Siem Reap and the Angkor Temples

• Julesasia's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Siem Reap

Trip Start Aug 09, 2008 Previous
Entry Trip End Sep 10, 2008

  Siem Reap, Cambodia
Monday, September 8, 2008

After our bus from Phnom Penh, we arrived in Siem Reap, the ancient capital of the Khmer empire and home of the famous Angkor temples! We were met off the bus by Mr Samnang (Mr Lucky in Khmer - not so lucky for us! - he tried to overcharge us each time we talked money, despite the fact that we paid more than we should have anyway!) who took us around three hotels before we finally settled on the Ancient Angkor Guesthouse. He was quite difficult about taking us to where we wanted to go, insisting he knew better places where we could go, but it was always with a smile on his face and it was a free journey so there wasn't much we could do. He asked us how long we were staying in Siem Reap and managed to secure us for the next three days around the temples.

After settling into the guesthouse, we walked to the Dead Fish Tower Inn for dinner. This place was the most bizarre place we've ever been to. It was a huge building with a corrugated iron roof and numerous different levels, all accessed by small ladders that led from one level to the next. There was a live band and the food was fantastic. After dinner we went to look at the resident pets - crocodiles! It was $0.50 to feed them and we thought "why not?" so were given some raw meat to throw in. The sign next to them said "Don't play with the crocodiles - they're much faster than you!". It was a bit scary but we knew they couldn't get out of the enclosure. The restaurant said that they couldn't be released into the wild and the tourists like them and that's why they kept them...

The next day was our first day going to the temples. However, first we went to the Floating Village on the Tonle Sap lake. We went on a boat with a man who looked half asleep, had his feet up on the wheel and would pose for other tourists taking photos. He didn't, however, talk to us at all and we got rather irritated, thinking "We didn't pay $15 each for this man to ignore us." What we didn't realise, however, was that he did speak English and had understood all of our grumblings. He took us through the flooded forests and out onto the lake. We sat there for a while, expecting to see the Floating Village soon when he started up the boat and appeared to be going back where we came from. We landed at the tourist stop and he finally spoke to us, saying "You two must be very tired, you haven't asked me any questions at all!" Nick at this point was very annoyed and firmly said "But you didn't introduce yourself or tell us anything; we didn't even know that you spoke any English!" After this misunderstanding was cleared up he said his name was Sky and we had a great time asking questions, seeing more crocodiles and a fish farm, as well as a school, church and police station on the water! In the afternoon we went to the Roluos group of temples - Bakong, Preah Ko and Lolei. Our three day ticket cost $40 and the sign said that if we were caught without it we would be fined $200! We started with the smaller temples because we thought we'd see them chronologically. They reminded us of the Cham temples we had seen at My Son in Vietnam. It was amazing to see buildings that have lasted over 1000 years! That evening we went walking in the Night Market which was very pleasant and headed to bed quite early as we had a 4.30am start the next day!

The following morning we had agreed with Mr Samnang to meet him outside our hotel at 5am to see the sun rise over Angkor Wat. It turned out that he wasn't very well and his brother replaced him. We left the hotel at 5am and drove straight to Angkor Wat. It was a fantastic experience arriving at 5.30am just in time to witness the sun rising over the temples and then exploring the temple that everyone has heard so much about. Angkor Wat certainly didn't disappoint - it was huge and so beautiful! It's been really interesting hearing from Nick how much things have changed since he came two years ago - then you could climb all over the temples but this time much of it is roped off for safety and restoration purposes. After Angkor Wat we moved onto Angkor Thom which is actually a walled city containing numerous temples. We saw Bayon, Baphuon, Phimeanakas and the Terrace of the Leper King. Bayon was our favourite - with the most beautiful faces carved into the rock. The guide says that Bayon is the most architecturally inferior of the temples but I thought it was wonderful. As it was still really early it wasn't too hot and the light was perfect for us to see. The other three were also spectacular with so many intricate carvings. On most of the temples you're allowed to climb up them and explore and on many the steps are very worn and steep, meaning that we constantly worried about slipping. I also wondered what was stopping the temples falling in on top of us but Nick pointed out that they had stood for 1000 years and so why would they fall now? At the top of Baphuon, one with very high and steep steps, there was nothing to stop someone falling about 10m to the ground if a foot was put wrong. It was rather scary and we had to be constantly alert to where our feet were going.

After Angkor Thom we moved onto Ta Keo and Ta Prohm. The latter is the temple with the most photographed tree in Cambodia - the one where the roots have grown over the temples. It was absolutely stunning but also a shame that the trees are slowly destroying the temple and soon there won't be much more than a pile of rubble. Next was Banteay Kolei, Pre Rup and East Mebon. Needless to say, we have taken hundreds of photos! By the time we reached the last temple we had been looking at them for about 8 hours and were absolutely shattered. They were all so beautiful and we decided to call it a day before we stopped appreciating them. That afternoon we had lunch at Le Tigre de Papier and then went back to the hotel where Nick read and I fell asleep.

Today we saw the last five temples on our itinerary, therefore completing our tour of 17 (!) temples in three days. We visited Banteay Samre, Banteay Srey or the Lady Temple, Ta Son, Neak Pean and Preah Khan. We had booked a car with Mr Samnang as we were meant to visit two temples that were about 45km away but he was still ill and so his brother replaced him again in a tuk-tuk. Having seen a horrific accident two days ago due to stupid driving, we were unsure of whether we wanted to go 45km along big roads in a tuk-tuk. We decided not to go to the further temples, instead only seeing the ones we hadn't seen yesterday. We got to the first one and wandered around and then Nick decided that he did want to go to one of the further ones as it was said to be an absolute must if you had the time for the beautiful carvings. So we went to Banteay Srey and negotiated the price with our driver. It was well worth the journey because, despite the temple being rather small, the carvings were absolutely amazing. This is the most intricate of the temples and the guidebook said that it was known as the Lady Temple because of the intricacies of the carvings rather than having been built with any reference to women. After walking around and taking a few more photos, we visited the stalls outside the temple where I bought two temple carvings of Angkor Wat. One thing I forgot to mention about all the temples is as soon as the tuk-tuk arrives we were surrounded with young children, greeting us with "Hello ladyyyy, you want postcard? You buy postcard? Yoouu want cold drink? Maybe when you come back? If you buy, you buy from me ok?" and so on. After you come out you're greeted with "Sir, ladyyyy, you want pineeeapple?" We have been very good and always said "No thank you", remembering Richard's advice that we are guests in their country. The last temple we visited was an enormous monastic temple and we were greeted by a man asking if we wanted him to tell us the story of it. I jumped at the chance because we had, until then, only had the guidebook's information as our driver didn't speak much English. For $5 he took us the whole way around, pointing out the carvings and overgrowing trees. He told us the history, saying that it had been built by one of the Kings for his father, but when the King died and his son took over all the Buddhist carvings had been replaced with Hindu carvings. He showed us how, instead of making new carvings, the new King had simply adapted the old Buddhist carvings by moving the legs into the shape of Hindu forms. It was a great temple to end on and was really interesting to listen to the guide.

Tonight is our last night in Cambodia and our last proper night of the holiday so we're going to a restaurant called "Cambodian BBQ" to try snake, crocodile and other exciting beasties. Tomorrow morning we have a 12 hour journey to Bangkok and in the morning on Wednesday we fly home.

So thank you very much for keeping up with our travels and we can't wait to see you all soon!

Lots of love from Nick and Jules xxxx 

Print this entry Share

Previous Entry