Siem Reap

Heya Folks,

We had an easy, comfortable journey by bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, passing rural villages and giving a brief glimpse into the Cambodian countryside. Siem Reap was a real gem of a place, and one of the nicest cities I have ever been to. Although there is not much to see 'in town' (with most people heading straight to Angkor), it still had a lovely relaxed feel, and provided a good respite to 'temple fatigue', which undoubtedly set in after a few days at Angkor.

Are there enough adjectives to describe the Angkor temple complex? Immense, Awesome, Beautiful, Stunning, Mega, Mindblowing, Incredible, none of these even come close to describe the experience of Angkor Wat. It is quite simply, the mother of all temples, the worlds largest religious building that in its heyday was the city at the centre of the Khmer Empire. Each king that came and went tried to outdo each other with grandeur, which means that exploring the temples just gets better and better.

We started off on day one by hiring bicycles and cycling up in the pitch dark to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat. Having not previously seen it, to catch our first glimpse of Angkor as the sun slowly lit it up in the morning air was just immense, overwhelming at first view and awe-inspiring at every corner and view.

I really enjoyed the DIY-feel of cycling around the Angkor temples, not having the rigidness of a tour or a tuktuk driver wating for me gave me a great opportunity to tour the temples at my own pace, even getting off the beaten track to explore some of the lesser-visited ones away from the crowds. Including the temple at Bat Chum, which isnt even on the maps but anyhow down an unlikely-looking track, which I shared for a while with a young boy cycling to school.

The last temple I visited on the first day was Pre Rup, a tough and hot but worthwhile cycle. As I arrived and began to climb the steep temple steps, a young Cambodian girl walked up dragging behind her an enormous bag, and immediately accosted me with her only two words of English......'postcard' and 'one dollar'. Another child told me she was only four years old. There was something so sad about the innoncence of it all and the normalness of the poverty out here. I couldn't help but question, what crazy twists of the universe lead some of us to be walking around Angkor Wat on expensive holidays taking photographs with expensive digital cameras, and others to be following behind us, begging and selling drinks and postcards? What makes some of us rich and some of us poor?

On our other days touring at Angkor, we admitted defeat with the bikes and hired a tuktuk with a driver, Malai, to take us around the temples. He turned out to be a cracking guide, so friendly and so patient with us while we took our time touring the temples. There are the famous ones of course, such as Ta Prohm, with its giant tree roots growing over around the temple ruins which are slowly being reclaimed by the jungle. This was the setting for a Tomb Raider film I believe, though you could have fooled me.

Our favourite temple of the whole trip was definitely Banteay Kdei, visiting here just after sunrise when it was deserted and still very cool. Lots of caverns and tunnels and hidden corners to stumble over, and beautiful intricate carvings that honestly looked like they had been done yesterday.

Sunrises We Have Known: The famous one of course at Angkor Wat, but we also managed to catch a wonderful and very peaceful sunrise over the moat that surrounds Angkor. We shared it with only a handful of other tourists, and a dog that was clearly a permanent resident at the temples.

Sunsets We Have Known: Again we joined the crowds to catch the sunset at Phnom Bakheng, which is perched on top of a hill giving great 4 way views of the whole Angkor site. On our last evening, we treated ourselves to an elephant ride up to the top of the hill, so now I've completed the triptic of SouthEastAsian elephant rides. However, we also discovered a great sunset spot behind Angkor Wat itself, which was totally deserted and very peaceful. We stayed until the security guard told us the site was closing, and then walked around the Eastern elevation of the temple to see the most stunning orange sun just disappearing behind the entrance gate and library temples. Beautiful.

A perfect way to end our Cambodian experience :)

SarahHeadsEast xx