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Published: March 25th 2010
Before we left Bangkok we took the very brave decision of letting a local travel agent organise our Cambodian visas for us, which meant we had to part with our passports for a day. Nervously we waited for their return and they did, with a genuine visa inside. Not only that but the very helpful travel agent advised us about visas for Laos and Vietnam - she was a real gem.
The following day was the beginning of our Cambodia adventure and, yes, the VIP bus to the border turned out to be a minibus with 12 people and their luggage stuffed on it - we should know better by now. We stopped just before the border to get some food and our Cambodian guide, who would take us across the border, advised us to change our dollars to Thai bahts on the Thailand side of the border and then change them to Cambodian riels on the other side as the exchange rate was better - again you would think we would know better by now. So we changed some, only to find that the exchange rate was better on the other side and this was a scam to get
Thai bahts into the country - welcome to Cambodia we thought. Also everyone in Cambodia uses US dollars and you don’t want to be left with any riels at the end of your trip - no-one wants them! The crossing itself was painless, albeit quite a lengthy wait, and it turned out that those who didn’t have a visa managed to get a seat whilst theirs were being processed by a very kind immigration official (no doubt with the help of a few riels) while we had to wait in the long queue!
The border crossed and the start of the 2 hour bus ride to Siem Reap. The first sight of Cambodia is a real gut wrenching experience but something we would have to get used to as we travelled through the country. Firstly, there is the abject poverty that many live in. The majority of the houses along the side of the road were little more than ramshackle wooden huts with corrugated iron roof tops which look as if they would fall over in a stiff breeze. Secondly, are the victims of landmines who beg on the streets. Difficult to say we would have to get used
to it, and thankfully we didn’t completely. The landscape was flat, parched and very, very dusty and is a stark reminder of how poverty stricken the Kingdom of Cambodia is. Enough of that because I don’t want to put you off reading the blog further; the country does have wonderful people who are inquisitive, interesting, friendly, funny and unbelievably hardworking and also it has the most astounding historic record of a lost civilization.
Our first hotel, the Sawadasee Inn, was a little further out of Siem Reap than we would have liked, which entailed a tramp down a red dusty road, with no street lights obviously, dodging crazy drivers of bikes, motorbikes, tuk-tuks, vans and every other vehicle you can imagine (even one day a boy dragging a cow). The main touristy area of the city has quite a few pubs and restaurants and a number of nice back streets which also have cheaper restaurants and souvenir shops for those disposed to do a spot of shopping. However the nicest place for shopping is the evening market, which turned out to be colourful and larger than we imagined. One thing that did surprise us was the cost of things,
fine it is cheap but when comparing it to Thailand, which is a much more developed country, the prices were not too much different; and sometimes more. After a little exploration the first evening, we decided to eat in the hotel - big mistake. Although the entertainment of cute puppies running around the place and chewing everyone’s shoes was a lovely diversion - Matthew has already lectured me about stroking them in case I get rabies so I promise not to do it again. The disastrous meal helped make up our minds that we would book into another hotel in the city.
Day 1 in Siem Reap and we had been advised by some other travelers that we met en route to go and visit the Angkor National Museum. We were reliably informed that this would give us some background knowledge of the Angkor temples and the history of the Khmer civilization before we embarked on our 3 day temple tour. After a short, and somewhat death defying, tuk-tuk ride we got to the museum. Road etiquette seems to be rather haphazard, although mainly they drive on the right hand side. Crossing junctions is a bit of a free
for all, they just seem to go for it, and merging into traffic means just driving onto the road and the biggest vehicle wins the space. But there is a lot of honking of horns which generally translated means “Here I am”! Anyway, the museum we felt was a little expensive at $12 each, but it was beautifully done and certainly gave us a lot of background information on the Khmer civilization, although apparently a lot is supposition because most of the accurate historical records have been lost. It also had artifacts taken from some of the temples, which spread over some 300 sq km, in order to preserve them and to save them from treasure hunters. Considering the stone statues and carvings are made out of sandstone we were absolutely amazed at the level of detail still remaining, the stone masons were definitely gifted artists. Little did we know it, but our amazement would not only continue but increase time and time again when we went to the temples themselves. The museum took us a half day to go round and after a quick walk along the Siem Reap river and a quick stop at Wat Preah Prom Rath
we felt we needed a quick snack, which was as much to get into some air conditioning as anything else, the humidity was absolutely unbelievable. Our evening was spent having a very nice meal in a place called the Temple, which also put on a nightly performance of the elegant traditional Apsara dance. These dances are depicted on the ancient walls of the Angkor Temples and in the reign of Jayavarman VII they were performed exclusively for the king and were taught only in the royal court. The dancers execute their deliberate movements with knees bent and smiles on their faces, whilst wearing tight fitting glittering tunics and elaborate headdresses - no mean feat in this humidity. It was a really enjoyable evening and something we were glad we saw.
The following day and we were off to visit our first set of temples. We had booked an English speaking tuk-tuk driver through the hotel (rip off - wont do that again) and anxiously awaited his arrival so we could get going. Well, after a while it was obvious something had gone wrong and he wasn’t turning up, so after some frantic phone calls by the hotel and a
short wait he turned up with some lame excuse. In the meantime we had taken a liking to another tuk-tuk driver, Varn, who we had chatted to when we were waiting and we decided to book him for the following day - you snooze you lose. We bought a 3 day pass at the entrance to the temple area which was really quick and easy. We had mapped out an itinerary for the day to include Angkor Thom, Thomannom, Ta Keo, Ta Prohm and lastly, but by no means least, Angkor Wat. All the temples we visited were astounding in different ways and this blog entry could be enormous, so I will just stick to writing about a few in detail.
To get to Angkor Thom we drove past Angkor Wat and it is difficult to describe how we felt when we first saw it without sounding melodramatic. As one of the most recognizable buildings in the world, even from a distance, its outline has a magical quality which makes your heart skip a beat and the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. Angkor Thom, translated as the ‘Great Capital’ covers an area of 1.8 miles
and is bounded on each side by a moat 328 ft wide and 20 ft deep. As with all the temples on your arrival you are immediately accosted by children trying to sell postcards, drinks and an assortment of other souvenirs with a ‘hey madam I will remember you, you come and look at my stall’. It is sometimes difficult to walk away, but also impossible to buy something from them all. However, it wasn’t as bad as we had feared and they were all very good natured and willing to have a joke and laugh even though they realized we weren’t buying. There are a number of monuments at Angkor Thom as well as the palace enclosure, Terrace of the Leper King and Terrace of the Elephants. It was huge and its immensity became immediately apparent as we walked across 1 of the 5 causeways that led to 1 of the 5 monumental gateways and the entrance to the magical Angkor Thom. The approach to the gateway consisted of two rows of either deities or demons holding multi-headed serpents. Even the gateway itself was something to behold; a 75 ft tall turreted structure with the four faces of Lokeshvara
on top and the three headed elephant, Airavata, keeping watch from the sides - breathtaking and so exciting as you anticipate what is yet to come. Many of the monuments inside Angkor Thom have been altered over time, by different kings and according to changing religious beliefs (Hinduism and Buddhism), but to our uninitiated minds it certainly did not detract from its magical quality. Although many have deteriorated beyond recognition, we were amazed at the quality of some of the bas reliefs of dancing Apsaras, Hindu and Buddhist religious iconography and battle scenes glorifying the kings. We managed to spend a good few hours here ambling around the remnants of what was once the mighty city of a mighty empire, soaking up the magical and ghostly qualities that still pervade every inch of the majestic ruins. Although, when you think about the temples of Cambodia everyone conjures up an image of Angkor Wat, and we couldn’t praise it enough, Angkor Thom is spectacular in its beautiful enormity.
After visits to Thomannom and Ta Keo (both fantastic) we headed for Ta Prohm, deliberately left to gracefully decay in the middle of the jungle. To all those Tomb Raider fans -
yes, here is the place where Lara Croft faced down Daniel Craig (before he turned into James Bond). The temple was dedicated by King Jayavarman VII, in 1186, to his mother. When she died she was deified as Prajnaparamita the mother of all Buddhas and Mistress of the ‘perfection of knowledge’. Matthew I hope you are taking note of what mothers expect from thier sons (obviously forgetting the mother of all buddhas thing). The most iconic image of this temple is its structure being choked by the kapok and the sacred fig and once you get passed the fact that Lara Croft is not going to jump out on you (well Chris is ever hopeful) it leaves you with the really emotional knowledge that the beauty and craftsmanship of the temple itself is only transitory and that in the war of man versus nature, eventually nature wins.
Could Angkor Wat top everything we had seen so far - oh yes. Our driver dropped us off at the back entrance to avoid the crowds, which was a bit disappointing because we wanted to go in the front way, but even that was a fantastic view. Angkor Wat, the most famous
of the Angkor monuments, was built by Suryavarman II from 1113 to 1150 and was known in ancient times as the ‘Sacred Abode of Vishnu’. During the reign of Jayavarman VII the Khmer empire embraced Buddhism and Angkor Wat was transformed from a Vishnuite sanctuary to a Buddhist Wat and the present name means ‘royal city’ (a monastery). The surface area of the complex is some 2 sq km and is surrounded by a moat fed by a canal from the Siem Reap river. I know I have used the terms majestic, ethereal, ghostly before in the blogs but all these cover Angkor Wat and so many more that I can’t think of. It is simply one of the most breathtakingly beautiful places that I have ever been privileged to see. It really does give you a lump in your throat, goose pimples and makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck - and all in a good way. Along its galleries it has the most beautiful depictions of battles, epic poems and religious iconography, although some has obviously been restored. Again those little minxes, the Apsara dancers, are portrayed in the “Churning of the Ocean of
Milk” being born from the waves and dancing in the air. The exactness of the complex, that can go unnoticed, is remarkable - if you look through one door the rest all line up. The overall beauty of it stems from the tiniest details, most of which you have to look really hard for to even see. We only had 1 ½ hours here on the first day and because we felt this really didn’t do it justice found ourselves drawn to it a further two times on our visit.
We were supposed to end the day with a look at the sunset from Phnom Bakheng, a popular spot as we traipsed up the hill in the waning light along with hundreds of other pilgrims. We reached the top only to find that the sun did not set over Angkor Wat as we had hoped, but to be quite truthful over a flat nondescript expanse. If we had thought about it carefully we would have realized that the geometry wasn’t on our side but what can I say a few of our brain cells have died since we have been away. Anyway we decided that we couldn’t be bothered
to hang around and make the steep descent in the dark, so headed off to beat the rush and find our tuk-tuk driver.
Well our second day of temple visits and we had a list (oh yes a list) of temples we wanted to go to including Angkor Wat (again) Prasat Baksei Chamkrong, Preah Khan, Neak Pean, Ta Som, Pre Rup and the Roluos Group. We were met by our tuk-tuk driver, Varn, and we set off although he couldn't quite understand our logic at visiting Angkor Wat again. I am not going to bother to go into the history of the temples we saw or how beautiful they were, suffice it to say it was another brilliant day. The children at the temples with their phrases of "hey lady I remember you" and tiny tots so cute with "you wanna beer" are really hard to say no to, and eventually we succumbed and bought some postcards from a sweet little boy and so as not to be seen to favour one over another, bought some similar ones from a little girl for the same price. We are so soft. As the temples were not quite so close today
we saw a little of the countryside and to be brutally honest it is flat, boring and parched with red dust that gets in all your nooks and crannies. How people manage to scrape the meagre living they do off this land is a miracle.
The third day of visits and we were off to Banteay Srei, Banteay Samre, East Mebon, Banteay Kdei and Prasat Kravan, although we decided right at the end of the trip that a few more hours at Angkor Wat was called for just to round off the visits on a high - yes we loved it that much. Our first destination Banteay Srei, modern name "Citadel of the Women", is a temple built, not by one of the Khmer kings, but by two wealthy landowners and was finished in 967. It gets its modern name because of the voluptuous female figures sculpted in the temple niches. It is very small but perfectly formed and, whilst in a worse state of repair than some of the better known temples, it has examples of some of the most beautiful stone carvings which have remained relatively well preserved. This is mainly as a result of the high
quality of the sandstone in which it was built. It really is a work of art in sandstone. The architectural symmetry of every aspect of the temple, from the alignment of the doorways to the roof of the three sanctuaries which staggers in a decreasing scale, enhances the beauty of the temple and then on top of that you have the most elaborate decoration in a lovely soft pinkish sandstone, which is ever-changing as a result of sun and shadow. The only down side, once again, was the vast number of us tourists who crawl all over the area like millions of ants.
Because Banteay Srei was a good 20 miles away from the rest of the temples, we had a good look at the local scenery and because we had probably the slowest tuk-tuk in all of Cambodia (although this title eventually went to a tuk-tuk in Kompong Thom - more about that later) we certainly had time enough to have a good look around. Again, sadly the scenery was one of poverty. What was nice though, were the amount of children who would run to the road edge and wave and shout with huge big grins on
their faces as we went by. On our journey we had seen some strange pots by the side of the road and asked Varn what the locals were cooking up. Well, this warranted a brief stop whilst he explained that they harvested the sap from the palm tree and then boiled it to make basically a cube of pure unrefined sugar known as "Angkor Candy" - we just had to try some of that and at $1 for three tubes we bought one for Varn as well. It was okay if you have a sweet tooth, but eat too much and you wouldn't have any teeth left.
After visiting one of the temples a lady at one of the stalls was really insistent that I sat to wait for our pineapple, she could probably see I was wilting in the unbelievable humidity. So I sat down and we had a lengthy conversation about family and children, of which she had four. After I sympathised with her a lot about having so many she was surprised that I had only one, and a boy as well, and questioned whether I wanted a girl to look after me in my old
age. Well, I thought it would be too complicated to explain that Matthew was going to build me a granny annex on his house when he gets one so I just nodded knowingly. We were soon joined by some of the smaller girls who had been trying to flog me stuff and after they realised I really wasn't going to buy anything spent a lot of the time stroking my arms and looking at my engagement and wedding rings. A long and spirited discussion on diamonds ensued and how great my husband was for buying me a ring with a diamond in! I felt a little embarrassed by this time and kept trying to change the subject, although they continued to stroke my arms and touch my wedding ring. Then one of the little girls had a really bright and entrepreneurial idea - if I didn't want to buy her flute for $1 then she would swap it for my eternity ring - obviously there was much hilarity to that especially as I felt the idea had merit. But the most heartbreaking thing was when one of them suggested she could be my daughter - brings a lump to your
throat.
Again all the other temples we visited during the day were great in their own way, but we wanted our lasting memory to be that of Angkor Wat so, much to the astonishment of Varn, we once again headed off there for an hour or two. Luckily for us it was much quieter than the other times we had been there and so we were free to stroll around the magnificent buildings not only envisioning what they would have been like in the days of the Khmer Empire but also what the people were like who built them, lived there and worshipped there. I think that no matter how many times we went back it would still give us those same initial feelings; it is a truly glorious and humbling place.
We were sorry to say goodbye to Varn, not only because he is a really nice young man who was pleased to help and took pride in the service he provided but also because he patiently tried to teach us some Khmer phrases without bursting into hysterical laughter at our clumsy pronunciations. We both wish him well.
In summary, Siem Reap was a surprisingly nice,
friendly and fun place and the Temples of Angkor were simply awe inspiring. We were almost sad to leave.
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Tee
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Hello
Nice pictures! I was just there couple of weeks ago and it is FREAKING AMAZINGGG!! If you go to the more remote temples it gets even larger and larger like Beng Melea and Koh Ker Pyramid! We was amaze how much temples there are to see! Truly beats Macchu Piccu!