7th - 25th Feb: Siem Reap & Angkor - Wats The Story Fallen Glory

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We crossed through the eastern Thai border of Poipet into Cambodia by bus, which was a long and convoluted affair. We had arranged for our visa’s to be sorted out by the hotel we were staying at in Bangkok, filled out a form, passport sized photographs attached and handed over our money, this way we were told, we would not have to wait around at the border…. hmmm, not entirely true. The bus en-route to Cambodia stops off at the Cambodian embassy/consulate in Thailand before arriving at the border and waits a good 45 minutes whilst the passports get processed, (delay number one) then when we do arrive at the border, the two open kiosks processing the influx of travellers are totally overwhelmed by the coach loads crossing and we are forced to queue for a good hour and wait our turn (delay number two). Finally we get through border control and have to wait for a bus to take us half a mile up the road (delay number three) we then wait patiently for our luxury taxi to arrive (luxury meaning a car, not a limo - the alternative was a cramped bus) so after nearly three hours of delays getting out of Thailand we are finally heading to Siem Reap. Where was this time we were supposed to be saving? The bus finally arrives at Seam Reap in the evening and we are dropped off at an affiliated hotel (most tour operators and coach companies seem to have a preferred location - not mandatory but usually fairly decent). We opted to stay the night seeing as it was getting late and we couldn’t be arsed to drag ourselves around town hunting for the ‘right’ hotel just now. After our long days travelling, a wash, a decent meal and sleep were our main priorities, so we settled in for the night and started our explorations the following day.

We set out early to find our new home for what we imagined would be a fortnight luckily this vibrant town is awash with very affordable accommodation with all the mod cons you could wish for. Normally finding a place would be a fairly straight forward affair but we arrived at the start of the Chinese New Year celebrations and were finding that a lot of the hotels had already been booked up for the coming weeks, this situation forced us to work a little harder than normal to find our staple double room with A/C, Cable TV, fridge and internet access - but we eventually came up trumps (stuck in our western ways - I know!) During our search for suitable accommodation, we were very fortunate to bump into the world’s friendliest tuk-tuk driver, a local lad called San who spoke very good English and knew of all the best, most reasonably priced hotels that we should be interested in. San was unassuming and very obliging and we got on with him almost instantaneously - after we had found our ideal location he helped move our baggage to our new home, then Claire asked him (apart from the world famous temples) if there was anything unusual, unique or hidden around Siem Reap he could show us, somewhere the regular tourists may overlook or not see in their clamour to see the temples. Without much of a pause for thought he informed us of a festival that was occurring in his village about 8km out of town, it was due to last for the next few days, coinciding with the Chinese New Year Celebrations - sounded like fun to us too, so we arranged to be picked up in the evening at around 7pm.

We didn’t know what to expect to be honest, a quaint village festival was what I had in mind as we wound out of the town and through the country roads past all the humble ramshackle tin roofed houses on either side of the road, at this time of the evening it was still humid and hot although a hell of a lot cooler than in the daytime. We pulled up under a huge fruit tree and San paid a man a fee to look after our ride, there were people everywhere coming together heading over a candlelit bridge and into a huge temple complex… it all looked very inviting. San guided us to a lady who was holding huge wedges of cash in both hands, we were informed to buy some money so we could then give it away to the temple and peoples we felt like. I think we purchased around $10 USD of money between Claire and I, it felt like you had literally thousands of pounds in your hands, monopoly money. We appeared to be the ‘token’ westerners for the night and as such drew crowds of children and the seemingly destitute of all afflictions to come and wave a bowl in our direction, with our new found ‘wealth’ we were handing out cash left right and centre, at first it makes you feel uncomfortable (you know rich westerner lording it up with the poor folks) but you soon realise that everyone from the locality is doing exactly the same. San explained to us that the money we give those who beg for it, is in turn given by the beggars to the temple - its payment for a better next life, karmic huh? The ‘Wat’ (temple complex) at the centre of all the celebrations was being officially opened by a high-ranking monk the following morning - we later find out this festival only happens once every one hundred years and here we were in the middle of things! There were fairy lights adorning the central pagoda and a bamboo trellis be-decking the floor, huge pits had been dug out at each cardinal point surrounding the pagoda (North, North East, East and so on) each pit was connected to the pagoda by string which ran inside the temple, the pits themselves were collection points where you would throw your money into, apparently each pit was owned by a family who were the major contributors of the Wat. The central Buddha image in the pagoda had a neon disco swirl effect happening behind his head radiating all the colours of the rainbow outwards and the craftsmanship and painting of the interior was exquisite. Outside the pagoda a fun fair was in full swing, a big wheel, ultra-fast chain-swings, side stalls with food, drink and silly games being played for prizes - all the fun of the fair. It was an unforgettable evening that we thoroughly enjoyed, so much so that we wanted to come back the next day to see the ‘Man’ open the place up properly. After finally giving all our monopoly money away we said good night and left the party still rampaging on. Next morning San picks us up bright and breezy and we are away again, this time it’s a more civil scene, the debris from the previous nights frivolities is still evident but the begging has calmed down considerably. We bought some more cash and awaited the celebrations to begin proper, again it seemed we were the only tourists here - he hey! The ‘Man’ (head monk) was due to be arriving at 11am so we idled around taking photos, the previous night had made picture taking virtually impossible due to the lack of decent light - one for the physical memory instead. The celebrations start up again and the ‘Man’ arrives, he is in a chair being hoisted head height and looking out over his subjects, regal in manner with big orange umbrellas shielding him from the sun. The procession starts a three lap course of the entire Wat, which we join in, following around chatting away to local kids who all seem to have a good basic grasp of the English language, why do we parade around the grounds three times - I have no idea. Three laps later the procession heads in towards the central pagoda, with the ‘Man’ leading the way followed by a group of seniors and village dignitaries followed by folks with all kinds of offerings including teams of men hefting huge boulders with the aid of bamboo poles which they use to ‘seal up’ the money pits which were filled up with cash the night before (if they remove the money before sealing or not - I don’t know). The main pagoda is thronging with the faithful and I settle for a seat outside as the ‘Man’ starts offering his consecration to the whole site, the shouts and wails erupt in chorus at the right places and the ceremony is a joyous success for all. Man what an introduction to Cambodia is all I can say and in a way it was just the taste of religion we needed - seeing it first hand in the present day, a freshly minted, ornately carved pagoda and Wat complex spreading out into the nearby jungle like terrain, moats and statues springing up in sync with the land. It sort of gives you a deeper appreciation of the achievements of past kings and the legacy they bequeathed with the now ruined antiquated splendour of Angkor, what it might have been like, how all these ancient temples were interlaced and woven together in a majestic plan such as it is…. Fallen glory.


Angkor (meaning City) was the ancient seat of power for the Khmer civilisation. Today this once ‘lost city’ can be found on the outskirts of Siem Reap and it’s gradually awakening from a deep slumber submerged beneath the surrounding forests to claim its rightful place as one of the worlds top tourist attractions. Think ‘Tomb Raider’, think ‘Raiders Of The Lost Ark’. When I first saw footage of the beautifully derelict temples of Angkor I simply fell in love, I had read about them in Graham Hancock’s book ‘Fingerprints of the Gods’ and later caught glimpses in his documentary he made for TV about ancient civilisations and their hidden knowledge - this vast temple complex just had to be seen first hand. The scale of the uncovered site is overwhelming, covering a whopping 75sq km, scientists now believe Angkor was the largest pre-industrial city complex in the world, closely rivalled by the Mayan city of Tikal (Guatemala). The same tingly feeling of something exceptional that followed me when witnessing the magnificent Mayan and Incan ruins in Central/Southern America was back. There are so many similarities between these civilisations separated by thousands of miles and a massive sea that it is truly extraordinary. Historically speaking the Khmer civilisation flourished and fell at roughly the same time as its Mayan/Incan counterparts, both had a similar God King divine ruler who bought balance and order between heaven and earth. Other similarities include the snake form represented throughout their glorious architecture intrinsic to their societies visionary building projects set amongst a jungle backdrop - global coincidence or consciousness? I’m no expert but it all seems spookily familiar.

With our seven day ticket in hand (for $60USD) we managed to comfortably take in the extensive network of temples and structures this UNESCO heritage site has to offer, we had heard some folk saying they ‘done’ Angkor in a couple of days - honestly this is one site you don’t want to be rushing. From the glorious morning sunrise at Angkor Wat (said to be the worlds largest religious monument) to Angkor Thom’s ornate walled entrances inviting you to the enigmatic multi-faced towers of the majestic Bayon Temple. Take in a tourist frenzied sunset at Phnom Bakheng, then you have the Preah Khan, Ta Som and Neak Preah group of temples to gander around not to mention the amazingly ornate Pink Temple at Banteay Srei, the list of temples is literally endless and all are ‘same, same but different’ to coin a local phrase. Nature is definitely winning here, the word ‘ruins’ has never been more apt than it is at Angkor, literally hundreds of temples are nothing more than elaborate piles of carved stone fallen amongst the impossibly standing remaining structures awaiting a possible re-assembly at some point in the future - the worlds biggest jigsaw puzzle. The jungle that once blanketed this lost city has been painstakingly cut back yet the more endearing images of this place are the temples with tree entwined creating the romantic image of nature reclaiming the man-made - utterly breathtaking. Believe me when I say you need a seven day pass to see it all at a leisurely pace, it gets hot out there (28+degrees) and tempers start flaring when you are amid the swarming tourist hordes. Everyone is eager to take that one amazing photo next to the tree coming though the building…. Be prepared for masses of ignorant and some down right rude folk getting in your way and not paying attention to crowds around them staring, willing them to look around and notice that they are stood in the middle of a photo opportunity, when they do finally move out of frame a fresh bunch of folk will come streaming in to your photo! As usual arriving earlier or later in the day helps a little but these ruins are so popular with the real show-stopping images in ultra confined areas so you just have to take a deep breath and sits it out before you finally get the pictures you are after.

The temples of Angkor are utterly captivating and enchanting but as with anything in life, too much of a good thing can start to wear thin and by the seventh day it must be said that we were completely ‘templed out’. The rest of our time in town we just kicked back and chilled out, there are plenty of things going on around Siem Reap and we definitely took in the best of what this vibrant hub has to offer. There are museums and galleries to visit - the main Angkor Museum has an amazing ‘Room Of A Thousand Buddha’s statues of Buddha rescued from temples around the site, all of them differing in scale, size and detail - unfortunately no photographs are allowed in this beautiful place, which is a crying shame (not even a postcard!). We took a boat trip up the Tonal Sap to visit the bizarre floating villages (more to come in next blog) and we took an afternoon visiting local silk farm. We did a little bit for charity at Orphaned & Disabled Arts. This group is self funded and is actually on the UNESCO site itself, passed daily by folks eager to get their temple fix. We noticed it fairly early in our ventures and made frequent visits, bringing food, drink, games, books, DVD’s basically anything we could to help, the organisation looks after children orphaned or abandoned by poor parents, it also assists landmine and polio victims providing them with life skills which include English and Arts lessons to build up self reliance and ensure they can provide for themselves in the future - a very noble and a good cause. We dined out nearly exclusively at the fabulous ‘Tigre De Papier’ every day, a delightful French restaurant on Pub Street that served the best food and a delicious coconut milkshake. After nearly three weeks in this beautiful part of the world we said farewell and took a boat up river to Battambang. So until then folks ‘leah sen heuy’ or goodbye :o)

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Photos

Wat Bo Festival: Main Man
The main 'Monk' hoisted above the masses

Wat Bo Festival: The Money Shot
Wads of cash thrown in a hole

Comments

[kelvinator]

nice pun
i always like to come up with puns for blog title, so i'm impressed with this one, good show lad.