Angkor Wat - Siem Reap - Cambodia

June 30th - July 6th, 2016

Must see sight No.2, Angkor Wat, certainly didn't disappoint! We arrived to Siem Reap, a hot, dusty, congested town in the middle of Cambodia after another day's bus ride and walked the 2km to our hotel rather than take a tuk tuk as we wanted to stretch our legs somewhat and see some of the town. Aside from various food stalls, some selling all manner of insects and fried tarantulas (!!!!!!) there was little to reward our walk, it not being really any different to any other town we'd been to and we were glad to reach our hotel. After checking in we went out to find a supermarket for supplies and found ourselves walking along a nicer street than we'd previously seen, over a quaint little bridge and along side a park opposite some large colonial looking buildings, we found ourselves in a more touristy and therefore cleaner, part of town. Looking longingly at some of the posh restaurants dotted between the grand hotels we found the wonderfully cold supermarket and spent some time looking around, we always find it interesting to see the different things sold in new places, what foods have been constant in our travels and which are completely new or unusual! After perusing and eventually buying our goods we dropped them off at the hotel before getting dinner at a tiny roadside stand we had passed earlier, the fried noodles for $1.25 making a nice change to noodle soup for once!

We started early in the morning having arranged the night before with the hotel's tuk tuk driver to pick us up at 8, he would drive us around the 'small circuit' of the temples of Angkor, dropping us off and waiting for us before moving on, all for the mighty sum of $15 US. A pretty good deal for a full days driving and plenty of free bottles of water which he kept in an icy cool box for us!! Our first stop was to buy our tickets and the 15 minute ride to the main entrance (which isn't anywhere near the temples!), was pleasantly cool. We joined the throngs of tourists, who presumably stayed at some of the huge hotel resorts we'd just driven past, at the ticket counter and purchased a 3 day pass for $40 each...by far the most expensive part of the trip! Jumping back in the tuk tuk we were finally on our way to Angkor Wat, the 12th century temple and mausoleum built by Suryavarman II and one of the 'new' ancient wonders of the world. Teasing glimpses of the temples were afforded by breaks in the trees, but when we finally made it to the end of the long sandstone causeway that leads up to them we were only able to stand and stare in wonder. Despite the distance, the magnificence of this incredible place took our breath away, the long approach giving us ample time to soak up the atmosphere and take in the picturesque setting, with the broad moat stretching either side of the Western Gate and long serpentine balustrades lining the causeway. The sun, already hot overhead, forced us along a bit quicker and we entered the complex through the gate to reveal the full splendour of the temple itself with its 3 iconic shaped towers that are designed to look like lotus-buds, flanked by 2 ponds, and the wat's library buildings. We spent an hour or so wandering around looking at things we'd only ever seen on tv and marvelled at the intricacy of the Bas Reliefs that stretch almost 700m around the perimeter of the first level, the sheer scale of the stonework and the detail of the numerous 'asparas' or celestial nymphs, individually carved with unique features upon the walls of the second level courtyard...all 1850 of them! To reach the third and final level, the inside of the towers themselves, we had to queue up as there is only a limited number of people allowed in at a time. This is actually really nice as instead of pressing through crowds of people, the time you have up there is peaceful and you can enjoy the fantastic views and gentle breezes without feeling pressured to move on so someone else can have a look. There were so many things to see that I had used up a third of my camera battery by the time we left, the Gallery of One Thousand Buddhas (though only a handful remain) and many other things demanding to be photographed and committed to memory before moving on.

Our next stop was to the fabled Angkor Thom, the last and greatest empire of the Angkor era enclosed within 3km of 8m high defensive walls and supposedly home to perhaps 1 million inhabitants. More spectacular by far than any western city at the time, its extravagance is still in evidence through the many religious monuments left behind as the original wooden residences which would have filled the interior have disappeared. The Bayon was the first temple for us to explore, its small external size belying the complexity within as not only was it built upon an earlier structure but it has also been added to several times, making its experimental layout a maze to get around, though providing many interesting sights, perspectives and photo opportunities. By this time we had just about gotten fed up with the many Asian tourists here, whose only purpose in coming to visit it seemed was to stand and pose for photos in every conceivable place and position. Now we don't mind keeping out the way when possible or waiting a moment for someone to take a photo, but when it's every 2 seconds at 2m intervals we began to get irritated and just started walking through regardless feigning indifference when we got dirty looks or tut tuts. We figured we had paid to come and see this place and enjoy it just as much as everyone else and if that meant photo bombing a few shots so we could actually get to do that, then so be it!

I could write about every single thing we saw but that's what photos are for so for now I'll just list the important spots. Also within Angkor Thom we visited The Baphuon, the Phimeankas, The Terrace of the Leper King, The Terrace of the Elephants, Preah Palilay and Tep Pranam. Leaving Angkor Thom we then visited Ta Keo, Ta Phrom and finally Banteay Kdei, this last one in the pouring rain which began just as we stepped out of the tuk tuk but which was wonderfully refreshing and showed us a different aspect of the temple in this element. The most magical temple was Ta Phrom which, unlike many of the others, has been left to the jungle and looks just like something out of Indiana Jones. In fact it was used as the set for part of the Lara Croft - Tomb Raider film which we later downloaded to watch so we could point and say 'been there!'. The many trees and roots intermingled with the stonework make it look almost alive, fluid and natural rather than something man made and despite the crowds of people, we spent quite some time here exploring, making sure not to miss anything.

We finally returned to the hotel around 4pm, exhausted from the heat and climbing huge stone steps all day, to cool down and shower before returning to our little noodle stand once more for dinner.

The next day we made a deal with our driver to include what would have been our 3rd day out into this, our second to make things a bit cheaper. This turned out to be a good decision, one more long, full day instead of 2 shorter ones that also, luckily, helped us avoid the crappy weather that moved in! We began with a long ride out to a group of 3 of Angkor's oldest temples known as the Roulos Group due to their proximity to the small town of the same name. Bakong, Preah Ko and Lolei date from the late 9th century and although much smaller than the temples we had seen so far had much more detail in the carvings and structures. The other lovely thing is that there were next to no other tourists here as most people only get a one day ticket to see the most famous temples, meaning we practically had the place to ourselves and were able to take our time to fully appreciate their intricacies.

Leaving the Roulos group we had another long but relaxing drive through the countryside, taking what must have been several shortcuts along dodgy little dirt tracks on the way before reaching Pre Rup and starting our explorations again. East Mebon, Ta Som, Krol Ko, Neak Pean, Banteay Pre and Preah Khan were all interesting in their own right with variations on the Angkor theme . Neak Pean was unusual in that you had to walk along a raised wooden walkway across a vast deadened plain (presumably a flood lain during the rainy season) to reach it and rather than a temple complex was more like a shrine in the middle of a lake where monks row out to to pray. Preah Khan was another one of particular interest, it was very long, superbly tranquil and shaded by many trees, some of which were happily growing in amongst and through the great stone walls. There was also an interesting exhibit just outside the temple walls on the restoration project, showing just what a vast job it has been to save these spectacular buildings from destruction by the elements and time itself.

Our final temple of the day was Phnom Bakheng, a hilltop temple built from the rock from the hill and originally boasting 108 magnificent towers set on a pyramid. With only part of the central tower remaining it is hard to imagine what it would have looked like, however it is a truly spectacular sight set up on high, giving the most amazing views out over the jungle below. Most of the temples are lost to the eye deep within the jungle greenery, Angkor Wat however can be seen in the distance rising tall and proud above the canopy and was a truly marvellous sight to finish our day with before heading back down the hill (past the elephants waiting to take multitudes of tourists up for sunset) to our driver who took us back to the hotel.

Having an extra day free to what we had planned due to combining day 2 and 3 into one, we were able to have a good lay in, catch up on some jobs, like booking accommodation etc and explore some of Siem Reap itself. This dustbowl of a town pretty much relies totally on the 2 million tourists a year who come to see the nearby temples and as such has many places to eat, drink and spend your money! The markets were very similar to most others we have seen across Asia but we did at least manage to try a couple of the local dishes served up at a cheap restaurant near to the night market. Amok, a kind of mild version of Thai Green Curry, Loc Lak, a tasty beef stir-fry dish served with rice and veg and lastly, of course, beef noodle soup, which was once again flavoured slightly differently from others and made a good filling meal.

Our departure from Siem Reap was at 5.30am, a cool tuk tuk ride to the airport in the hazy morning light before waiting to board our flight to our last 'new' country...Indonesia!