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Siem Reap - Cambodia 6/11/07
We arrived at Pakse Airport about 1 hour before we could check in and it wasn't very busy. After some slight confusion over what time it was, (all the clocks we had or could see were diferent) we checked in without realising at the time the bags had not been scanned or checked in any way. Not that this had any further bearing, but we realised how easy it would have been to get anything on the plane. It didn't get any busier, and in the departure lounge (a room with chairs!!!) there were about 12 people waiting. When our flight was called only 4 people moved, including us, and as we got on the plane we realised that the the whole 70 seater plane was taking just 4 people to Siem Reap. It was a short flight and we even got a complimenatry snack and drinks. The stewardesses still seemed to take it all very seriously despite the lack of passengers.
After getting off the plane and walking into the apparently pretty new terminal we manage to quickly identify our bags in the large pile of 4 backpacks that had been taken off the plane. They even still put them on the carousel. I am sure it would have been easier to just bring them out! We changed some money and tried, unsuccessfully, to get our head round another new currency (it's Riel here and about 8000 of them to the pound) and then tried to find a taxi to our chosen Guest House cautiously picked from the Lonely Planet on the flight accross from Pakse.
We know that the airport taxis are generally more expensive than just heading outside and flagging one down, but we both agreed that it's better to take a hit in a new country when we don't know anything about the place. They are generally more trustable... Or so we thought!!!
At first the driver was fine. Very friendly and trying to get us to book him for a tour over the next few days, and we were considering it. As we started to get closer to town he asked where we wanted to go and when we told him he explained that he knew a better hotel. We explained we had decided to go to the one we had chosen and he in turn explained that he would take us to the hotel he knew. This went on for some time and although he was getting a bit angry and I was probably about ready for an argumnent, Jemma politely suggested to me (probably a good thing in hindsight), that we just go to the hotel and then check out the next morning. We did this and the hotel was ok if not a little bit more than we wanted to pay (about $15 per night), but we were happy to get out of the taxi and watch him drive away (with about $5 his pocket for taking us there no doubt). It left us both with a bit of a sour taste in our mouths and very nearly tainted
Cambodia for us. Looking back it probably took us a few days to get past that.
The next day as decided we checked out early and walked to the hotel we had planned to stay in all along. Siem Reap is a very busy city with a combination of posh looking hotels and restaurants next to crumbling footpaths and hundreds and hundreds of Mopeds going everywhere. The contrast to the quiet calm of Laos was very stark. It was hard work walking over broken footpaths and dodging mopeds and I think we had pretty much both decided not to like Cambodia completely when we arrived at the new guest house and saw the room. It was clean, nicely decorated in local throws and cushions etc, had a bathroom with hot shower, satelite TV and enough room for a sofa. All for $9 a night. To top it off the staff were friendly, the food was good and there were 5 puppeis running around to play with. Cambodia didn't seem so bad all of a sudden.
Siem Reap in the base for everyone going to see the Temples of Angkor. This is a large temple complex covering many square kilometres, and has around 200 temples including Angkor Wat which is one of the seven modern wonders of the world. We, along with thousands of others it would appear, decided to buy a three day admission ticket to the temples and since we bought it after 5.30pm we were entitled to a free sunset as the ticket got us in that evening but didn't start until the next morning officially. We booked a tuk tuk driver (by tuk tuk the cambodia variety on the theme is a moped towing a covered trailer for passengers), and headed off to explore. The centre of the town is relatively small so walkable from the guesthouse and again the contrasts were amazing. One one side you have an old market selling souveniers next to kitchen & homewares, and on the other side were bars and restaurants that would not look out of place in London or New York. Generally the popullation was split in two, with locals at the markets and tourists (mainly Chinese) in the posh places. We had a shake in a trendy place called Blue Pumpkin and then headed back to catch the tuk tuk for our free sunset.
We met our driver, Clo, and he took us to buy the tickets. When we got there there were about 200 people or so doing the same and we pretty much realised that the temple experience would not be a solitary one. Clo suggested a sunset over one of the temples called Pnohm Bakeng. Apparently all the other drivers suggested the same spot and it was somewhat underwhelming due to the amount of people and a poor cloudy sunset. Still, we asked Clo about driving us for the next 3 days and agreed a sunrise pickup at 5am the next morning.
Over the next 3 days we did 2 sunrises, 2 sunsets and a visit to a floating village. The sunrise over Angkor Wat was amazing with the sun raising slowly behind the temple and the reflection of the temple in the lily pond in front. I took a lot of photos and hopefully some of them will do it justice. We shared that moment with about 500 others all lined up along the pond edge. It was made easier by Jemma befriending the local kids selling tea and coffee, and by the fact that pretty much 20 minutes after sunrise all of the tourgroups legged it to the next temple, leaving it to us and handful of others for the next few hours.
That day we visited:
- Angkor Wat, The largest religious building in the world
- Angkor Thom, A large walled city with a large moat and entrance towers and bridges with sculptures all the way along, containing:
- Bayon, probably my 2nd favourite temple. It has a about 200 large stone carved faces staring out at every height. At any time there was about 6 of them 'looking at you'
- Baphoun, Being renovated but still impressive
We also visited some of the smaller temples around. They are all in different states of disrepair so it was a mixture of impressive grand towers and mainly fallen down temples.
The next day was another 5am pickup. (Jemma being the morning person she is was excited about this fact. She did admit that it was better to get up and about before it got to hot though so I think she sort of agreed to setting the alarm for 4.15am)
This time sunrise was from Sra Srang over a large lake. No Temple to see but another impressive sunrise over the water. Again Jemma found it more interesting to talk to the local kids selling everything from sarongs to sandwiches. They were nice kids and generally when they realised you weren't going to buy then they just enjoyed talking and a bit of attention.
That Day we saw:
- Sra Srang, a small base really but good sunrise spot
- Ta Prohm, The tomb Raider temple. It has a large tree growing through and along the walls and gives it all an undiscovered feel. Nature really taking hold of the construction. (look this one up on the tinterweb if you get chance)
- Batreay Srie, Ornately Calved temple on the edge of the complex. Very busy but it was still impressive. We did both feel it was not as intricate as the Jain temples in India but it was still worth seeing.
- Pre Rup - I can't think of any distinguishing features about this one. It was impressive and on its own it would be classed as a masterpiece but with so many other imposing and amazing temples it was hard to get excited.
That evening we watched sunset on a boat touring around the floating village of Tonle Sap Lake. This is a freshwater lake with a town more than a village living on boats. As the seasons change the location of the village moves and some places are dry land. There were houses, schools and even a basketball pitch all floating. I think we were the last people to get there that night as the whole of the 50 seater boat was empty apart from us and we sat on the roof with one of the guys working and had a personal guided tour and explanation. We travelled back to shore after it had got dark which was an experience in itself, even carrying out a mercy mission to find another broken down boat on the way. The mission was unsucessful so I hope they found their way back but floating in pitch black with no lights on shouting to see if we could hear them was definitely, as I say, an experience.
That night we were just on our way for some dinner in town and we were shouted over into a random karaoke bar by Clo, our driver. We spent the next 3 or so hours drinking (constantly refilled) beer with ice and trying to talk about general things with him and 2 other drivers. I don't think we actually achieved much conversation wise but we learned cheers in Cambodian and seemed to get 3 new friends just by having a drink. Maybe they were still friends after I didn't sing???
The final temple day was mainly taken up with a two hour tuk tuk ride to Beng Malea. Although this is part of the group, it is not included in the ticket as it is so far away and gets a lot less visitors. I explained about Ta Prohm with the trees in earlier - Well, this place was so much more overgrown that that. It was probably about 50% fallen down but the piles of carved stone pieces and the remaining walls and towres were pretty much covered in jungle and trees. Vines hanging everywhere and under a constant green light from the tree canopy above. Truly worth a couple of hours on a bumpy tuk tuk to see it. Jemma even managed to sleep on the way back.
On the way we travelled through rural villages all with houses on stilts and cows underneath the houses. Very, very basic but a simple way of life. Everybody looked happy and waved and smiled at us on the way through.
We even stopped for petrol... Ok why is that in the blog you may ask. Well, rural Cambodian petrol stations are not what we are used to. They generally consist of a rack of previously used Johnny Walker Whiskey bottles or empty coke bottles now containg petrol. Safety First!!! Just turn up and ask for a couple of litres and the bottles are poured in. I am not sure if it's cheaper that way or if it just that major petrol firms don't have facilities out there but it was certainly an eye opener.
After a few stops at some souviner shops selling small (plastic) models of the temples and other generally tacky gifts (Clo would have got comission if we bought anything but I think he understood it was just overpriced rubbish to sell to rich Chinese tourists), he took us to what he described as a "Cambodian place" . This was essentially the side of a road which locals turned up, sat on mats, and watched the world go by. It was very busy with people doing just that. No tourists except us and we did become quite an attraction for the local kids picking up the cans, and provided merriment for our neighbours by turning down their generous offer of some dog meat! It was again an insight into a completelty different way of life. This was not a kids hangout or an older generation stroll in a park it was a complete range. From Teens to Families with kids to older couples and grandparents. All just being there watching everybody else.
Clo took us back and asked if we wanted to go to see his house the next evening. Neither of us knew what to expect but agreed. On the trip to see Clo's house we were acompanied by another driver who chatted in broken english and said cheers (Chull Muy) a lot when we had drinks with them before. The journey was back to the temples and we arrived at a small shack with 3 walls and a plastic roof right in the shadow of Pre Rup Temple (as in about 3m away from the temple wall). We didn't really know what to say but we did a lot of smiling and pointing and showed his family (Mum and nephew) photos of family and friends that we printed off for the homestay in Laos. We could have stayed there all evening. Everyone was very welcoming in a smiling, pointing way but Clo decided we should go back into town and eat. We arrived at what looked like a small market but it was actually lots of local eating places. The market effect had come from the hundreds of mopeds parked all along the street. We ate noodle stew with meat cooked on a camping stove in the middle of the table and said many Chull Muy's while they laughed at how much things cost us as tourists.
We did some souvenir buying the next day & Jemma's spending fingers came out in force. Between us we bought:
- a necklace
- a postcard of a solar eclipse over Angkor Wat
- Some Tin Tin in Cambodia prints
- 2 fake Tag Heur Watches &
- a new phone as mine gave up after my brief swim in the Mekong.
It was nice to buy a few things without worrying about the cost for a change. I don't think we will buy much more but after a year of saving everything it was good to splurge for a change.
That evening we took Clo and his friend for a pizza. Neither of them have ever had pizza before and the look of apprehension as they walked into the restaurant (and the look of the staff as locals came in) was interesting. The funniest thing was seeing them both try to use a knife and fork. It had not occured to either of us but in Cambodia people us chopsticks or a spoon and fork, and the confusion in trying to use a knife was really funny. It was very strange to see them outside of their comfort zone as we had been the last couple of nights.
Again they were amazed at how much it cost compared to how much things cost them and as if to prove a point they then took us to another Cambodian drinking establishment and bought us dinner no. 2 of the evening. As per previous nights, many Chull Muy's later we got back to the guest house maybe a little worse for wear.
We decided to leave Siem Reap and on the last day we just packed and had an easy day before the bus in the morning. Our last dinner was in a restaurant called Dead Fish Tower. It proudly states on a sign that it does not serve Cat, Dog or Rat meat. Shame...
The place was a maze of open tables all on different levels. None had covered sides so you could see all the different areas and groups eating. It was like a big warehouse with platforms all over the place. We tried Amok (the national dish of coconutty fish stew), and other local dishes while watching a traditional Cambodian dancer. It was a really nice way to finish off a very busy few days. Perhaps Cambodia isn't that bad after all...
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