Temples of Angkor

Siem Reap, Cambodia, 31 May - 8 June 2008

Monk posing for a photo at The Bayon temple

Not sure what the visa application process would be like in Siem Reap we were pleasantly surprised to find it was fast and efficient. The officials are only interested in collecting your $20 and sending you on your way. Ideal. Why one needs a visa is another argument entirely but we won't get into that. Hard to believe but there was a real Vegas feel as we tuk tuked our way into town. Night had fallen and the road was lined with huge, brightly lit luxury hotels. You were snapped back to reality once you looked at what was outside the hotel boundaries. Dirt roads, food vendors and an ocean of underpowered motos. Chantha (our tuk tuk driver) tried his best to convince us to visit the temples the following day (in his tuk tuk of course) but we put the foot down. As we were not on a short holiday we could afford to "waste" a day simply wandering around Siem Reap getting our bearings and deciding on a plan.

We bumped into Chantha "by chance" outside our hotel and we organised to spend the day visiting the Silk Farm and taking in a sunset at the temples of Angkor. I, Dave, had occasionally pondered how the whole silk worm thing works. Was the "farm" we were about to visit set up like a little milking parlor for worms. Needless to say it is all straightforward and shattered many of my ludicrous ideas. There is a metamorphosis step in the worms lifecycle where it changes from a worm into a moth. The worm forms a cocoon around it's body and it is the unravelling of these cocoons into single threads that gives the farmer his silk. Simple really.

We had deliberated over whether to get 1 day, 3 day or 1 week pass for the temples. Would we be temples out at the end of Day 1? We decided to give this global icon it's fair due and opted for the 3 day ticket ($40 each). You can buy the ticket the day before and are allowed to visit the temples that evening between 4:30pm and closure (6pm). People take advantage of this to sneak in an extra sunset at the temples and so we did too. On Chantha's recommendation we headed for Phnom Bakheng. En route we passed the beautiful moated Angkor Wat and our excitement levels rose at the prospect of spending the next few days amongst these ancient wonders. The sunset was a non event but we were happy to get up close and personal with our first site in the park.

Feeling adventurous or maybe just plain crazy we decided to do sunrise the next morning. Having not worked for over 1 year and consequently not having had a need to get up too early we found this whole experience excruciatingly painful (alarm set for 4:30am). The sunrise as we had envisioned it didn't really happen either, the day simply got bright with no sign of the sun anywhere. Most people with limited time do either the grand circuit or small circuit in a day which takes them to all the major sites. I think Chantha was surprised when, after visiting Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom, we asked him to drop us back at our hotel. We had been out for about 5 hours at that stage and it was still only 10am. More sleep was needed. We met him again at 3pm feeling much better, amazing what some Zzz's and good food can do for you. Next stop was Ta Prohm. This is the temple immortalised by the movie Tomb Raider where the huge roots of trees hang down over the ruins and give them the appearance of being engulfed by nature. Very picturesque indeed (see photo above). Afterwards we tuk tuked west to Pre Rup in a second effort to catch an amazing sunset. Again it didn't happen but it was most agreeable to sit on the highest point and have frosty beers delivered to us as we watched the light fade over Cambodia.

Day 2 of our pass and we took the long trip (37km) to Banteay Srey. Sunrise wasn't even a consideration. As if to make up for the diminutive size of this site, every square inch is covered in carvings of the finest detail and artistry. On our way back to town we visited the landmine museum, a real wake up call to this country's grim past. A landmines function was not to kill but rather to maim. The reason for this is that it would cost your enemy more to look after a maimed soldier than it would to simply bury a dead soldier. Millions of landmines were used in the time of the Khmer Rouge and there was no record of where they were being laid. It is a legacy of those harrowing times that every year hundreds f Cambodians inadvertently activate these landmines and end up severely maimed for the rest of their lives (if they survive the initial blast). The number of amputees in this country is a human catastrophe.

www.cambodialandminemuseum.org

I think we surprised Chantha again by asking him to drop us back into Siem Reap. We were a long was from town and could've taken in a few more sites but the tummy's were rumbling and we simply couldn't face what the roadside eateries churn up. We asked to be dropped at the Singing Tree Cafe, which had quickly become a mainstay of ours. In reality we didn't have that much time before we were back out to an Apsara performance.

Last day of our temple pass and we chose to take in those temples we had not yet seen on the Grand Circuit.... "but first let's have one more look at Ta Prohm". We ended our last day at Angkor Wat, it seemed like the right thing to do.