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Published: November 20th 2006
Dinner time companions
Thankfully not dinner time options!After a really relaxing and excellent nights sleep (very quiet here after Saigon) we had breakfast ready for an 8am pick up in the swanky tuk-tuk. Paul had his eye on the museli and yoghurt, but it was not to be when we found out that tea and toast was included in the price of the room ($28). It was good though with thickly sliced, freshly made bread and a choice of topping. The hotel seems to specialise in orchids and almost everything comes decorated with them. A small frog kept us company at breakfast - we met its parents hopping around the restaurant last night during dinner, much to Bex's fascination! Hotel had sorted out a packed lunch in a cool box so picked it up and duly armed, set off for a day of 'templing'.
The driver was a really giggly, friendly guy and a lot of fun to be with. We are on a bit of a budget here so it was a bit of a shock to pay $20 each to get into the temples - we did not think about it at all, just hope we have enough left now! On the way to the
temples we saw a bald headed monk in his orange robes texting someone on a mobile phone - a real missed photo opportunity!
Our first destination was the Angkor Wat main temple. There were lots of wedding parties all there to get some pictures. The brides were all really 'blinged up' and had some sort of large gold ankle bracelet on. You initially pass over a causeway to get into the temple and we were soaked by the time we had walked across it, just from the sheer heat of the day. It's going to be hot here! The temple is amazing and the amount of work is unimagineable - the size of the complex is huge and it's a really breathtaking sight. It's easy to see why it's one of the most photographed places in Cambodia. There were lots of people about - lots of Korean tour groups in '70s sun visors, elbows out - pushing through people; they were really noisy as well; everyone talking and no one listening ( quite annoying quite quickly!). Was also a group of monks, again in all the robes, taking pictures of each other with a top end digital camera -
Becky at Angkor
Check out the catalogue pose very bizarre!
Back in the car park, the tuk-tuk driver had moved to go and see a mate, so when we tried to find him we could not and were then descended on by the hoards! They tried in great numbers to flog us bangles, postcards and books - their intensity reminded us of India! We eventually managed to find our transport and then set off to Ta Prom, the jungle temple. This temple has been really over taken by the jungle and is not in such a well preserved condition as some of the other temples. Unfortunately we were followed by the bus loads of noisy Koreans so it was a lot less personal that we would have liked. The temple was the site of the Tomb Raider film (good excuse to watch it now!). We kept trying to find a tree that is supposed to feature in it, but there were gaggles of Koreans all over the place that we probably ended up taking pictures amongst some random trees. The roots were amazing though - they had grown into the temple walls and all the trees were gigantic.
Lunch was the picnic from the hotel near
a traders stall where a tour guide entertained us by attempting to play the local instruments that were on sale. Really good fun!
After lunch it was off to Angkor Thom, another one of the huge temple complexs. This was a walled city enclosed by a moat. There are several gates which can be passed through to get to the temple - they are all really detailed and beautiful. We started off at the Leper King Terrace, onto the Elephant Terrace and then onto Baphuon. Along the way we passed a green snake, luckily we supressed the urge to photograph it as it was probably a Haluman snake, which is small, fast and poisionous. Phew!
The next temple was Bayon - this is an amazing place with some really great details. There were 54 stone towers, each with a stone head carved on it on each of the four main compass points - 216 in total! It was a wonderful site and a photographers dream, well as long as you like smiling stone heads! There was also a lot of Bas relief on the stone carvings and columns, and it goes some way to indicate how important the
Stairway to heaven
Felt like hell at the time though palaces were and how much work they took to complete. Thousands of craftsmen were needed and all the stone was quarried from 50km away and then floated down the river on bamboo rafts.
The final tomb was Phnom Bakeng, which is built on a hill and gives a great view at sunset of Tonle Sap lake and Angkor Wat. However most of the other tourists and 1/2 of Korea (in the obligitary sun visors) decided to join us, which made it a really noisy and fairly impersonal place. There was a real scrum going down the very large steps as some of the tour groups were still trying to come up as everyone else was going down - it was worse than the melee which happens at a european ski lift! We finally made it down and got back to the entrance. Passed some people taking an elephant trip up and down the hill, but the poor creatures looked a bit dazed and bedraggled. Their keepers battered them with a metal spike to get them moving - which was not nice for them I am sure.
We went for a beer before dinner in the Laundry bar -
one for Dougie here and then dinner was on Pub street. Managed to get Thai Green curry and a couple of drinks each all for $5 so it was a tasty cheap night!
Up early again for breakfast and to fit some stuff in before our afternoon flight. We have arranged to get a tuk-tuk to Chong Kneas, a local floating village, about 1/2 hour outside Siem Reap. It was a really pleasant journey up to where we caught the boat, through sleepy villages by the water. There were lots of kids running around naked, with one little boy starkers on the back of his Mums bike - unfortunately he was sat on her mudguard and did not look too happy - ouch! Most of the restaurants looked like locals only places and were just shacks on stilts with hammocks to relax - maybe for the fishermen? We had to purchase a ticket for the boat from a consortium station - bit steep at $15 each, but the price is set so there is no bargaining. Bit cheeky for a 30 minute ride! We were dropped off at the boat launch site by the tuk-tuk. The boats looked a
Tomb raiding (we think!)
One of the many tree root photos taken! little like dragon boats we had seen before - really long and narrow and very tippy! The guy on the boat gave us a bit of a story about being parentless and that any money he made, he used to go to school in the afternoon. He seemed a bit old and the story seemed a bit too slick, and we are fairly cynical now - but he could have been telling the truth! It was an interesting boat ride; the village moves depending upon the season and how much water there is in the lake, even the local school can be moved! Tonle Sap lake seems to flood and even the local roads go underwater - only the tops of the trees could be seen. We also saw an island in the middle of nowhere with trucks, diggers and JCB's on it - must be fine during the dry season, but looked mad with all the water. We finally got out onto Tonle Sap lake and the boat stopped and just floated for a while. We were immediately pounced on by some touts trying to sell drinks and food. There were also lots of kids that were paddling themselves
around in what looked like big washing up bowls. We gave one little fella with only one arm (a very talented paddler!) the remainder of our drink, he seemed really pleased with it until he tasted it - then pulled a big face. Don't really know where the kids came from- but assumed they belonged to the touts (who bizarrely were Vietnamese) as the last little village was a few miles back- too far in a washing up boat! Made our way back to shore (the demand for cash did come from the boat driver; no surprise there!) and then back to Siem Reap.
Went round a local market where Bex bought a cute skirt, that is similar to the ones the girls in our hotel wear - lovely jubbly! Had some lunch and then wandered back to the hotel in time for our 2pm tuk-tuk back to the airport. Unfortuantely 2pm came and went and no tuk-tuk! There had been a little mis-communication along the way and one had not been ordered for us. But a quick phone call later and we were on our way - well after a torrential down pour. We are sad to be
Your guess is as good as ours what this means!
Was in the toilets at the temples - thankfully we didn't try and get in the toilets.. leaving Cambodia after such a short time. It's a really great place and is a lot less intense than India - definitely somewhere to return in the future.
The flight went first back to Vietnam (Danang) before onto Singapore. Flight time was about 6 hours in total but it was pretty late by the time we cleared customs. It's odd to be back here - everything is big, brash, fast and plentiful. Took a taxi to the hostel; it was a big shock after the clean, bright, plush, friendly and cheap place we left. It was a complete flea pit!. Dirty, old, smelly and untidy - but it was too late to do anything about it as it was nearly midnight. Decided just to put up with it and then see in the morning. Neither of us got any good sleep and for the first time in about a month got out the sleeping bag liners. The room was on the front with no sound insulation at all - much worse than the initial room in Saigon! Unfortunately the road seemed to be a cut through with taxis and trucks rumbling past all night. Someone even came back at
Clothed Buddha
On top of the Terrace of the Leper King 4am and put the telly on full blast in the lounge outside the room - not a great move! There were also lots of odd signs like 'no illegal immigrants allowed; will be removed and taken to the police'. Oh how the mighty have fallen!
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