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Published: January 22nd 2007
Siem Reap
We arrived at the boat dock in Siem Reap to be accosted by moto drivers boarding the boat offering free rides to town before we'd even collected up our belongings. In the end we decided on two young men with white smiles to take us to a hotel. The first budget hotel we arrived at only had one windowless cell of a room left so we opted to look around a bit more. The next hotel the moto drivers took us to was superb with shinny floors; ESPN (for football playoff games); towels and toothbrushes; free internet, tea, coffee and bananas to boot. We splurged and agreed to $12/night justifying it by saving on internet costs and snacks.
Temples of Angkor
Sunset at Phnom Bakheng We made arrangements with our moto driver (who we’ll call MD) to pick us up the following evening to see the sunset at the ruins of Angkor. It took some convincing that we needed only one moto, not two, we could easily squeeze the driver and us on one seat. Considering they fit four adults and two kids on a bike it really should have been a non-issue! Just before 5pm we arrived
at the ruins, Phnom Bakheng, and zigzagged our way up a dirt path past elephants and through the masses of people walking up the hill for sunset only to find masses of people had already arrived before us and claimed the best viewing spots. We found a small spot on the edge of stairs to sit and took it all in. The sky turned a vibrant orange like the monks robes and while the most famous sunset spot was nice, the hoards of people spoiled the tranquillity of sunsets.
Rolous Group We bought a three day ticket and our strategy for visiting the temples was to save the best for last and visit the lesser known ruins first and work our way to up Angkor Wat. MD picked us up right on time and had stories of drinking last nights paycheck ($2.50 for the ride to the ruins at sunset) away with palm wine. So on day one we started out at about 9:30am and headed east to the Roluos Group of temples and visited Lolei, Bakong and Preah Ko before lunch. Roluos temples are the earliest of the ruins dating to 877-889AD, each of the temples was unique
but little detail remained besides the main structures. Still, as our first stop they were quite impressive.
MD's House for Lunch MD lived near the village around Roluos and we stopped by his home midday. When we first met him, he explained that his father died with the Khmer Rouge and he lived with his mother. However, upon meeting his family we got more of the story. He has no family (all killed during the Khmer Rouge); instead family friends have taken him in which he calls Uncle, younger Mother, older Mother (grandma), brother and sister. They had a few structures on their plot of land: a raised shack for cooking and eating, two larger rooms on stilts with hammocks hanging in the shade below and three other small rooms on stilts for renters (which we were offered at a cheap price). Scattered around was a pig pen, alligator cage, a cow, two puppies, and numerous chickens being followed by their young. Under a bamboo cage a cock paced around, he was going to fight tonight.
They invited us for lunch and we accepted not wanting to be rude, but also eager for our chance to experience traditional
Big Fight Tonight?
He's looking to go 3-0Cambodian family meal. Within 20 minutes they had whipped up rice and six different delicious dishes. Six of us sat cross-legged in a circle around the bowls of food. We each had an individual rice bowl and spooned out mouthfuls of broth or veggies from the communal dishes. Spoonful of broth, spoonful of rice, spoonful of rice, and repeat. Rice was defiantly the main staple. MD fancied the fried chicken. But it wasn’t anything like KFC fried chicken, much, much smaller. Whole chickens, with beaks and legs, not even the length of a finger popped into his mouth for a crunchy, tasty treat. Jarrod and I stuck to the pork and ripped bite sized pieces off of the hunks in the communal bowl. It was an unforgettable experience to sit around with them smiling the entire time as they watched us eat with fascination. After a few photos and many thanks for having us for lunch we headed to see the last temple for the day, Phnom Krom.
Phnom Krom is a hilltop temple with views of Tonle Sap Lake and rice fields below. The view was defiantly the highlight of climbing the hill as the temples were not
View From Phnom Krom
The lake rises and falls with the wet season allowing rice fields to be planted continuously. in good shape. On the way home, MD stopped at a typical roadside drinking den for us to have a taste of his favorite drink: palm wine. Under the shade of an umbrella there was a blue bucket the size of a small garbage can containing frothy palm wine. We dipped in a little plastic cup and pulled out some of the savory stuff and downed it with ease. Behind the stall men sat around a low wooden table with their own little plastic cups and gave a cheer as we swallowed. Like most alcohol you need snacks. Beside the bucket of palm wine a lady was cooking BBQ fish and coiled up snakes over a charcoal fire. Before I tried any weird foods, I’ve said I’d need a drink in me and I just finished palm wine… so I tried a piece of snake. It tasted a bit like a combo of fish and chicken. Tastier than I expected and crunchier too since snakes have bendy back bones. Palm wine and snake are a cheap night out costing only 1000r ($0.25US) for a litre of wine and another 1000r for a whole snake. Jarrod wasn’t game for trying the
snake, but I’d eat it again if I had to!
Angkor Thom and Around The follow morning we woke early for sunrise (4:45am) at the Bayon temple. The morning air had quite a chill and we huddled behind MD trying to escape the wind. MD stopped in front of Angkor Wat, and was clearly shocked when we explained that we wanted to go to Bayon. He replied, “Oh, I never take anyone to Bayon for sunrise, people like Angkor Wat. You crazy, you the first ever!” We carried on but before long we arrived at temporary gates crossing half of the road and again MD came to a halt insisting that Bayon was not open for sunrise. It took a little persuasion that he could simply drive around the barricade and continue on and after a minute of deliberations we moved forward. When we arrived it was still dark and not a soul in sight. We waited at the entrance until there was just enough light to see where we were walking and then entered the temple. By the time the sun rose at 6am there was maybe half a dozen other visitors there and the place was eerily
peaceful with 216 identical faces staring down at you from all angles. We wandered around for three hours until we gave into hunger pains and got some breakfast. The faces were stunning but also worth a wander were the countless tunnels and corridors with carvings of everyday life and numerous old Hindu lingas hidden away in dark corners. Bayon was our favorite temple, and in our opinion, definitely worth waking up early for.
After breakfast we explored the other ruins around the ancient city of Angkor Thom and found another little jewel in the rough, Preah Palilay that was just off the beaten track. It was small and atmospheric and best of all, no other visitors. Outside of the city we visited a few other temples by the side of the road and decided that we wanted to get away from the crowds and find a temple, Ta Nei, off the beaten track that MD would not take us to and claimed it was not normal for tourists to go there and it may not be safe. Well, that sounded just perfect! We headed out down a small trail covered with dried leaves and broke through cobwebs as we
Bayon Faces
One of 216 smiling faces! wandered through the jungle. As long as we kept to the path, where others have trodden before, we wouldn’t hit a landmine. Jarrod was overzealous about watching for snakes on the ground and in the trees but I was more concerned about coming face to face with a hairy spider. The small path lead to a larger sandy road and within 10 minutes we arrived at Ta Nei. Just as we expected we were alone at the temple besides two Cambodian women chopping sticks for firewood. Ta Nei was interesting as it was overgrown with a few small trees and there were quite a few stones in the central area where they had fallen from above. On our way back we followed the dusty red sand road chatting when Jarrod leapt in front of me pushing me to the side.
SNAKE! He came one step away from a reddish brown snake one meter in length and just fatter than a golf ball. As Jarrod’s heart pounded I laughed at his overreaction trying to downplay the situation, saying it wasn’t as big as he thought and there was no way it could be poisonous (when really I had no idea). Jarrod
Almost Stepped On Him
And Carol says not to worry about snakes! didn’t buy any of my lies and ended up taking a picture of the snake just to prove his point:
It was big and scary. So after months and months of Jarrod being paranoid about tropical snakes his qualms have some legitimacy. We’re just glad we didn’t encounter any snakes on the smaller path covered in leaves! When we made it back MD knew we had ventured off because we had taken so long. When we told him about the snake encounter a crowd of a dozen other moto drivers collected around Jarrod in shock and disbelief about the snake. We thought because they are locals they wouldn’t be surprised at the snake, but they were clearly unnerved and wouldn’t be visiting Ta Nei any time soon.
From Ta Nei we visited one more temple, Ta Prohm, which is overgrown in a manicured way and famous for scenes from the movie
Tomb Raider staring Angelina Jolie. It was now midday and we couldn’t bare to visit another temple in the heat so we headed back to the hotel for a cool shower.
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Kevin
non-member comment
Bolder and bolder
It seems like you two have become quite fearless. Good for you, being that this sense of adventure has had some nice rewards. I checked out your snake on the net and as far as I can see it is a malayan brown snake. Harmless, but you can never be too safe since there are probably more than a few out there that aren't. Keep trekkin and take care.