Our last stop in Cambodia - Siem Reap (Day 89 - 91 by Gemma)

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Monday 14th December 2015

Today was a day of travel, flying from the smallest airport in Sihanoukville with only one flight a day, to Siem Reap, home of the Angkor Wat temples. We arrived in Siem Reap at 4pm after a very short 40min flight and were met by a Tuk Tuk driver to take us to Community Homestay where we would be staying. It was run by a very chatty, friendly woman called Ken who had converted her home into a 4 room guesthouse, also home to her young family, 3 cats and 2 kittens. The guesthouse was about 10mins from the main town, but nestled in the back streets added to the novelty of essentially staying in someones home. We have stayed in homestays before, but this felt the most homely we have been to with Ken's young daughter running around and the kittens eager to be fussed over. As it was off the beaten track, they had their own friendly tuk-tuk man (who we think may have been family/friend) as he always seemed to be there, to take us into town and collect us later. For our first evening we headed towards the old market area where 'Pub Street' is located. Pub Street, as you may well have guessed, is a bustling street of restaurants, bars, and souvenir shops. It doesn't exactly give you an authentic view of Cambodian life, but is an easy enough option for food after a long day. We stopped at a small restaurant for a beer and a classic Amok before having a meander through the night market. As arranged, the homestay Tuk Tuk came to pick us up later in the evening for the short journey back to the guesthouse.

Tuesday 15th December 2015

Siem Reap is famous for the Angkor Temples which are located a 10 min Tuk Tuk drive out of the town. Today we were heading to the temples and were driven there by our Tuk Tuk driver, but only after a breakfast of omelette and coffee and a cuddle with the kittens.

You have to buy a pass to gain access to the temple site and annoyingly they only provide tickets for 1 or 3 days. We were only here for 2 days so had to purchase the 3 day ticket for $40 each. It's a bit of a con really that they don't provide a 2 day pass as that seems the perfect amount of time to see the major sites, but what can you do. We made a quick stop to buy tickets on the way, having our photo's taken for our 3 days passes, then hopped back into the Tuk Tuk and went into the Angkor Temple park. Our plan for the day was to start with the most popular temple first, Angkor Wat. We were led to believe that it would be very busy here, but arriving at 10am we seem to have missed the crowds that typically gather for sunrise. This worked in our favour as we were able to walk around without too many people getting in our way.

The first thing you see when you approach the temple is the long walkway which guides you straight to the main entrance. Already about 30 degrees, the walk into the Temple was a hot one. We first stopped by the moat, which is just outside of the temple, where we were able to take a picture of the temple silhouetted against the water. We were also hassled by people trying to sell us water, guides books, statues, paintings etc. We actually bought a guide book for $5 which we found very useful over the next 2 days. The guide book gave us a good insight into the history of the temples rather than just wandering around taking a look which is what we would've done.

We started our self guided tour (guide book in hand) in the stone galleries that encircle the main temple. The gallery walls are made up of huge carved bas-reliefs that stretch the entire length of the wall and tell stories from mainly Hindu origins, which was the main religion of the Khmer people at the time of building in the early 12th century. Many of the carvings are well preserved and we were able to follow the stories (with the help of the guide book). With no-one around we were lucky to often have the whole gallery to ourselves. From here we worked our way to the centre of Angkor Wat to climb the main central tower, which give views over the whole complex. We'd prepared ourselves to queue, reading that the wait can be over an hour to climb the narrow stairs but we managed to time it right and we climbing before we knew it. It's said the towers of Angkor Wat represent the mountain ranges that surround Mount Meru and the ascent to the central shrine is meant to imitate climbing a mountain. Having never climbed a mountain, I don't have anything to compare this to but the climb was definately steep and felt even steeper on the way down. The main shrine area was very peaceful and gave us some great views of the pyramid shaped towers. We also saw glimpses of the second important religion, Buddhism, with statues of Buddha and shrines along the way.

Having spent a good few hours exploring Angkor Wat we grabbed a quick lunch and jumped back into the Tuk Tuk to head to the next temple. There are so many temples in the whole complex you could be there for a week, but we'd selected some key ones we wanted to see. The next stop was the Ancient City complex of Angkor Thom to see the Bayon, famous for its for its huge stone face towers. There were originally 49 towers, but only 37 have survived. The effect of these towers even from a distance is pretty mesmirising as the eyes seem to follow you as you approach. Chris still wasn't quite feeling tip top, so rather than risking being stuck in a crowded temple on a very hot late afternoon we decided to head back to the guesthouse and save the Bayon for tomorrow.

Wednesday 16th December 2015

We started the day with a relaxed breakfast chatting to Ken, the homestay owner, and being entertained by her young daughter and their 2 small kittens. Following breakfast we prepared to pick up where we had left off yesterday; at Bayon temple. Bayon is one of the more recognisable temples in the Angkor Wat complex due to the 37 stone face towers that make up the temple. We headed straight to the second level to get a better look at the carvings. What I hadn't expected was the sheer size of the stone faces; they're massive and so detailed (many are still well preserved). You do get a bit of an eerie sense that the eyes are following you as you are met with a new stone face at every turn. We spent quite a long time weaving through the towers, the carvings are really impressive and are so eye-catching against the backdrop of the blue sky.

Our next stop was Bapuon, which was just a short walk from Bayon. This temple mountain was once a 5 tiered pyramid. It has since fallen into disrepair so its hard to appreciate what it would have originally looked like, but even from the crumbling shell you can get a feel for the how large and impressive the structure would have been. At the back of the pyramid, you can still just make out the outline of an unfinished giant reclining buddha that stretches the whole length of the pyramid. You can still climb to the top (not for the feint-hearted in the midday heat!) which gave some great views. We exited from the back of the pyramid and walked through a forest to get to the next temple. On the journey, Chris made a new friend in the form of a small silvery blue butterfly that landed on his finger and decided just to hang out there. He called him Bertie and was smitten as he showed him round the ruins of the Elephant Terrace. By the Leper King Terrace, it would appear Bertie had had enough and make a swift exit. Chris was devastated. Think he still is.

To cheer him up up, we headed next to Ta Prohm, famously featured in the Tomb Raider movie. This temple was selected to be left in its natural state to give an example of how most of the temples would have looked on their discovery in the 19th century. And the effects of this are pretty breathtaking. Huge silk cotton trees and strangler fig trees have grown and intertwined themselves around the ruins giving a very atmospheric feel to the site. Walking through the huge roots and crumbled stone buildings you get to become Indiana Jones or Lara Croft (i'll let you choose which?!?) for an afternoon. From Chris' last visit here 10 years ago, they have now built small stages next to some of the larger trees, which we guessed was to stop people climbing on the ancient stones and tree roots trying to get a selfie. What this does mean is watching the Chinese tour groups queuing to get on the stage. We avoided this where possible, seemed a bit weird to stand on a wooden stage to pose next to a tree. But somehow we did get caught up in a group shot with some American girls and a Korean tour group. Why not?!? Suitably worn out, we re-joined our Tuk Tuk man to head back to the homestay in the late afternoon.

After a short rest, we headed out to the main street for our last night in Siem Reap and Cambodia. We treated ourselves to dinner and a few glasses of cold red wine (the only way it comes here we discovered) to toast what has been an epic 2 1/2 weeks in Cambodia. We had originally only planned to spend a week here, but have loved our time here so much 2 1/2 weeks seemed only right. From the humbling history lessons in Phnom Penh to the unexpected paradise islands of Koh Rong. What a place!!



Next stop....Thailand!

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