temple hopping

We stepped off the bus, just outside Siem Reap, and were met by a large group of tuk-tuk drivers all duelling for our attention and business.  We settled for a friendly guy who told us he could take us to some good places right in the heart of the "old Market" part of town, right near the restaurants and bars, perfect!  The ride to town was along dirt roads, freshly watered and slushy from what could have only been a tropical downpour.

The first place he took us to was a dive, and way over priced, an easy "no".  The next place was a hit.  It was only about a three minute walk from the "night" district, the room was a good price, and there was a small pool!  On the way into town our driver had told me that the ride would be free of charge as he gets compensation from the guesthouse, and he was hoping to be our driver around the 'Angkor Archaeological Park' the next day.  He seemed nice, and his price seemed reasonable, so we agreed for him to meet us at nine the next morning.

Trees have enveloped walls and rocks have been pushed from roofs

Then, it was time to have a shower, get changed, and head out for a little exploring and to find some dinner (by this time Karen had got a little appetite back, and was able to say more than two word sentences!). We found a "traditional" Khmer style restaurant which was very tasty, although I don't think I was quite ready for the beer I ordered. Most of it was left untouched...what a crime!

Temple exploring day 1

After a much needed sleep, I awoke early feeling very excited about where I was and what we would be doing that day. Angkor Wat has been on my 'top 5 places to visit' for some time now, and there was no way I was able to stay in bed past 6.30. So, I got up, grabbed my running shoes and went out to pound the streets of Siem Reap. It was an interesting run, I just ran along, having no real idea where I was heading and no clue what I was going to see. After running around the, surprisingly busy for 6.30am, main streets of town, I found myself on some back alley dirt roads, running past local people just going about their daily business. After a while I realised the road I was on was taking me further and further from the guesthouse, not towards it like I had hoped, so I turned around, and ran for another 10 minutes until I found a land mark I recognized. By the time I got back to the guesthouse I had built up quite a sweat and appetite, and my shoes were soaked through with filthy water from the massive puddles everywhere, loving it!

We felt a bit cheated when we met up with our driver for the day that morning. The guy we had arranged to drive us around had another job so he instead had brought his brother to drive us around. The only problem was his brother spoke very little English, and the guy had promised that he would tell us about the temples, like a guide. I had read that you should always get a guide who has graduated from guide school, and now I know why! Still, it was transport for the day, and there was no point getting down about it. We opted for the 'medium' route around the temples so that we could leave the very central, closer, temples for day 2 when we would be on bike.

Our route for the day was: Angkor Wat - through the South Gate - Bayon - through the Victory Gate - Ta Prohm - Sras Srang - Banteay Kdei

After the quick stop off to buy our 3-day passes (which took no more than 5 minutes and it turns out you don't have to have a passport photo for) we found ourselves driving into the Angkor Archaeological Park, and with every passing second drawing nearer, and nearer to the temples! Our driver dropped us off at the bridge to Angkor Wat, and before we had even pulled to a stop we had kids yelling at us from across the road to buy water, postcards, books, and jewellery. We politely brushed them off, showed the guard our passes and then we set off over the massive moat, in search of the 'temple-mountain' that is Angkor Wat!

Before we got to the main splendor of Angkor Wat we first explored some of the outer gate, which itself proved to be rather exceptional. Still, itchy feet soon got the better of us and five minutes later we found ourselves walking along the main walkway taking picture after picture of the main attraction! Although the temple was not in ideal light (except for sunrise, they say not to visit Angkor before 2pm, and we turned up at about 10am) it was a gigantic structure to see, that continued to got more impressive with every step closer. Soon we were right at the base of the entrance way and the enormity of it all began to dawn on us. Angkor Wat is HUGE! We scaled the steps to get inside and started wandering the empty corridors, stopping for pictures at every turn. In the central courtyard we took a moment to sit down and look up at the central towers. The steps to the top were super steep, but that just made them all the more fun to scale, and once at the top the view was awesome. It really helped to give an idea of the massive scale the temple was built in.

After a couple of hours exploring Angkor Wat we made our hot way back to the tuk-tuk area in hopes of finding out driver. We didn't hold out much hope of being able to spot him amongst the hundreds of other drivers and tuk-tuks around, but, he was a pro and he spotted us, and waved us down, the moment we exited Angkor (life's too easy sometimes!).

Bayon was equally as impressive as Angkor Wat. Bayon is made up of 37 standing towers with a good number of them containing four stone faces calved into the rock. It was a very impressive sight to see, and we quickly raced off to scale the rocks, and get lost in the formations. I spent a good while separated from the girls taking plenty of photos of the different rock formations and carved artwork.

The third temple of the day was probably the favourite of all three of us, and a good number of other visitors too, I'm sure. The temple was Ta Prohm, commonly known as "the Tomb Raider" temple (yes, some of Tomb Raider 2 was famously filmed there!). I'm very sure Ta Prohm would be an impressive temple regardless, but, what makes it that much more special is the fact that it has been left relatively untouched, even though the jungle has started to grow through and around it. Trees have enveloped walls and rocks have been pushed from roofs, but it looks as if both nature and this man made structure have always been one and the same. It is something that has to be seen to be truly appreciated, but make no mistake you will not be disappointed.

After an amazing 3 from 3 temples our grumbling stomachs got the better of us and we sat down to eat. Most of the major temple sites have stalls set up outside from which locals have set up shops of souvenirs and restaurants of overpriced food. I guess it's because there are no other options for nearby food, but the prices are all well and truly inflated, often so much so that they are more expensive than some of the nicer establishments in town! still, it's easy to get the price brought back down to earth, you simple say you'll step five meters to your right or left to one of the many other, eager to have you, eateries! Once you sit down be prepared to have somewhere between 5 and 10 kids surround you with things they want you to buy. Very quickly, "Two for one dollar" became more common than "hello".

The kids are actually quite amazing, in that most of them can speak Cambodian, English, Japanese and I'm sure many other languages that we didn't know enough of to test them on. They also know the capitals of WAY more countries than I do, and can usually follow up with the populations. A typical conversation went something like this.

"Hey Mr you wanna buy book?..." "No, I'm fine thanks." "You need book, you have no guide, temple book for just $10, in shop it be $39.." "It's ok, I read about the temples on the internet, I'm fine." "Where you from?" "New Zealand." "Capital of New Zealand is Wellington. Population is 4 million people." "Well done.", and then I would get a little sneaky, "What's the capital of Jamaica?" At which point they wouldn't have a clue. But, would quickly turn back to selling. "How much you pay? You need book?" "$4" "No, I can't do, it's too little... $10 is good price." "It's ok. I don't need..." A few minutes later I had a book for $5.

We were hassled to buy stuff right up until our food arrived, then they'd go away, only to return the moment we finished. And, for example, if they were selling postcards, but you had already bought a packet that day, it didn't matter cause, "These ones are different... two for $1!".

Next on our tour we were taken to Sras Srang, a 'picturesque baray' (lake). It was nice, but nothing amazing. Still, it was located right across from Banteay Kdei, so was worth a little look. Our last stop of the day Banteay Kdei was another very impressive temple (aren't they all?!!). It was very long and a lot of it was in ruins, apparently as a consequence of using an inferior grade of sandstone and poor construction techniques. However, that just made it all the more impressive to us at it really showed the age of the structure (built in early 13th century!).

That night we met up with Badsha and Eric for drinks and dinner. We shared many tales of our adventures thus far, and enjoyed drinks as 'apartment block neighbours' now relocated to Cambodia. It was a very fun night full of cocktails, more happy pizza (but this time in much more "user friendly" quantities), and vodka redbulls! Although it didn't run as late as we had planned (the long day of temple viewing, and pizza made sure of that) we had a blast and went to sleep very content that we had had a magical day a night.

Temple exploring Day 2

The first thing we did in the morning was change guesthouses. Although we were happy with our room at Ancient Angkor, the side road it was situated on had become "unwalkable" as 30m along from the guesthouse a mechanic workshop of some sort had sprung a massive leak leaving the entire road covered in a thick, deep puddle of black oily muck. It was disgusting and proved to be a real effort for tuk-tuks to get past, let alone on foot.  It also just happened to block the only way into town! Having to catch a ride into town every time we wanted to go out was completely pointless as the reason we had chosen this area was so we didn't have to be reliant on tuk-tuks (all the $1 rides quickly add up!). So, I went out hunting for somewhere else to stay and found a very nice place just round the corner, and past 'the puddle'.

So, we moved to Golden Temple Guesthouse which was very nice, and had super friendly staff, a definite step up from Ancient Angkor. All the facilities were excellent, especially for a guesthouse. After we had moved our bags across we opened the laundry packet we had asked Ancient Angkor to wash for us. It had taken them two days to do (due to the night time rain they said) and when we sorted out our things we quickly found that both Karen and Lisa were missing about four pairs of underwear each, and we had inherited someone else's bikini, underwear and money belt! Figuring it was nothing that couldn't be sorted till later, as the people who's stuff we had, probably had ours, and since ours was the last package picked up that morning they were probably already out for the day, we decided to put it on hold till that night.

We walked into town in search of some bikes to rent. I had been told that 'granny bikes' cost $1 a day, and mountain bikes cost $2, easy choice, huh?! Not so. After inspecting the mountain bikes we quickly opted for the more comfortable granny bikes, which also had baskets for us to carry our bags, and water. A couple of minutes later and we set off on our way, riding the 6kms out to the temples. It dawned on us after about ten minutes that this was definitely the way to see the temples, and we were in for a hell of a good day! I had a rough outline of what we wanted to see, and which route we should take, thanks to my $5 guidebook!

Our route for day two was: Phnom Bakheng - South Gate - Baphuon - Terrace of the Elephants - Phimeanakas - Prasats Suor Prat - North Gate - Preah Khan - Neak Pean - Ta Som - Pre Rup - Sras Srang

The standout temples for the day were definitely Preah Khan and Ta Som, both of which offered great photo opportunities, endless carvings and long hallways to walk along. The weather was hot, but, luckily the day was a mix of sunshine, cloud cover, and the occasional welcome down pour of rain. We went through countless water bottles on our journey from temple to temple and had a chance to chat with many Cambodians. At one temple I spent a good twenty minutes chatting with some kids who gave up trying to sell to me and instead just wanted to be friends. One girl even drew a picture of a flower, signed it and gave it to me, too cute! The kids I was talking to all go to school in the morning and then head out to the temples at lunch time to sell items until 6pm when they finish for the day. A rather different life to the one I grew up with in small town New Zealand!

The roads we rode along were, for the most part, relatively deserted, as it was mid week, and we were on a lesser famous "route" than the one most tuk-tuk tours must go on. However, along one stretch of road we found a car pulled over and four monks were chilling at the side of the road, sitting around sipping back on a can of coke each, in an attempt to beat the afternoon heat. They were really friendly, and after initially biking past them and hearing their laughs (no idea why), I headed back with Karen to grab a few photos and have a chat. They were very friendly, and contrary to what we had heard, they had no problems speaking directly to Karen (a female) and even asked her to join us in the photos (but, first politely asked her to remove her hat). Throughout the entire exchange they continued to laugh at us!

Along another road I spotted a scorpion, which made for a fun little stop off, and got the girls on edge for the next half hour or so. The cheeky bugger was just chilling off the side of the road, after a rain shower, and he had his tail up ready to strike at  whatever strayed too close. We didn't know if he was alive or dead, as at first he wasn't moving. But, eventually I must have pushed the camera too close as he set off on a march and ran away... like a scared little girl .....

The day was long, arriving at the temples about 9.30 am and not leaving until after sunset, but it was the best day of our trip. We got to see so much more than we had from the tuk-tuk the previous day, and we really got to experience the temples in all their glory and with a bigger sense of appreciation (not quite sure why). Don't get me wrong, it was pretty tiring work biking along in the heat, sweat seeping through our tops, sun rays attempting to burn a nice red colouring into my sunscreen protected arms and neck, but it was a fun sort of tiring. And, on the way out of the Park after a rather unspectacular sunset at Pre Rup (I don't rate that spot for sunset) we were treated to a gigantic full moon rising above, and reflecting off, the lake of Sras Srang, very cool!

The ride back into Siem Reap was rather eventful. With light fading faster than a raver on speed doing the 'running man', we put our "back-into-it" and hit the pedal. The girls mistook my requesting to get a move on as an indication that I thought we might get mugged, not what I actually meant, that we are more likely to get knocked of our bikes due to the poor light and craziness of Cambodian roads. We rode through swarms of moths, with our mouths held firmly shut, and having to clear our ears every now and then when a stray bug decided it looked like a nice spot to set up camp! There was a little incident with a rather large suicidal frog (or was it a toad?!...) which Karen spotted late, swerved to avoid, but ended up taking out a rear leg as he jumped right under her wheel (I was a witness to the whole thing as I was a meter behind her and heard the crunch). It scarred her pretty badly as she felt a "bump" and everything! Eventually we made it back to civilization and the packed streets and bright lights of Siem Reap.

Karen and I then made the muddy trip to our old guesthouse to try and sort out the washing. Ten minutes later and we knew we were going to get shafted, they had no idea there had been a mix up, and apparently Karen and Lisa's underwear was now on its way to Bangkok. We told the manager/owner guy that we wanted monetary compensation, to which he said he could give $5! Now, it was a difficult situation as we knew there was no way they staff would understand how much we actually spend on underwear in the "west". Explaining to them that each pair probably cost at least $20 just wasn't going to make sense to them. Still, Karen stuck with it, and told the guy $5 definitely wasn't enough. $8 was the next offer, to which we stood our ground and said no way. Eventually we had to settle for a night's refund, $13, a very poor compensation, but the best we could do (and they were really not happy either!). What an annoying situation to have been in.

Temple exploring Day 3

After two full days at the temples we decided to opt for the Angkor Wat sunrise, and then we wanted to head out to the floating village. We met our driver just before 5am and drove out. An was the cutest, nicest Cambodian guy, and we instantly wanted to "mother him" with treats and such. Once we got to Angkor Wat we joined the line of people and hurriedly started to walk down the main causeway to the front of the temple for "the" sunrise view. Just as we were walking along I heard my name called out in a voice that definitely wasn't Karen or Lisa, turned around and their was Krista, Lisa M and Nori!! Three more Saga people to hang with! We all raced along to admire Angkor Wat lit beautifully from behind by nature.

The sunrise wasn't the most spectacular I've ever seen, but coupled with what lay in front of us it was breathtaking. We spent an hour showing Krista, Lisa and Nori around the temple, acting as tour guides with our limited knowledge, and only two hours of experience! Still, I think we passed the test and managed to bluff our way as somewhat decent historians. Next up we all sat down for some breakfast just across from Angkor Wat. My pancakes were good, and the setting was great, breakfast in front of the largest religious building in the world, brilliant!

After breakkie we met up with our super excited driver, he literally was jumping up and down waving his arms at us with a beaming smile spread across his face, and we made our way across town and out to Tonle Sap, the largest lake in Cambodia. We had heard good things about the floating village and so we'd made it a priority to see when in Siem Reap. What we didn't know, however, was the price involved. For a one hour trip out to, and around some of the village, it cost all three of us $10 each. And then, we had to tip our driver and guide on top of that! Rather an expensive excursion, but if you can afford it I definitely recommend it.

As it was just the start of the rainy season life on the lake was just getting back into full swing, not quite there yet we were told, but definitely picking up from the very quite time during dry season, when many of the inhabitants move up into the mountains. We went past classrooms, all floating on bamboo and in full session, a gymnasium, and a library. Once we got further out into the main village area we floated past houses, floating shops, a "hospital" (and I use that term loosely), a pig pen, and church. Our guides informed us that most of the villagers are fishermen/women and make a pretty good living, as far as Cambodian standards go at least.

After our fascinating trip around the village An drove us back into town. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. We ate amazing, and cheap, Mexican food, the girls did a little shopping at a market, and we lazed around reading/sleeping in the shade at the guesthouse. Once we had recouped enough energy we walked the two minutes back into town and met up with Krista, Lisa M and Nori for dinner.

After dinner we said our farewells and then the three of us went to a massage place they had recommended for a $5 foot massage. We had expected to get very relaxing, soothing massages, which we would use to put us half to sleep and then, after a quick walk home, would undoubtedly fall into a deep long slumber. However, we hadn't counted on getting the most crazy three massage girls in all of Cambodia. From the get go, when they were just washing our feet (in amazing peppermint water of some sort, it tingled all over and felt amazing!), a couple of the girls started to crack up laughing at us, again, no idea why. Then when we moved downstairs to the lazy boy chairs the laughs became more constant and more intense. Before long the six of us were in fits of giggles, and that lasted for the entire hour. The massaging was great, full credit to them, but it was their crazy sense of humors that really made it a stand out memory for me.

By the time we got home our feet were dirty again, and we weren't too tired, but with an early morning start on the cards, and a full day of travel ahead of us we put heads to pillows and grabbed some zzz's.

Siem Reap to Bangkok

The next day was travel day, the day we had been least looking forward to from the whole trip, and we quickly found out we were right in doing so. We took a bus from Siem Reap to the border in Poipet, there we had to cross the border into Thailand on foot and then get another bus to Bangkok. All I can say is thank god it wasn't rainy season as I would NEVER want to do that trip then! The roads were every bit as bad as I had read. I can normally shut my eyes anywhere and get some sleep, no matter the noise, surrounding people, or motion. However, the bus to Poipet was shockingly bumpy and I had no chance of sleep, the only saving factor was that there was air conditioning, which meant the windows didn't have to be open so no dust or rain came in.

After the journey from hell came the longest border crossing I've ever experienced. We were literally in the customs room trying to get into Thailand for about 2 hours while the line (if you can call it that) slowly, and painfully, inched its way forward, bit by bit. Then when we finally reached our goal and made it to the other side, (with all our cavities still in place!) we had to find our way to the bus stop, which wasn't sign posted in anyway. We just followed the directions shouted at us by tuk-tuk drivers and vendors who could see us looking around lost. Then we had an hour wait as we had just missed the bus, and had to wait for the next one to fill up. After that, and the hellish bus in Cambodia, the 4 hour Thai bus to Bangkok did seem deluxe, but it was still 4 hours and we didn't end up rocking into the city until about 11.30pm, some 14 hours after we had left our guesthouse!