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Published: March 14th 2010
The Bayon
Bas reliefs in the Bayon, which is on the north side of Angkor Wat.Thankfully our driver managed to miss everything that hurtled towards us on our journey from Ko Chang to Aranya Prathet, the Thai border town with Cambodia. We reached the border at lunchtime and were deposited at a restaurant. Our guidebook advises that there is a bit of a scam at this crossing where tourists are taken to a (cousin’s?) restaurant where visas are arranged. Yep, this happened to us and there really is no way around it unless you forego your onward bus. They sting you US$36 for the visa, whereas at the border it is US$20. It is annoying, but sometimes you just have to accept their “way”. Although we didn’t let them get away without a bit of an earbashing. At the border in Cambodia there is a money exchange offering 4000 Cambodian reils for US$1 (current rate 4,150) and 2500 reils for A$1 (current rate 3,750). Crikey they’re pulling a swifty!!! We passed on changing money as we already had some US money (and 7 days later I haven’t used any reils - they only want “Dolla”). The second phase of the scam is on the Cambodian side, where the bus stops at another (cousin’s?) restaurant before getting
The Bayon
More Bas reliefs you to Siem Reap in the dark at about 7:30pm. They take you to their “company’s” hotel, but I think you can read “family” in the Italian way. We already had a hotel reservation which was only a short walk, but not knowing where the hell we were, we got a remork (tuk tuk). A driver called John Brown (not his real name I am guessing) was on the bus and offered to be our guide in Siem Reap, so he dropped us to our hotel.
At 10am the next morning he was waiting for us out the front of our hotel. The hotel arrange drivers and tours and we had sounded them out on prices. As Johnny (as I now call him) was the same price we thought we would give him a go. We ventured off into the jungle to explore the ruins, well not quite jungle as it’s a bit like Kings Park with temples. The site is pretty awesome and was constructed between 800AD and about 1300AD (the latter date being around the start of Machu Picchu). The temples, unlike Machu Picchu, are ornately carved with scenes from life in Cambodia at the time. Most
South Gate
The statues protecting the gates to the Bayon. of the carvings are of battles with other tribes, which was probably more interesting than the woman down the road cooking up a dog. The most famous temple is Angkor Wat, but the other temples (Angkor Thom/Bayon) are equally as impressive. Our driver was keen to take us to see the Tomb Raider temple and suggested that Angelina was still there (although I suspect he actually meant the local orphanage). Covered with large tree roots the temple is just standing, but is a very impressive site and worth the trip. Of the monuments we have seen, Angkor is certainly right up at the top of the list and we were pleased to have done Machu Picchu before this.
Cambodia is not exempt from children hawking for you to buy trinkets and postcards. At times they get quite passionate about their wares and when you decline they can become quite grumpy. Leanny was mobbed by about 5 children at one of the temples and they were like a dog with a bone. All you could hear was “hello madame, you buy this, you buy that, how many you want, only one dollar”. On the second day one such child obviously
decided he could say something naughty to me when I declined to buy his postcards. I turned and looked at him saying “Calm down tiger, it’s not that bad”. He looked a little shaken and obviously thought that I understood what he had said and with a small pout he turned a walked away.
Our entry ticket was valid for 3 days in any week, so the second day we ventured further afield to see carvings in a riverbed some 50km to the north, followed by two more temples on the way back. It’s actually very tiring seeing so much (but I doubt if anyone will sympathise - I wouldn’t) so we decided that Saturday would be a day off. This gave us a whole day to explore the town of Siem Reap, which we managed in about half an hour. The town is very westernised and everything is in US dollars, so it’s quite easy to buy stuff. Our final day was spent at the Roluos Group of temples about 16km out of town and a return to Angkor Wat to see what we missed on the first day. Being Sunday it was relatively quiet and allowed us
Angkor Wat
The front entrance. The day before all you could see were tourists. to get some photographs without a long wait for tourists to clear off.
Monday 5am as the alarm goes off, how I hate that but at least it’s not for work. We are travelling to Battambang by boat and have a scheduled bus pick up at 6am for a 7am boat departure. Cambodians get up at first light so it was busy with children going to school and people working on the street as we drove the 11km to the “port”. Well not really much of a port as it was a dead-end canal. Hawkers attacked us as we alighted the bus, with offers of bread and cheese with coca-cola for breakfast “only two dolla”. Our hotel had made us a breakfast burrito each so we were fine for food. Our next hurdle was the gangplank to the boats which was about 40 metres in length, steel plate at an angle of 30 degrees and very slippery. Inching our way down we thankfully didn’t fall over, indeed quite surprisingly no one fell over, although two guys did slide most of the way down. There were two boats, an enclosed sleek boat and an open wooden piece of crap, yep,
Angkor Wat
A crazy Japanese couple took this. They love making V signs in photos - a funny lot indeed! that was ours! We sat on the boat watching the world around us pass by as there was a hive of activity along the banks with boat builders and repairs. Our interest was caught by a boat being rolled along the bank and then launched. At 8am (already an hour late) we reversed out from the dock and promptly hit something. The driver and his crew of one ran to the back of the boat and got to work trying to fix the rudder (always helpful). Half an hour later we set off again but the boat wasn’t exactly going straight, so we pulled over at a boat repair dock 200 metres down the canal. About 45 minutes later we were right to go and promptly blocked the canal whilst turning the boat around before setting off. The boat crosses lake Tonle Sap, which is a vast water catchment that drains to the Mekong delta over summer, but refills from the Mekong river in the wet season (the flow of water reverses). Halfway across the lake a bad burning smell drifts over the boat and the engine is cut. We drift for another half hour whilst the deck is pulled
Angkor Wat
The bit in the middle. up and repairs are made to (we think) the water pump. The repairs consisted of a plastic bag wrapped around an exhaust pipe thing. This repair managed to get us off the lake and into the river system on the opposite side before - you guessed it - the boat broke down again. More repairs were made and after another 40 odd minutes we chugged our way upstream. Reaching a fork in the river we stop at a floating shop for lunch. Our driver persuaded 20 of us to change boats for the remaining trip to Battambang with a promise of only 2.5 hours, but 4.5 hours in the old boat. With our luggage still on the old boat with numerous reassurances of “luggage is ok, no problem” we set off up river, well no longer a river but more of a stream! The smaller boat appeared to have as much trouble navigating the waterway as we had previously experienced and even ran out of petrol at one point. Although a reserve tank was onboard we still drifted quite a few hundred metres back from whence we had come. It was about 5pm by the time we reached Battambang, a
Angkor Wat
This is one of the 'gate' houses at the rear of Angkor Wat. 1.5 hour longer journey than the 2.5 hours promised. In hindsight the old boat would have been better as our “new” boat was cramped and we couldn’t stand up in it. It was with great relief that we crawled out of our floating torture device and walked up the embankment. Smiling faces greeted us and a little man holding a sign with our names on burst into an even bigger smile as we declared ourselves as his pick-up. I gather they had been waiting a long time for the boat to arrive, but the “real” boat was yet to arrive. In broken English and with the assistance of other tuk-tuk drivers we advised our new friends that the “boat” would be another hour or more and it had our luggage. Our driver called the hotel and we were told to describe our bags to Ree (spelt Rey), a local tuk-tuk driver and he would bring them along when the boat arrived. Well, we thought, there’s really nothing of value, and this isn’t South America, so what the heck (we also have travel insurance). We jumped into the taxi and were promptly sitting in air-con with a cool drink. Our bags
Angkor Wat
View looking west to the temple. did turn up about 2 hours later. We had showered and had ordered room service sitting in the hotel robes relaxing - it’s hard travelling y’know.
Rey the tuk-tuk driver met us the following morning after breakfast to take us on a trip out to the temples (yep - more temples). However, our first stop was the Bamboo train, a single track ricketty rail line of about 10km with flat wagons (with bamboo ) powered by lawnmower engines. The trains take you at death defying speed along what was once a proper rail line, nowadays it is rather warped in both the horizontal and vertical alignment requiring the driver to slow where the rails have actually parted. You cannot help but smile and laugh as you head down the tracks. When a train approaches from the opposite direction the “less loaded” train is dismantled and lifted off the tracks to allow the other to pass. It takes about 1 minute to complete the dismantling and reassembly operation. At the far end there are two shop stalls selling drinks, with an old woman pawing at you and a very cheery young woman. The young woman will show you around the
brick factory on the promise of you coming back to her shop and buying a drink. She was a great guide, had little English, but enough to allow understanding. Back at her shop we imbibed a coca-cola and gave her a dollar tip for the visit. She was very grateful and offered us bananas. We sat drinking with gypsy curse glares from the old woman next door (but that’s business, you’ve gotta fight for it!). An old woman came along selling peanuts, but not as we know them. The peanuts were fresh and still soft and very peanutty tasting (well of course you say) and I now understand how they make such good peanut sauces here. We roused our train driver from his hammock (somewhat reluctantly on his part) and rebuilt our bamboo chariot to once more laugh in the face of death (well broken limbs and heavy scarring should we actually crash).
Sadly, once you have seen one temple in Cambodia, you have sort of seen them all. But unperturbed we smiled and were led to two temples by our driver. The first required some 358 steps to reach the top and it was hot and sweaty work.
Leanne and a Tree
Apparently Angelina Jolie made a film here before she bought all the local kids, probably a dollar each. The temple engaged us for all of 10 minutes and then we took 358 steps back down. The next temple had about 1,200 steps and Leanny put her foot down and took a motorbike to the top. Feeling I needed the exercise I walked (I think I lost 20kg). I wasn’t too bad and I met a lot of locals on the way who said hello and some professing their love for me (amid shrieks of friends’ laughter I might add). I beat Leanny to the top as she stopped on the way to look at a cave where the Khmer Rouge slaughtered locals and threw them into the cave through a sky light in the roof. It is now a shrine in their memory (all this happened between 1975 and 1979 - in our lifetimes - even though governments had promised after the Nazis “never again”). The temple was relatively new and not worth the climb. Although Leanny’s driver offered to take me down, I persisted and walked to the cave and then back down the 1,200 steps. I was hot, very red faced and sweaty and instantly reaped the condolence of the locals walking up, who smiled, said
Local Servo
Our Remork driver filling-up. hello and asked if I was hot. Yes I f***ing am! Isn’t it a little obvious? But they are such nice people you just can’t be offended or be offensive to them. Leanny, bless her, was sipping a cold can at the bottom chatting to Rey. “Ohhh, you look hot, want a drink” as she offered me her remaining sip of Sprite. Rey suggested I have a Coke and promptly arranged one, which went down a treat (I don’t normally drink it). As Rey requested the drink, they cost us 50c. As Leanny had already paid a dollar (onlee one dolla) my drink was free - one of the benefits of having a local with you.
Rey picked us up at 9am the following day for another temple visit, which is stated as being the “inspiration” for Angkor Wat. Today it is half standing in a pile of stones and not really worth the $2 each admission. The Tourist Police take the entrance fee and as we approached and said “hello”, he looked up gruffly and without interest. “Chom reap sourr” I said in my bad Cambodian. The police looked up and gave me a huge big smile and
Hotel Notice
As you all know it's only the best for my Leanny! said hello back. “Welcome please, please sign in, it is $2 entry for each of you” he looked at me with that “I hope that’s ok” look. It’s amazing what learning a little of the language can do (although he could have let us off the $2!!). We visited a new shrine dedicated to the victims of the Khmer Rouge that is located over an old burial ground. Bas-reliefs have been created surrounding the shrine depicting the horror and brutality of the Khmer Rouge and range from a depiction of the local people being driven out of Battambang town to rape and torture of alleged “prisoners”. Thousands of bodies were buried on the site and some have been exhumed and placed in a glass room which gives an idea of the level of desecration that occurred. Rey told us how his grandparents died during the Khmer Rouge reign and how his mother at 8 years old was forced into hard labour to build a dam. Rey said “it was Khmer killing Khmers” with a sad look and shaking of his head, an almost disbelief that it could happen.
Rey took us to the market and the old railway station
Remork of Death
It's all smiles until somebody gets hurt, but they are safer than tuk-tuk's. as “tourist sights” that we should see and then asked if we would like to see his home and baby. He lived off a main road, through his uncles garden over the rail tracks and then over on the right. A small but clean house stood on a 20m x 20m plot of land with a wooden lean-to on one side. It was his mother’s house and his uncle lived there too. His uncle greeted me as though I was an old friend, we sat down to drink tea, while the family watched us, which was a little uncomfortable and a bit like being a zoo exhibit. Rey had a cute little 6 month old baby girl that just smiled and cried, then smiled as we pulled silly gringo faces at her. As we left his uncle shook my hand vigorously and gave me a hug. They are such nice people here. Sadly we don’t have enough time to absorb the culture and we must once again hit the road to Phnom Penh.
Phnom Penh is an interesting city and it is slowly being restored after the population was evicted in 1975 by the Khmer Rouge. Our hotel was
Local Wedding
Wandering the streets of Siem reap we stumbled on a full rendition of the King and I adjacent to the Royal Palace down a dingy side street with a few market stalls and a lot of homeless people at the far end. Although off-putting, we were not harassed nor did we feel threatened by anyone in the locality. It was a different story along the waterfront bars and restaurants. We noticed on our first night that alfresco seating was amply available and decided to get a street front seat. It was about 2 minutes before the first beggar arrived and was followed by a steady stream of them. There are a lot of children roaming the streets trying to sell books (knock off Lonely Planet books predominantly) and some get a little aggressive after you have told them “No” twenty times. Thankfully they are short and weedy, so a punch to the face gets your point across nicely.
There are not many tourist sites left in Phnom Penh, thanks to Pol Pot, but the morbid can venture out to the Killing Fields and get a feel for the atrocities that occurred here. The second stop is S21 prison which is in the city centre and was a school before being converted. The history here is quite
Only a Dolla Mister
Jonno goes crazy in the market. shocking and somehow it is unbelievable that it was allowed to happen in our lifetime.
Our hotel arranged for our bus tickets to Ho Chi Minh City and advised us of an 8:30am departure at the hotel. This was not quite correct, sitting down to breakfast at 8am we were told our pick-up bus was waiting for us outside. The hotel made us a breakfast to go as we quickly got our things together. Even though we made the bus a little late, everyone was okay with this and we arrived in plenty of time to board the big bus to Vietnam.
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Laura
non-member comment
Loved your blog on Cambodia! so exciting that you are now in Vietnam. We spent a month there in 2006 (don't quote me on the year)and loved the place. There is a town called Nha Trang on the about half way up on the east coast that is worth a stop. It would be a good for a few days relaxing on the beach. There is also a vietnamese photographer based there which is where we brought the black and white photos in our dining room. His name is Long Thanh and its def worth a look. Anyway kids hope you have a awesome time!!!! Laura x x x