Blogs from Siem Reap, North, Cambodia, Asia - page 187

Siem Rep Asia » Cambodia » Siem Reap By Laur4April 3rd 2007Laura FowlerSiem Rep... 6 hours later and we reach Siem Rep, met by our own personal driver for the next few days. Booked into a hostel and we are off to Ankor Wat for sunset. For the uneducated amongst us (which did include me) Ankor Wat is a huge place full of temples dating back to the early 12th Century. Really amazing place. We had a bit of a hike up to the top of one of the temples, the views were fantastic...bloody lot of steps though!! you did have the option of going up on an elephant but I felt my thighs could do with a work out.....see the piccies.... ... read more

6th entry... Aly and I rose at 4.30 this morning and dutifully headed off to witness the sunrise at Angkor Watt. To our surprise when we arrived there we found that some other people had the same idea... funny that. It was as expected, a lovely experience. We actually had 3 sunrises...1 from the outer wall, the next closer up from the "reflection pond" and the 3rd from a spot that allowed the sun to rise over the middle stupa. After this we felt fully risen. One of the challenges in these location to try to "get the vibe" or come to terms with what one is actually witnessing. We discussed that the same sun had risen every day over this temple complex from the time that it was being built and it has witnessed ... read more

well we made it....look @ one of the pics and u will c hanoi airport with me (ian) in it ...no one else!!!!! we arrived for check in on our PMT flight....hmmmmm.....was already 2hours late....the went to check in and our names were not on the "list" but there was about 100 others on the lsit?! gets better....we had a "letter" from the travel agent as did the other 8 westerners....a letter!!!!....they then get there supervisour...who with a lot of phone calls...writes our names onto the list....so alls good right....not quite...they then give us all our borbing passes....and then change the boaring time from 1530 to 1900..(our letter said 1400 flight) so we hang around in the terminal for a few ours...boring....then 1630 comes and they move the gate...we walk around to the new gate ... read more

After yesterday's lie-in, it was back to 4:15AM, as we wanted to see the sun rise at Banteay Srei, which is further away from Siem Reap than the main temples. It was a good decision to go there, as the rose-coloured stone looked excellent in the low sun. The site was also small (both in size and proportions - some of the doorways were barely a metre high), almost free of tourists, and covered in detailed carvings. Next up was Banteay Samre, which also had some interesting carvings, then Neak Pean, a unique island temple consisting of a cruciform arrangement of pools that probably looks a lot better in the wet season, and then we returned to Preah Khan to tackle it with the map the right way up. Shortly after midday, having seen a plethora ... read more

I'm very excited to be here in Cambodia finally! I mean I've been waitin' since grade 5 when I did a school project on the country but at that time it was called Kampuchia. Wow that was like 15 years ago! Anyway. I didn't do the Khao San Rd (KSR) travel agent bus ride thing because reading more about them, they are total scams. So I made my own way there. I wasn't too sure of when rush hour was in Bangkok so I got up at 4:30am to catch the 6am bus from Morchit bus station. I ended up getting the 5:30am bus....even better! I took the first class bus (207B) and 4 hours later was at Aranya Prathet. Rode a moto (motorcycle) another 6km to the border where the first scam took place! ... read more