Temples

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I arrived in Siem Reap airport around Midday. The weather was as expected: Hot and a little humid. Gaining entry into the country was a breeze for me an a handfull of others who already had a visa and were able to avoid the long application queues. After collecting my bag, I was met outside by my driver Thierry. This guy was with the guesthouse and I had arranged for the pickup weeks in advance: A wise move I thought. From my initial conversation with Thiery he told me that the guesthouse was run by his family and if I liked, he could act as my driver and guide to the temples if I so wished. I came to an agreement with him and after checking in went straight out, the same day for my first taste of the ancient Khmer civilisation.

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After purchasing my three day pass, the first stop was at Angkor Thom; a temple complex which includes the Bayon, Terrace of the Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper King. For me, the Bayon was by far the most impressive, and comprises some 216 faces of Avalokitesvara. I've no idea who this guy is but he must have been pretty special to deserve this temple in his image.

I was a little late getting up, and after having gone back once for my camera we eventually set off and arrived at the complex in the knick of time with the sun just about to appear on the horizon

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As I only had half a day, or at least until sunset, I decided to check out Angkor Wat before climbing a nearby hill for a view of this famous temple as the sun set. Walking around the temple itself didn't really do it for me and it was hard to see what all the fuss was about. There were some impressive bas reliefs telling a story around the outer walls, but other than that I came to the conclusion that it was a touch over-rated. Meanwhile on top of the hill as everybody eagerly antisipated the setting of the sun, cloud set in for the evening and spoiled the show. Apparently this tends to happen a fair bit in April.

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The following morning (pre-dawn) I set off again from the guesthouse with my driver Thierry in an attempt to get a good view of the sun rising over the back of Angkor Wat. I was a little late getting up, and after having gone back once for my camera we eventually set off and arrived at the complex in the knick of time with the sun just about to appear on the horizon. As it turned out, waking up early to see this event was well worth the effort. In fact getting out to see any of the temples between 5 & 6am is probably advisable due to the huge numbers of tourists which tend to saturate the various sites from around 9am till sunset. I spent a few minutes enjoying the spectacle before walking back to the roadside where Thierry was waiting.

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The next temple complex I had chosen to visit was relatively remote and as far away as I was willing to travel by tuc tuc: We headed north through the South Gate of Angkor Thom toward Banteay Srei. Thierry had suggested this site the previous evening when I expressed a wish to get away from the hoards. Banteay Srei was a good twenty plus kilometres from the town and by his standards the best temple of all. On route we passed dozens of high school children on bicycles and a hand full of buses and faster motorcycles passed us. Most of the houses I could see were situated close to the road and were surrounded by palm trees. Everything was basic; the houses stood on stilts and were fabricated from wood and dry banana leaves. Cows stood beneath some of the houses out of the sun which by now was well on the rise. There were numerous covered dining areas where whole families or even neighbourly groups sat down to eat together. We didn't stop at all as our aim was to arrive at the temples before others did although looking back now I wish we did.

A memorable temple; for me The Bayon was my favorite of all
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My initial thoughts as we arrived outside the temple complex was that it looked very similar to the others; there were numerous roadside stalls and restaurant areas as I had seen the day before. However there were very few tourists about and as I made my way into the temple site so too did about half a dozen others. We seemed to be the first people there and I enjoyed approaching the complex which was set back across a small expanse of water. The stone used here was orange in colour and the level of detail in the carvings was incredible. The site itself was small but I spent a good amount of time strolling around enjoying the fact that I was not triping over groups of photo-hungry Japanese.