Siem Reap and the temples of Angkor

Saturday 8th

It was a six hour ride from  Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, eventhough we were picked up at 8:10am for an 8:45am bus, our mini bus got to the station last and the cargo hold was full. My bag at to sit at the front of the bus along with two others. At least this meant we wouldn't be picking up people along the way, surely? Well we did get a few but they only had hand luggage.

We had organised a guesthouse through our one in Phnom Penh because it was the same sort of room for the same price and included free pick up from the bus station. Although the driver didn't take us to the one we thought we were going to, it turned out to be better because this place was close to the centre of town and was still the same price. The tuk tuk driver asked us about going to the temples, we hadn't decided where we were going or how much so we said he can come back tomorrow if he wants and we can discuss a price.


Sunday 9th

Looking at both the 'LP South East Asia on a shoestring' and the 'LP Cambodia' guide we decided to go with the latter's three day itinerary. We met the driver downstairs and presented him with this itinerary, he gave us a price of $65, which we got down to $62 as a final price. However as we had told him, we were not 100% about doing it with him because we had not got any other quotes from tuk tuk drivers or any other source for that matter. So we said we would take his offer into consideration and call him later in the afternoon if we were to go with him. At this stage we didn't know you couldn't rent motorbikes in Siem Reap so we were keeping in mind we could do that for ~$8 a day.

He was not happy, he even said himself "that is not good for me"and that we WILL find a cheaper price from someone else. Poor justification for us to go with him that's for sure. We still would not accept and he absolutely cracked the shits, throwing a pool cue across the pool table and swearing in a mix of English (fuck) and Khmer. We simply walked away from him at this point, why should we put up with this nonsense. As we were walking away he called out to give a better price but Kay simply said "why would we go with you when we can see you're not a very nice person".

We explored the centre of town including the Psar Cha (Central Market), had lunch at the Mandalay Inn as they served Burmese food and i was craving a particular dish (pepeo). However they didn't have it, we ate there anyway. Whilst in the area we got airfare quotes for our flight to Laos, the Mandalay turned out to be the cheapest ($127 each) so we booked there. We originally wanted to go on Friday but it was booked out so we booked for Saturday, which turned out to be better anyway as we had more rest time from doing the temples.

As we headed back from dinner we asked a tuk tuk driver and got a price for our temple tours. We had found out it was prohibited to rent motorbikes in Siem Reap so we had no other option, unless we wanted to do countless kilometres on a push bike ($1/day). We got it down to $42, which was pretty good and much better than the arsehole. The guidebook said it should be $12-15 per day excluding temples out of town. We got it for $14/day and that included going out of town twice for temples, one in particular as it's 30km from town. Our first day would be Monday and we would do the temples in chronological order by their period of construction.


Monday 10th

Today was our first day of doing temples, we headed out at 7:30am but stopped for breakfast along the way. It was a bit chilly, particularly when you were driving along in the tuk tuk, but it was not enough to have to take more clothing, particularly since by 9am you would not need it. We had to head towards Angkor to get our tickets ($40 for three days) eventhough we were to head in the opposite direction.

First was the Roulos group - Lolei, Bakong and Preah Ko. The Roulos group are 13km eat of Siem Reap and are not in the main Angkor area, they are the oldest temples, dating from the ninth century A.D. As such, Lolei in particular, they are not in the best of condition. Bakong was surrounded by a large moat and had an active monastery next to it on the 'island'.

After the Roulos group we headed back to Angkor to complete what is called the 'grand circuit' - Preah Khan, Preah Neak Pean, Ta Som and Eastern Mebon. Preah Khan (sacred sword) is one of the largest temples in Angkor as well as being in pretty good condition. As is the norm, our driver was supposed to drop us at the West gate so that we would walk to the East and meet him at the North gate. However we were dropped off at the North unknowingly, we realised this when we walked all the way to the South gate to find it wasn't worth looking at and no one else had been that way.

When we got back inside i asked a Cambodian security guard which way was North, he did not understand but a little boy did. He told us to go to the East as it is the most beautiful way. I had asked him why some door ways were very short but some so large, he said it was so you were forced to bow, we found this very interesting. Although the average Cambodian wouldn't have had to bow as it fitted them, but certainly not Westerners.

Although we did not ask, the little boy took us all through the East side and back through the North explaining everything about the temple. His English was some of the best we had heard and he was only 10! By the end i went to give him some money as we thought he did deserve it. He asked for more though, but i met him halfway. I believe that you can't give something to someone that didn't ask for it and then expect money, but i suppose there's no such thing as a free lunch. We've basically learnt that if we're ever offered something to just not accept, incense for a Buddha is an example.

We went for lunch to the restaurant our driver asked us to go to. We realised that it is because he got a free feed out of it but it was fine by us. Lunch was pretty basic and quite pricey at $5 for a noodle dish, it would be $3 back in town. The roads were very dusty so i bought a krama (traditional Cambodian scarf) to keep the dust off my face and out of my nose, mouth and throat.

Preah Neak Pean was our next temple, it was very different to Preah Khan. It was a large pool of water surrounded by four smaller pools. More of a swimming complex you would think, however, the pools were used for ritual purification rites not recreation. At the spout from the central pool to each smaller pool were different heads - elephant, lion, man and a horse.

Ta Som is East of Preah Neak Pean, it is not in that good condition and not that big, it is most known for the huge tree completely overwhelming the eastern gopura and is a very popular photo spot.

Eventhough it wasn't planned it was along the way and we had time to kill, so we went to Eastern Mebon. It would've once been on an islet in the centre of what was called the Eastern Baray (kind of like a lake/dam) it was now on dry land. This temple is a smaller version of Pre Rup and was built 15 to 20 years after it. It is quite high and has five towers, the corners had guard elephants, which were in pretty good shape.

We were supposed to do sunset at Pre Rup but it was 3pm (sunset at 6pm) and we were ready to head there, which was pointless as we weren't going to hang around for three hours so we decided to add it to our second day (Wednesday).


Tuesday 11th

We went back into the centre of town today and went around the central market again, we didn't buy anything though. We went back to the Mandalay Inn to collect our ticket and went to several banks to inquire about how much they charge for a cash advance on Kay's credit card, we tried so many but either their ATMs and/or their in bank EFTPOS machine would not read the card. Very very weird considering it's a Visa card and it is accepted at all of banks. We had success at the very last bank we went to (ANZ Royal Bank) but it still took 20 odd minutes to get the cash, alot of red tape involved.

Previously we had seen a restaurant that offered an Apsara performance (traditional Cambodian dance) for $6 but we had seen on the main street (Pub St) that a place called Temple restaurant and nightclub had it for free so we headed here for dinner. I had Khmer roast duck for dinner, it was very very nice. The dance itself was very slow moving with an emphasise on the wrist and ankle movement.

After dinner we went to the night market which covers a few streets and an open area. There were lots of tanks full of fish that eat your dead skin cells along the way but we had found one for $2 and an unlimited amount of time. We both tried it but i couldn't stand them biting my feet, it was way to ticklish. Kay did it for about 20 minutes, she said she noticed a difference in the way her feet felt. The night market was nothing special and we didn't get anything.


Wednesday 12th
We had breakfast at the hotel and were picked up at 9am. Our first temple would be Banteay Srei, which is around 30 km from Siem Reap. Banteay Srei is considered by many to be the jewel in the crown of Angkorian art as it has the finest stone carving out of all the Angkor temples. It is believed that women did the stone carving as it is too fine for the hand of a man. Banteay Srei was also not commissioned by the King at the time but one of his advisers. It was quite packed at the temple and as it was not very big, it made it a bit hard to move around freely. The stone carvings were very nice.

Our second temple was back in the Angkor area - Ta Prohm. Ta Prohm is known for the fact that the jungle has had much more influence on it. It is covered in huge trees growing on it's ruins. It's big but alot is in ruin. Ta Prohm is a temple of towers. close courtyards and narrow corridors, many of which you can not enter.

Next was the 'small circuit' consisting of Banteay Samre, Ta Keo, Chau Say Tevoda, Thommanon, Banteay Kdei and Sras Srang. Banteay Samre is in good condition due to some extensive restoration, however it has been ravaged by looters over the years. It is another temple that was once surrounded by water but no more.

Ta Keo is an undecorated temple as it was unfinished, possibly because the King died during it's construction. Ta Keo consists of five towers, a high central one surrounded by four smaller towers. It's summit is 50m high and didn't we know it. You could walk right up to the main tower in the middle. The stairs were very steep and not always even. We then went to Chau Say Tevoda and Thommanon, these two temples are twins and are across the road from each other. Chau Say Tevoda is not in as good condition as it's twin, although there is restoration ongoing to bring it up to scratch.

Banteay Kdei is a huge temple complex surrounded by four concentric walls. It is in a ruinous state due to it's hasty construction. There are garudas (bird/human creatures) at the entrances. Across the road is Sras Srang, it is more of a what used to be. It's simply a large lake which once had a temple on an island in the middle. All that's left is the island, bare of any temple.

We had used our day well and were at Pre Rup for the beginning of the sunset. The only problem was that it was an extremely overcast day and you could not see what you wanted to see. However it didn't stop scores of people crowding around the tallest tower to see (nothing). Pre Rup is very much like Ta Keo although not as big although the towers are not in as good shape.


Thursday 13th

Big big day today, we were up at 4:30am to be picked up at 5am to get to Angkor Wat for sunrise. It was quite chilly as expected and very dark. We got something to eat before we crossed the moat, although all i had was a bread roll and a red bull. We could not see a thing all the way to Angkor Wat, i say this now because on the way out in the day light we could see how the causeway was all over the place in terms of places to trip up or roll your ankle.

Unfortunately it was another overcast day so we did not see the beautiful sunrise we were supposed to see, luck of the draw. On the plus side the temple was not busy, there were alot of people but the tour groups were starting to roll in when we left at 9:30am. The other bummer was that the front of the temple has scaffolding over it in the middle section, necessary i suppose but frustrating.

Angkor Wat on it's first level surrounding the temple has huge and detailed 3D carvings depicting historical Cambodian events and Hindu stories, they're called bas-reliefs. The Cambodia guidebook was enough for us to get the jist of what was depicted on the bas-reliefs. 

We were able to go all the way to the top of the highest Angkor Wat tower but it had proper wooden stairs built over it's old stone stairs. You can see the old stairs they used to use, i can remember when i went to Angkor Wat with my family that Heather and I went up and came down on a different side and it was very hard to do. All of these staircases have been blocked off.

We then met up with our driver and had breakfast, it was good value this time. Next stop was Angkor Thom, the largest complex at Angkor, it's more like a citadel, with many things inside it's walls. We started at the Bayon, the second most famous temple after Angkor Wat. It's where all of the towers have faces on them, 216 faces to be exact.

Second was the Baphoun, which you can only view as it is not safe to go up and is closed off. The Baphoun is a pyramidal representation of Mt. Meru (think Mt. Olympus in Greek Mythology), the rear of the temple has an unfinished reclining Buddha carved into the wall, this was done hundreds of years later.

We walked from the Baphoun to the Phimeanakas, another pyramid looking temple representing Mt. Meru. It was around midday at this time and the heat did not help the way we felt. We had a look at the temple but did not climb the steep stairs. We soldiered on and walked to Preah Palilay and what's left of Tep Pranam, which isn't much more than some stone slabs. We went across to road to our tuk tuk and i ran over to get a picture of the Preah Pithu group. On the way out we saw the terrace of the lepers, the terrace of the elephants and the Kleangs on the other side, which are big towers.

Unfortunately since we had to get up so early to get to Angkor Wat for sunrise it made us so tired and we really didn't want to do anything. Eventhough we started small and built up, i feel it's probably best to do Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom on your first day if you're going to do three days. It would also seem possible to do alot around the Angkor temples if you only had one day and you started at Angkor Wat for sunrise and finished off at sunset. It was still 1pm by the time we left Angkor Thom so we had still had near to a full day (5am-1pm) eventhough we didn't look at all of Angkor Thom's temples properly.


Friday 14th

We didn't particularly sleep in as we went to bed early but we didn't get out of bed til 11am. We went back to the other market where Kay got quoted the best price for the bracelet she wanted. The bracelet in question she did not get, but bought two others instead. I had a look at the t-shirts but they were not as good quality as the Vietnamese ones and i bought some reed/silk placemats and coasters for home. Basically every place in the market sold the same things. DVDs are $2 each, whereas we paid between $0.50 and 0.75 in Vietnam so we didn't get any.