Leaving Phnom Penh at 10am we arrived six hours later to a water logged Siem Reap. It seemed Typhoon Ketsana had only just past here with flooding nearing the top of our buses wheels but in fact a whole week had gone by. Thinking we were going to have an all too familiar wet stay, we were pleased to see that by the time we had driven further into town towards our hotel that we would leave the water behind us.
The moment we stepped out of our tuk tuk to a now dry and sunny Siem Reap we were asked if we wanted to see the sunset from the top of Phnom Bakheng a short ride away. We had been travelling all day, not eaten lunch and we would have to leave in just five minutes time in order to catch it. Our hotel owner said it had been raining for days on end so we thought it might be the only chance we would get so we dashed to dump our bags, get essentials and headed off swiftly!
The journey up to Bakheng got us pretty excited about being here though no matter how sleepy we were as we drove alongside thick lush jungle with vines twisting in between the trees complete with monkeys overhanging a river on muddy roads full of pot-holes making us boing from our seat. When we arrived at the base of the hill we were greeted by a very persistent group of young kids flogging the usual postcards, books and bracelets not really taking no as an answer!
Escaping the sales we saw at the start of the climb a sign saying the temple would close at 5.30pm and guess what time it was now...? Yep, spot on, but seeing others still walking up we carried on hoping not to be disappointed and with the sun already halfway down it didn't look promising. Reaching the top of Bakheng after climbing some incredibly steep steps, it was all totally worth the visit as we walked around the beautiful ruins and night sky. It was a great taste of what was to come for tomorrows exploring of Angkor.
We trekked back down to our tuk tuk and returned to town for a huge bite to eat, words cannot describe how hungry we were at that point. We found a swish looking Mexican restaurant in the main high street and at that point could have ordered everything from the menu. We did pretty well and while we ate our super tasty meal we sat back in our comfy chairs watching the lively night life unfold and scanning the interesting shops we would finish. Within minutes after leaving I had bought what I had tried to resist buying in China- an amazing sounding two stringed instrument played with a bow called a Tro Ou. In Hanoi it cost $165 but here just $16, waaheey! Getting it back to the hotel I gave it a go, thinking with my guitar skills I'd make some sweet sounds to woo Laura with but it sounded just like a dying cat and when I had attempted to play violin for the first and only time. Give me some time and I'll woo you all you'll see!
The following morning was our earliest yet with alarms piercing our ears at 4.30am in order to see the sunrise at the eighth wonder of the world- Angkor Wat! The blast of cold air in our faces along with the now familiar severe pot hole poundings on our ride there surely woke us up quick and my feet were tingling with anticipation.
Angkor is of huge importance and pride to the people of Cambodia especially after so much devastation and grief the country has seen in the years. There are literally hundreds of decaying temples here that would take a good week or more to see but we would just visit a handful of the most magnificent ones.
Unlike yesterday, we arrived in plenty of time ahead of the sun and as we began to cross an enormous bridge full of great slabs of stone over a ginormous moat we were met by an even bigger and most staggering Angkor Wat with it's silhouette of sky high tower peaks reflecting into the water beneath it. We walked further in and reached a lake where a large group of photographers and pesky salesmen had gathered and were informed that this was the best place to watch the sun breaking over the temple. It looked perfect and with hot coffee now in our hands we sat on some logs by the water and started snapping some rather impressive pictures if I may say!
Over the next hour daylight had crept in and although the clouds had covered the sun from cracking through we were more than pleased with what we had seen. We got breakfast and again were pestered beyond belief from children and women begging to buy yet more postcards and silk. Some just would not leave us alone keeping on and on to a point you wouldn't believe and if you buy a set of postcards from one kid then the others will expect you to buy from them too and they will not understand why you don't need any more. It's ridiculous to hear when for example at the start of a conversation you can get say 5 bracelets for $1, then after saying no countless times they will have upped the deal to 20 bracelets for the same price. Laura is still dealing with them well, but I am truly starting to loose my rag!
After a massive amounts of photos outside we began our real exploration of this immense sized monument passing through spectacular vast corridors leading to grassy courtyard ruins with impressive tower peaks touching the sky. There was so much to take in and even more to look around later throughout the day so after a few hours we moved on to the next temple named Bayon. I instantly loved it even more here with it's elaborate carvings incorporating 216 huge crumbling stone faces along with 16,000 figures decorating the walls. What could be the worst possible thing to happen whilst arriving to one of the most jaw dropping places I have ever seen? Our camera had less then half a battery bar left! This frustratingly ended up with us taking only the most out of this world shots which happened to be every 10 seconds.
Anyhow we moved on to the next series of temples which were a lot smaller in size but no less astonishing and then arrived to the wonder of Ta Prohm. This temple was used as the set for Tomb Raider, and whilst there was no Angelina I had an excitable Laura Croft with me beating off villains and climbing the crumbly walls leading to some highly amusing video footage. What is so spectacular here is teh giant sized trees with their thick roots permeated the tone structures; the jungle really has taken over here and it is absolutely mind-blowing. Unfortunately it's where our camera died, five minutes in to our exploration. We simply were not having it and refused to leave Cambodia without some shoots so we persuaded our driver to rtake us back to the hotel for two hours to charge the battery and get lunch, to which he agreed for an extra $5. Two hours later we were back and snap happy amongst the incredible stones and tree roots. Eventually we left the ruin and drove to a final destination to round off the day. This was full of carvings, cracked doorways and pillars. the wonderfully decorated ruins led to a lovely end to this remarkable highlight in our travels so far. We could have done endless days looking around more temples but were feeling absolutely satisfied- what a day!
Next day we were completely knackered from our action packed adventures so rather than catch the 7am bus we needed some time to relax. With no alarm followed by a luxurious lie-in we took a late breakfast, served to us on a large white sofa with the same leg room as our beloved Horder in a white miniamalist cafe. A day exploring the relaxed town and its sprawling market was topped off with a therapeutic massage from the "Seeing Hands" of the blind massage school. We could hardly believe that our Cambodian adventure was over so soon. Tomorrow to Thailand!
No comments:
Post a Comment