The temples of Angkor

We only had a short hop over the border ahead of us today into Cambodia and Siem Reap – the gateway to Angkor Wat and surrounding temples. We were both beyond excited to see this incredible place.

Fortunately our hotel included airport pick-up and it was wonderful not having the hassle of finding our own way. However, I was slightly worried when we drove though the town, out the other side and turned off onto a gravel road. What had Adrie booked?!? But when we arrived our hotel was beautiful. It had its own lake and the most wonderful infinity pool.

The only problem with all the standing water was the mosquitoes. And boy were there mosquitoes here! I don’t think I have ever seen this many and our bed did not have a mosquito net. This was going to be an itchy three days…
 
It was 10am and already 35C. Plus we were absolutely knackered from our early morning. So I cranked up the air con and we hid under the sheets from the mosquitoes. Adrie eventually got up in search of vitamin D so went to sit by the pool and ordered cocktails. I could not budge. I was lazy and hot and tired and so spent my afternoon near the air conditioning. I figured we have a long (and undoubtedly hot) day ahead of us tomorrow so I made the most of my sleep today.

A number of blogs, people and our guidebook recommended seeing Angkor Wat at sunrise on at least one morning. This meant a 4.15am wake-up call. Given the choice at 4.15am between seeing one of the most iconic sights in the world and sleep, there is only one choice for me. Indeed, given the choice between most things and sleep, at any time of day, I would always choose sleep.

So I was not happy when we woke up. It seemed, neither was Adrie. The sound of the air con had kept her up for most of the night so she had not slept either. And then the mosquitoes had attacked. I spent the whole night safely head to toe under the sheets but Adrie was not so lucky.

Although, it was impossible not to get excited about seeing Angkor Wat so we hopped into our motorised tuk-tuk. Our driver would stay with us all day, taking us around all the sites we wished to see and would wait outside when we were walking around.

I was not expecting the best sunrise in the world given that it was partly cloudy, but it was wonderfully eerie walking across the causeway over the moat in the dark. In front of us was the enormous stone-carved entrance gateway decorated with seven headed snakes. In the dark, most people simply just ignored this gate, such was their purpose to get to the right spot for sunrise first. I couldn’t help but stop and check out the doorway even if I only had the glow from my phone for help.

Together with hundreds of other people, we stood around like sheep waiting for the sun to rise. The sunrise was not spectacular but we loved seeing the famous outline reflected in the lake in front of us.

We decided to skip the last 15 minutes until actual sunrise and go inside Angkor Wat sooner than later. What a great decision!

We had the site almost all to ourselves which was quite unexpected. There was always the inevitable Chinese tourist that has no regard for anyone else when they walk in front of your camera shot, but otherwise there were so few of us about you always felt like you had this ancient site to yourself.

It is amazing to think Angkor Wat was built around the same time as Westminster Abbey and the city had over 1 million people – at a time when London only had 50,000. Every spare surface was carved with bas-reliefs. Every column was decorated with gods. Every view was spectacular. We spent almost three hours exploring and taking far too many photos.

When we finally emerged, we realised that finding our tuk-tuk driver amongst hundreds of others might be a problem. The added problem was that he picked us up at 4.45am when we were both half asleep so we had no idea what he or his tuk-tuk looked like!! Our only clue was that his helmet had the words “Police” stickered on. After much walking about (looking distinctly lost) we eventually found him (asleep in his hammock – a genius solution to catching a nap while having to wait around all day!) and we set off for Ta Prohm.

The Angkor Wat complex is vast. There are dozens of temples in various states of disrepair that stretch across the jungle kilometres apart. Angkor Wat is the most famous because it is the largest religious monument in the world and has been in constant use since it was built in 1200. Today, it symbolises Cambodia. But these days Ta Prohm is equally as famous, even though few know the name. Ta Prohm is “Tomb Raider temple” and is characterised by enormous trees and jungle mixing with the falling temple stones as the jungle fights to reconquer the land. We had high expectations and was not disappointed.

We were fortunate that this temple was not that crowded either. The nice thing about all the sites at Angkor Wat is that you are free to explore the site yourself in whatever direction or manner you chose. You can venture down most tunnels and alleyways. You can sit in every doorway or window. You can touch every fallen stone. This is as close to the feeling of being the first explorer as you will ever get. We loved it!

By this stage it was nearing midday and it was hot! Melt your bones hot. We decided to head back to the hotel and leave the rest of the temples for tomorrow.

For dinner we ventured back into town. Rather unexpectedly town was incredible lively and modern – not at all the same place we saw earlier this morning or afternoon. We stopped for a $6 hour long foot massage which was exactly what you expect for only $6, but someone was rubbing oil on and massaging our feet so it was nice all the same. Of course we also stopped for ice-cream again… 

Although the events at the end of the evening have to be highlighted. When it was time to go home I set about negotiating with the tuk-tuk driver. The conversation went something like this:

Derek: We would like to go Elegant Angkor Hotel. How much?
Tuk-tuk driver: How much you pay?
Derek: Mmm well…
Adrie (interrupting): FIVE DOLLARS!
Tuk-tuk: OK!!
Derek: Whoa whoa. I am not going to pay $5. I was thinking more like $2 or $3.
Tuk-tuk: Ok you pay $4.
Adrie: Done! *gets in tuk-tuk*
Derek: *shakes his head in despair at how this negotiation went*

I had visions of the Apprentice. How was this scenario going to play out in the board room?
Lord Sugar: So tell me how the negotiation went?
Derek: Well, I started the discussions, but then Adrie abruptly interrupted and ruined the negotiations. This was my sale.
Adrie: But you weren’t getting anywhere so I took control of the situation. If we hadn’t, we would still be there.
Derek: But you completely overpaid the driver!
Adrie: That is not true. I got a $1 discount. He wanted $5 but we settled on $4.
Derek: But you suggested $5! I am sure we could have gotten it cheaper than that Lord Sugar.
Lord Sugar: Adrie is that true? The driver asked how much you wanted to pay and you simply told him $5 when the journey is only a 5 min drive and normally costs about $3? You do understand the concept of haggling don’t you?
Adrie: Yes Lord Sugar, but I wanted to get home.
Lord Sugar: I have heard enough. You’re fired!
Adrie: I am sorry Lord Sugar.

Sorry indeed! But at least we got home safely to our resident mosquitoes ready to chow us again.

For our second day around the temples we decided to tackle Angkor Thom early on, then do the rest of the grand circuit, which included a number of smaller temples that could be done in 30-45 minutes each.

Angkor Thom is the biggest temple city within the area and centred therein is the strange and utterly fascinating Bayon. The Bayon temple has 54 towers each with four faces carved in stone at each of its cardinal points. You cannot move without having one of the 216 faces staring down at you. In fairness we couldn’t move this morning with all the Chinese tourists elbowing their way through the site. But one could imagine how a villager would feel centuries ago with faces of his king always looking down upon him. Small!

We could not take much more of the pushing and shoving of people inside the temple so we headed outside and spent our time looking at the wonderful bas-reliefs on the outside. Once again every possible surface of rock or stone had been carved and decorated. I wish sometimes I could put on a pair of VR glasses and go back in time to see what this must have looked like when they were building it or when the city was the centre of the Khmer empire. Impressive is too small a word.

From Angkor Thom it is a short walk to the Terrace of Elephants. It is exactly what it says – a terrace over 100m long decorated with all sorts of war elephants. Very cool.

We headed off on the grand circuit, but decided not too spend too long at each of them as it was already beyond boiling. We stopped at Preah Khan, Neak Pean, Sras Srang and East Mebon with the latter being our favourite. It looked like a mini Angkor Wat with added elephant statues.

The pool was a welcome relief to our day in the sun and we made the most of the cool water and happy hour.

After dinner, the obligatory foot massage and a stroll down Pub Street, we took a tuk-tuk back (this time Adrie left the haggling to me, since she was fired anyway). This turned into the funniest trip we have taken! The tuk-tuk was decorated with every bit of tinsel, flashing light and random decoration you can imagine. It had a submarine horn (used regularly) and a siren (used only once or twice during our trip for effect). But best yet – we had country music playing at full volume all the way home. It was awesome!! You know when even the locals turn and stare that you have arrived with a statement. Not sure what that statement was but it was funny. A fitting way to end our time in Siem Reap.