Angkor Temples

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Yesterday At 7am Ali, Emma and I boarded the bus for Siem Riep. After a 7 hour bus ride we arrived and set out to find a hostel. A couple of hours later Ali and I went to see the sunset at the temples, we bought our tickets for the temple complex and went to make use of a free sunset visit since the official working day had ended, we were there for about 90 mins and couldn’t see the sunset for the clouds but the sky turned a great shade of red through the gaps. Once we got back to the hostel we found a restaurant and had a bite to eat, there we decided to get up for sunrise at 5am so it was an early night.

At 4a.m Ali and I met our Tuk-Tuk driver we’d hired the night before. We agreed on $8 a day which was a bargain. It was low season and we knew drivers normally cost $15-20 for the day. We went to Angkor Wat. We arranged to meet the driver at the rest stop near the entrance. At the temple it was so dark that I had to use a torch to light the way through the temple steps and into the courtyard. We staked our spots to watch the sunrise at the pond in front of the temple. There wasn’t much of a sunrise to see so we made our way through the temple complex taking time to appreciate the scale of the place and the bas reliefs.

When we'd finished at Angkor Wat we went to find the driver at the stop but after 15 minutes of looking for him we gave up and took another driver to Angkor Thom.

At Angkor Thom we walked around the Bayon. I was fascinated at all the carvings of the faces, each one of the towers has faces carved into it facing in all four directions, the faces are 5-6ft tall making it even more striking. When we were ready to leave Angkor Thom we ran into our original driver and explained we looked for him but he wasn’t where we agreed, we gave him $1.50 for taking us to Angkor Wat (which was more than fair) then went to our new driver and left for Ta Keo. Personally if id arranged to be a driver for the day id make sure I was in sight when my clients were ready. At the temple the driver asked for $2 gas money, we gave him one just in case he didn’t return.

Ta Keo was next, the sandstone temple is located away from the other temple complex and is a nice spot to just take a minute to chill out. Chill out time is a requirement after ascending the narrow steps of the almost vertical staircase especially in 40 degree heat.

Ta Prom is impressive; it is an old temple complex famous for the giant trees that have claimed the temples as their own. It was one of the filming locations for Tomb Raider but as far as I know there isn’t an underground statue that neither comes to life, nor is there a floating market outside Angkor Wat, ah well, you can have it all.

Our driver told us he’d arranged another job prior to meeting us but he’d be back and that when we'd finished with one temple it was a few minutes’ walk to the next temple and he’d meet us there later. It turns out we had to walk around 3km in the hottest part of the day with no shade which we were none to chuffed at, we’d already spent hours walking around temples, temples are demanding. Once we'd finished with the temple we went to the area the Tuk-Tuk drivers rested to make our way back to the hostel. We waited 5 minutes for our driver who still hadn’t turned up before we decided to start walking along to find another Tuk-Tuk driver. No doubt the driver wouldn’t be too happy at only getting a dollar for taking us to 2 temples but if you’re not going to do the job don’t expect to be paid. After walking 3-4 kilometres down the road we found a drinks stop which had some moto drivers, they didn’t take our offer at the first place, we went next door where we were also shot down there was no way we were paying $8 for the day and $6 for Moto’s less than half the way. We walked away hoping to find a passing driver and within a minute the driver that rejected our offer sped up behind us so we both got on the moto. 3 people on a moto is common practice but not massively comfortable and can be dangerous. Travelling around Asia you see so many people with a bandage on their right calf - this is thanks to touching the exhaust of a moto, either as a passenger or driver. A few hundred yards ahead another moto joined us, it turns out it was our driver’s brother so we had a moto each and still paid the agreed price.

That night we met two people Ali met in Vietnam and we went for dinner and drinks. I left to go to the Kantha Bopa Children’s Hospital to see the weekly concert by Doctor Beat Richner Aka Beatocello, a doctor that has been working and fundraising for Cambodia’s children’s hospitals for 30 years. It was an eye opening and sobering experience. The deep tones of the Cello and the information the doctor provided between pieces really make a strong impact. We watched a 20 minute video on the history of the hospital and the plans for the future. I think everyone there made a minimum donation of $5, as I was putting money in one guy dropped a $50 note in, he was older and could probably afford it but I was still impressed, it’s hard enough getting donations in your own country.
When I got back to the restaurant the flow of beer was strong as ever and I didn’t complain. On the way to the concert I started haggling with my driver for the next day’s ride to Banteay srei and the landmine museum. When I got back I noticed him standing near the restaurant, I checked the price with the others and shook hands to seal the deal

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