What's in Cambodia?
Trip Start
Sep 01, 2008
1
61
79
Trip End
Mar 2009
Siem Reap,
Cambodia
Sunday, February 22, 2009
The temples of Angkor are the reason everyone goes to Siem Reap & we were no different!
Our first impressions of Cambodia were totally different from our expectations. Siem Reap is full of luxury 5* and boutique hotels, spa's stylish bars and restaurants serving world cuisine at world prices, the roads are full of 4wd Lexus - there are clearly too many NGO's and tourists with too much money'!
We spent 3 days templing/wating. Day one we hired bikes and cycled to Angkor Wat the largest religious complex ever built. It was as impressive as expected with endless sandstone carving and sculptures. Staircases lead upto the higher temples so steep as to represent Mount Mehru the Hindu Holy Mountain. We then cycled onto another Wat which was less restored and more overgrown and dilapidated as it would have been found in the 1860's. It was great to wander through and amazing that so much was still standing 1000's years after it was built given that they never used any mortar and just piled up the stones like lego blocks.
We melted in the heat and ditched the pushbikes for a Tuk Tuk driver over the next couple of days when we explored many more ancient cities and Wats. Some are being partially restored unfortunately by the Indians who seem to have a passion for cement and concrete! Some have been left derelict as they were found. The whole area is amazing to go around especially as these cities are all about a thousand years old. Some of the earlier ones are made of brick rather than laterite and sandstone blocks.
Visit now before they all get "restored" to death!
