Day 77: Angkor, what?

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Our trip from bangkok to Siem reap went very smoothly compared to some of the horror stories we had read at talesofasia.com. This was probably due in part to the fact that we arranged all of our own travel instead of going with a packaged trip from Khaosan rd, which are supposedly riddled with scams. Our trip started at 5:15 am and ended at 2 pm, whereas the packaged trips leave at 7 am and end at 7pm.

First we took a taxi from Khaosan rd. to the north bus station. It took three different drivers before we found one that would turn on the meter. We'd ask "Meter?" and they would say yes, but when you got to the cab they would try to negotiate a price instead, swearing that it was cheaper than the meter. But of course, the metered cab we took was cheaper than any of the prices we had been offered. We tipped him a little bit for his honesty.

From the bus station we caught a 6 am bus to Aranyaprathet, which is in thailand, about 6 km from the cambodia border. The bus was very comfortable, and I think I was actually able to sleep for most of it. We arrived in Aranyaprathet at about 10 am. From there, we got a tuk-tuk to the border, which is a fixed price of 80 baht. We made sure that he drove us straight to the border. Apparently a few of the scams occur on this leg of the trip, such as the tuk-tuk driver taking you to the cambodian consulate for an overpriced visa.

Once at the border, we were approached by a few scam artists with fake forms to fill out, but we told them to get lost, and they left us alone. After getting our Thai exit stamps, we walked over to the cambodian visa office. On the way there we were approached by a cambodian who called himself "Mr. Lonely", wearing a yellow shirt, that pointed us in the right direction. I'd read that the yellow shirt guys were actually helpers for the cambodian government, so we listened to him and he was actually quite helpful. He didn't ask for any money at any point either. At the visa office we did pay an extra 100 baht on top of the $20 for the visa, which apparently makes everything go more smoothly. I've read it is possible to get away without paying it, but we didn't feel like raising a huge fuss over $3. From the visa office we got our cambodian entrance stamps, and walked the rest of the way in to cambodia. The whole border process only took about 20 minutes, piece of cake.

We met another american girl from Utah, traveling alone, to split a taxi to siem reap in cambodia. I think they've recently changed the transport system between the border and siem reap, because it was different than anything I'd read online. Taxis from Poipet (the cambodian border town) to siem reap are now fixed at US $12 per person. Much better than the $60 per cab, which I had read online. The cab ride took about 3 hours, and the road was smooth the whole way.

Instead of taking us to the guest house that we requested, the taxi driver took us to an area full of tuk-tuks. Either he didn't speak english, or he pretended he didn't, so finally we gave in when the tuk tuks swore that the ride would be free. We soon found out that the purpose of this leg of the trip is to allow the tuk tuk drivers to try to solicit their services as a temple guide, for the following day. When we first got in we asked to go to the "red lodge", which was recommended in the lonely planet. Our driver said that it was closed for reconstruction, but I was very defensive due to all the scams I'd read about, so I told him we had a reservation, and he took us there anyway. It turned out it actually WAS closed for renovation, which made me feel like quite the jerk. He took us to a different guest house called "home sweet home" which was actually pretty nice (although we switched to "good kind guest house" next day, nicer and cheaper). We weren't ready to schedule a driver for the temples though, so he left a bit angrily.

Instead of rushing right in to touring the temples of Angkor, we decided to spend the next day exploring Siem reap a bit. It is a nice little town, with a river running through the middle. We rented bicycles from our guest house for $1. In the afternoon we found our way (after a few wrong turns) to an outdoor pool called "Aqua", which is run by a british guy. It was pretty nice, considering the surroundings. Once you get away from the central tourist area of siem reap, you see how poor cambodia is. But everyone seems pretty happy nonetheless.

Yesterday we got a tuk tuk driver recommended by the guest house (later we found out it was the owner's brother) to take us around Angkor wat. Angkor is an area with tons (hundreds?) of temples and ruins. The route that he took us went by all the major players, though. Since we aren't huge history buffs (or temple buffs, if there is a difference) we decided to just get a one day pass instead of a 3 or 7 day pass.

First in the tour was the infamous Angkor Wat. It is pretty darn impressive. The whole complex is a square, surrounded by a moat, with concentric areas enclosed by walls as you make your way in. The skyline is very recognizable as it is also on the cambodian flag. We spent maybe two hours walking around taking pictures. On the north side of the temple there are tons of monkeys walking around. We took a few pictures and videos. Here's one:



That reminds me, my camera is back from the grave! The screen had stopped working maybe 3 weeks ago when we were snorkeling in Phuket but when I turned it on yesterday it seems to be working fine now. I'm pretty stoked.

Next on the tour was the city of Angkor Thom. It is also square, and surrounded by a moat that is probably 3 times as wide as the one around Angkor Wat. The city is HUGE, (I think "thom" means "big" in cambodian) and contains a bunch of ruins. Our driver dropped us off at Bayan temple, which is in the very center of Angkor Thom. It was probably both steph and my favorite spot on the tour. Bayan temple has over 200 huge faces, each on a big spire facing all four directions. Creepy and beautiful at the same time. After Bayan we walked through several other ruins and temples, and met our driver on the north end of Angkor Thom.

By this time we were hungry for lunch, so our driver took us to "restaurant #8", which was right in between the identical looking "restaurant #7" and "restaurant #9". While waiting for food we were approached by several cambodian kids selling post cards. To show that we didn't need any more post cards I brought out two packs of post cards from my bag that steph had bought at the rice terraces in China. Soon enough we had a crowd of 8 children around us looking at all of our post cards. We let each of them keep one as a present.

After lunch we went to Ta Prom, which was supposed to show how the other temples looked before they were restored. We were confused when half of Ta Prom was closed for restoration. But it was still really cool - there were trees growing up through the walls, and much more rubble than some of the other temples. I found a "secret" passageway that I insisted on taking steph through. Basically it was a skinny path through some ruins that probably should have been blocked off for tourists but it wasn't. I don't think steph was as impressed as me.

We saw a few more ruins on our way back to town, but nothing particularly impressive. I'm glad we only got a one day pass. For some people though I hear 1 week is not enough. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

Today we are taking it easy in siem reap for one more day before we move on. We're trying to decide between going to the Ratanakiri province for some waterfalls and trekking, or skipping it and going straight to the beaches of sihanoukville.

Sorry for the long blog! I'm killing time waiting for pictures to upload (slow connections in cambodia + lots of pictures of Angkor) Here's some of the pictures that have uploaded so far:

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Comments

[Matt Potterton]

Why not restaurant #9?
I've read good things about #9.