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Published: September 9th 2007
Angkor Thom complex
Photo by Jeff Roberts
www.eyeballimaging.com/blog*
Many of the photos in this blog entry were taken by Jeff Roberts at www.eyeballimaging.com/blog ©2007*
After a few relaxing days by the lake in Phnom Penh, Jeff and I took a 6-hour bus to Siem Reap, the home-base for visiting the famous temples of Angkor. Way-too-loud Cambodian karaoke videos blared away on the TV screen in the front of the bus, while tiny villages and rich green countryside slid by outside the windows. Outside of the dusty cities, what we saw of Cambodia was absolutely beautiful. Flat green rice patties stretch in all directions, interrupted only by idyllic palm trees, grazing buffaloes and small elevated thatch and wood houses. It was nearly impossible to sleep with the TV so loud, but the view out the window made the time go fairly quickly. We stopped twice at dusty roadside restaurants, where children surrounded us in an attempt to sell baguettes, pineapple and water. We made it to Siem Reap in the late afternoon, and checked into a mostly-vacant, very new but characterless hotel a short walk from the main restaurant district. We then wandered into central Siem Reap, which has become a surprisingly sophisticated tourist trap, full of bookstores, restaurants,
ancient Buddha statues inside Angkor Wat
Photo by Jeff Roberts
www.eyeballimaging.com/blog bars, coffee shops, clothing stores, craft shops, massage parlors and internet cafes. We sat down to dinner at "Khmer Family Restaurant", ordered a set meal for two, and were happily blown away by the great curries and spring rolls. Siem Reap has definitely capitalized on what tourists are looking for, although the tourist areas seem completely disconnected from the rest of the city. Even our hotel was situated in a still-mostly-local neighborhood, where the few hotels stood between houses and tiny Khmer restaurants. But I have no doubt that same road will be only hotels and tourist restaurants in a few years--development is very obviously exploding in Siem Reap, with enormous blocks of condos under construction and huge hotels creeping closer and closer to the temples themselves.
Aside from eating, checking email and shopping for cleverly-packaged overpriced trinkets, there isn't much to do in Siem Reap itself. Everyone there is there for the same reason--Angkor Wat and the rest of the Angkor temples. The tourists were certainly dense on the main road in town, but we had no idea just how dense until we got to the temples themselves. We hired a tuktuk driver to pick us up at
temple remains
Photo by Jeff Roberts
www.eyeballimaging.com/blog 7 a.m. to begin exploring the large number of Angkorian temple ruins scattered outside of the city. We figured, arriving fairly early, that the crowds wouldn't yet be very bad. In fact, 7 a.m. wasn't even remotely early for the Angkor-visiting crowds. An enormous dusty parking lot across from Angkor Wat was filled with tour buses and tuktuks, their drivers dozing as they waited for the tourists to wander back to head to the next temple. We passed Angkor Wat for the moment, deciding we would need to get up earlier to see it before the crowds arrived. Instead we started with Angkor Thom, a large complex of crumbling temples covered in faces and reliefs. The buildings were constructed with huge bricks, which were carefully carved to show the Buddha's face looking quietly down on all who wander through. Algae clung to old walls, and the darker passageways smelled of guano. And everywhere, except for the darkest corners, there were tourists. Huge matching-hat-wearing tour groups followed leaders with megaphones and flags. Bored-looking people in tacky Angkor-period costumes charged $1 to pose for photographs in front of the ruins. The sun beat down on all of us, even though it was
before 8 o'clock. We hadn't been anywhere so crowded or touristy since the Taj Mahal. But of course there was a reason there were so many people there, and the temples did in fact make the crowds worthwhile. We took our photos, then moved on to another temple. There are five or six very popular temples, and many much smaller and less-visited spots. Most of the major temples are big, and took a few hours to walk through and explore. We stayed out until around 11, returned for lunch and a nap, then went back to visit a temple where the jungle had begun to embrace the ruins, wrapping its vines around pillars and pushing tree roots through cracks. A few huge trees grew from the top of walls, their thick roots hugging the bricks below. We spent the afternoon there, until the sun began to set and the temples closed at 5:30. Then it was back to town for dinner and an escape from the heat. Dinner turned out to be an attempt at Mexican at a place called Viva. Jeff and I have an extreme weakness for Mexican food, and we have tried it way too many times
in way too many places in Asia--which is not exactly the world's best place to get a taco. Nearly all of our attempts had resulted in extreme disappointment and the realization that we should stop trying... but we weren't able to stop trying. And finally, our persistence paid off. Viva served great, very convincing tex-mex and Mexican dishes, and the margaritas were good too. We were thrilled. So thrilled, in fact, that we went back an embarrassing number of times during our stay in Siem Reap. We stopped needing a menu, and Jeff bought a T-shirt. They loved us, or at least our money. We didn't care--we loved them too, or at least their tacos.
We decided to change hotels to a place with air conditioning and a small pool, which sounds luxurious (and was, by our standards) but was luckily only a little more expensive--and fully worth it, since sleeping had been frustratingly uncomfortable in the last a/c-free room. We made full use of the pool over the next couple of days, especially after returning from the temples.
The next morning, as planned, we got up even earlier--5:30 this time--in an attempt to see the sunrise behind
Angkor Wat and beat the crowds. A beautiful pink sunrise began as we drove to the temples, and by the time we got there Angkor Wat was shockingly full of other sunrise-watching tourists. Apparently, sunrise was earlier than we thought. We would try again tomorrow. We watched the last bit of sunrise, had a quick breakfast at a small breakfast stand near the temple, then explored the inside of Angkor Wat. A variety of chambers and stone walkways led us into the center, past crumbling Buddha statues draped in fresh orange cloths. In the center were a set of insanely steep and shallow steps (did people in the Angkorian period have tiny feet and extra long legs?) leading to another chamber with views of the surrounding moat and jungle. Long hallways on two sides of the complex showed detailed bass reliefs from ancient texts. We explored thoroughly, then returned to our tuktuk to move on to another temple. Aside from a lunch and swimming break, we spent the day in Angkor, leaving before sunset to return to town for dinner and an early bed time. We got up at 4:15 the next day, absolutely determined not to miss sunrise this
time. When we got to Angkor Wat it was still wonderfully empty, although the crowds began to stream in behind us soon after we arrived. We watched the sunrise, had breakfast again at the small stand, then continued visiting temples for the rest of the morning. We visited a few we had already seen as well as a few new ones. At lunch time, having been at it for over five hours, we decided we were done with the Angkor temples. It was fascinating and humbling to see them, but temples all begin to look the same after a few days, and the crowds become intolerable. We spent the afternoon in the swimming pool, then had a last Mexican dinner at Viva. The next day we would return to Phnom Penh by bus, and the day after that we would fly back to Bangkok.
The bus ride back to Phnom Penh was the usual Cambodian experience, plus spiders. At one rest stop the couple in the seats next to us re-entered the bus with a large plastic bag full of deep-fried hand-sized spiders. They would pull the legs off one at a time and munch them like potato chips,
then eat the appallingly thick torso in a few dainty bites. And then reach for another. I watched in morbid fascination. I had seen plenty of insects for sale in Thailand and Cambodia, but I hadn't had the chance to watch someone enjoy them. And they really did enjoy them. Two Italian guys in the seat behind them were almost standing on their seats in order to watch the feast. The couple ate spider after spider, licking the grease off of their fingers in between morsels. I have long-since overcome my fear of spiders, even the big ones, but the idea of eating them was still unsettling. The couple was very entertained by the staring tourists around them, and they very kindly offered the spiders up to share. I'm ashamed to say that of the four of us, I'm the only one who didn't try them. Jeff and the Italians shared one, pulling off legs and crunching on them tentatively. Jeff tells me the taste wasn't bad at all, which I would believe--they wouldn't eat them otherwise. They split the torso too, although one of the Italians looked a little sick from biting into such a thick little spider body.
In fact Jeff ended up eating more than half of the little guy, for which I'm quite proud of him. I'll try eating the spider next time the chance arises, I swear.
Once all spiders had been consumed the rest of the bus ride was uneventful, and we made it to Phnom Penh in the late afternoon. We spent a night in a hotel room on the lake, had a very good Greek salad for dinner, went to the Russian market very briefly the next morning so that Jeff could buy T-shirts, then headed to the airport to fly back to Bangkok.
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Roommate
non-member comment
I love the colors of these pictures. My favorite is Jeff eating a burrito. :) I can't wait for your return, I am counting the days.