Wat Climbing

We had tried to arrange our 3 days of temple discovery with Huiyen the day before, and planned to start at 5am this morning. However, there was some Anglo-Cambodian confusion. Just before going out to dinner I asked her to confirm what time, she said "I will confirm when you get back", but she was not around when we returned. This actually was meant to mean "yes, you are going at 5, but I will let you know the route you are taking later". So she was surprised to see us at breakfast time and wondered why we hadn't been.

Confusion sorted, we went out later that day. A 3 day pass to the temple is $40 each and the tuk-tuk ride is about 40 mins from where we staying. You rent the driver of the tuk-tuk for the day/complete trip you want to do (today it was $18). Our driver was Dara, who picked us up from the airport as well. The Cambodians are happy folk but they seem quite reserved and don't tell you about their lives as much as what we had in the Philippines, I haven't asked too much either incase it's too intrusive.

I think I could go into too much detail about the temples, so I will try to be brief about each one and I will upload the limited pictures I have on my phone. The first thing that surprised me is that each temple becomes a big adult climbing frame, you are allowed to walk through the sites and navigate up and down the temple remains. I did think it would be like an English Museum, with lots of ropes, guards and "Do Not Touch" signs keeping you away. Apart from the occasional sign on badly corroded parts of the temples, you are free to roam as you please. It does make me think though, the temples have been worn away by weathering and damage from war, but how much of an impact does thousands of tourists clambering over them have?

The other interesting fact is some temples were built as Hindu temples but then converted to Buddhist later on in time (included amending some of the carvings on the walls).

We went to see;

Pre Rup - late 10th century temple, with five towers. A local story says it had rejuvenating powers, a King once went in for 3 months and came out looking younger. I still looked the same when we got back in the Tuk-Tuk.

East Mebon - We liked this as there were statues of Elephants on each corner of the perimeter wall and some beyond that. Also late 10th century and it used to be surrounded by water. It's still a site that local Hindus go to pray for rain at during the dry season.

Ta Som - probably my favourite of the trip, it was quite quiet when going around. Built late 12th century. It was the first temple we found where a tree had grown right through the back of it.

Preah Kahn - also late 12th century. Troops from Vietnam used this in the late 70's and apparently you can see some writing from them on the walls.

As we drove back to the hotel and came across a lone monkey walking down the road. Monkey #3 of this trip I thought to myself, and then we went past so many monkeys I lost count, maybe 50 or 100. Lots of people were feeding them, taking pictures. Two even started to put on a mating show (it was all finished too quickly to be impressed though).

Dinner that evening was a spicy chicken stir fry, again full of flavour (and more basil), it also had complete stalks of raw green peppercorns. Each time I eat here I have to say how good it was at least 10 times! Also the cheapest beer of the trip, Cambodia Draught, $0.50 a glass. Still have some way to go to beat the £0.03 glass in Hoi An last year though.

Bowls of rice; 21

Cambodian Temple Count; 5

Tuk-Tuk rides; 8 (as long as I count viewing the temples as one big ride!)