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Published: August 29th 2010
After a week of living the Bangkok high life courtesy of Pod it is all too reluctantly time to be back on the road again to continue my SE Asia adventures..
Just as I'm mulling over my best starting point a Facebook message pings into my inbox from Catherine's Nigel who is wondering if I might be in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh the following Monday as he is there on business so we could meet .. Phnom Penh is as good a starting point for me as any, and with flights from Bangkok being cheap and only 90 minutes, I have my new journey confirmed very quickly.
Monday August 2nd is my new depature date then from Bangkok, and the usual efficency of Air Asia delivers me into the Cambodian capital on time. Flying low over the city on our final approach, the siting of Phnom Penh on the confluence of no less than three major rivers, including the Mekong, is plain to see, with wide swathes of brown water flowing in all directions, with the small (certainly by Bangkok standards) city standing somewhat precariously on the banks.
My plan is to stay in the capital for
Phnom Penh
The central marketthe first three nights before heading up to Siem Reap as a base to explore the mighty temple complex of Angkor Wat. I select a small 'boutique' hotel in the capital at a discounted rate courtesy of Agoda.com while going on local recommendation to upgrade in Siem Reap to the rather sublime looking FCC (Foreign Correspondants Club) - well it was good enough for Angelina Jolie apparently ..
A taxi from the airport into downtown Phnom Penh is almost a surreal experience as the city is such a contrast to Bangkok - so much less densely urban it resembles a large village in comparison, with at least half of the endless traffic on the roads here being of the two wheel, scooter, variety, which all seems to flow seemlessly and quietly around the taxi in literally all directions - the locals having a very liberal idea of which side of the road they wish to travel on here (offficially the right - this being the first right hand side drive country I have been in since leaving Chile back at the end of February can you believe).
My little central hotel foyer passes (just) for boutique although the
Phnom Penh
The Silver Pagoda within the Royal Palace complex absence of a proper window in my allocated room is one of my travelling pet hates - discounted rate aside, I manage to secure an upgrade to a room with at least a view of the surrounding buildings. I'm straight out again anyway to rendezvous with Nigel who is staying worlds away in the best hotel in town - no less than the Raffles ..!
It is such a treat to catch up on all the news from home, even more so it has to be admitted in the spendid five star luxury of the hotel bar and restaurant (thanks Nigel - I owe you!)... by the end of our dinner though it seems the only accurate summary of our new Tory rulers is that home is now the United Kingdom of Despondancy .. !! Oh the pleasures that await my return .. !
I have just two full days in Phnom Penh and begin my explorations the following morning with a trip to the Laos embassy to secure my onward visa .. a very old fashioned and slow visa office here processing duplicate forms in 24 hours. I have my own Tuk Tuk driver anyway, Tyson, for
Phnom Penh
Royal Palace rooflines as long as I need him, and head over to the former torture sight of the Khymer Rouge, which was once a city secondary school, to get more of an understanding of the recent and quite literally tortuous local history and to get this out of the way too to be honest.. The horrendous record of Pol Pot and the Kymer Rouge is well documented here, with many former classrooms turned torture chambers left bare, just the bed frame and shackles which were the basic torture implements left as a grim indication of the atrocities commited here - the warped communist ideology of the rebels being to round up, torture and kill all intelligencia of the country, and their families (to prevent any reprisal attacks).
A visit to the capital's Royal Palace provides some lighter relief the following day - the King being in residence means the Palace itself is not open for visitors on this particular day, though there is plenty to see in the complex of the Silver Pagoda and the surrounding array of beautifully ornate structures to keep me and my Canon fully occupied for one very hot half day here.
There turns out to
Phnom Penh
Tyson and his Tuk Tuk be an FCC in Phnom Penh also, so I get the trusty Tuk Tuk Tyson to drive me down to its river side location and open air-flowing bar and restaurant where I settle myself down with a G&T and my laptop for the first stint of email catching up and blog writing since leaving Thailand. .. as well as the required amount of continued drinking and eating of course ..
The two options to travel between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap are by boat and by bus.. I favour the boat option but the rains have not fallen in sufficent quantity yet apparently in this rainy season to provide a water level high enough for a daily boat service, so I book a bus seat instead. My 8am promised pick up from the hotel fails to materialise so it's a frantic tuk tuk ride across town at 8.30 to just make the designated bus before it leaves on the 6 hour trip heading north east to my next destination. This is the low tourist season here but the bus is chock full of them/ us .. and some shared experiences of travelling in Oz/NZ and here in SE Asia
The Phnom Penh genocide museum
.. a former school before Pol Pot converted it into a torture camp .. with my Australian bus companian passes the time quickly enough.
The bus company have mysteriously made up for their forgetfulness with providing the promised morning transfer by arranging an unexpected one on arrival at Siem Reap - somwhat surreal spotting your name on a board as the bus draws in to a town in Cambodia I have never set foot in before... I'm whisked off anyway to the FCC Siem Reap, with its prime river side location, and immaculate white deco buildings surrounded by lush green gardens and immediately made to feel very much home.. This place is a delight to stay in, and I can't recommend it highly enough as a comfortable base for the inevitably exhausting temple exploration which is the centre piece of any trip to Siem Reap.
WIth a beautifully appointed room overlooking the garden pool and a very comfortable bar and restaurant the ONLY problem with staying here is finding the necessary motivation to leave the site at all .. I take the plunge the following morning though with a half day tour (tuk tuk and english speaking guide, Chinn) and a three day temple pass, visiting first the mighty Angkor Wat -
The Khymer Rouge legacy
Toul Sleng Genocide Museum - a former classroom turned torture chamber - now a museum exhibit the largest single religious site on the planet apparently, and nearby Angor Thom - the former Royal City.
Angkor Wat is certainly vast, although so are the crowds which descend on it daily - and this is the low season .. Once over the vast moat and through the vast outer walls of the temple complex, being swept along in the usual tide of Korean and Vietnamese tour groups and local school groups, some relief is at hand by a closer examination of the incredible bas reliefs (sculpted murals) which adorn the (still vast) galleried inner walls which provide a second fortified and complete square around the sacred towers of the inner temple complex itself. Cleaned and restored, these ancient sculpted murals tell tales of marching armies, everyday life and the changing Hindu and Buddhist religious influences of the Khymer empire which ruled a vast tract of SE Asia for centuries - Angkor Wat being the centre piece of a bewildering array of temples, palaces and cities at this, the heart of the empire from the 10th to the 15th centuries.
Visiting the central temples of the complex with their four corner towers and largest central tower though
Angkor Wat
The view over Angkor Wat from Phnom Bakheng becomes more a feat of endurance than anything else. This is where the massed tour group crowds mass, and it becomes a ticketed, queuing system of maintaining enough personal and camera shooting space while climbing the steep stone steps up to view the inner-most Buddhist shrines and capture some of the views before gingerly returning down the same steep stone steps - the inevitable price of our age of mass tourism of course.
Chinn guides me on to the adjacent site of Angkor Thom, across an even wider moat on a statue adorned bridge, our tuk tuk squeezing through the very narrow South Gate (just wide enough for the Kings elephants), through the long since disappeared largely wooden city, to the crumbling centrepiece here of Bayan - nowhere near as intact a structure as the neighbouring Angkor Wat (corners cut in construction being to blame apparently), the temple ruins are still incredibly impressive, not least for the fact that they feature many giant carved faces, which seem to smile down on the endless stream of visitors tramping about beneath them.
This is the sum of my first half day of temple exploration (light weight I know), the lure
Angkor Wat
First light over the central temple of the FCC pool proving too strong - although I do commit to a full day tour the following day, complete with car, to reach some of the further temple complexes. The pool, bar and restaurant absorb the rest of my first full day and evening in town anyway, which means I haven't visited the town of Siem Reap at all so far.
The following morning after a hearty FCC breakfast, I'm met by Chinn together with car driver for my full day trip of temple hopping, beginning with what is undoubtably one of the most beautiful of all - considerably smaller than Angkor Wat and beautifully framed by the surrounding lush green forest sits the delicate, pink sandstone temple of Banteay Srei, known locally as the Lady Temple. The delicacy of the crumbling main structures together with the beautiful colours and the incredible intricacy of the many bas reliefs around the site are an absolute treat to experience. The crowd experience here though is most definitely not. This small temple is very much on the main Angkor tourist circuit, and with the best time to visit here being first thing means that there is an ugly crush of
Angkor Wat
Monks at first light tour groups ever present. Once again it is the large Vietnamese and Korean groups who are the worst offenders - always in large groups, constant noise, umbrellas raised (for sun protection), posing in groups in front of every stone for endless group photos.. some even smoking inside the temple complex..!
We travel on to visit several further temples - the other highlight most certainly being Ta Phrom - images of this ancient monastery have found their way into those Must Visit Before you Die guides.. the crumbling buildings have been left almost untouched, with enormous tree roots and trunks literally growing over the walls and roofs. In some parts, enormous trees appear to be growing from the ancient roofs - in fact, they have grown from seed over hundreds of undisturbed years, with the root structures finding their way down to solid ground on either side of the buildings.. almost as if mother nature is vesting these ancient ruins with the respect of maintaining these man made structures while still re-establishing the jungle fauna, literally all around them. This is a photographers paradise and the trusty Canon is in overdrive here throughout the hour spent clambering around the ruins
Angkor Wat
with one of the library buildings in the foreground and roots.
A respite from temple visiting is definitely in order for the following day, so after another major league FCC breakfast I arrange a tuk tuk to take me down river to the beginning of the enormous Tonle Sap - a vast inland body of water which multiplies in size many times over during the rainy season, and is home to many floating villages.. a boat trip out into the just the very tip of the water and through one of the floating villages is a pleasant and different way to spend a Sunday afternoon here.
For my final full day in Siem Reap and to take up day three of my three day temple pass, I hire a mountain bike courtesy of the FCC for my own more leisurely return exploration of the incredible Angkor Wat - this time at first light, so avoiding the worst of the crowds, together with all the additional temple and palace ruins of Angkor Thom which I didn't see on the first day, and the opportunity to look down over the whole Angkor Wat complex by visiting the nearby hilltop temple of Pnom Bakheng. The full scale of the city
Angkor Wat
View from the rear over the central towers ruins of Angkor Thom becomes apparent now I have the freedom of my own two wheels to explore properly.. all quite overwhelming, especially in the mid-day heat, but I manage to do the site justice, taking in the remarkable Terrace of the Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper King, royal palace, numerous Buddhas and a totally enchanting small temple hidden in the trees.
Having set off at 6.30 am from the hotel, I finally pack the Canon away at around 4pm - another vast batch of images too numerous to count safely stowed on the memory card, and cycle back to town, spurred on by the thought of a last dip in the FCC pool, though also to be honest, in relief to escape the constant heckling of the hawkers who just never give up at every conceivable location here .. Park Your Bike Here Sir.. Cold Drink Sir.. Postcards Sir.. etc etc ..no matter how many times you politely and firmly decline.
I move on from Cambodia the following afternoon, taking full advantage of my luxury FCC surroundings for one last morning. It has been a brief visit to Cambodia then, but one brimming full of
Angkor Wat
bas relief detail encounters, reflections and arresting images - the temple complex of Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples and palaces of the ancient mighty Khymer empire are certainly a new highlight of my year's travel, together with an introduction to a different part of South East Asia.
My next posting will be of my return to Thailand - this time to the north, to take in some relaxing mountain air with Pod in Chiang Rai - at the very northern tip of the Kingdom, followed by a week at the outdoor pursuit and trekking capital of nearby Chiang Mai, which I finally get to vist too... to follow soon, as this last section of my year away is so full of new experiences, not to mention numerous photographic records, that I am forced to post more often .. so hope you can keep up...!
Over and out for now..
LOL
Simon XX
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