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Published: February 11th 2008
Cambodia - Posh Hotel
Pretty impressive bed - not your backpackers hostel for us anymore. Procrastination and dogged determination to complete a blog irrespective of dwindling readership- are these the signs of the demented? Hope not as I sit here, a sad Old Aged Geek, trying to catch up and finish off my blog before we leave New Zealand and head home.
At the finish of the previous entry we were trundling our wheelie cases out of Indonesia clutching a dog eared Lonely Planet guide on our way to see the sights of SE Asia. Time constraints and a commitment by Colin to attend a conference in Kuala Lumpur in mid December meant we had to limited ourselves to three main destinations; the Angkor temples in Cambodia, Chiang Mai in Thailand and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. Experiencing different cultures up close and intimately was interesting (euphemism for jolly uncomfortable sometimes).
The Angkor Complex
Siam Reap, a small rural Cambodian town sporting a modern airstrip, is the gateway to the recovered ruins of the Khmer Empire at Angkor. These remarkably well preserved ruins, recently recovered from the jungle and made accessible to tourists, were once the centre of a sophisticated society that flourished from 9th to 13th centuries. After repeated bruising battles with the Thais in C13th,
Cambodia - Angkor
Ta Prohm is one the sites still covered by jungle left as it was found by explorers the Khmers retreated south and shifted their capital to Phnom Penh. (Some historians have attributed the demise of Angkor not to war but to water and food shortages, brought about by over-population, deforestation and climate change - now there’s a thought eh?). The jungle gradually grew back over the extensive area in Angkor that had once been the centre of one of the most powerful regimes in SE Asia hiding its remnants from the world until they were stumbled upon by French missionaries in 1860.
The start of the ruins, which extend over 77 square miles into the surrounding jungle, was about 5 miles from our hotel so to visit them meant either a walk, taxi, tuk tuk ride or hiring a bike.
The first day we hired a tuk tuk but with our finely honed talent for picking lame ducks we found our tuk tuk being overtaken by the walking infirmed. We eventually stuttered to the ruins just before nightfall for a quick sighting and after much assistance from the locals to restart the tuk tuk we got back to Siam Reap just as the night life peaked. Normal life after dark in countries that have 12 hours darkness
Cambodia - Angkor Wat
One of the most photographed views of Angkor Wat, the famous temple of Angkor Wat.. as standard takes some getting used to for us from countries where we are used to crawling into our caves once it’s dark.
After the tuk tuk experience we decided to hire bikes, a much more satisfactory mode of transport but a bit hairy at times with all the tuk tuks and scooters weaving around us - no concept of lane control here. Fortunately the road from Siam and Reap to Angkor is tarmac and good, the major excavated sites are now free from landmines (although you are advised not to go too far off the road to pee) and the Khmer Rouge are no danger now but bandits are known to operate in less travelled areas so we stuck to the main and popular sites of which there are many. You would need a fortnight to do the whole area justice.
I did not know what to expect from ancient ruins in such a remote place and was overwhelmed by the scale of them and the beauty of the different buildings, carvings, statues and reliefs on the walls. The most famous of the buildings is Angkor Wat which is the best preserved, probably because it is the
Exotic Dancer!!!!
Well you have to have one photo where you do the tourist thing - at least this pose was doable!!! main temple in which the Buddhist monks lived long after the rulers had left.
Angkor was not only a religious place, but a capital crowded, at its height, with a million people. The different buildings, aqua systems, temples etc show that the Khmers enjoyed a sophisticated level of urban living with an exquisite, exotic and often erotic taste for art (the Hindu influence?). Building it was an enormous job that involved not only an army of thousands workers (including elephants) clearing jungle, moving rock down river etc but also a parallel army of thousands of artists and artisans decorating each building. Similar I guess to the construction of the great cathedral cities of Europe. The walls of Angkor read like a book with reliefs carved in the sand stone that speak about the lives, customs, religious beliefs even details such as their salaries etc: They have proved to be a major resource for historians.
Ankor opened to the public in 1991 after thirty years of a bloody civil war in Cambodia. The ruins sustained little damage during the war being used as munitions stores or merely ignored but once they were rediscovered and restored for public access
Beheaded Buddhas
Examples of how the temples have been plundered by a desperately poor and war wrecked local population. without any systems in place to prevent theft and desecration much looting took place and it’s sad to see rows of statues with their heads missing. Fortunately the site is now protected by UNESCO as a world Heritage site and also by the Cambodian government who recognise its value as a national asset. An image of Angkor Wat is used on the national flag. However it is going to be difficult for Cambodia to preserve and extend its restoration without turning it into a Disney type theme park Foreign investors already have their eyes on the site so I’m pleased to have seen it before it becomes too organised and sanitised .
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Chiang Mai is, I believe, the most visited tourist city in Thailand after Bangkok it brings you closer to rural Thailand and gives you city facilities without the awful congestion and heaving mass of humanity that is Bangkok.
We were very lucky to be able to stay with a Thai family in Chiang Mai. The head of the family Sawaeng, had been a student of Anukul (the director of boystown) in Khon Kaen in the 70s and they have remained friends ever since. It
Thailand - monk phonechit
Young monk from Laos, now my pen (email) pal. was great to have a local family to take us places and entertain us even though the language barrier was quite substantial.
Our trip was thwarted somewhat by Colin having a dreadful attack k of ‘Delhi Belly’ (what is the Asian equivalent?). After months of no problems from ingesting meals of dubious content purchased from street kitchens furnished from cobbled together dustcarts, he got sick from eating an expensive meal (5 GBP) at a posh eatery at Bangkok Airport - so what does this tell us about yer ‘ealth and safety regs!!!
Anyway undaunted I hired bikes for us and took off on my own to explore the town whilst Colin took to his bed.
Highlights were....
Temples The Buddhist temples and meeting the monks from a novice who is now my pen (email) pal to the senior abbot in Chiang Mai who seeing me walking round and round the inside of the temple where he had just led a public chanting invited me to join him in his meal. Great food, interesting encounter, remarkable experience. Because he didn’t speak English he summoned another senior monk who had travelled to Europe to act as our interpreter. I was with
them for nearly an hour after which he made for me a bracelet of thread which he blessed and tied on my wrist, this I gather is a significant, sought after event as the blessing and bracelet should bring me great happiness and good luck. Not that I deserve much more as I’ve had more than my fair share already.
Elephant ride. Was not intending to take part in this because I’m not too keen on how animal are exploited in many Asian rituals/endeavours but as the elephants were kept in their natural habitat in family groups, working in the morning to give rides and free to roam in the afternoon I felt OK about it. They were obviously valued, cared for and loved by their mahouts.
River rafting. Wet, fun, wet, exhilarating, wet.
Kuala Lumpur
We decide to take the train the from Chiang Mai to Kuala Lumpur - mixed motives - partly to reduce short flight CO2 pollution, partly to see the countryside at close quarters, partly cause we like trains. Although after the ‘Balkan Express Experience ‘ across eastern Europe in June we should know that our romantic notions of long
To Malaysia
Sleeper from Bangkok to the Thai / Malay border leisurely train rides rarely matches the reality and this too turned into a train journey of mixed pleasures.
Leg 1 from Chiang Mai to Bangkok was day trip of 12 hours, basic facilities, and good views of the hills and plains of Thailand. Overnight stop in a pretty squalid railway hotel in Bangkok and a long wait in Bangkok station for the sleeper to Malaysia.
Leg 2 to Hat Yat on Thai/Malay border was 18 hours overnight in a sleeper with Buddhist monks as our neighbours. Pretty good accommodation and decent food so an OK experience. Arrived Hat Yat at 5 am - not a picturesque place at midday even less so at 5 am.
Leg 3 to Kuala Lumpur - bad news - no room in a sleeper on train to Kuala Lumpur, no seats in 1st, 2nd, 3rd class but if we liked animals as our travelling companions there were 6 bench seat left in steerage class, it was at least inside the train. Needs must and as Colin was on a schedule to attend this conference we bought 2 tickets to sit upright overnight on wooden benches for 18 hours. Once they opened we were in
KL Conference dinner
Colleagues of Colin in KL who we joined for the conference dinner the travel agent to find, all the coaches were full and the airport closed - desolation! Then a stroke of genius - we managed to book ourselves on a coach tour going to Singapore that was prepared to divert to Kuala Lumpur but we had to buy the package holiday to Singapore - luckily not a big cost for Europeans.
So from desolation to elation to bemusement when we took up our seats.
The bus looked like it had been used to carry the retreating population from the Japanese invasion but inside it had been fitted out with like seats seemingly acquired at an aircraft demolishing sale - they were like first class recliners - very comfortable, heaps of leg room (or cage room if you are taking your livestock south to Singapore with you!!!) and reclined back to make beds. The air conditioning was a series of fans tied to the roof supports. So if we ignored the pokey out seat foam, the rusty window seals, the manhandling through the custom posts because we had no idea what was happening and our courier could not speak English then it was a good way to get to KL. Turned out
Malaysia- Twin towers
Twin towers Kuala Lumpur style - stunning to be much faster than train and fascinating to be with the returning Malays who had been to Thailand in fast numbers as it was a holiday weekend in Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur itself turned out to be a spectacular city of high rise architectural magnificence. Also a great shopping centre for electronics. We would not have chosen to go there if Colin had not been attending a conference but we are pleased we did go. It was one of two cities we really enjoyed, the other being Sydney.
The conference in which I also got involved was run by The Global knowledge Partnership and its theme was ‘Emerging People, Emerging Markets, and Emerging Technologies’. It was well attend by over 1000 delegates from across the world predominantly from the third world and was covering some fascinating issues.
We left KL in mid December to make our way to Australia for Christmas - that’s for the next blog.
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Cathy Stewart
non-member comment
Great writing again
Rose, your photos are great, once again, and your writing should be published. I really want to travel more! Lots of love Cathx