· While in Phnom Pehn, we went to a travel agency to book our bus tickets to Siem Reap. The travel agent we dealt with was very serious and professional. The first tickets he offered us were on a bus company that had been recommended to us but were apparently near the back of the bus and he said that they therefore weren't the best option. We believed him and asked him for other options. The other tickets he offered us were at the front of the bus but with a bus company we'd never heard of before. We inquired whether the ride would be comfortable and quiet - no karaoke music playing loudly or anything like that? He said no way, very quiet. We believed him and bought the tickets.
No karaoke my ass!! The bus ride was a non-stop Khmer karaoke session, with sexy music videos playing at the front of the bus on a small tv and the music being played for everyone's enjoyment. Not so much fun. Other than that, the 5 hour trip from Phnom Pehn to Siem Reap was very interesting. I just looked out the window at the passing scenery while Chris tried in vain to watch episodes of Top Gear on his Ipod. About 3/4 of the way there, we pulled over and picked up a random guy who spoke to everyone in turn on the bus about whether they already had accommodation sorted in Siem Reap. Luckily we had already booked so we didn't need to speak to him. When we arrived at the bus stop in Siem Reap, there were about a million tuk-tuk drivers and others like the guy we had picked up on the way trying to sell you their services. It was great to see our names on a board that one of them was holding, a driver sent to pick us up by the hotel we'd booked. :)
Our hotel, the "Mandalay Inn" which had been recommended to us by Chris and Gerald, was very close to the center of town. It only cost USD$16 per night but afforded us our own room with private bathroom, air conditioning and TV. They even had wireless Internet throughout the hotel - if only we had an Ipod Touch or laptop dammit! They also had a tour desk that coordinated drivers to take us to the temples or anywhere else we needed to go. Anyway, totally recommend this hotel to those visiting Siem Reap. :)
We had heard that the best way to see the temples on our timetable would be to head out and get 1 day tickets in the evening then go see some temples that same evening without getting a day taken off our passes. We decided that 1 day probably wouldn't do the temples justice and so decided to go for 3 day passes instead but still see Angkor Wat on the same evening. From the moment we got near the entrance we could tell why these places are listed as one of the 7 wonders of the world. The grandeur of Angkor Wat alone is something to behold and it's not even the most popular temple! The crumbling walls, the leaning towers (move over Pisa) and the sheer scale of what the ancient people of the times built is simply staggering. People have been guessing how the pyramids were built for as long as we can remember but the structures here give the Egyptians a run for their money I reckon.
The first night in Siem Reap we had dinner on 'Pub Street', an area full of restaurants and a few bars. I tried a Cambodian curry (YUMMM!) and Chris had his favourite, chicken and cashew nuts. Can't blame him, it's such a amazing meal. After dinner we splurged and had 30 minute foot massages at a place called Frangipani. It was fantastic. We both almost fell asleep. Foot massages seem to include leg and head attention too which is awesome! We totally recommend a massage at Frangipani. :)
The following few days were a giddying mess of the same, each one seeming to be more amazing than the last. Yeah yeah I know I might sound like I am trying to be a little poetic but I'm not - the temples really are that cool. I think our favourites were, in no particular order, Ta Keo, Ta Prohm, and The Bayon. Here's some more detail on each of them. :)
Ta Keo is built as a series of massively steep steps each about a foot high and is a symbolic depiction of Mount Meru, home of the Hindu gods. Enclosed by 2 walls it's quite pyramid-like (called a 'ziggurat' style) but with 4 towers at the top of the first level, one at each corner, used to place the bodies of deceased kings. Every detail is included for a reason and the 4 sides of Ta Keo are oriented in the 4 cardinal directions. In the centre of the first level is a 5th tower, by far the biggest of all. The climb from the first level to the top of the central tower is pretty lung-busting so we stood there for a while and admired the view. It's nothing short of spectacular. There might even be a video of Annie re-enacting the famous scene from one of the Rocky movies when she reached the top of the first section ... Hehe ;)
One of our first stops was Ta Prohm, amazing to us because of its size. It was built by Jayavarman VII around 1186 A.D. in honor of his family. It has north, south, east and west entrances so we spent an hour walking from west to east without even seeing the north or south sides! It's also crumbling quite badly in some places which strengthens the feeling that you are somewhere REALLY old. Oh yeah and it's also where the temple scenes were filmed from the Lara Croft movie 'Tombraider' - it was pretty surreal wandering around there knowing that too!
On our third day in Siem Reap, we figured we'd look around town and catch up on some blogging. We also went out to a place called 'Krousar Thmey' which is a school / orphanage for disadvantaged and homeless children, many of whom are also blind or deaf. We had a look through their little exhibition center, had a chat to a man looking after the exhibition center and ultimately donated a small amount of money.
After visiting Krousar Thmey, we indulged in another massage, but this time by 'Seeing-Hands' people - blind masseurs. It was a very surreal experience, walking into a small, dark room and trying to communicate in broken English what type of massage we wanted to a blind man and lady. They told us to get changed into pants and a gown that they provided us with. It was incredible just watching the lady go about getting us a small basket with the pants and gown in it. Chris and I looked around for a room in which to get changed but then realized, hang on, it's not like anyone in here can see us? So we got changed in the corner of the room and lay down on our respective beds, face down. We both had an hour long massage and I've gotta say it was one of the best massages I've ever had. Their hands were gentle but used just the right amount of pressure. They always asked if we were ok. It's a real trust system because at the end of the massage, when we handed them USD$20 for both our massages, they simply asked, "is this a 20 dollar note?" to which we honestly replied "yes" and they thanked us and said goodbye. It really could've been a 1 dollar note for all they knew but they have to just trust their customers. Anyway, it was a great experience and would recommend it to anyone.
On the evening of the second day we decided to look around town for somewhere to have a drink. There was a place we'd walked past the night before that seemed to have decent music and a normal looking crowd so we headed back towards it. It was called Linga ... you'll see why in a minute. We ordered drinks and sat down to watch the tourists and locals walk by - it was very nice but we started to notice that the bar we were in only contained men and couples of the same sex. Ok, no problem there but we pretty quickly figured out why the bar is called Linga - it's a tantric term for the male sexual organ! Hmmmm. Before long we struck up a conversation with a very friendly guy who proudly proclaimed to anyone within hearing distance that he isn't gay ... but his boyfriend is haha. He was very chatty and had us both in tears of laughter with all sorts of stupid stories. So now you understand why there's a photo of Annie with a random Cambodian at the bottom of this text. :)
On our last full day in Siem Reap, we returned to the temples. We chose to visit one of the most distant temples, Banteay Srei, built in A.D. 967. It was just as amazing as all the other temples we'd seen so far but it was nice sitting on the back of a remorque-moto for almost an hour through Cambodian country-side to get there. On the way back from Banteay Srei, we stopped off at the Landmine Museum where we read and learned about 'Aki Ra', a Cambodian man who, due to very little choice in the matter, had been a Khymer Rouge conscripted child soldier a long time ago. Because of the horrors he was faced with as a child, Aki Ra feels compelled to give back to his community and has been doing so by personally clearing landmines by hand for the last 15 years. As opposed to the high-tech techniques used by American and United Nations forces, Aki Ra uses a stick to identify landmines and a sharp knife to de-activate them. Him and his wife have also taken in nearly 20 children who have unfortunately lost limbs or otherwise been affected by landmine accidents. It's difficult to understand what Aki Ra and so many other Cambodians have to live through even today because of what happened only 30 years ago.
The Bayon is possibly one of the most famous temples and it's easy to see why when you get close. It's the temple containing the mammoth faces carved into the thousands upon thousands of massive square and rectangle stones that make up these ancient places of worship. We took loads of photos of the faces - some of our picks are shown below. One of the central towers has only a tiny sliver of light visible when looking up from the floor and the bats that live inside are constantly twittering and squeaking - you can't see them but they can 'see' us. Freaky!
If we described all the temples we saw you would get sick of reading so here's a list of some of the others we saw. Pre Rup, built in A.D. 962, Ta Som built at the end of the 12th century, Neak Pean, originally built as a hospital by King Jayavarman VII and Preah Khan, built for King Jayavarman VII during the 12th century.
Another amazing day of temple-seeing had to be followed up with a fantastic ethnic meal and for this we went back to the main city center and had some yummy local-style pizza. It was a lovely ending to an amazing stay at Siem Reap. :)
