Siem Reap, Cambodia
Trip Start
Jun 30, 2005
1
7
13
Trip End
Jun 05, 2006
Siem Reap,
Cambodia
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Siem Reap (Cambodia) - Having orginally planned to visit Angkor Wat at sunrise on the first day, we changed the plan and had a late brekkie in a cafe that actually discouraged me from ordering a local dish as it wouldn't agree with me! So I had a cheese sandwich!
(Jodie) The first day at Angkor Wat we went to Ankor Wat itself - very beautifully amazing! The highest point had some steep stairs to climb proving that they weren't really built for the western foot. On the way down we had to join the que to venture down, scary stuff! We also went to Ta Prohm (featured in Tomb Raider and Two Brothers) which was probably my favorate with huge tree roots taking over the temple, Ta Keo (lots more scary stairs), Thommanom, Victory Gate, South Gate and then went to Phnom Bakheng to watch the sun set. The lonely planet described here at sun set like a circus and they weren't far wrong. Initally you have to climb a steep root ridden path for at least 500 meters upto the temple with probably 500 other people. Once at the foot of the temple you have to climb lots more scary looking steps, this time with lots more people (mostly Korean's, who's concept of queing in any orderly/safe fashion is not in their dictionary!). The set sun was lovely, but then the scramble to go back down
starts in an even scarier fashion.
The following day we watched sun raise over Angkor Wat for about 2 hours which was great, with the sky constantly changing colour with the changing position of the sun. We watched the sun rise in front of a large pond which gave the beautiful view an impressive mirror finish. We then went to Bayon, which has 252 faces scattered around
the temple, the Terrace of the Elephants, Baphuon Phimeanakas, Terrance of the Leper King, Preah Khan, then we got our Tuk-tuk to drive round the large circuit of the temples but were too knackered to get out, which confused our driver some what. On Rachel's final day at Angkor Wat we hired a guide Tom, who took us back to all the main site of Angkor and gave us more of an insight into what we had been looking at the previous days. Rach and I started the day going up a tethered hot air balloon. That evening Rach kindly took us out for dinner at a place called Dead Fish, this is a pretty
cool looking restaurant/bar with layered floor, varied seating arrangements, ponds and water features plus good old kareoki to entertain.
Rachel sadly left us on 12th to which Gavin and I then spent the next two days in bed. We did venture out once for dinner, but after I was sick at the table (luckily restaurant was empty and no one saw), we made dinner a takeaway and headed back to bed. We then spent another day at the temples seeing some ones we didn't see with Rach - Neak Pean, Ta Som, East Meon, Pre Rup and Banteay Kdel, again they are really amazing, but that one more day of temple seeing was enough for us. On the way home we stopped at the local Land Mine musuem, run by a local man who had dedicated his life to safely clearly mine fields and helping people who have been affected. After a couple more days chilling, we visited a local non-state school. This school is next to an orphange, and is run by two young monks. They provide free education to over 250 kids between the age of 5 to 22, through out the day. (the governemnt does provide education at a cheap price in our terms, but obviously is too much for the poorer families). The school has to be seen to be believed - its amazing how people cope with so little. They were three
small hut style open rooms, with wooden benches. They use three 1949 printed English books as a manuel to teach. They have hardly any paper or pens, but use a white board to write things down. They also try and teach them three other languages. The teachers are all volunteers - both monks and travellers willing to donate some time.
Unfortunately many of the monk's english is not the greatest themselves, but is better than nothing. They are hoping to save money to build more class rooms, as obviously their three rooms are not enough for the amount of people they teach. It only costs them $35 a month in rent for the land and electricty, but obviously that is alot for them. It is certainly a cause I would love to help out more once home, so if you have any spare pens and paper guys?...
