Tomb Raiding

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So we arrived in Siem Reap at dusk, and were rather surprised to see a tuk-tuk driver waving a piece of paper with our names on it. Somewhat dubiously, we went with him for our ride into town (it was free, afterall). He took us where we wanted - didn't seem to be a catch. How odd. I think they do it to try and get your business for the temples. Our driver was a very nice shy seeming guy called Lychee, so as it turns out we did give him our business for the temples. The tuk-tuks here are different. They're different in every country actually. Here they are a moped with carriage attached and are very comfy!

The streets of Siem Reap were crazy - absolutely packed with tuk-tuks and mopeds and with absolutely no road rules. We were excited to be back in a city. We weren’t sure when we would go to Angkor Wat, so we couldn't confirm anything with Lychee, so we took his number. We called him the next day, and he was every so surprised and grateful that we did. He says people never call. I guess it is very easy to find someone else - you cant walk 2 paces down the street without someone offering to take you to the temples, but Lychee was nice and we are loyal.

If you don't know anything about the temples of Angkor, you should go to Wikipedia of something and look them up, because it's no use me recounting the history and all that here! In short, there are lots of very big and very old temples (it used to be a city and the capital of the empire from the 9th - 15th century). Angkor Wat is actually meant to be the biggest religious building in the world. It's Cambodia's biggest tourist attraction, and seemingly a great source of pride to Cambodians. Angkor Wat is on the national flag and is the Angkor is the name of the national beer! Well, they are pretty nice, so why not. Slightly more impressive than Stone Henge.

After a day exploring Siem Reap we had Lychee come pick us up before sunrise to take us to the Temples of Angkor. Seeing Angkor Wat at sunrise is one of those things you're just supposed to do. As it happens, it was a mercifully cloudy day so there was no sunrise to speak of. But I don't think we would have lasted an hour if the sun was blaring down on us, it was so hot.
Anyways, we left Angkor Wat pretty quickly to try and avoid the crowds. Lychee took us to the walled city of Angkor Thom, and we looked around some really cool temples. Most notably Bayon which had loads of cool big heads carved into the stone. And it was practically deserted. We felt very Angelina, only a little more sweaty and a little less agile.

We also went to the 'Tomb Raider Temple' where the film was filmed. This one was very cool indeed and was partially ruined with tree roots growing all over the walls, trying to engulf the place back into the forest. You can see why they chose it for the film! Unfortunately this one was packed with tourists. You could loose them by walking off the main paths and weaving through the ruins.

Some of the other temples were almost pyramidical in shape and had steps carved into the sides. Remarkably, you were allowed to climb up them, which was somewhat hazardous given the gradient, height and worn nature of the stone (800 years will do that to you). And there's never a safety fence in sight.

Lastly (at about 3pm, this was as long as we could last) we re-visited the main event - Angkor Wat - which isn't as cool as some of the others if you ask me. The top most parts were shut off. But there was a monkey going round raiding the bins!

I'm sure you could spend a week or more looking round all the temples in the area but knowing as little as we do about architecture of the history, 1 day was enough. Besides, it was seriously expensive to get in and we were knackered after one day anyway. That, and there's only so much of looking at semi-ruined temples in incredible heat that one can take, no matter how cool the temples, no heat-related pun intended. Apparently most of the damage to the temples was caused by the Khmer Rouge bombing it in the late '70s! What a massive shame that is.

And so, for the rest of our time in Siem Reap we did little but eat snacks in our air-con room while watching movies and cartoons! It was too hot for much else...

Next we took a bus to the capital Phnom Penh, as it was shortly to be Independence Day.

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Comments

[Jen]

Random comments
Loving your hippy top Bex! How much do you love the fishermen's pants?! That photo of Angkor Wat and it's reflection is stunning. Dude, you are so brown!!

[mum and dad]

Little did we know
We can remember buying at least 2 Tomb Raider games - little did we know it would lead to this. And what on earth are "crocs in Dead Fish"? I hope they were on the menu. Love Mum and dad