The Splendour of Angkor and the Naja Naja

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Our three day trip to the Temples of Angkor have been a definite highlight of this whole adventure. Situated in the north west of Cambodia the temples were built by the devaraja "God Kings" of the Angkor Civilisation between the 9th and 13th centuries. The nearest town to the temples is the rather touristy Siem Reap and we based ourselves here for our three day exploration of the temples.

Just trying to get your head round how the Angkorians conceived these structures is mind bending enough, let alone how they actually constructed them. Even today as they lie crumbling next to the jungles you can't help but feel completely dwarfed and overwhelmed by them. We overdosed on the history and did our best to see as many of these temples as possible. The French had gradually reclaimed the temples from the dense jungles over the last 150 years and have gone about restoring them.

It's hard to describe everything we saw here but definite highlights were our first approach to the Angkor Wat temple itself with it's vast moat and soaring towers. The biggest religious building in the world. Also The Bayon in Angkor Thom is stunning with its 216 colossal staring faces of Avalolitesvara staring down at you whichever way you look. And also the eerie Ta Prom which the restoration team have decided to leave as they have found it being attacked by the jungle. The huge trees look like they are strangling the stone temples with their roots. Not surprising it has been used as a backdrop by Hollywood, most recently Tomb Raider.

And as seems inevitable in our trip to Cambodia, there is always a surprise around the corner. Whilst taking a leisurely stroll around The Baphuon temple we quickly realised why all those signs out back were warning us not to enter the jungle. Catherine tapped me on the arm, stopped dead in her tracks and whispered the words "Oh my God!". I looked down and about 1 metre from of us was a Naja Naja (The Cambodian Brown Cobra). It was 1 metre long and coiled up. It's head was raised about 12 inches off the ground and its face was all puffed out. Like a true trustworthy fearless male I turned on my heels and shouted RUN!. We ran for it and left him go about his business. Afterwards I thought about the small Cambodian kids we had seen playing near the temples and I decided to inform the sleeping security guard about the snake through the medium of sign language.

After a few minutes of me hissing at him he got the message and set off after the snake with his sleeves rolled up. No chance of a humane capture and re-release into the wild in Cambodia. A wild cobra would fetch a great price at the market and could be used in all kinds of potions and lotions. We slipped off after this leaving the security guy and his buddy hunting for him in the rocks. Hopefully he got away.

So if you get a chance to get to the awesome temples of Angkor then definitely go for it. Siem Reap is not a bad town either, it has some good restaurants and some even better potholes. After debating whether to abandon the buses and ascend into Vietnam by air, we realised our budget wouldn't stretch to two flights out of Cambodia, so we braved the roads again and spent a further two days getting to Ho Chi Minh City via a night stopover in Phnom Penh.

If you want more photos from Angkor Wat, you'll have to drop into our flat next year as we accidentally sent a CD back home before putting them online, doh. So, sorry about the lack of good shots from the temples!

More news from Vietnam will be coming shortly... stay tuned.

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