Next stop after Phnom Penh was Siem Reap and the temples of Angkor. Just before we arrived at the bus station, one of the guys from the bus company came round the bus, checkng if we already had transport sorted to our guesthouse. We didn't, so they fixed a free tuk tuk ride for us to the guesthouse of our choice - which made it real easy to avoid the crowds of touts trying to grab tourists from the bus.

Was a bit of a mission finding a cheap guesthouse that actually had a room available . Finally, after trying 5 or 6 places, we settled on The King Angkor, with a/c for US$12 per night. A little more than we'd planned, but it was quiet, close to town and reasonably clean.

Of course, our free tuk tuk driver (Sali - number 3206) wanted us to use him for going around the temples, and since he spoke good english and was friendly (but then again, they're all friendly here) we took him up on his offer. US$5 for the first evening - if you buy a pass to the temples after 5pm then you get to go in that day and it doesn't count - then US$12 for the other days. 2nd day we went out a bit further to some temples not attached to the main group, plus went out for sunrise, so that made the total US$25 for that day.


The temples were all built between 800 and 1200 AD or so. All built
after the king at the time (can never remember his name) held a
ceremony where he declared himself God-King (as you do) . That was the
start of the Angkorian Empire. In the early Angkorian period, they were
heavily Hindu, so the early temples reflect that, later on they turned
Buddhist and that shows too.

Anyway, enough of the useful information already...

Every one has heard of Angkor Wat. Everyone has these expectations, based on what they've heard from everyone who has been there, and from seeing the temples on TV and stuff. For us at least, we weren't let down :) The temples were really amazing. I think we had luck and managed to avoid the big crowds at most places, a couple of times we had the whole temple to ourselves. The feeling of walking alone through thousand year old temple ruins in the middle of the jungle is just incredible. Extremely peaceful and chilled out :)

On day one we did the 'big three' - Angkor Wat, Bayon and Ta Prohm, plus some other smaller ones on the 'red loop'. Those three are the most famous - Angkor Wat is the face of the temples if you like . The one that most people have seen a photo of, with it's 3 distinctive towers (actually more than that, but it looks like 3 on most photos). Bayon is the one with all the faces; there are 54 towers up on top, each with 4 faces (one facing North, East, South and West); current theory is that there were 54 provinces in Cambodia at the time it was built and this was the kings way of keeping an eye on them - the faces look somewhat like him. Ta Prohm is where parts of Tomb Raider were filmed; it's the one left most to the jungle, so there are tree growing up all through it and everything; really amazing.

Day two saw us getting up before the crack of dawn and barrelling out to Sra Srang (not much of a temple, but it sits at the west end of the then King's swimming pool - a rather large lake). Said crack of dawn was rather amazing just quietly. If there is one thing better than chilling out in jungle ruins, it's seeing a gorgeous sunrise over a lake while sitting on one of those ruins . Amazing! Then it was out to Banteay Srey (called the Temple of Women, since the carvings are so beautiful that it must have been women that made them), back to another that I can't remember and finally down to the Roulos group (the first three temples built in the 9th and 10th centuries, really different style and well worth checking out, not 'just another temple' :)).

Day three saw us doing the 'green loop', picking up the rest of the major temples and a few souveniers. Can't really remember the names on this one, but I think Preak Neah was the one that stood out - it is really small, and sits in the middle of a man made lake, which is actually part of the temple. Apparently it's really something during the wet season, but there was still enough water there now for us to get a feeling for it.

Really cool experience, all in all. Culture, history and natural beauty all combined in a fantastic way. Definitely the highlight of the trip so far (and maybe even longer :))

We'll load up some photos when we reach somewhere with a reasonable internet connection - we've managed to take one or two .

The other thing about the temples is the kids. In the area which the government has designated 'no development' around the temples are a couple of villages, which have been there for hundreds of years. Because of the 'no development' designation, they pretty much have to live on the tourists. That means that everywhere you go (between temples, they're not allowed to beg or sell inside), there are hoards of kids (and adults) trying to sell you things - bracelets, 10 for a dollar; origami things, 4 for a dollar; coke, 2 for 1 dollar; scarfs, 1 for a dollar; postcards, 10 for a dollar; picture, only a dollar; if you buy, you buy from me; maybe later - you get the idea. Hard not to feel sorry for them and we did end up buying drinks and postcards from them. Eay to get irritated by them, but we learnt no thanks in Khmer (te aw khon), and that worked pretty well most of the time.

We'd heard about the kids before hand too, and had made up a photo album with some photos from back home, us, snow, just photos from home . Sitting down showing these was really cool. The kids (and the adults for that matter), got a real buzz seeing the photos, and often even forgot (at least for a while) that they were supposed to be selling us stuff :)

Couple of restaurants in Siem Reap worth mentioning - Karo Bar & Restaurant on the main road has happy hour beers for US$0.50 - perfect after a day of temple wandering. There are a bunch of places there that are the same. Le Tigre de Papier sounds posh, looks posh, sits right in the middle of Bar Street and has unbelievably good, cheap food. The beer is cold, and the view from the balcony is cool - especially if you're into people watching.

Next stop, Kompong Cham...