Temples & Temperatures

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We arrived in Siem Reap and made straight for Dead Fish, a guesthouse chosen by Pascal (who we’d met in Phonsavan, then again in Saigon and Kratie) who had arrived a day earlier. It’s a slightly odd place, the rooms named after other hotels. Our room was the Hyatt, the Holiday Inn was just down the corridor. The oddness didn’t end in the guesthouse, the attached restaurant had multi levels and pulley systems running between the decks to carry food around. Oh and a pond with live crocodiles in one corner.


We were off out reasonably early the next day on bikes to see the Angkor temples. Things started at the Angkor Wat, then onwards to the various Angkor Thom temples. The Angkor Wat was an impressive size but some of the other temples were more interesting to walk around and over. The Bayon was unusual with many giant faces (over 200) carved into it. The temples I enjoyed most were the ones with the steepest uneven steps along with warnings that I was using them at my own risk. Cambodians have a higher threshold for risk than most, they use the signs sparingly.


A low point of the day was seeing the hash that is being made, with French assistance, of the restoration of the Baphuon temple. Restoration started decades ago in the "take it all apart and put it back together" style. It was interrupted by the rule of the Khmer Rouge who destroyed the records, so now nobody knows which bits go where. But thats no excuse for slapping concrete slabs down on the approach and rebuilding using all new materials. I don't see a reason why that is better than leaving it as ruins.


The following day we carried on where we left off, to see the other temples in the area. This we achieved, the photos do the talking.


Tom however was having a different day. Stomach problems had set in overnight, giving him a poor start to the day and ruining his appetite at breakfast and lunch. Despite the 4 litres of water he drank throughout the day he was dehydrated, and lacking the vital salts etc that the morning and the hot day had taken out of him. By the time we looped back to Angkor Wat with 7km to go back to Siem Reap he was done. We found a tuktuk to get him back to town.


On getting to the hotel room things weren't looking too good. Tom was laying on the bed, slurring nonsense then having a bit of a seizure, jerking a bit and with his eyes rolling back. Things were quickly sorted out with wet towels and and a rehydration drink, once he was upright and sipping it he was back to normalish remarkably quickly.


All the reading up I then did tells me this was heatstroke. It transpired he had stopped sweating with some distance to go and internal temperatures had got out of control. The reading also told me that it was a serious condition that required medical attention. He was stable so we left it to the morning, feeling a little better but with the headache still going strong it was time to get himself checked out. Saline drips, painkillers and various antibiotics later (and with a $300 bill for the travel insurers) he was sent on his way. The test report for his stomach against the bacteria heading was "a lot". Seems quite far up the scale, it wouldn't surprise if he's been carrying bad things in his stomach since the Perth/Xmas bout of illness.


We then spent an extra day than planned in town, relaxing for Tom's benefit. Following a recommendation we dropped in at the Angkor Century Hotel where, for a fee, we used the swimming pool and spa facilities all afternoon. The Cambodian staff looked on as if we were crazy as we enjoyed the outdoor pool during a late afternoon thunderstorm. They don't know what they are missing.

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Photos

Baphuon
Unsympathetic restoration