Brian and Jackie Cross: February 2015

Saturday, 28 February 2015

Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom

The Hard Rock Cafe of Siem Reap

Our last entry from Cambodia before flying out to Sumatra tomorrow morning on Air Asia. We've been in Siem Reap, the city at the edge of the huge complex of temples at Angkor for 5 days now and made two visits to the temples, both starting early to avoid the heat of the day which, most people are agreed is unusually hot.

It is not just the heat of direct sunlight but also the humidity, which makes it very difficult to do any physical activity from around 10:00am until at least 17:00. Even the air-con set on maximum cool at all times doesn't keep us cool enough at night so we're having the fan on as well. There's no mosquito net so were having to keep covers over us while we sleep, but even then the blighters have bitten neck, face and bits of arms hanging out while we sleep. That's even after us swatting the few that get into the room, we just don't know how they get in! I've even got sunburned sitting in the shade by the pool from reflected sunlight, so have to keep clothes on even in the shade.

Sights around Siem Reap

A well kept Wat in Siem Reap. That's an elephant hedge

Despite all this we have enjoyed our stay here, our hotel, Angkor Pal Boutique Hotel is a nice place, conveniently located for good restaurants, the town itself is clean and tidy with many restaurants and bars to suit all ages and tastes and its but a short tuk-tuk ride from the ancient seat of the old Khmer civilisation, Angkor.

The same Wat from a different angle

The iconic pre-dawn view of Angkor Wat, 50 min before sunrise

The temples of Angkor were built between the 9th and 15th centuries when the Khmer empire was at its height, covering most of what is today Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. There are thought to be over 1000 temples here, some now just a pile of rubble, but ranging all the way up to the very impressive Angkor Wat. It represents the greatest concentration of religious buildings in the world and is a UNESCO world heritage site. It fell into disuse after 1431 and was largely retaken by jungle, except Angkor Wat which remained constantly in use. Various theories have been put forward for its demise and, if you're interested you can read them here: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angkor It is believed that about one million people lived in the area at its height, compared with a population of London at the time of 50,000 so, in its day it was an immense and important world empire.

Were we alone at this spiritual moment? Er...no!

And this is what you have to contend with to get 'that' photo!

For our second early morning start we went to see sunrise at Angkor Wat, something that seems to be on everyone's list. There's a lake inside the outer walls that stands in front of the iconic structure and, in the correct position the sun rises behind the temple with perfect reflections in the lake. Simon and Diane, friends we met in Vietnam and are still in touch with, visited in November last year and took a stunning sunrise photo. You can see their blog entry on it and see their photo by following this link: http://simonanddianertwadventure.blogspot.com/2014/11/day-68-25112014.html

Our early morning walk round inside Angkor Wat

Some of the beautiful stone carvings

We'd heard it can get busy and the rumours were not wrong! It's 5:45am, its still dark, but as we arrive at Angkor Wat its as busy as a Premier football match half hour before kick-off. We walked over the outer moat on the huge stone walkway, under the massive stone entrance and into the huge inner area in the vague light of pre-dawn with the other hundreds of people. The lake, on the left hand side of the main central stone thoroughfare, where we were told was the correct place was heaving with people!

The inner, inner courtyard of Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat

We recognised the view from photos, but it was still too early and the cloud in the sky indicated we may not get a good sunrise. Its still only 6:00am, a full 50 minutes before sunrise, so we set off to look round inside in the early morning relative cool and light. As its been continually used and looked after there were no huge trees with their roots wound down through the stonework and although it is a massive structure it didn't have quite the same 'awe' for me as Ta Promh, but it was still very impressive.

Some of it is decidedly showing its age, in fact a lot of it is!

My best sunrise photo

We'd seen most of what we wanted to see by about 7:15 and the sun was up as we walked back out to the lake and inner courtyard to see the crowds who had patiently waited at the waters edge now advancing towards us. However there was still a photo opportunity as the sun was still low enough to be behind the central tower if you got in the right position, so we managed to squeeze between the remaining people and get some nice photos.

An interesting sunrise photo!

Our tuk-tuk driver outside Bayon

Back to our tuk-tuk driver we headed off to the even bigger complex of Angkor Thom and the iconic temple of Bayon inside. This one brought tears to Jackies eyes as its 54 towers have 216 stone faces of a smiling Avalokiteshvara. In the early morning sun it was a bizzare sight and the increasing crowds were becoming a distraction, particularly the Chinese who are not backward in coming forward and quite happy to command the best spots while they have photo after photo taken while they smile, hold up hands, lean against one another etc, oblivious or totally uncaring about others.

This is Bayon 'smiling face' temple inside Angkor Thom

Entering Bayon

We headed back out, walked over the terrace of the elephants and terrace of the leper king before deciding the combination of crowds and heat were becoming too much. Its 9:00am as we head towards the outer entrance of Angkor Thom and there's a huge traffic jam. The entrance gate is only wide enough for one vehicle, so police are on hand to direct the traffic and the scene resembles the M25 motorway round London in rush hour! Its hot, we get through and, on the way out pass a tuk-tuk going the other way carrying Ian and Franzie, two people we met on a number of occasions in Laos. We knew they were here but hadn't managed to meet up, but we exchanged mad waves as they headed into the temples with all the crowds and heat - rather them than us! We were back before 10:00am, in time for breakfast then a dip in the pool.

Under one of the 216 faces of Bayon

Bayon Temple

At breakfast the following day, after an early morning walk round town, we met Chris and Esther, a couple from Toronto who we got on really well with. We chatted for ages then met up later and went out to dinner with them, had a really nice time. They've gone out temple viewing today, we thought about going with them but I think we're 'templed out' now, so we've done a bit of shopping (I bought a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses for $2 - obviously genuine) and were now in our air conditioned room booking hotels and planning for Sumatra.

Bayon Temple

Nose to nose!

I had a haircut which was a bit scary, he did lots of it with the clippers which I'm not really used to despite visiting the barbers for many years! I think it's fine and is certainly lighter and cooler. The good thing about hair is it will always grow back!

A final point I must add are the cats here at the hotel and Mr Bun the owner. There's a very pregnant cat and three young kittens who bounce about all over the place. Mum cat doesn't know what to do with herself she is so hot and so pregnant, so Jackie has taken to bringing her into our air conditioned cool room where she spreads out on the bath mat, clearly enjoying the cooler air. She's not so happy when we go out, trying to find the coolest corner in the corridor, that still feels like a sauna!

Bayon Temple

Remedial work at Bayon. Stone block just being lifted away

Mr Bun, the owner is a character in himself and always comes over for a chat, sitting down with us while we have breakfast and chats away telling us what good people we are. He asked if he could be my friend on Facebook, which he now is and he's friends with Chris and Esther, making many comments to postings. Jackie put a photo of pregnant mum cat on saying how she'd smuggled her into our room. Ian commented 'the notices clearly say no pussy cats in rooms!' but Mr Bun commented 'Yes, its my cat haha!'.

A final meal tonight and then we get a tuk-tuk at 6:30am tomorrow to Siem Reap airport and say goodbye to Cambodia. Its been great, we really like the country, maybe we'll come again.

Bayon Temple

Bayon temple

Bayon Temple

The terrace of the elephants

The terrace of the leper king

Stone carvings of the wall of the terrace

Jackie, Brian, Esther, Chris and Mr. Bun at the Angkor Pal Boutique Hotel

A DIY BBQ dinner with Chris and Esther

Jackie with very pregnant mum cat, cooling off in our air conditioned room

Wednesday, 25 February 2015

Sweltering in Siem Reap

The Battambang bus

Well Doug the pug didn't work out either, we never heard from them at all which is most rude, every other sit we've applied for has said something, usually that they are overwhelmed with replies so it could take some time! So obviously rather than think there are better people out there for both of these sits I've decided there was a conspiracy and they know each other and because we applied for the second one while still in communication about the first they took the hump! In the meantime we were actually contacted by a couple in Ledbury who put up a posting a while ago for five cats and possibly one or more of their dogs while they go to France for a month. So we are coming home slightly earlier than planned but both really looking forward to it now we have a plan!

Ta Prohm (Tomb Raider) temple at Angkor

This seems to be the iconic photo to take, was it used in Tomb Raider?

Anyway, on with the blog. Left Battambang an hour and a half after being collected from the hotel! On the worst bus we've seen in Cambodia! The AC worked for some of us, but for those it didn't impatience reigned and windows were immediately opened!

Ta Prohm Temple

Arrived in Siem Reap quicker than expected though (always think the worst and hopefully it won't be that bad!) only to drive through the centre, but you don't realise this till it's too late. The penny dropped when the bus stopped at the side of the road and tuk tuk drivers swarmed on saying ‘far to city, get off now bus going to another province’ etc. All the white people moved and all the Cambodians stayed seated. So having fallen foul of this before and because our hotel was sending a pick up, we along with a French group, had some words and were told to stay on the bus which then stopped about 200m further down the road and all bar one of the Cambodians got off! Hoping we were right we stayed on till the bus station and were very pleased to see a tuk tuk man with our name on a sign. It's just all so irritating, the bus went really close to the city centre and people actually got off but telling everyone to get off here would make the tuk tuk cartel lose money so it's not going to happen! Shame our last bus journey had to be soured like our first couple in Cambodia!

A bit blurred, but he's got his front legs up in a menacing manner

Ta Prohm Temple (it's big!)

Arrived at the hotel, quite new, nice pool which we are SO grateful for as it has suddenly got hideously hot and arranged to meet our driver at 0600 the next morning, not for sunrise just to miss some of the heat and crowds. (For Diane and Simon our hotel the Angkor Pal is down the same dirt track as the Rose Apple which we couldn't afford but was full anyway!) I know I'm not renowned for getting up early but in general I've been waking before six, sadly in this instance we both had a bad nights sleep, a mixture of the large group of Russians in the restaurant just outside our window, thinking about the flights home we'd just booked for £200 each (if something looks too good to be true is it always wrong?) And the mossie that woke B whining in his ear about 0100 but not before giving him a good savaging!

Ta Prohm Temple

So a little jaded we met our driver and set off to Ta Prohm the temple referred to as the Tomb Raider temple having been used in the film, which neither of us have seen. It was lovely to be there before the crowds and it was an amazing place with the sun just coming up and the atmospheric sounds of the dawn chorus and jungle. There were actually parrots in the trees, the first of that sort of thing we've seen since our arrival in November. We did at one point have to pass a very aggressive tarantula on the walkway rising up on its back legs as you got near! At least I did go passed unlike the girl trying to go the other way who couldn't!

Ta Prohm Temple

I'm not going to say much because a picture speaks 1000 words and he's got an awful lot of pictures!
We then headed off to do the Grand Circuit before retreating back to the hotel about midday and the joys of the pool and AC! I was ready for lunch before B having only had my take out half chicken biryani from the night before for breakfast between us (some things never change) so thought I'd go look for cat I met the previous day. I opened the door and there she was in the corridor, very pregnant and obviously struggling with the heat too. She came in and loved the cool tiles in our room so I felt very guilty about turfing her out!

Pregnant kitty in our room

Our hotel this morning. You can just see the swimming pool

Dinner last night was very nice, BBQ and a bottle of wine. Our first since Christmas! I hope we were still making sense to the waiter we were having a long chat with! One of the things we learnt from him is that Angkor Wat is owned by the Vietnamese, so the $40 each we paid for a three day pass doesn't go to help the local economy at all which is really very sad!

Chilled today psyching ourselves up for another temple day tomorrow!

The first glint of early morning sun at Ta Prohm Temple

Ta Prohm Temple

Last one of Ta Prohm Temple. It was a Buddhist temple built around 1190 by the ruler Jayavarman VII and dedicated to his mother. After being completely engulfed by jungle it is now being conserved and restored by the ASI (Archaeological Survey of India), who are trying to strike a balance between nature and the buildings, preserving the trees as well as the buildings on which they are growing

Pre Rup Temple

One of the restored elephants at Pre Rup Temple

Early morning sun at Ta Som Temple

Ta Som Temple

The man-made reservoir surrounding Neak Poan

The central fountain lake at Neak Poan. This is surrounded by four square lakes and our Lonely Planet guide says 'It's a safe bet that when the Encore Angkor Casino is eventually but inevitably developed in Las Vegas or Macau, Neak Poan will provide the blueprint for the ultimate swimming complex'

The north entrance to the Preah Khan Temple

Managed to snap this very colourful dragonfly (one of many) outside the Preah Khan Temple (Jackie said 'don't be stupid' when I set off in pursuit with my camera!)