Angkor Wat - wow!

---

Got talked into doing the Temple bit on my fiirst full day by the tuktuk driver who took me to the hotel - $18 seemed reasonable with another $20 entrance fee to the Temple area - this pass covers the whole of the temple complex - about 100+ temples spread over 100 square km. What I thought was really cool was they take your photo with what looks like a webcam when you buy the pass and then they print the poass with your photo on it! The same technology is used at the airport in Phnom Penh by immigration and customs. Anyway, off we set and immediately I'm struck by the fact we are travelling along a very long and very straight road. This seems to be an ancient and worldwide device for making the final destination seem even greater and grander - think about it - Roman roads were all straight and all led to Rome, the long causeways and roads leading to the ancient Mayan and Inca Temples, the approach to the Taj Mahal, The Mall leading to Buckingham Palace, the Champs Elysee and the Arc de Triomphe. I'm sure there are many examples of this all over the world and Angkor Wat is no exception. Just before you get to the Temple the road rounds the end of a Lake surrounded on the far side by woods. In the early morning coolness this could be any English country estate and then you see Angkor Wat - wow! I get dropped at the entrance to the 400m stone causeway. This causeway is made from solid stone blocks about 3.5 feet in length and 2 feet wide. There are a pair of holes drilled right through situated approx 5inches from either end - this apparently was for transportation - they tied long carrying poles to the stones using the holes to pass some form of rope through and then picked the stones up like a sedan chair. All 3 of the Hindu Temples I saw today were constructed with stone blocks like this. A hort way loang the causeway the midle line of stone blocks are turned on their sides as if the causeway has been ruptured by an earthquake or one half has subsided. It doesn't impede progress at all and shows the stone blocks to be around 12inches thick. The is a lake either side of the causeway and a kind of gatehouse to pass through. Once through this you have an unimpeded view of the whole frontage of Angkor Wat - an impressive sight in anyones book. The inside of the Temple is very cool and shady, and packed with tourists! Several restorations have been undertaked over the years and some of it none too authentic or clever - using concrete to fill in holes in the wall or plaster that doesn't blend in properly. That said you still get a good idea of essence of the place and what it was used for. I must say it looks and feels more like a palace than a religous temple. By the time I come out water is coming ou of every pore - it must be 35C - even the locals are perspiring and looking hot.
I manage to find my tuktuk in amongst a hundred other tuktuks and after 15 minutes find the driver! Next stop Bayon - this one is my favourite and the most run down looking. My tendonitis is playing up again but doesn't stop me from clambering up and down the ruins and the steps. On the approach to Bayon I saw monkeys roaming around looking for tourists to mug - 'your bananas or your wallet!' Do not trust these little thugs they are well known for theiving and getting aggressive if you don't produce the bananas! Fortunately, they don't hang about in the ruins but other forms of 'mugger' do! I found a statue of the bhudda strategically placed so you could bypass it with a woman encouraging you to take a lighted incense stick from her and place it in the sand tray before the shrine and make a wish or something - you then get charged a dollar for the privelige! In a Hindu temple too! Escaping this I find some interesting wall carvings that iron oxide in the rock has stained reddish brown when a young lad appears and starts to tell me a few facts about the temple - this quickly turns into him being my guide -this sort of subtle selling technique is typical not of the Cambodians but the Vietnamese so it's no surprise when he asks me for a 'donation' to enable him to go to school in Dong! I only have 35,000VND left and this is a paltry amount, he then spots the Thai baht I have and tries it on for 300baht - I tell him politely that this is far too much (about $10) for 15 minutes talk about Bayon temple and give him $2 - he's not happy but etiquette and the SE Asian way prevent him from getting annoyed and aggressive about it. I leave him in the ruins no doubt to repeat the whole act for another unsuspecting tourist, hopefully with more money than sense this time!

Me and the tuktuk driver have lunch at one of the makeshift restaurants across the car park - I am [estered constantly by small girls trying to sell me tourist tat. One cheeky one tells me that she only understands the words 'ok' and 'yes' and that she doesn't know what 'no' means - I tell her if she knows those 2 words then she doesn't need me to pay for her to go to school by buying postcards. She understands me perfectly and changes tack to being an outright annoying nuisance who says she'll only go away if I buy something - my tuktuk driver says something in khmer and she scowls at him and moves on to the next table and starts all over again.

After lunch we go to Ta Prohm this is the temple covered in giant tree roots that was used in the film Tomb Raider. It's real Indiana Jones stuff but is in the process of yet another restoration at the moment and half of it looks like a building site and is closed to the public. After this we go to Banteay Kdei (the Lost Temple) - was only rediscovered in the 1920's I think and is actually a Bhuddist Temple - the only clue to this is the enlightened smile on the faces carved into the rock walls - it is unmistakably the smile of the bhudda. The faces in the hindu temples do not smile like this at all.

We get back about 14:30 - the Asian tuktuk drivers seem to want to do 2 things when 'hired for the day' at a set price - have lunch at their mates place at your expense and finish b 14:00. They alwats offer to pick you up after you have had your siesta and take you to another mates place for dinner and then they try and charge you again. Obviously there are 2 days in one here!

I ask him to pick me up at 18:00 to go to the night market and to an Indian restaurant I found in Lonely Planet - he seems puzzled about the restaurant and later when we pass it pretends not to know what I'm saying. The 'night' market is a total tourist trap complete with a pool filled with Doctors fish and a guy charging $3 for 15 minutes 'foot massage' by the fish - apparently they 'suck' all the dead skin off your feet. 2 tourists were already dangling their feet in as I burst out laughing at the bloke trying to get me to part with $3! He is confused by my reaction but I don't give a monkeys $3 here is a lot of money and 15 mins with the Dr fish is total rip off! You can get a full body massage here for $3. I get out of the market after 20 minutes and try and get my tuktuk driver to take me to the indian restaurant - again the blank expression and then the reason why - 'you come with me to traditional khmer Apsara dancing - it start soon so we go now' I tell him that dancing is for girlies and I'm not interested - 'but it help Cambodian people' 'I've already helped you enough now are you going to take me to Curry Wallahs or do I have yo walk?' A bit miffed he takes me to Curry Wallahs raher than risk not being paid.

Curry Wallah is great - simple, authentic, basic indian food dirt cheap! Just like Rusholme (Manchester) and Brick Lane (Londons East End) used to be 15-20 years ago - 2 cokes, a curry, rice, chapati, popadoms and chutneys for 4 quid!

Full of curry I call it a day.

---

Comments

[Mandi]

Happy New Year
Happy New Year Nigel. Sounds like you are having a terrific time. Any chance of you posting some photos of these fabulous places? Love Mandi xx

[sara]

angkor wat
Do have any pics of the holes in the stones