Siem Reap (7th-9th March)

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After a 12 hour bus ride to Bangkok we grabbed a taxi across town to the North-Eastern Bus Station and picked up a bus to the Thai-Cambodian border. After about 5 hours we were dropped off about a mile short of the border so we grabbed a tuk tuk (who tried to rip us off several times!) but finally arrived at border control where we passed through pretty uneventfully. That was at least until we got to the Cambodian side where we had to sort out a Visa. Unfortunately we didn’t have any passport photos, so they tried to charge us an extra 10$ each but we managed to strike a deal at 5$ for the both of us plus the 20$ each that was mandatory. The chap then tried to get even more money out of us for an efficient service, either it would take us two minutes or two hours! Dan had a few choice words and suggested that the tourist police might be interested before opting for the two hour option. 5 minutes later we had our visas and were on our way! We jumped on a free bus to the bus depot where we were then guided onto a bus just about to leave for Siem Reap. The bus wasn’t brilliant, the A/C was questionable but we had lots of space as it was only half full. The 140km journey took us 6hours (and we only had two stops for the toilet and food), but the road was un-made and riddled with pot-holes the entire way. We think we may have been scammed as our dinner stop was a little longer than necessary and they took us straight to a guest house of their choice, hoping that because we were tired and it was late that we’d stay there. We didn’t let them bulldoze us into staying there though and grabbed a rickshaw to one we’d found in the LP. Unfortunately it was full, as was the next, and the next….but eventually we found one, the Bakong Lodge. The staff were friendly and the room had A/C and a t.v. (Dan was pleased as he wanted to watch the footie), however there was no hot water, but we didn’t find that out till later on. Our tuk tuk driver seemed really nice and offered to take us around Angkor the following day so we agreed to meet him at 9 the following morning. For dinner we took a stroll to see what we could find and ended up at a pizza place down a rather modern street of restaurants and bars. The food was excellent.

We headed off to Angkor after a good nights sleep (we didn’t have any of the footie channels!) and an interesting breakfast. The ride there took about 10mins and we got to see quite a bit of the surrounding town. Its a bizarre place to say the least. Due to the constant influx of tourists, you have a range of five star hotels and fancy boutiques that sit alongside complete slums and extreme poverty. Then to cap it all off you have a street in the centre (aptly named 'bar street') that looks like its straight out of London and gives no indication of the poverty that sits just metres away. A westernised cocoon!

After we'd got our three day passes sorted (which cost a mere 40$ each!) we headed on into the 'Lost City'! Angkor was a lot larger than we'd expected. There are two set tours (the large and small one) which all the Tuk Tuk's seem to recommend, and I'm glad we got one as you wouldn't even be able to walk the small tour in a day (well, you could, but you'd fry in the heat!). Our first stop was to buy a very over-priced guide (only 10$ but we were later offered it for 1$!!) and then it was off to Angkor Thom. Built in the late 12th century, it was actually one of the largest of the Khmer cities, surrounded by 12km of walls, 6m high and 8m wide, and was home to Dani's favourite temple, the Bayon. The Bayon is incredibly complicate in it's layout due to it being re-modeled by later kings who found it easier to do this than knock it down. It features the stone faces (of Avalokiteshvara) often associated with Angkor, and in total there are 216 on the remaining 37 towers (originally there were 49 towers in total). After spending a lengthy time here finding our way around, we headed on to the next two temples on the tour, Thommanon and Chao Say Tevoda. These two relatively small temples sit opposite each other and essentially have the same layout, though the latter is in a far more ruined state. As you can see from the photos, we also came across some monkeys (long-tailed macaques) playing in a small lake.

Then it was on to Ta Keo, a ‘temple mountain’ built of sandstone. Angkor Thom had been really packed with tourists which was a shame, but in complete contrast, Ta Keo was practically empty, probably because you had to climb up nearly 70ft of almost vertical steps to enter the temple. The view from the top was pretty good but there was a lot less to see here than at Bayon, and the trip back down was pretty hairy!!

Ta Prohm was our next stop, a temple monastery, which we found particularly wicked because a number of trees have grown among the ruins (the silk-cotton tree and the strangler fig) and are now integral to the buildings support. Of even more significance (especially for Dani!) is the fact that this temple was used in the first Tomb Raider movie (do you recognize the tree?).

After a spot of lunch (some very good veg and noodles) it was on to Banteay Kdei, which was essentially a smaller version of Ta Prohm, though it did have a seriously impressive tree, which made Dani look miniscule. While here we were propositioned by a policeman who wanted to swap three of his police badges for Dani’s mobile. Unsurprisingly we didn’t take him up on the offer!

Our second before last stop of the day was the very impressive Angkor Wat, the largest religious building in the world. Built in the early 12th century, Angkor Wat was a city in its own right, surrounded by a 190m wide moat. The temple itself is made up of pyramids with concentric galleries depicting various scenes from Khmer mythology, including the Victory of Krishna over Bana, a historic procession, heaven and hells and the Churning of the Sea of Milk. Angkor Wat is thought to symbolize the Hindu universe, with the pyramids representing the home of the gods, Mount Meru. Climbing up to the top of the temple was challenging to say the least although the old boy at the top put us to shame!

Angkor Wat certainly lived up to our expectations and in many respects exceeded them, though its not the size of the place that stands out as such but the intricate nature of its design and the immense attention to detail…..completely different to anything either of us had ever seen before. The only criticism would be that at just about every turn your view was filled with another tourist….how awesome it would be to have it to yourself.

Our last stop for the day (upon our guide’s recommendation and alongside every other single tourist in Siem Reap!) was set on the top of the hill Phnom Bakheng, with views of Angkor Wat and the surrounding countryside. It was a good spot to watch the sun set from but the temple itself was pretty simple compared to what we’d seen throughout the day and once again involved a hefty climb.

The following morning it was a seriously early start (5am) despite being absolutely exhausted from the previous day’s antics so we could see the sun rise over Angkor Wat. If we hadn’t already arranged to meet our guide, I don’t think we’d have got up, but it was definitely worth it. We spent a good hour or so watching the sun rise (hopefully the pictures do it justice). The moment was slightly tainted though as Dan was in a foul mood as his camera had a virus which meant that it wouldn’t work…..mmmmmm….or could it possibly be that you just had a flat battery Dan??? (as Dani later pointed out!)

From Angkor Wat it was on to Preah Khan, which is a larger version of Ta Prohm. Built in the 12th century, it was originally a Buddhist university, home to over a thousand teachers and was also a city in its own right. This was one of Dan's favourites, though to be fair this probably had more to do with the fact that there were loads of different birds in the area! The temple was really good to explore, with a maze of corridors and we had it to ourselves, which was a nice change from Angkor Wat.

The next stop was Neak Pean, a small monument surrounded by four ponds, that as you can see from the photo, have since dried up. There are a number of stone fountains at the sight which would have been very impressive had they been working. There wasn't too much to see here so we quickly moved onto Ta Som. Ta Som was pretty cool, once again having a similar layout to Ta Prohm, though just as we arrived, a bus load of Japanese tourists pulled up and piled into the place so we didn't hang around too long.

We visited one more temple, Pre Rup, before heading back to the guest house for a nap, well it had been an early start (early for us anyway!). This one had a steep climb but also some good views from the top and some awesome carved elephants and lions. After our nap we grabbed a late lunch at a restaurant called The Red Piano which did a good tuna sandwich then headed back into Angkor where we went up in a hot-air balloon (tethered to the ground) to get a view of Angkor Wat. This wasn’t quite as good as we’d expected as when selling it, they tell you it’s an ariel-view and the pictures in the office are all taken from above, but the reality was that we were quite far away and not that high up really, and the view of Angkor Wat wasn’t exactly ariel.

From the balloon it was on to The Bayon again. Our guide had warned us that the sunset is not so good here as large trees surround it, and he was right, although the temple did look good in the last light. As the sky had turned a really wicked pink and purple colour after the sun set the previous night, we thought we’d head over to Angkor Wat and see if we could get some photos there. Unfortunately we were a bit late and were hurried back out again because they were closing for the night.

That evening we went back to The Red Piano for a very good dinner. We even splashed out on a beer and a cocktail (Dani was desperate to try the Tomb Raider cocktail introduced there by Angelina Jolie when she visited the restaurant while she was filming at Angkor!).

The following morning we left Siem Reap for Phnom Penh, a 6 hour bus ride away.

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Photos

The Bayon
Can you spot the man upside-down in the bin?

Comments

[Ma and Pa]

Balloon
Balloon, What Balloon? You didn't say anything today about a balloon.

[Ma]

Balloon
No wonder Dad said there was a blog for me to read LATER.