Photos from Angkor, Cambodia

Today was scorchingly hot. This morning we went out to Banteay Srei, followed by Ta Som, Pre Rup, East Mabon and Preah Khan. Going out to the more remote temples seemed to increase the desparation of the hawkers, some just young girls. As soon as our tuk tuk arrived at a temple, we were surrounded by desperate pleas to buy from them. I came away with a few more wooden bracelets and some place settings.

The temples were stunning. I also have a new favourite - Preah Khan. With similarities to Ta Prohm, but larger. Around every corner was another exquisite display of 12th century stone work, against a backdrop of forest green.

Tomorrow we will do the overland journey back to Thailand, so tonight we have been making the most of our hotel, sitting in the tranquil grounds, sipping fruit smoothies as the sun goes down. We will miss this place. I hope our hotel in Bali will be as nice.

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Yesterday, we made the overland trip from Thailand into Cambodia. After a four bus ride we made it to Aranyaprathet and took a tuk tuk to the border. Rather than being the border, it was a visa agency, who ripped us off slightly for the visa. I insisted on paying US Dollars, but they said things had changed and we had to pay in Thai Baht. Not being sure of the current situation, it was difficult to argue. However, they arranged a taxi driver, for the two and a half hour ride from Poipet to Siem Reap, at $50 dollars, which was just less than I paid six years ago, so I was happy with that. Our driver was really nice, however towards the end of the journey, he told us about the taxi mafia, and that he had to drop us off in Siem Reap, to his 'friend', a tuk tuk driver, otherwise he would get into trouble back at the border. Assured that the tuk tuk ride was free, and that the driver just wanted our trade, while we were touring Angkor, we agreed.

We arrived at the Borei Angkor Resort and Spa Hotel, which was even more luxurious than I had imagined. We were greeted with a glass of pandan juice and a sticky rice cake, before being shown to our room. With lots of dark wood, and a colour scheme of green, gold and the occasional purple orchid, it feels very tranquil. Their spa facilities and pool look tempting, although we are not really here long enough to make use of them.

The restaurant was a little intimidating to start with, as our wardrobe wasn't quite ready for five star dining, but the food was amazing. This morning, they provided the best breakfast buffet that I have ever seen. There was a large choice of tropical fruit, cooking stations with hot food made to order - such as the delicious rice noodle and pak choi soup that I enjoyed, and many hot dished with Western style cooked breakfast items, such as a gormet eggs benedict, to oriental rice based dishes. Tomorrow, I shall definitely be going to breakfast a lot earlier.

We took a tuk tuk out to the temples, and took many photos of intricate carvings, as we explored Angkor Thom, Ta Prohm and Angkor Wat. We're here out of season, so the temples were a lot quieter than the last time that I was here.

Tomorrow we are going to see some temples a bit further away, including some that I haven't seen, which I'm looking forward to. We also have a new driver, as we told the previous one that we had decided on a spa day, as we weren't happy with him. While we appreciated that he had a family and wanted to make money, he didn't help himself, by telling us that it was too far to go back to Siem Reap for lunch, and that there were 'restaurants' around the temple complex. I told him that we didn't eat at them, using my allergies as an excuse for it being difficult (as opposed to the stalls being known for their food poisoning). Thankfully, I had a few snack bars on me, so I had those and we bought extra cold drinks. Not breaking for lunch, meant that we nearly had some parts of Angkor Wat to ourselves, which was great, as we got to wander along the outer corridors, reading the bas-relief carving. They depicted battle scenes with men, horses, elephants and lions, as well as the occasional god. Afterwards, we got the driver to drop us into town, to look around the old market and I bought a few wooden bracelets. I'm hoping now that my wrists are adorned, the street hawkers will give me some peace, but probably they'll just try to sell us something else.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

There must be a special trick to peeling mangoes but I don’t know it. Instead I cut off a piece at a time and enjoy this sweet, juicy treat. I came back from Psar Thamei market with bags of fruit, some of which I don’t even know the names, in various colours and textures. I have fresh lychees too and clementines. I know that when I return the thing I’ll miss the most will be, being able to buy fresh tropical fruit at any time of the year. Mangoes in the supermarkets at home are never as good or as cheap. Maybe I will develop an a taste for English fruit and learn to appreciate apples and pears.

I’ve been feeling better and decided to veture out to the largest market in Phnom Penn, with its huge dome shaped roof which covers a hall full of jewlery sellers and their brightly coloured jem stones. Spiralling off in all directions are various clothes, food and electrical stalls. I spent a few hours browsing, slowly taking in the smells, the sight of fresh meat being prepared. The trickles of blood that run silently along the dark, stained floors. Shiny, plucked chickens hang from wires, next to tables of golden apples. The gentle smiles I recieve are refreshing, once the tourist stalls of endless scalves and sarongs are left behind. I find baskets stacked high with squeezably ripe mangoes, bananas and an indistinguishable selection of leafy green herbs and root vegetables.

I pay a dollar between two stalls, run by wise, hardened women who have lived through a lot but their eyes remain eager and their lips upturned in good humour. As my fruit is placed on the scales I am offered various samples to try. I add some prickly fruit to the basket before handing over my riels. I leave the women to their chatter and feel inspired by the contentedness they display in simple but peaceful lives.

Final thoughts and recommendations...

The morning after we got back it was snowing, and having been back in the UK four days now I’ve nearly got used to the temperature and waking up at the right time. I’ve been looking at all the photos I took in Thailand and Cambodia, 2500 of them, and feel quite amazed at some of the things I saw and did.

The photos will be bigger than on here and there are more of them. At the moment I’m trying to fight a bad cold. Looking back at the trip, it does feel like an amazing journey where every day I experienced something new. I’m really glad I saw Cambodia and such a different way of life. I want to travel again, and will probably go along to Destinations 2006 for inspiration (2-5 Feb). It has been such an amazing experience and I want to see more of the world.

Recommendations and Advice

During our visit to Thailand and Cambodia we stayed at some great places, as well as some that weren’t so nice. I think that choosing a good guesthouse or hotel can play a large part in the enjoyment of a place, as we found out in Bangkok.

Bangkok:

I don’t recommend staying in the area Downtown of Thanon Rama IV, it’s fairly grim. Sukhumvit is a much smarter and more expensive area. We stayed at the SV Guesthouse (Tel. (0066) 22 531747) (just around the corner from the metro) which was 600 baht a night for a double room with ensuite. All the hotels in that area seem more expensive than other parts of Bangkok, but its definately worth it for the great public transport links and for a street free of rats and rubbish. Khoa San Road looks a fun place if you’re young, into hostels and willing to stay in the same place as all the other tourists. Chinatown looked another fun option, definately worth investigating.

Sukhothai:

We stayed at the Ban Thai guesthouse in New Sukhothai (Tel. (0066) 55 610163) which was the most enchanting guesthouse we came across in Thailand, and I completely recommend it to anybody. They have beautiful wooden bungalows with ensuites based in a pretty garden for 250 baht a night, and dorms in a separate building for less. There is also a lovely restaurant area which has a brilliant menu of thai food at good prices. We really enjoyed staying here.

Chiang Mai:

I don’t have anywhere to recommend for Chiang Mai, as the place we stayed was fairly basic and provided small, grotty blankets for the bed and wanted to charge extra for sheets. Despite being Western run they kept a poor dog in a cage and the staff weren’t overly friendly. However there are lots of nice looking guesthouses in Chiang Mai, so I think it would be easy to find somewhere that looked good when you get there rather than booking in advance.

Krabi:

The KR Mansion Hotel (Tel. (0066) 75 612761) was ok, but not brilliant. I booked it over the phone and they had said 300 baht a night for a double room with ensuite, but when we got there they were saying 350. They did accept 300, but I’m sure for their new price you could find a nicer place to stay. The food wasn’t great either.

Siem Reap, Cambodia:

I completely recommend The Two Dragons Guesthouse to anybody going to Siem Reap and visiting Angkor. Our room was lovely and clean with nice bedding and a hot shower. The guesthouse is Western run, with a helpful owner and friendly staff. They have a clean restaurant with lovely Thai and Khmer food at good prices. Our room was $12 a night for a double bed, air con and a hot shower ensuite. This guesthouse is popular and gets full quickly so I recommend booking in advance. Also we met our tuk tuk driver Sot’lar at the entrance when we arrived, offering to be our driver, and he was very likeable so I would highly recommend him also.

Siem Reap, Tonle Sap Floating Village, Cambodia

Our last day at Siem Reap has mostly been a relaxing one, exploring the town and countryside. We hired our friendly tuk tuk driver for one more day, and started off in the busy part of town, watching the rush hour happen around us. People here mostly travel by bicycle or scooter, often with at least three people on the back of one. Everything is transported on the scooters, from pigs, both dead and alive in cages, huge bundles of fruit and veg, long lengths of wood, pipes to sheets of glass.

We headed out towards the floating village of Tonle Sap lake but drove through several small villages on the way and stopped to photograph interesting houses and water buffaloes. As we got out lots of children followed us around, and I took their photo. They seemed to have lots of fun seeing images of themselves on the playback screen on my digital camera.

Next we drove to the lake of Tonle Sap, and although I didn’t take the one hour boat ride to see the village, Al did. Instead I wandered around the narrow strip of land with floating houses on either side. I dídn’t like the place very much. To start with I was plagued with children asking for a dollar, without any small goods to offer, and I thought it was a shame that in the past enough irresponsible tourists had done so for them to expect it. Instead I practised a few new phrases of Khmer and took their photographs.

The area was incredibly dusty and the people lived in very basic conditions - although they had houses, and casual stalls selling food and veg, as well as a primary and secondary school, so they weren’t living in complete poverty. Their way of life appeared very demanding. They didn’t have anything to offer tourists, apart from the boat rides lower down the road, and I recieved a lot of stares and felt the locals wondered what I was doing there. The people weren’t as friendly as other parts of Cambodia, but in a way I felt they weren’t use to seeing tourists in their community, apart from further down the road in boats that visit a floating village 4km away, so most tourists probably ignore this part. While I was there I bought a whole bunch of about 20 small bananas for $0.25 and was then followed by small children who kept asking for one, so I gave most away. It surprised me in a way that when the children saw I had a bag of bananas they stopped asking for a dollar, as I suppose they could eat it rather than giving the money to their parents to spend.

After lunch we went to the old market which was full of local goods at reasonable prices. The market was huge and filled with colourful stalls from Cambodian silk to fresh fruit and veg. I spent over an hour or so looking through the stalls and bought a patchwork bag, several scarves with varying silky textures and wooden beaded bracelets. The women at the market stalls were friendly although some were understandably keen that I bought from them, as most of the stalls sold similar silk scarves or bags.

We came back to the hotel and thanked the tuk tuk driver and paid him for the last four days. We thought he was probably about 25, and chatting to him earlier I found out that he had three children, two young boys and a girl. For western standards he seemed so young to have a family, but he appeared proud to talk about the subject.

We had a nice meal at the guesthouse and settled up for our food and accomodation. As I’ve been writing this post we’ve had very heavy rain outside but its finally stopped. We plan to go out for a cocktail to celebrate the New Year, followed by an early night. We have a taxi booked for 6.30am tomorrow morning. Happy New Year.

The Bayon Temples, Cambodia

We went to the Bayon temple early to photograph the soft yellow morning light on some of the 37 stone heads. The heads depicted figures from Buddhist mythology and were very striking to look at. The temple comlex itself was also architecturally impressive. After wandering around we found a monkey sat on one of the stones and several people were having their picture taken with it so I did as well! It was quite old, and just relaxing in the sun.

We went around Angkor Thom and saw the Terrace of the Elephants which included several walls of sculpted elephants. The time and detail it must have taken was amazing. On the drive back we saw lots of monkeys sitting around by the trees which were funny to watch. The baby monkeys were quite cheeky and came right up to me looking for food. We also saw elephants carrying people to and from the temple.

After lunch our tuk tuk driver took us out to Bakong (13km east) - one of the older temples of Angkor. Other than a tourist bus which came and went, we practically had the whole temple to ourselves. It was set in a really beautiful location with palm trees and a huge moat around the outside. There was also interesting brick buildings around the outside of the temple with big holes in for cooking and a tall chimney. The outer wall was covered in funnel webs, which was interesting to see.

It was another really hot day today so by this point we were both quite tired, but stopped off at Banteay Kdei to take some pictures of stone carvings and then briefly onto Ta Prohm, where the surrounding jungles contain nearly deafening birds, that make a continual high pitched, shrieking sounds. It took us ages to work out the strange sound was birds, we heard it on and off for the last few days. We returned back to our guesthouse for food after a long and exhausting day.

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Another early start this morning as we drove to the temple of Banteay Srey. There was a beautiful sunrise and I could feel the warmth of the sun as it rose into the sky. The 37km journey was lovely, and I felt so happy as we drove alongside fields of water buffaloes, villages with palm trees and wooden houses, with people cooking and children happily playing in the gardens. They all waved at the tourists and some tried to sell us things or asked for pens or sweets but I just smiled and said the Khmer for no thank you.

We arrived at Banteay Srey at about 8am and were surprised to find tourist busses arriving at this remote temple just after we had. However, the temple was beautiful and I took some photos. Next we went to Banteay Samre and although the temple was nice, I was too hot and tired to appreciate it.

After lunch we went up in the Angkor balloon. To start with it kept moving awkwardly upwards in semi circles which was quite scary, and we were told to hold on. After I got over the initial fear and was able to let go of the sides to take photographs I enjoyed it. It was tethered to the height of 200ft, looking out across Angkor Wat. It was amazing looking down on the land and once up there I was fine. The decent was so gradual I didn’t notice to start with.

We went back to Angkor Wat to take more photos and found some kids playing in the lily ponds infront of the temple.

We decided to stay for sunset but I couldn’t find anywhere to frame it against on the lower level without the trees getting in the way, so I decided to climb to the top of the inner tower. The first time I tried I got half way up before deciding it was too high and went back down, but after walking around and I knew the sun was about to go down and that we wouldn’t be here again for sunset, I told myself to just keep going and I climbed 25m of steep, semi eroded stone steps. There was probably over a hundred people on the top level, watching the sunset so I found a level part to stand on and take photos.

As soon as the sun set temple staff told us it was time to go back down at which point the height really got to me. Thankfully one of the guides carried my things and I went down one of the stairways with a hand rail. This took several minutes as going down backwards I couldn’t see the steps and had to feel them with my feet first. Also it got dark really quickly. It was quite a relief to get back to the guesthouse.

Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm, Cambodia

Angkor is amazing. The scale and complexity of the temples built nearly a thousand years ago is stunning. Nothing compares to these structures. As the tuk tuk drove closer and the track to Angkor Wat was in sight I felt a sense of excitment and suspense as to what I was about to see, and felt really excited when I recognised the silouette of these famous structures from pictures I had seen.

I have been reading about Angkor for months and it felt quite surreal to begin with, being in Cambodia and seeing it with my own eyes. I instantly loved Angkor Wat, which reminded me of a lavish castle, except on a much bigger scale, and in a very different style to anything I had seen in Europe.

Angkor Wat is beautiful and very complex, with several layers of dark stone monuments before accessing the central part, combining the outer and inner walls with the main temple, which included its own courtyards and corridors. It took around ten minutes to walk from one side to the other, through the middle of the temple (1 km), although I spent several hours exploring every corridor and pathway. I even came across a monk who was my age and asked me where I was from and that sort of thing.

By late morning we were both hungry and our tuk tuk driver dropped us back at the guesthouse for lunch. We were glad to rest for a while as it must have been at least 30 degrees today and was really sunny up until midday. Thankfully the only part of me that’s burnt is a small strip where my mosquito wristband was, as I didn’t put sunscreen there, but nothing too bad. We enjoyed a nice noodle and chicken lunch.

After lunch we were going to have a balloon ride over Angkor Wat but it was too cloudy.

Our next destination was Ta Prohm, a temple filmed in Tomb Raider, famous for its intricate stone monuments build in 1186 and forgotten about. The area is covered by jungle where many of the temples are swallowed by tree roots and the stone carvings are so old looking. Just to see the way nature has taken over, I found Ta Prohm equally as impressive as Angkor Wat as it felt so abandoned and I felt like an explorer, viewing something lost for such a long time.

We’ve both decided that we like it here so much, that we will stay an extra day and return to Bangkok on the day of our train to Krabi as opposed to the day before. This means spending New Years Eve in Siem Reap, which is definately a good thing. I feel happy about an extra day here. It’s a really nice place, a lot more relaxing than Thailand. I’m enjoying it.

Thailand / Cambodia Border

If the journey was easy perhaps I wouldn’t feel like I’ve achieved much, and in this case I feel like we’ve achieved a lot!

We woke at about 5am this morning in Bangkok, where the rain was torrential. Apparently it had only been raining three hours and some of the roads were covered in nearly a foot of water. We grabbed a metered taxi and asked to take us to the skytrain, which was just around the corner, but as usual we found a stupid driver who tried to take us to the train station which also had the skytrain. Eventually he turned around and dropped us at the nearest station, so we payed him for what it would have cost had he gone there to start with, and onto the sky train. This was the straight forward part as Bangkok does have a great metro and skytrain system. Clean, efficient and signs in English. We got off at Ho Chit, near the nothern bus terminal.

The guidebook says go to the northern bus terminal and there are busses every hour to Aranyprathet, the Thai border to Cambodia. So we carried the heavy luggage down the stairs and to the bus stops. It was all very complicated and different people told us different bus numbers. Everything was in Thai and nobody could speak particularly good English, and at one point I thought we were never going to make it. However eventually someone pointed us in the right direction and we got a bus to the bus station and bought a ticket for a bus to Aran.

We left at 7.45am and arrived in Aran at about 12.00. We didn’t have any problems getting a tuk-tuk to the actual border and were met on the Thai side with English speaking officials, specially to help tourists. I got the Thai exit stamp and have a Cambodian stamp in my passport. I was pleased as I got the visa for $20, no scams or ‘tea money’ requests. After taking another tuk-tuk to where the taxies departed from we found a German couple to share 3 hour ish taxi ride with.

As soon as we were driving out into the countryside I had a really positive feeling about Cambodia. I think I like it more than Thailand. Our guesthouse (Two Dragons) is luxurious compared to what we’ve been used to, and I’ve just had a lovely meal of freshwater fish with lemon grass and an orange sauce. Despite it feeling like such hard work to get here and travelling for nearly twelve hours it feels good. Tomorrow we shall see Angkor.