Cambodia - Angkor

Our stay in Siem Reap, the gateway town to Angkor, was really, really awesome. We hooked up with a nice and friendly tuk-tuk driver, we had a fantastic hotel, Siem Reap is a great place, and Angkor itself was just mind-blowing. The only real problem was that it was a malaria zone so we had to be pedantic about applying Rid, wearing the right clothes, and just generally avoiding mozzies.

(And for those not in the know, a tuk-tuk is basically a motorcycle powered rickshaw...)

So our tuk-tuk driver, Pete (a Western pseudonym), really was a lucky find. Without explaining every story, he was just always there, no matter what little mess we got into. Now that we're in Bangkok, we wish we still had Pete around to make it all okay!..

Siem Reap is a very tourist-centric town, so we were able to enjoy a very Western friendly night life, much the same as in Phnom Penh. It was about as laid back as Hoi An (in Vietnam), although it was technically larger (and didn't have the spectacular architecture). The river splitting the town in 2 was well maintained, and the centre of town where we went for dinner each night had a number of restaurants and pubs; most served Khmer food, but some also served Western food. It was all priced in US dollars, and everyone spoke good English and understood Western culture, so it was really easy and relaxing to hang out and eat, drink, or whatever in the town.

To give some historical understanding to Angkor (the real highlight of the area): the Khmer are the predominant ethnic group in Cambodia, and were the original people who inhabited the region around Siem Reap. They once had a huge empire, which engulfed most of South-east Asia, and included much of modern day Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos. This was at its most powerful and influential about 900-1100AD.

Angkor Wat, the famous temple that everybody talks about, is pretty fantastic. Its huge, its an audacious architectural achievement, and it just plain rocks. The more you understand about Hinduism, the more you can appreciate and ponder about the thought and work that went into its design. Its basically a big, square temple, with a moat that spans 150 metres in width easily, an outer wall, a huge inner garden, an inner wall with really complex floor-to-ceiling carvings outlining important Hindu mythology, and then a 5 tower representation of Mt. Meru (the mythological centre of the universe where the Hindu gods are found) in the centre. Its hard to explain why its so cool, but its bigger than you think, and its just really awe-inspiring from the second you start walking across the moat to the time you walk away.

Now, Angkor Wat is cool, and its all anyone ever seems to talk about, but that's a bit unfair to the ancient Khmer, because it was just one part of a huge city of 1 million people called Angkor. And really what made this whole experience so unforgettable was all the other stuff around Angkor Wat. I really strongly believe that people should talk about Angkor, not Angkor Wat, because Angkor as a whole is always going to be your real experience if you ever go there. So in the end, although we spend 2 full days at Angkor, only a few hours were spent at Angkor Wat, and both Kelly and I didn't even think Angkor Wat was the nicest place. The ruin of Ta Phrom was more enchanting by a long shot.

Ta Phrom is a temple that is slowly being swallowed by the jungle, and has absolutely enormous trees growing straight out of its stones. We saw it just prior to another Monsoon downpour, and it got carried away trying to photograph it when the rain started pummelling down on us. Fortunately, the ever-watchful Pete left his Tuk-Tuk at the roadside and came running down the track (now a mudslide) and rescued us from the downpour. The funniest (and also saddest) thing was seeing all the little children running after him looking for us, carrying their postcards and bracelets, desperate to make one last sale for the day. I ran ahead, but Kelly was caught sopping wet running for the Tuk-Tuk with a troop of children around her, all offering her all their wares for a dollar or two. She said everyone was laughing, fully aware of the ludicrousness of the situation! Still, its hard to imagine the financial situation these children must be in to be willing, at the age of 4 or 5, to hawk their souvenirs in a torrential downpour to a tourist running as fast as her thonged feet could carry her.

We probably saw another 10 temples (or similar) from the Khmer empire, and you'd need to look at our photos to see how different and cool they all are. Particular highlights were Bayon, Angkor Thom, the Terrace of Elephants, and Baphuon. Most were built by the Khmer kings (each wanted his own shrine to the gods), and really all of them inspire so much from your imagination that they change your view of a time that was "the Dark Ages" in Europe, as well as your ideas about Hinduism, Buddhism and the place of religion in society. I just loved the Nagas that protected each building, and the huge crumbling walls that surrounding them all.

I guess that's really about all I can say for now about Siem Reap. We took so many photos its going to be a real task to sort out the best ones. I'll try to upload some to our photo album here, before I go to sleep.