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Published: February 20th 2009
Cambodia
Angkor Wat at sunriseSo, quite an eventful few days again, but we have made it into Cambodia relatively unscathed (more to come...)! and it was somewhere we were both looking forward to seeing. Cambodia is a place full of huge contrasts, and as we don't have a long time here we have condensed our trip into two halves - seeing the amazing, triumphant history of the country, and also its horrific, and shockingly recent past. The first half of our trip is concerned with the former. Alas - as with all good stories - let us go back to the start, to when we were in Bangkok....
17th February 2009
We arrived on our 13 hour overnight bus from Krabi at 0530 - exactly on-time! We found a taxi that was willing to use his meter - no mean feat in Bangkok! - and gave him the address of our Hotel, written in Thai. 30 minutes later we left our confused driver and walked the final few streets to our Hotel. We wouldn't normally dwell on our accommodation, but our Hotel here needs sharing. Called 'The Atlanta Hotel', it is a "budget" hotel (just!), that prides itself on its fine morals and standards.
Bangkok
The Atlanta Hotel From the outside you are immediately made aware of its self-importance, by the signs that read "The Place you were looking for - If you know it", and "Established: Before You Were Born". In it's defence, the reception is a crazy retro, chic 1950s design (used in many films) that looks untouched from when it was first opened, as the first Hotel in Bangkok with a swimming pool and air con. The list of rules are both strict and hilarious. "No Sex Tourists" tops the list, but the bottom one was our favourite...."No Complaining" - If you are to complain and the hotel disagrees with your complaint, you will be asked to leave! Having stayed there, we have no doubt that this is said without humour or irony!! The hotel also had its own travel office, and so we decided that to avoid any unnecessary problems, we would buy our bus tickets to Cambodia here - we realised that the cost would be a little more, but at such a reputable establishment we felt we were in safe hands....
After checking in at our hotel and having a wee rest, we decided to make use of the swimming pool for
Cambodia
Sculptures in Angkor Wat a couple of hours relaxation. In the evening we took a walk to San Luam Night Market, which is the poshest and cleanest market we've ever been to, and so came as a bit of a surprise comparative to our last visit to Bangkok! We picked up some bargains though, and then made our way by tuk-tuk (by far the fastest in Asia!) to Khao San Road, to reminisce and take in some 'backpacker' haunts. Feeling the effects of an over night bus, and knowing what was ahead tomorrow, we had an early night.
18th February 2009
SCAM ALERT! Day 50 of our travels didn't turn out as we had hoped... We had read alot about the notoriously bad border crossing from Thailand to Cambodia, but felt quite relaxed having bought our tickets the previous day from such a 'reputable establishment'. Wrong! We were picked up at 0800, 30 minutes late, and although we didn't know it yet, this was an omen of things to come. We arrived at the border town (Thailand side) at around 1230 having needlessly stopped twice. We were taken to a restaurant where we bought our Cambodian Visas, which we knew we were paying
Cambodia
Ta Prohm - Nature fighting back! over the odds for but, again, this meant we could relax and continue stress free. Wrong again! We were taken to the border and after queing for an hour or so, had left Thailand and entered Cambodia. From here we boarded a bus, to take us to the bus station(!), where we were informed that it was a further 7 hour journey. This was at 1500, when we had been assured we would be in Siem Reap by 1800! The Thai-Cambodia border we passed through deals with thousands of people per day, yet on the Cambodian side, there is no permanent road to Siem Reap - incredible. There is a strong rumour that this is because a national airline is paying the Cambodian government to NOT finish the road, meaning more people fly! This is where the scam comes into its own. Whilst sitting on the bus with 30 other people, the tour guide lets the idea of 7 more hours on a bumpy bus sink in, when he lets 'slip' that we can take a taxi that will "use a different road" and only take 2.5 hours. Roughly 20 people took this option. The most annoying thing at this
Cambodia
Someone's watching you... point is that you have your suspicions that he is exaggerating the turmoil ahead but as you cannot be 100% sure and really don't want to risk it, you go with your best option...we found an english girl and a Canadian guy to share a taxi. Who supllies the taxi? The tour company of course. So you pay twice, at inflated price, for the same trip! Not a great introduction to a country, but as it turns out, a completey false one.
And so we arrived in Siem Reap, found a great hostel, ate dinner, strolled around the night market, had a shower, watched a film, sent some emails, and were tucked up in bed by the time our bus was due to arrive.
This maybe reads worse then it was; the monetary value wasn't huge, and we were fully prepared to get 'scammed' at some point, we had just assumed it would be in India, and not from a reputable hotel! We laughed it off, others may not be so forgiving.
19th February 2009
For 600 years, until the mid 1400s, Cambodia was the 'Rome' of South East Asia. At the heart of the ancient Khmer empire was
Cambodia
Being watched at Bayon Temple Angkor Wat, described as the 'heart and soul' of Cambodia. Angkor Wat is the largest religious buliding in the world, but amazingly was "lost", along with the uncountable other temples surrounding it, in jungle for over 400 years, when a french explorer stumbled across the 9,000,000 square metre site - what a find!! To get around this huge complex we - alongside our Candadian friend, Cliff - opted for a remorque-moto (a trailer pulled by a motorbike!). We bought a 3 day pass and decided to do a full days exploring to get a feel for the layout. We started at Angkor Wat (where else?), which is almost impossible to comprehend the size of, with every inch covered in sculptured stone work, it is epic. From here we went to Banteay Kdei, which had the feel of a giant puzzle, with stones sitting mortar free, suspended purely by engenius engineering and gravity. It was quite scary walking under seriously heavy roofs simply leaning on each other! The next temple is almost equally as famous as Angkor Wat, due to it 'starring' in the film Tomb Raider. Ta Prohm has been left as it was found 150 years ago - once
Cambodia
A gateway to Angkor Thom man conquered the jungle to create the temple, now the jungle is reclaiming the land by almost swallowing the temple! Its looks very cool. We had lunch and took in some of the minore temples, all equally impressive, before ending day 1 at Bayon, a temple that from a distance looks nothing but a pile of rubble. On closer inspection however it is covered in 216 two metre high faces looking out in all directions. Amazing!
That evening, back in Siem Reap, we bought our Visa for Vietnam, and ate sweet and sour beef served in a pineapple, as you do! A great day.
20th February 2009
After a tiring first day, we slept in a little later today and spent the morning wondering around the town. Despite it being extremely tourist heavy here, you wouldn't know it to walk around the laid back streets. The morning passed by quickly and we were ready for day 2 inside the temple complex by 1pm. Again on our trailer - but with a speedier driver this time - we headed for the 'grand circuit' of temples. These are lesser known temples but still hugely impressive and huge in size. It's amazing
how an hour or two can have passed by the time you get back to your driver. Climbing tiny yet steep steps up towards the blistering sun, looking back over the bright green jungle and maneouvering Indiana Jones style through tree covered stones is a great way to lose yourself! (As well as a stone in weight through all the sweating - it's hotter here than anywhere else we have been.) But as our day turned to 5 o'clock and the temperature began to cool, we travelled with the masses up to the mountain temple, Phnom Bakheng, for sunset. Being at such a height enabled us to see the mighty Angkor Wat in all it's glory as it is just too large to really appreciate up close. That evening back in town we headed for the night markets in search of some artwork to bring home. We found some but whether it makes it home with us in one piece (it's rather large!) is another story.
21st February 2009
Today we bit the bullet and got up at five to head back to Angkor Wat for sunrise. Despite some ridiculous comments heard while waiting, this was a spectacular sight. We arrived while it was still dark and having forgotten our torch, stumbled through the outer wall into the main temple grounds. From there we positioned ourselves ready for the rising of the sun - which we almost missed as it took so long! Hopefully the pictures will do our wait some justice as the sun rising between the peaks was immense!
This afternoon we are heading to the other end of Cambodia - the capital Phnom Penh - where we think our next blog will be in stark contrast to this one.
From what we have encountered (except at the border!) the Cambodian people so far, who are as much in need as other countries we have been to, do not approach you as beggars. They use either their talent or charming wit to talk you into a sale. We thought we had gotten good at saying no but 1 book, a pack of postcards, pineapple, water, coffee and a painting later, we realised that these guys are just too good! It almost feels good to part with your money as just having a conversation with them is a pleasure. Their English is great and they are as sarcastic and ironic as we are. In fact, most of the time they have been better!
Until next time...
D and H
xxx
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Steve
non-member comment
Wow, now that is a Temple!
Hey! Cambodia looks tres cool, really incredible Temples! I'm impressed in your commitment to see sunrise over Angkor Wat. Really sounds like the people are great too! Loved the 'No Complaining' rule.......that is inspired!! Haha! I'm looking forward to seeing the 'artwork'..........maybe you should photograph it just incase it doesn't make it back in one piece!? Right. must do some work, can't make comments all day........have fun kids!