It's Hot at the Wat
Trip Start
Oct 01, 2008
1
4
82
Trip End
Dec 30, 2009
Siem Reap,
Cambodia
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
03.45 start. (that is not a misprint)
Taxi to airport. Driver an enthusiastic conversationalist so I struggled to keep up with the freeflowing discussion around oil prices, economic downturn etc. Breakfast of coffee and "thick peanut butter toast". Plane 1/3 full for the 2 hr flight to Siem Reap.
Various documents filled in during the flight then our visa paperwork was issued on arrival. Processing involved 13 different officials in a line, each with a clearly vital task. That's before passport control and immigration. Met by the Tara Hotel driver
Hotel fine after we got them to turn on the air con in the room
Leper Terrace
. Organised a guide and driver for the afternoon and then had a 2 hr snooze on the rather firm bed. Kim the guide is a real success.He started with questions about whether we had ever visited Cambodia before followed swiftly by what premier league football team did we support? He's clearly knowledgeable and is good at putting it across at our level. We've been to the Angkor Thom complex and have been given an insight into the significance of the majestic buildings. It has been incredibly hot: about 32C, which is high for clambering around old buildings. The scale of the site is striking: there are lots of temples and some buildings that served as royal palaces. Most that we visited today date from the 1100s. The intricate murals around the huge Bayon temple make the Bayeux tapestry from the same period look a bit pathetic.
We had been meant to be attending an Apsara show this evening but didn't go due to some mix up, The hotel gave us a v nice complimentary meal instead. We treated ourselves to cocktails (A:Tara Tang Special, J: Pina Colada) to make up for our disappointment. Apsara is the traditional Khmer dancing as depicted on the temple murals. The civil wars last century including the Pol Pot regime obliterated any living memory of the moves, so it is now being taught to the children based on the moves in the stone murals.
Other observations: lots of Korean tourists, all with fans. Whole families travel on a single moped: I'll try to get a photo. Clearly longstanding animosity between Thailand and Cambodia. They have recently been shooting at each other in a minor border dispute.
