Traveling 101: Lesson # 1 – DO NOT leave your camera battery at home. Unfortunately this was my fate. Yes, I went to the world’s largest religious building and Cambodia’s prime tourist hot spot (it’s even on their flag) sans working camera. Luckily I have amazing travel buddies (Cathy and Jenny) who took lots of pictures so they will be coming soon. ALSO… for those of you who do not know, Matthew Pereira is COMING TO THAILAND IN DECEMBER FOR 3 WEEKS!!!! While he is here, we are going to take a side trip to Siem Reap so he can see the magnificence of it all, and so I can take pictures of my own!
Cathy, Jenny and I decided to take the night bus to Siem Reap to save on accommodation and time. The actual sleeper bus was full so we opted for the half-sleeper bus which greatly resembled full length lawn chairs. The sound of this is much more comfortable than it actually was… particularly because the ride was incredibly bumpy, the roads were flooded, it was pouring rain, and you were lying/indoor sun bathing beside complete strangers for 7 hours through the night. It was an experience, that’s for sure!
Nevertheless, Angkor Wat was one of the most magical places I have been in my life. The temples were breathtakingly beautiful and different from anything I have seen before. Our first stop was the main Angkor Wat Temple that was created in the early-mid 12th century. It is a massive three-tiered pyramid with five lotus-like towers rising 65 meters from ground. As you pass through the outer gate and get your first glimpse, its size and architecture make it look like a giant postcard photo against the sky. After you cross through the gate and get closer to the temple it slowly gains depth and complexity. The first level of the temple is artistically beautiful with carvings of the mythological Battle of Kuru on the west wall. The historical march of the army of Suryavarman II (builder of Angkor Wat) against the Cham, followed by scenes from Heaven and Hell decorate the south wall and the ‘Churning of the Ocean Milk’ is on the east wall.
Next we went to Angkor Thom, a walled and moated royal city and the last capital of the Angkorian Empire. There we saw Baphuon, Phimeanakas, and my all-time favourite Temple Bayon with all the faces! There are five entrances (gates) to the city, one for each cardinal point, and each gate is crowned with 4 giant faces.
Other beautiful Temples we saw were Ta Keo, Pre Rup, Banteay Kdei, Banteay Srey and of course the Temple Angolina Jolie made famous in Tomb Raider, Ta Prohm.
We also visited the river of 1000 lingas’ at Phnom Kulen. The river consists of a series of stone carvings along the river bed and along the side. The carvings at the bottom look like neatly arranged bumps but they are the Hindu phallic image of the god Siva (I later learned that lingas actually are his penis but I haven’t had time to google this yet). Along the side of the water there are various Hindu mythological designs of the gods Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, Lakshmi, Rama and Hanuman, as well as animal carvings such as cows, frogs, crocodiles, and snakes.
Like good tourists, we researched this excursion in our Lonely Planet books to make sure we were properly equipped and mentally prepared. We read that this excursion takes approximately half an hour to get there and requires a moderately easy 45-minute uphill walk through the woods. What they didn’t mention was it takes an hour and a half to get there, you rock climb up cliffs, trek in clay in the middle of the jungle, and it takes over an hour to just climb up. BUT, it was an amazing experience that ended in lots of laughs and no wipe outs, despite many (and I mean many) close calls.
We spent our nights exploring Siem Reap’s night market and Bar St (it’s actually called Bar street!). We spent a lot of time at Temple Restaurant/Bar where they had traditional Cambodian dancer’s performing every night. We could also order buckets of mixed drinks for super cheap and got a free t-shirt with it. When we first got there we decided that we need to drink at least three buckets so we each got a t-shirt. I won't say how many t-shirts we left with. They also had a drink called "Tomb Raider" so we drank lots of this, just because we could. We also treated ourselves to half hour body massages for $3. I know a $3 massage sounds sketchy but it was amazing and needed after climbing through the jungle!
There was a lot of flooding while we were there but for the most part the Temples were fine. A few of them had been shut down completely but the main ones were still accessible if you don’t mind getting your feet wet in dirty water. The streets of Siem Reap had water about knee deep... yes, knee deep! I think I walked barefoot for most of our nights out. This probably wasn’t the most sanitary thing to do but it sure beats sifting through water in flip flops. Taking tuk tuk’s (taxi’s) was absolutely hilarious with all the splashing and flying water. There were some parts on the road where the tuk tuk’s would get stuck so you had to walk through the mud in knee deep water while they drove through. There were Korean tourists everywhere… everywhere! It was scorching hot at some points but the women still covered themselves completely from head to toe to keep their skin white. They wouldn’t get out of the tuk tuk’s if they got stuck so we had to push them out while they still sat in them. Messy, messy but what an experience! The Korean tourists were also taking my picture non-stop. They liked the colour of my hair and had never really seen it before. At first they were trying to be subtle, but then I started posing, and then they started asking me to pose with them. I hope I'm in their family photo album.
Overall everything was amazing and seeing the Temples of Angkor Wat was an extraordinary experience. I can’t wait to go back with Matt to do it all over again!
