected, but he survived the almost vertical descent intact and we continued on over the bridge and through the gate of Angkor Thom.

Angkor Thom is a huge complex, being 10 square km in size, and once was a huge city of about 10 million in its time (1181-1219). The most impressive structure is known as Bayon, and is one many would recognize as it is comprised of 54 Gothic towers which are covered in 216 faces of Avalotkiteshvara. I was instantly awestruck by the impressive beauty of this structure and both fell in love with it and was daunted by its age and enormity. We walked around it for quite some time and it felt as though we had to lower our voices, being surrounded by ghosts of this ancient civilization.

Beyond Bayon (the structure with all the faces) were a number of other smaller structures, each unique and impressive in their own right. Having the bicycles was great, as we could ride all the way around them, and dismount our bicycles at any time, unlike those who had rented tuk-tuks or had joined tours and were confined to a set schedule.

We left Angkor Thom and proceded down another road toward Ta Prohm. We stopped at a couple of other sites on the way, but did not linger long except at one, when the rain started pouring and we wanted to avoid becoming completely soaked. Eventually, the rain almost stopped and we donned our raincoats and continued on to Ta Prohm. We had heard this Wat was in the jungle and wanted to see it. In fact, Ta Prohm is still how all the other Wats were when the Europeans stumbled upon them. Work has been done to stabilize Ta Prohm, but the jungle which has encroached upon it was left intact. Seeing the massive trees growing upon, within, through and around the temple was a reminder that no matter how powerful and adept the human race is at controlling nature, the power of nature is, and always will have the final control over us. The trees were consuming Ta Prohm, swallowing an earlier time. Massive trees and roots entwined huge stone structures as nature worked to restore the land. I was reminded of how temporary we are on this planet; we are a time blip in this universe.

We left Ta Prohm as the rain became more steady and rode the now 18 or so km back to Siem Reap. In all, we ended up cycling around 40 km and our bodies were starting to ache from the biking, but it was so worth it to see it all. We had, however been greating disappointed that our camera battery pack had died during our visit to Ta Prohm, so we decided to return the next day, this time by tuk-tuk.

The next day we lazed around most of the morning then found a not so annoying tuk tuk driver to take us back to Ta Prohm, then further afield to Banteay Srei, another Wat about 37 km outside of Siem Reap. We got our beloved pictures at Ta Prohm, no less awed the second time seeing it (and once again in the pouring rain). The ride out of Banteay Srei was lovely, as it was along country roads with lots of villages and rice paddies. I could never tire or the beautiful spring green hues of the rice paddies during the rainy season! Banteay Srei was a temple not commissioned by the King, but rather by a Brahman who was perhaps a tutor to the King. The stone used was different and had a pinkish, or salmon coloured tone to it, and the carvings were very intricate. The layout of the temple was rather low as far as height and almost reminded me of a Roman style structure (not that I've been to Rome, but how I imagine it would look). The temple was built around 967 AD. The nice part was the lack of crowds as it was removed from the other Ankorian temples.

Feeling we had seen a good selection of temples (but by no means near all of them - that would take days), we set back to Siem Reap, once again enjoying our tuk tuk ride in the rain, and returned to Pub Street, where the food is amazing and a glass of draft beer can be had for only fifty cents. I must say, the Mexican food at Viva was my favourite, especially since it wasn't rice! I finished my day by having a fish massage. I have never experienced anything quite like it. For $3 I put my feet in a tank full of fish and they ate the dead skin off me. It tickled a lot at first, but after a while you get used to the weird sensation and it feels kind of nice, yet definitely odd. After a while the fish became extremely interested in one of my old mosquito bites (from Chiang Mai and elephant riding) and it felt really nice having it "scratched" at first, but then it started to feel a little sore and a lot more fish were "attacking" me there, so I lifted my leg out of the water only to discover my bite was bleeding - quite a bit in fact. No wonder the fish liked it so much. At any rate, my 20 minutes as up, and after they put a band aid on my bleeding bite we left the fish, my legs a whole lot smoother than before. They should call it an exfoiliating massage! I hope the fish had clean mouths though :P

Siem Reap is a nice city, and the best way to see it was definitely by bicycle, although the tuk tuk was nice too. A fish massage is a definite neccesity. Just cover up any potentially open wounds first. I saw other people getting band-aids later!

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Photos

From Wat it Grows
Ta Prohm

Tree vs. Temple
Ta Prohm