Travel Location: Siem-Reap,Cambodia

13-17/12

Inaspettatamente il viaggio e’ tuttosommato decente, arriviamo e abbiamo gia’ un tuk tuk che ci aspetta per portarci in un Hotel prentato in precedenza, Hotel centrale, pulito e carino, per fortuna!

40$ il prezzo del biglietto per tre giorni per entrare a vedere le rovine di Angkor Wat, una vera meraviglia del passato, uno spettacolo. Un mondo immerso nella foresta e avvolto dalla vegetazione che l’ha preservato dal passare dei secoli (nonostante le incursioni dei Khmer Rossi) il passato glorioso di un popolo ricco, colto e grandioso; che sfortunatamente non rispecchia affatto la popolazione cambogiana dei giorni nostri. Vediamo sia il tramonto che l’alba da Angkor Wat, indimenticabile.

Vicino al nostro Hotel poi c’e’ un orfanotrofio e decidiamo di avvicinarci per sapere se possiamo aiutarli in qualche modo, ci chiedono tende per le zanzare, matersassi, coperte, cuscini, Autan….servirebbero alter mille cose ma non possiamo comprare tutto, facciamo quello che possiamo anche se sappiamo che non e’ comunque abbastanza. Una sera mangiamo in una delle bancarelle locali per strada e non finiamo tutta la cena, dopo pochi minuti si avvicina a noi un bambino di neanche 8anni, piccolo, magrissimo e vestito di stracci (la famiglia lo manda di sicuro a mendicare) e ci fa capire che vorrebbe finire I resti della nostra cena…..a me viene da piangere rendendomi conto del cibo che ho sprecato, della fame di questo bambino piccolissimo…..lo invitiamo a sedersi con noi per mangiare, gli compriamo altro cibo, acuqa e poi l’indomani mattina lo vediamo dormire per strada….straziante. Ci rendiamo conto di quanto poco potrebbe bastare per aiutare questi bambini (come tanti altri in tutto il mondo) ed e’ ancora piu’ difficile accettare il fatto che per qualche “strano” motivo non e’ cosi’ semplice o qualcuno non vuole che lo sia!

Il viaggio per andare in Thailandia e’ quasi ancora piu’ assurdo di quello con cui siamo arrivati. Incontro alle 87.00 partenza alle 9.00 dopo aver perso ore a stipare I baggali nell’ultima fila di sedili e non solo…..molti ammassati nel corrisoio centrale tra I sedili, per cui per sedersi dovevamo tutti calpestare I vari zaini, niente aria condizionata, caldo torrido, strada schifose. Prima inutile sosta in un baretto lercio in mezzo alla strada, dopo neanche mezz’ora altra inutilissima sosta in una specie di ristorante dove nessuno (a parte gli autisti) ha voglia di mangiare, sprechiamo un’altra ora li. Arriviamo al confine, dogana: sbattuti dopo ore di viaggio terrificante in mezzo a una piazza puzzolentissima, in mezzo al traffico e sotto il sole per fare la fila per il controllo passaporti, sudatissimi e stanchi morti. Quasi un ora di fila in mezzo alla strada sotto il sole e finalmente abbandoniamo la Cambogia e entriamo in Thailandia!!!! La differenza e’ immediata, gli uffici thailandesi hanno l’aria condizionata, sono dei veri uffici con scrivanie, computer e sopratutto mini bus super comodo e moderno! Sfortunatamente il viaggio era stato organizzato in Cambogia e fino alla fine ne paghiamo le conseguenze…..infatti abbiamo sprecato troppo tempo tra caricare I bagagli e le varie inutilissime soste che arriviamo al porto dove dovremmo prendere la barca per Koh Chang troppo tardi, la barca e’ gia’ partita quasi un’ora fa!?!

Cercano di rifilarci una guesthouse costossisima affianco al porto, in mezzo al nulla, un solo ristorante che non sembra granche’. Alcuni ragazzi che sono con noi non hanno neanche bath per pagare quindi decidiamo tutti insieme di andare a Trat, una cittadina poco distante nella speranza di trovare qualcosa di meglio. Inutile dire che il Tour operator si e’ rifiutato di pagarci la guesthouse per la notte e tanto meno il taxi, nonostante la colpa del ritardo fosse SOLO la loro!!!!

E con quest’utlima avventura chiudiamo il capitolo Cambogia, dove non so se tornero’!

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Travel Location: Siem-Reap,Cambodia

Tempel und ein Dollar

Siem Reap bedeutet wörtlich ‚Ort der Niederlage der Siamesen’ und bezieht sich auf einen Sieg der Khmer über das Heer des Thai-Königreiches im 17. Jahrhundert. Bekannt ist sie vor allem als die der Tempelanlage Angkor Wat nächstgelegene Stadt, in der die meisten Besucher während ihres Aufenthaltes naechtigen. Heute so touristisch, daß es mehr Gästhäuser als Tempel gibt. Siem Reap hat Architektur im kolonial- und chinesischem Stil. Die Stadt mit ihren alten französischen Läden, baumumsäumten Alleen und ihrem langsam fließemden Fluß ist ständig am wachsen.

Angkor mit seinem hunderten von Templen im Hindu und buddistischem Stil war einst eine florierende Millionenstadt während London nicht mehr als 50.000 Seelen zählte. Angkor Wat, der bekannteste Tempel ist das größte, religiöse Gebäude der Welt. Seit Jahrzehnten schon werden die Ruinen von einer Gemeinschaft verschiedener Länder wieder in ihrem ursprünglichem Zustand versetzt. Die zwischen dem 9. und 12. Jahrhundert errichteten Tempel wurden in den 60er Jahren des 18. Jahrhunderts von den Franzosen wiederentdeckt.

Durch Couchsurfing hielt ich schon Tage vorher mit der Chinesin Yin Kontakt. Gleiche Zeit, gleiches Ziel; also haben wir uns ein Tuk-Tuk (Motorad mit Anhänger) genommen. Drei volle Tage sind wir durch ein Gebiet von hunderten von Temple gebraust und haben mehr als genug Hindu und Buddist Tempel gesehen. Der erste Tempel ist nur 6 km von Siem Reap entfernt. Am ersten Tag sind wir den grossen ‚Circle’ (Kreis) abgefahren und haben neun Tempel von innen, aussen, oben und unten gesehen. Bei ‚Angkor Wat’ und weiteren neun Tempel und Konstruktionen waren wir am zweiten Tag.

Alles Sehensswerte haben wir gesehen, daß wir am dritten Tag bis zu 50 km weiter nach Norden sind, um vier weitere Tempel und ‚Kbal Spean’ ein Fluss weit im Dschungel mit Felsbildern zu besichtigen. Die Tempel sind ein Muß; nach den drei Tagen hatte ich dann aber auch genügend alte Tempel gesehen. Da gerade Nebensaison ist war es nicht überfüllt. Essenstände gab es genügend und nicht zu vergessen die tausend Kinder, die versuchen dir Souvenirs anzudrehen, alles wurde mit einem Dollar angepriesen. Teilweise fragten sie nach deinem Namen und woher du kommst; sie wussten immer deine Hauptstadt und einige auch die Einwohnerzahl und konnten bis zehn zählen oder sogar ein paar deutsche Sätze nahezu akzentfrei aufsagen. Ich war erstaunt. Damit es nicht langweilig wurde habe ich bei jeden Kind Ursprungsland und Namen geaendert, um zu testen wie gut sie in Geographie und Namenbehalten sind.Unglaublich.

Zurueck in Siem Reap haben wir uns eine Massage gegoennt. Nachdem Abendessen wurde mir leicht schwindelig, so daß ich ins Bett bin und es auch in den nächsten vier Tagen so gut wie kaum verlassen habe. Nur um mir ab und an Wasser oder Essbares zu besorgen, einmal wurde mir dann auch im Getränkeshop schwindelig, daß mich die Frau dort auf eine Liege verfrachtet hat und überall mit Tiger Balsam eingerieben hat. Sehr freunliche Leute hier. Keine Ahnung warum ich Schwindel, Kopfschmerzen, Durchfall und etwas Fieber hatte. Kommt ab und an vor, daß Reisende das Essen nicht vertragen.

Nach viel zu vielen neun Nächten ging es mir wieder gut und ich war reisetüchtig.

—— E N G L I S H ——

The name Siem Reap means ”Siemese Defeated” which comes from the victory of the Khmer over the Thai’s in the 17th century. It is famous for the temples of Angkor. The town today is so touristic, there are more guesthouses and hotels than temples. Siem Reap with its old French shop-houses, shady treelined boulevards and a slow-flowing river is growing constantly.

Angkor with its hundreds of Hindu and Buddist temples used to be a million city while London did not had a population more than 50,000. The most famous temple, Angkor Wat, is the most religist building world wide. Since centuries different countries are renovating the ruins. The temples were built between the 9th and the 12th century and were recovered in the 1860s from the French.

Through couchsurfing I got in contact with the Chinese girl Yin. We had the same aim at the same time. We hired a tuk tuk. We passed for three full days hundreds of Hindu and Buddist temple ruins. The first temple is just 6 km from Siem Reap. The first day we did the so called bis circle and saw nine temple from the inside and outside. We saw ‘Angkor Wat’ and nine other temple and constructions at the second day.

We visited everything what was interesting in this area that we went 50 km to the north to see four more temples and ‘Kbal Spean’ a river with rock carvings inside the jungle.

The temple at Angkor are a must do but after three days it is enough of old temples. Because of the low saison it was not very crowded. There are many many food stalls and restaurants and hundreds of kids who try to sell you souvenirs – for one Dollar they say. Some of them ask for your name and country and they tell you your capital and a few know the population and can count till ten. One little kid was able to speak some sentences in nearly perfect German. I was really impressed. Not to get bored I changed my country and name every now and then to check their geology knowledge and their memory. Incredible.

Back in Siem Reap we treated us with a massage. After dinner I felt so dizzy that I went straight to bed and hardly left it in the follwing four days. I only got up to get water and a bit of food. Once I was so dizzy at the way out that I found myself laying on a divan bed in a litlle shop. The woman put also Tiger Balm all over me. Very nice people here. Do not know why I got dizzy, had head ache, diarrhoea and little fever. It is not rare that travelers has problems with the food.

After too many nine days I felt good again and was able to travel.

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Travel Location: Siem-Reap,Cambodia

Photos STILL won’t go in the right order! I have never had problems with the photos on this site before and this trip they are driving me crazy!

I expected to wake up more sore this morning than I did following the hike yesterday. Today is our last full day in Cambodia and we are actually going to do something besides look at temples! We started with our routine breakfast. All the other days, there have only be a few of us breakfasting (is that a word?) at any given time, but today it was really crowded. We were almost done eating when a gentleman showed up and there were no tables left. They seated him at a table in the lobby, but we were at a table for four, so we invited him to join us. His wife joined us shortly as well. They were from Munich, Germany and headed home this evening. We enjoyed chatted with them for a bit while we finished our breakfast. After breakfast we headed out. Today is a much slower temple day than the previous ones.

To start with we visited Pre Rup which means “Change the Body”. It was built around 961 by King Rajedravarman II. This temple is near where the East Baray (reservoir) was and the area around it was probably fields that were irrigated by water from the Baray. This temple was used as a crematorium (hence the name). It is built in temple style and of course symbolizes Mount Meru, located at the center of the universe. Our guide told us quite a bit about common funeral and cremation practices now and talked about how this would have been used then.

Our next temple was East Mebon. This temple used to be located in the middle of the East Baray and only accessible by boat. It too was built by King Rajedravarman II around 952 (right before Pre Rup). There is also a West Mebon temple located in the middle of the West Baray, but the West Baray still contains water and I think that you can only get to West Mebon by boat, especially now, right after the end of the the rainy season. East Mebon was built as an ancestor temple and was dedicated to the king’s parents. The two Barays here are amazing. The Eastern one was 2 by 7 kilometers (1.2 by 4.3 miles) and was filled by the Siem Reap River. They used the water for irrigation for the rice fields to feed the huge number of people that lived in this area. The Baray was about 3 meters (9.8 feet) deep, so you have to use a bit of imagination about how this must have looked when you approached by boat. This temple, is also a mountain style temple for Mount Meru. We actually ended up sitting by an elephant sculpture while our guide told us the tale of this temple and then we ended up chatting about a variety of things for the next 30 min or so. We then walked around the temple before heading to our next stop.

Ta Som, which means “The Ancestor Som” was built by King Jayavarman VII at the end of the 12th century. Ta Som is a bit of a tiny temple compared to the ones we have been visiting. The central area is quite short and small. Like Bayon, it has faces (most likely King J VII’s face) throughout the temple. Restoration on this one didn’t start until March of 2001 and it has trees growing on it similar to Ta Prom. Although the temple was designed and built by King J VII, it is thought that the outer enclosure walls were added by King Indravarman II in the 13th century. Its an interesting historic note that King J VII (I get tired of typing his whole name) built the most temples of any king. King Indravarman II built basically nothing, but spend a lot of time removing all traces of Buddha from everything that King J VII did build. Perhaps its better to do your own thing that destroy what others have done? I enjoyed this temple as I like the ones that are tumbling down with trees growing on them. You walk through a courtyard area with trees growing along the path and the denseness of the trees, even this close to traffic again demonstrates how easy it was for all these temples to be hidden for so long. The carvings here have held up really well, so took some pictures before we left.

Neak Pean, which means “Coiled Serpents” was our last stop before lunch. This was built by (guess who?) King J VII in the second half of the 12th century. This is a fascinating little temple. It was built in the center of what was the Northern Baray and placed on an artificial island. It was assessable by boat. The Northern Baray has been dry for a long time (for the most part), but due to all the flooding from the storms along Indonesia’s coast, a long makeshift walkway of two boards has been made to get you to this temple. It was kinda neat in some way, because even though we were walking and not boating, it still gave an idea of how it used to be. After we all made it across the boards, we took a look around. The main temple sits on a little island in the middle of a pool. Around it are four other square pools, each with a chamber opening into its pool. This temple was thought to be used for the priest to cleanse themselves. There was a cleaver little hole cut in the top of the chamber, that when water is poured in, it is dispensed through the mouth of a sculpture inside of it. A priest would sit under the sculpture and be cleansed with the holy water. There are little buildings next to each of the four pools where he could meditate after being cleansed. The four sculptures were of a horse, elephant, lion, and human. Its hard to look into each chamber to see the sculptures well, but some details are visible. Heading back across the boards, we saw some cute little ducklings, that didn’t want to hold still to have their pictures taken.

We weren’t all that hungry at lunchtime after our huge breakfast, but our guide and driver were hungry, so we had cold drinks at a little food stall across the street from Neak Pean while they ate. Again today, our schedule and location doesn’t lend itself to a trip back to the hotel. Like our lunch the day before, we were entertained by some of the local animals while a chicken and a few dogs came through. Two little cats came through chasing each other and one very friendly one ended up in my lap. She had similar coloring to our cat at home, but was way shorter in both length and height. Oh and of course she was quite a bit lighter Once the guide was ready to go, I had to evict her from my lap, although they offered that I could take her home with me. Since we go from here to Thailand and the US government frowns on bringing in animals, I had to decline.

We had one more temple to see this afternoon, Preah Khan, which means “The Sacred Sword”. I hear you wondering if this temple was also built by our good friend King J VII, and the answer to that would be yes. He built it in the second half of the 12th century around 1191. This temple is dedicated to his father. This has to be one of the most complex temples that we wandered through. Its grounds cover 138 acres total and the temple itself is huge. It is surrounded by a moat and walls that are about 6 feet high. The balustrade of the bridge over the moat is the gods and demons churning the Sea of Milk. This is an important story and pieces of art everywhere throughout the temples illustrate it. I have already written a novel for all these temple days, so I won’t retell it, but I am sure that google with be happy to share it with you. This temple is doorway after doorway, drawing you deeper and deeper until you finally reach the center. The central sanctuary was probably once covered with gold, bronze, or gems, from the remains left. This temple is built on a very significant site to King J, as this is where he defeated the Cham army and became king.

This ends our tours of the temples of Angkor. Each temple has much more history and interesting building points than I have described in the last four days. If any of them interest you more, there is a good amount of info available on the web about all of them. The best complete book of the temples, if you are planning a trip, is by Dawn Rooney. Its called “Angkor, Cambodia’s Wondrous Khmer Temples”. I didn’t find it at any of the local book stores, but the latest version was readily available on Amazon. The book is written so that it will guide you through each of the temples if you want to visit them without a guide. I found it a good resource to look back on when writing this, and to look up the temples that I knew we were going to visit. I find the guide very useful and at only $25 USD per day (arranged through our hotel) it was well worth it. I am sure that I have missed things about all the temples that others think are important, but hey, its not a history lesson, its just some random info. I hope that you learned something and are perhaps inspired to want to explore the temples yourself!

Now back to our day:

A very smart company has a large tethered balloon that gives you a great view of Angkor Wat and we really wanted to do that before we left. When we got there, the balloon was already up in the air, and it needs some time once it comes down, so we settled in to wait. Other than our park passes, this is by far the most expensive thing that we did here, at $15 USD per person. Once the balloon was ready we climbed in the cage and were off. The cage is circular around the balloon. It was only us and the operator, so it was very easy to move around. The ride is about 15 minutes and you can walk around the cage and take in all the views. My camera battery died on the way up and I impressed myself by changing it without dropping anything. The view of Angkor from this height was absolutely amazing! You can read the statistics on how large it is, but being up above it like this, really gives you a way better feel for how large it is. We spied the temple that we climbed up to the first night through the trees and the view of Tonle Sap Lake and the Cambodian countryside were great as well. Jeff was happy since we had a nice view of the airport too . The 15 minutes went by all to fast and we headed down.

We didn’t plan our trip this, but we just happened to be here during the 12th full moon of the year. In both Cambodia and Thailand (and I am sure other countries in Southeast Asia as well) this is a time of celebration. Historically this time of year is when the rice harvest would be done and everyone would have more time. There is a multi day celebration to give thanks to different gods including the gods of water and fertility. In Thailand, the celebration is called Loy Kratong (and you will hear more about it in the coming days). I am not sure what the holiday is called in Cambodia, but it is celebrated similarly, but a huge part of their celebration is boat races. The boats are paddled by large teams (I think about 30 people) down the river and the winners of each round face off until their is one winner. The winner then travels to the capital in Pheom Phen and races against the winners from all the other regions for the ultimate prize. There were both women’s and men’s boats and I was never clear if there was both a woman and man winner or if at some point they raced each other. Today was the start of the races, so we headed to the downtown river area. They had streets blocked off and many food vendors selling things. We hung out for a bit and then all the boats headed down the river to hear opening announcements. Both Jeff and I got a bit bored by the time announcements were over, since they were all in Khmer and they lasted almost an hour. Finally, they were done talking and the races started. Wow, some of those teams could really paddle! I stressed out our guide again, when I went after a kid selling bags of popcorn, but I lost him in the crowd. I then wandered around trying to find another popcorn vendor (sadly for me, without success). Jeff said that he was quite worried the whole time I was gone. He and my dad would get along well! Jeff is pretty easy to pick out in a crowd here since he is so much taller, so I had no doubts that as long as they stayed where I left them, I could find them again. After watching the races for a little while, Jeff and I decided we were hot and sweaty and ready to go home, so our guide led us across the river to where our TukTuk was. Our driver navigated all the people and closed roads and got us back to the hotel.

Our plan had been to have a swim, but the German couple that had joined us at the end of breakfast was in the lobby area having a drink, so we joined them. We compared our thoughts on Angkor and heard a bit about their trip to Vietnam, where they were prior to Cambodia. We had just ordered some drinks as well, when suddenly part of the drywall on the ceiling came tumbling down! No one was hurt, as it missed the German man’s head, but it startled all of us. The staff rushed over, moved us to another table, and practically before you could blink, they had a ladder and were doing a quick repair job. It appeared that perhaps an animal or something ran over it when it fell as the drywall piece broke in half. Sebastian, the manager, was there before long to check on everything. We were laughing about it by that point and were glad that everyone was OK. They headed off to catch their flight soon and we headed to our room.

We showered and put on about our last bit of clothes that weren’t covered in sweat and decided to be different tonight and go out to eat. I think that our TukTuk driver was shocked that we were actually going somewhere and happily took us to the Khmer Kitchen, which has cheap local food. We thought for some reason that it was on the same side of the river that we were on, but we had to cross the river, around which people were still celebrating. Our driver dropped us off and we arranged a time for him to pick us back up and we headed in. Jeff got something with Cambodian curry and chicken and I got fried garlic with shrimp. Both dishes were very good. I have to admit though when I read fried garlic with shrimp, I assumed that it was a translation thing and it really was shrimp with garlic. I was shocked at the amount of garlic present when it was served! The shrimp were very good though, so I worked around the garlic. Even though we were done before our set time, our driver was nearby when we came out of the restaurant, so we headed back to the hotel. It was peaceful to ride on the TukTuk in the dark without our guide. He has an amazing amount of knowledge and stories to share, but it can get exhausting to listen all the time. We headed to our room and packed to head back to Bangkok tomorrow.

We both greatly enjoyed our time here in Cambodia. When we planned our trip, we figured that four full days here would give us time to do everything that we wanted, but I could have easily spent more time. I would love to come back, not just to see the temples, but to see more of the surrounding areas as well. We were both very aware of the standard of living here, which is so different from what we are used to. Many families struggle to even have clean water (hand pumped from a well). There are many orphanages around this area as well. We didn’t get a chance to research the many different groups that are here to help, but plan to do so once we get home. We plan to do something to help make a difference for someone here. We did tip our guide and driver quite well and felt very good about that. I think if we came here again, I would find an orphanage or school that is reputable and bring them supplies. Our trip here has certainly made us feel very lucky and very grateful for what we have.

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Travel Location: Siem-Reap,Cambodia

Getting in to Cambodia meant a long bus journey from Bangkok to the border of Cambodia. Here we had to get out of the bus and formally leave Thailand by having our visa stamped. Next we had to walk over a bridge in a place between Thailand and Cambodia known as ‘No-man’s Land’ – I didn’t want to drop my passport in the river there!

After we got to the Cambodian border we queued and got our passports stamped to let us in their country and then travelled to Siem Reap in a very old taxi driven very quickly along bumpy roads.

Siem Reap is the nearest modern day city to the old Kingdom of Cambodia dating back to around 800-1300 AD known as Angkor.

We got up early and had to hire a Tuk-Tuk to get there and around because it’s so big – our driver was called Borath and showed around. The Tuk-Tuk’s are slightly different here and are like a trailer for a motorbike – they much more comfortable!

Cambodia at this time was a very powerful and wealthy country and many people wanted to live there. This meant that the kings were able to employ lots of people to build their palaces and temples.

It’s very difficult to take photographs that show how big these buildings are and how big the whole Angkor region is. We spent a very full day there and saw so many things, but it is possible to spend an entire week looking at all the temples and palaces.

Our favourite temple was the Terrace of Elephants where when the King had a party his guests would arrive by elephant and walk along the 350 meter terrace with tigers roaring below them!

One of the temples called Ta Prohm was used to film Tomb Raider. I felt a little like Lara Croft exploring the temple and climbing the walls, fortunately I didn’t get chased by any wolves, but unfortunately I didn’t find any treasure either!

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Travel Location: Siem-Reap,Cambodia

We booked an all in deal from Bangkok to Siem Reap for our first land border crossing of the trip as we were slightly anxious about it, especially as we’d heard a few stories of petty corruption on the Cambodia side and because we’d heard of people getting huge amounts of hassle once in Cambodia from touts and hawkers… not really surprising given the history of the country when you consider that only 30 years ago they had just come out of a regime that had abolished currency, bartering, any technology, medicines – in fact anything, so we were braced for another encounter like our first day in Delhi.

So for 30 quid between us we shared a minibus to the border and were guided through and met on the Cambodian side – funny watching a number of people getting ‘fast-tracked’ in return for a small payment, but coming out the other end before them. After border control we got a bus to the taxi rank and shared a taxi with a couple of larger than life Russian guys staying in the same hotel as us who had also paid for the same package. Our 15 year old taxi driver took us at speed in his battered early 90’s Toyota Camry directly to our hotel where we had a room for the night as part of the deal – probably paid a bit over the odds, but hassle free and thought good value for 15 quid each.

After sorting out a tuk-tuk for the following day to take us around Angkor Wat we went out drinking with our new Comrades – we learned about Siberian weather and got an insiders view of the rise and fall of communism – these guys had lived and worked through both sides so told a good story.

Early next day we were picked up by our driver who spent the day with us driving us around the Angkor complex. We’d seen pictures and travel programmes about Angkor, but nothing really can describe the scale and detailing of the place – to have the vision to design any of the temples is one thing, but when you consider the scale of these things and the intricacy of the stonework you can’t imagine how the vast teams of people who must have been required to do the building were actually directed to do it – and all a thousand years ago.

In a full day we only visited Angkor Thom – The Bayon, Terrace of Elephants, Terrace of the Leper King and The Baphuon. We also visited Ta Phrom (where Tomb Raider was filmed – Charlie did manage a couple of cartwheels and commando rolls), Ta Keo, Ankor Wat and Phnom Bakheng.

There’s a few programmes of work ongoing to restore a number of the temples so unfortunately we weren’t able to enter some parts or climb to the top of Angkor Wat – a little disappointing, but hopefully the restoration with be sympathetic and keep the place standing for another thousand years.

Next day we left for Phnom Penh.

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Well we decided to make use of the free offer of bicycles that our hotel booking included. The kids were a little bit hesitant about going on a bike without a helmet but when explained that it wasn’t against the law here – they eagerly climbed on. Zara sat sidesaddle on the back of Tim’s bike and Theo straddled the back of mine. Off we went exploring the streets of Siem Reap. We started at about 09:00 and returned at 13:00 stopping for refreshments and lunch.

Siem Reap has grown easily 10 times over since I was here last – perhaps even more. I thought P.P. had changed – nothing compared to Siem Reap. Once again all roads are bitumened and as I mentioned earlier it has a real tourist feel to it. We tend to avoid the tourist restaurants and choose instead to eat in the markets or Khmer restaurants.

After our mammoth bike ride we chose to spend the afternoon lazing around the poolside of the flashy hotel next door ($50 per night as opposed to our $15). For $12 the whole family could take advantage of the pool, gym, sauna, spa and steam room for as long as we liked. Tim and I both did a session in the gym – well I didn’t really go past the running machine – and Tim looked like a sauna once he was finished!

This evening we are heading out for a Khmer bar-b-que with a free shadow puppet show. For those of you who don’t know, Zara has been learning about shadow puppets at school so she is beside herself with excitment.

we are all looking forward to tomorrow – another day at the temples…..

P.S. Just returned and sadly they were fully booked tonight so we have booked the show for tomorrow night. Instead we ate the Khmer bar-b-que buffet. It was certainly a gastronomical experience like no other. The kids were able to try the Khmer jellies and desserts which we haven’t been game to try from the markets due to a few too many flies resting on top. Theo absolutely loved it as I knew he would. Zara was not as keen, she found them a bit too sweet.

Here you go Jude – these photos are especially for you!

At least they have helmets which is more than I can say for others.

Villagers collecting the stems from the lotus flower for food!

Anyone seen a rubbish bin around here?

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So we began our temple tour with what they call the “Grand Tour”. All in all we saw 5 different temples and it took us from 08:30 til 14:00.

Banteay Kdei – built in late 12-13 century, in some respects it is a smaller version of Ta Prohm (where Angelina did her stuff).

Pre Rup – built in the middle of the 10th century it boasts 5 imposing brick towers which dominate the surrounding plains. There is a beautiful harmony of colour between the laterite, brick and sandstone.

East Mebon – also middle of the 10th century is built on an island and in it’s day the temple was surrounded by a reservoir of water capable of holding 55 million cubic metres of water.

Ta Som – one of the smaller temples and it owes its charm to a combination of remoteness, semi-ruined state and face-towers. The semi-ruined state of the buildings inside the small enclosure and the jumble of masonry blockes makes an attractive scene completly isolated from outside and perfect for Theo’s imaginary games of hide and seek from the warriors!

Preah Khan – this was my favourite of the day – it was simply stunning with doorways going as far as the eye could to see. It is much more than just a temple with over 1,000 teachers it appears also to have been a Buddhist university as well as a considerable city. It was absolutely massive.

We came home earlier today from the temples as the kids need to have a sleep in order to be well awake tonight for the shadow puppet show. Beside we have an early start tomorrow morning at 05:30, the kids and I are having a ride in a hot air balloon (Khmer style) – Tim is afraid of heights so he has opted out and instead he will enjoy the sunrise at Angkor Wat from ground level.

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Surprisingly having been booked out the previous night – we were lucky enough to be the only ones tonight and therefore had our own private viewing, which the kids thought was pretty special.

“Lakhoen Sbeks” (as known in Khmer) was placed on the UNESCO’s World Heritage list as an abstract art since 2000. The ancient art of shadow puppetry in Cambodia dates back a thousand years. There are three different types of puppetry:

Sbaek thom – this is the Royal form of Cambodian puppetry – meaning literally large leather or big shadow puppet. The story represents the Ramayana epic and they perform only during the night and have no articulated limbs. Each puppet depicts one or more character posed within an ornate frame.

Sbaek Por – created in the Chaktomuk period (1859 – 1904) – puppets are smaller and colourfully painted and played during the daytime in front of the screen. These puppets have no moving parts, but only superficial carvings, and represented people rather than gods.

Sbaek Touch – small leather puppets – have articulated limbs and moving jaws. These puppets are used to perform ancient stories adn everyday life. These were the puppets we saw on the night. They were made from buffalo skin – hence they stank close up!!

The show consisted of three stories:

White or black monkey King – A long time ago there were two monkeys constantly fighting for occupying a forest where they use to hunt for food. One day the white monkey saw the black monkey destroying veges in the villages, and sure enough a fight occurred. Suddenly an old woman passing by decided to tie up the two fighting monkeys and brought them to the wise hermit. After lecturing the two monkeys with sound advice he set the free back in the forest.

The buffalo fighting – Once upon a time a man was walking to the river with his buffalo. On the way he met a woman also walking with her buffalo. He approached the woman to bet on the result of a buffalo fight. The man’s buffalo died. The man then asked the woman to give him the winning animal (the cheek of him!). They fought as she refused. The police arrived and lectured them on unlawful gambling. Afterwhich he set them free to go back to their homes.

The Reamker story – A Khmer adaptation of Ramayana (an epic narrative of Indian origin). A Prince (Preah Ream) is exile to the forest. Following many adventures, including the abduction of his wife, Neang Seda, by the evil giant, Krong reap, and her eventual rescue with help of an army of monkeys. The prince returns home in triumph and claims his throne.

The whole show went for an hour and was served with a 4 course meal of absolutely delicious Khmer food. The show was accompanied by a traditional Khmer musical band and as we were the only people there we were able to talk to the band players and find out the name of their instruments – not that I can recall them now! All in all we had a fantastic night!

From Zara’s diary:

Tonight we went to the shadow puppet show – we had the whole place to ourselves because it was a week night. The food they served us was a bit spicy so they gave Theo and I a special meal of fried veges and rice which was not spicy. The servers were really friendly and thought Theo was really cute, they played with us after the show.

The puppets were made out of buffalo skin, it was really tough and smelled horrible. The people working the puppets behind the screen were really clever as they moved the puppets according to the story – even their mouths moved when they talked. We couldn’t understand because they were speaking in Khmer but we understood the general idea of the story. Our task is to try to find and buy a shadow puppet in the markets, but I don’t want it in my bag smelling out all my clothes!

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Travel About: ruins,temple,travel-tips,misadventure,bus

Soooo, as I was saying, we booked a mini-bus from Koh Chang to Siem Reap for about $25 each. We thought that a reasonable amount considering the distance and border crossing. I had heard that the road in Cambodia was not paved and quite painful on the rear, but that’s what you gotta do when you travel sometimes.

Well, as it turned out we got put on the internationally-known scam bus, which leads to this current rant. In fact, I read about the scam bus in lonely planet and we went to southeastern Thailand, instead of through Bangkok, partly in order to avoid the chance of this happening. The scam bus works like this: Ignorant backpackers on the Khao San Road in Bangkok book transporation through shady travel agencies from Bangkok to Siem Reap, Cambodia for only 200baht, or roughly $6. Locals doing point-to-point trips and changing over could not make this trip for less than 250 baht. The catch is that the bus on the Cambodian side is not air-conditioned, rides with its windows down letting in the dust (as it must considering the heat), and makes many stops along the unpaved, dusty road to Siem Reap at various restaurants telling the riders that the bus has a problem or we have to stop here for b/s reasons, thereby forcing the backpackers to spend money at these establishments on the road; the bus takes a commission from the restaurant owner for bringing these westerners. Then, even though they tell you that you will arrive in Siem Reap at 6pm, you do not arrive before midnight and they take you to their guesthouse outside the city center. Most people will end up staying at this guesthouse b/c they don’t know where they are and it’s late. Apparently, the Cambodia bus does not get paid to take the passengers and the only way it makes money is off these commissions. Oh yeah, and the non air conditioning is important here b/c the road is all dirt so while the windows remain down, the passengers get a nose and ear-full of dirt as remnants of their horrific journey. Word is that experienced travelers have said it was the worst trip they’ve ever taken.

So back to us: 7:15 am we get on a really nice mini-bus in Thailand headed to the border. Everything seems to be going smoothly – nice older Swedish couple in the minivan, good A/C and even Karaoke available. Then, the van drops us off at a restaurant, around noon and says that you must transfer to another bus to get to the border – the scam begins. Then, we wait … one and one-half hours later we hear that the hold-up is due to the bus being broken. Things starting to smelly fishy. Finally, we get herded onto the back of a pick, squeezing 30-something into a space for 20 for the short ride to the border. “We,” at this point, was a large group of naive young Japanese tourists (so polite and so clueless), an Australian hippy couple to our left and a German couple across the way. We strike up a conversation with the German couple (that also came from Koh Chang) and they said that they just bought a ticket to the border and then are going to taxi it to Siem Reap b/c of the scam bus. They said that they found out in Koh Chang that the bus from Koh Chang is the same scam as the one from Bangkok even though we pay much more for our ticket from Koh Chang. Then, I turn to Australian couple to my left (man holding hula hoops??) and ask them where they bought their tickets and how much they paid. Where else? On the Khao San Road and they paid exactly 200 baht. Then, it all clicked. Rinat and I looked at each other and knew we had been had. What a feeling! Then, I promptly explained to the stoned Australian couple that they were on the scam bus and they are going to have a miserable ride into Siem Reap, over 7 hours in dirt. I explained to them in detail the torture that they/we were about to undergo, and as I was explaining the scheme, our ‘friendly’ Cambodian guide holding on the back of the pick-up overheard everything and you know what he did – he winked at me and gave me a sly smile! I wanted to let him know how little I thought of him but I thought better of it b/c I didn’t know what his connections were or who he knew in Cambodia. Also, I had to figure out our next step. Once you’ve been had, you have to remove yourself from the situation. So, even though we paid for transport all the way to Siem Reap, I asked the German couple if they were interested in sharing a taxi with us. They were happy to in order to save some money. So we miserably crossed the border into Cambodia and told our guide on the other side that we are not continuing the journey with them. Rinat almost lost it raising her voice at one of the guides about what scum of the earth they are, but I dragged her away. I guess I forgot to tell her about self-control b/c we don’t know who they know in Cambodia and what they might try to do to us.

Now, we’re in the city of Poipet, Cambodia, a dirty wild-west type town that is palpably unnerving. It turns out that the city of Poipet is one big mafia. Taxis to Siem Reap only leave from one place, other taxis/cars on the street are not allowed to drive you there, and the price is $60, not $25-35 as it was two years ago when the LP was written. Trust me, we asked anybody who had a car in Poipet. And of course everybody gets a cut of the taxi money, including the police, yeah, right out in the open. That’s not business, that’s corruption. Bottom-line: never go to Poipet, Cambodia. If crossig this border, use another crossing or fly. Of course, tying a ribbon on this infuriating story, we looking into flights: apparently only Thai Airways runs flights from Bangkok to Siem Reap. And we found out from the great German couple that apparently Thai Airways has a contract with the Cambodian government to give them money as long as they don’t repair the “worst road ever” from Poipet to Siem Reap.

As is classic in most traveling scenarios, something great comes out of something horrible. We met Marco & Claudia, from Berlin, and shared the next three hours on the “worst road ever” bumping our way through conversations spanning the scam bus to Israeli policy and politics. Great people made the whole experience worthwhile. We arrived in Siem Reap, settled into our hotel after this ordeal and had dinner with Marco & Claudia. We found refuge in each other and a wonderful new friendship. Note: They’re also on a similar trip as us, just shorter.

Oh yeah, as for Angkor Wat: beautiful, spectacular, breathtaking, and definitely worth the price of admission. We had a private tuk-tuk driver take us from temple to temple, his name is Mr. Date (seriously) and if you’re ever in Siem Reap look him up, he’s great. The other temples were also nice but how many piles of rubble can you look at in 100 degree heat before you’re done, unless you’re a Khmer historian or archaeologist. So, we spent two nearly full days checking them out, then checked out the local crocodile farm for a change of pace.

Oh yeah, and the best meal we’ve had thus far was at No. 12 outside of Ta Prohm in Angkor, Khmer curry to die for. Yes, each person has their stand and their own prep area, and we randomly chose No. 12 over its neighbors Nos. 11 and 13. We did sunset at Angkor and sunrise at Angkor Wat itself, both were somewhat disappointing, but I praise our motivation.

I’m exhausted after that entry, but since we entered and left Cambodia within one week, I will write another one. See Phnom-Penh entry next.

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The next day, we were picked up at 8:30 by our tuk-tuk driver, who took us on the “Grand Circuit” of the Angkor Wat complex.
Angkor Wat was essentially a kingdom that was built over 800 years ago. Millions of people lived there, and the temples that remain were built in the name of each of the kings of the days. Each king wanted to one-up the last, and so each temple built was grander than the one before it. The civilians, their shops and other official buildings were made of wood as stone was saved for the “king-gods”, and so disappeared centuries ago. All that remains are the temples made of stone, brick and limestone. There’s a bit of history for you.

There are hundreds of sites around the area, and we decided to buy a three-day pass (for $US40 – apparently ticket sales to Angkor Wat make up about 25% of Cambodia’s GDP) and take the larger circuit first, and the smaller circuit the next day- the idea being that if we saw Angkor Wat itself first, all the other temples would look unimpressive by comparison (which turned out to be a good move).
The temples were breathtaking. The detail in every carving and brick is so intricate, and the fact that they were all built in the 11-13th centuries makes it even more amazing.
We spent the day exploring 5 temples, with a long lunch break at a delicious Khmer restaurant in the middle.
That night we went to the night market with Wocco and Dim again, and out for dinner at a Khmer restaurant where MICK JAGGER once ate. So, we’re pretty much famous now.

We decided the next day to watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat itself (along with about 100 buses full of Japanese tourists – surprise surprise). It was well worth the 4am start – we sat down by a pond just in front of the temple, and saw the sun rise over the 5 towers. A Cambodian man was singing traditional songs as the sun rose, and the moment one we’ll remember for a long time.

We then explored the temple, stopping every now and then to just sit and look – the place is so so peaceful.
Breakfast followed (at a particularly dodgy “restaurant” – aka a shack with chairs), so we took the lowest risk option of jam and bread.
The next few temples were all so different to each other – Bayon (our favourite) looked more like something you would see in South America at Maccu Picchu – amazing.
And of course, Ta Prohm – the temples used for filming Tomb Raider. These were the most stunning – the temples were mostly in ruins, but over the years the roots of massive strangler figs grew over them, and the result is seriously beautiful. Plus, we’ve pretty much met Angelina Jolie now.

By the end of the day, we were officially “templed out”. The last temple looked just like the ones on our first day, and we pretty much walked straight through it to get back to our driver. We can see why the term “Same Same but Different” is used so much over here!

A massive part of the Angkor Wat experience is saying “No thank you” about 150 times an hour. Every entrance and exit to each temple is covered with little kids selling bracelets and trinkets – they look at you with their big sad brown eyes and just repeat over and over “3 for one dow-ler”. It’s so hard to say no, because we both know how much a dollar would mean to them, it’s hard not to get emotional about it. Some of the kids ask where you’re from and then say a spiel that they’ve all rote-learned about the country. It’s possibly the cutest thing ever. The Australian one went something like “Capital Canberra. 20 million people. Kangaroo. G’day mate!”. Very impressive, especially when five kids say the whole thing in complete unison. The women yell out “Hey lady you want scarf for your sister?” or “Sir you buy somesing sir?”. Saying no looks like it will be a pretty prominent part of our trip. Megan did give in and buy a bracelet though (children are her weak point). The saddest part is that primary school in Cambodia is free, and still these families can’t afford to not have their children selling bracelets all day in the hope of getting $1.

The afternoon was spent sleeping in preparation for our countdown to Lewis’ birthday (Wocco’s idea). We went back to the Mick Jagger restaurant (the food was amazing) and began with our $2 cocktails and $0.75 beers, then moved onto Angkor What? – a pub run by British expats. It was like walking into Third Class (except more of a bar), and it was full of Westerners (and thus clean toilets – bonus!).
There were $5 buckets, and when you bought two at once you got a free t-shirt. Lewis said as a joke that we should aim to get everyone a t-shirt, aka drink 8 buckets….we decided after a shot and two buckets that that would be the aim of the night… And we did it!! The countdown to midnight happened, and Megan forced a table full of New Zealanders to come over to sing to him. Awesome awesome night!
The night had a sad end though- on the way out at 3am we were bombarded by children begging. First they said they wanted food, and so did we so we went to buy them some, then more came, then more, then their mothers, and we all had no idea what was going on – they were climbing all over us and hugging us (not stealing though which is what we thought might be happening – don’t worry mums and dads, we kept a tight hold on the zips to our bags the whole time!). These kids were literally staving, and wanted $US money from us, which we didn’t have and couldn’t possibly have given to all of them. After a massive night, the magnitude of the situation really hit home. We left these children crying on the street because we couldn’t give them $1. Horrible.

BUT apart from that, the night was seriously awesome. Although our drinking games may have killed the Dutch! It’s 3pm and they haven’t come out of their room….

So today we’re just resting, maybe having a massage and going out for dinner for Lewis’ birthday (Happy Birthday Lewis!!)
Tomorrow we set off by bus for Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.

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