On Saturday 6 August, we boarded a morning flight for the short hop from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, the busy little town which serves as the base from which to explore the ruins of Angkor. The town itself does not have much to offer, and is dominated by hundreds of luxury hotels. However, we were only due to start our tour of Angkor the next day, so had a bit of time to look around.
By lunchtime we were comfortably installed in our large hotel on the outskirts, and took a walk to the commercial heart of the town - the Old Market. Here, stall-holders hawk souvenirs and local crafts - wood carvings, fabrics and silverware. We checked out the market and the numerous little shops around it, had a bite of lunch at a pavement stall and then headed back to base for a swim... yes, for once our hotel had a pool! At 7.30pm we all gathered in the hotel's bar/restaurant area for the next instalment of the Tri-nations rugby action: Bokke vs All Blacks. And again we were pleased with the result, as were the honorary South Africans (our Aussie travel companions had decided to support the Bokke - claimed they wouldn't be caught dead supporting the All Blacks!).
On Sunday morning we were up early to start our exploring of Angkor. The remnants of the grand palaces and temples built between the 9th and the 15th centuries by the mighty Khmer Empire are scattered over a large area - the legendary Angkor Wat is only one of many sites, and quite a bit of time is needed to get around and explore as many of the sites as possible.
Our first stop on Sunday morning was Angkor Thom... as we made our way around the Terrace of the Elephants, the Palace of the Leper King and finally the Bayon, we were all bowled over by the beauty and detail of the intricate relief carvings adorning almost every wall surface, and the complexity of the construction. While volcanic rock was used to build the foundations of the structures, a soft sandstone was selected for the cladding - the ideal raw material for creating the jaw-dropping relief carvings depicting ancient Hindu myths, sweeping battle scenes and various dieties, including the voluptuous figures of the Apsaras (nymph goddesses).
The Bayon, in particular, is incredibly richly adorned and we took an hour or so to explore its terraces and corridors at our own pace. The most striking features of this temple are its 54 towers, each bearing four massive carved faces (one on each side). Unlike most of the temples in the Angkor complex, this was not a Hindu temple, but a Buddhist one. All in all it is pretty well preserved and much effort has gone into restoring it.
From the Bayon we travelled 20 minutes or so to Ta Prohm, or the jungle temple, as it is known. The particular charm of this temple lies in its poor contruction - apparently it was a bit of rushed job, built by an ambitious king juggled many construction projects (the same king who built the Bayon). The now decayed, crumblimg structure of Ta Prohm is host to many large trees growing over walls and through archways roofs, their spreading roots decorating the mossy sandstone blocks and, in many cases, holding them together. Whereas the Bayon retains its grand stature and air of authority, the charming Ta Prohm is quaint in a fairytale-dilapidated sort of way. It's probably this that made it such an obvious location for the temple scene in the first Lara Croft, Tomb Raider movie. We loved it, and took plenty of time to explore... Rich, camcorder in hand, got separated from the group and was led off to some 'secret spots' by some amateur film-maker guy. In the end we got quite worried waiting on the bus for him, but he found his way back, thank goodness!
What we found most staggering on that first day at Angkor was the sheer scale of the buildings, and the complex as a whole. I guess we were all expecting the ruins to be richly adorned and incredibly picturesque, but the size was certainly a surprise to us... mind-blowing!
Later that afternoon we visited a school in the rural outskirts of Siem Reap, the only one in the area that offers free education to its pupils (in general, Cambodia's schools are require parents to pay fees... probably one of the reasons why literacy is at a low 35%). We were treated to a traditional dance performance in the small hall, all the while surrounded by young children from the neighbourhood who were staring at us, popping flowers behind our ears and sitting on laps. Before we left, the boys in our group earned loads of smiles and won many little hearts by giving the kids 'helicopters' - spinning them around till we all felt dizzy!
In the fading light of early evening we walked 20 minutes or so through the dirt streets of the farming village to the home of Piela's aunt, who was cooking dinner for us. Piela, a pretty, well-spoken 24-year-old, is a waitress at the hotel, and a friend of Brian.
The walk through the village was a relaxing and humbling experience - strolling past the small but well-kept wooden houses on stilts, watching pigs and chickens forage and chatting to the packs of local children who greeted and surrounded us, we again had the chance to glimpse the simplicity and beauty of farming life in this region - a hard but seemingly rewarding life, in which everyone is poor but no-one goes hungry. All around, we were greeted by friendly, smiling faces, and Piela's hospitable aunt laid out the most amazing meal on her front porch. There were plenty of left-overs, and we were glad to learn that these would be shared out between the local children. A wonderful, memorable eveving.
The following morning, on Sunday, we were all up and in the bus well before dawn, and set off for Angkor Wat. Watching the sun rise over the towers of this, Angkor's most famous temple, is billed as a 'must do', and we duly installed ourselves on the stairs of the old library building just as the first fingers of light were tinting the sky. People kept on arriving... and arriving... and arriving... until the quietest moments before dawn were broken by the hum of voices all around. Nevertheless, the sense of anticipation was something special. The sun eventually rose in a less than spectacular fashion - the sky was overcast, so those much-anticipated colours did not materialise. But still a magical sight!
After a much-needed coffee and breakfast at one of the many streetside cafes outside the gate, we explored the interior of the temple. All along the outer galleries, superb relief sculptures stretch for meters and meters. These incredibly detailed and well preserved depictions of Hindu mythology were even more impressive than what we had seen at the Bayon the day before. We clambered up the steep steps in the inner courtyard, to the upper gallery, from where the views over the complex and the surrounding jungle are just mind-blowing.
Three of us had a rather bizarre encounter with a young Buddhist monk, who called us over and asked to chat to us. Assuming that he was simply wanting to practice his English, we agreed and sat down with him in the shade of a gallery. He said that this was his first visit to Angkor, and told us a little about his life as a monk - the long hours of study with only four hours' sleep a night; that he rarely has the chance to see his family; and that he would not want to be a monk for much longer, and would like to work in the tourist trade. And then asked us for money, supposedly to help pay for his English studies. We were a little taken aback, to say the least, having been told that Buddhist monks never ask for things or beg. But we felt for the young man... all he was really wanting to achieve education and make his own living.
In the late morning, after exploring Angkor Wat, we drove half an hour or so to Banteay Srei, a small but incredibly beautiful little temple located some way away from the main complex. Built of pinkish stone and boasting the most finely and deeply carved reliefs in all of Angkor, its power lies in its refinement rather than its size. We found it charming. On the way back to Siem Reap, we stopped off at the Landmine Museum, a rather disturbing display of all the different kinds of landmines and other ordnance blighting the Cambodian countryside. The founder of the museum, a local man named Aki Ra, has devoted his life to clearing mines, raising children orphaned or maimed by mines, and raising awareness of Cambodia's landmine problem. Again, like the Plain of Jars in Laos, we were overcome by the irony of it all - the relics of a powerful and civilised culture, the heritage of the Cambodian people surrounded by the nihilism of a suicidal war. Ah, us humans are a self-destructive species.
Siem Reap Hotels
11 votes 
This is a top pick!
