Siem Reap and the Temples of Angkor

After a couple of days chilling out in Siem Reap, Brendan and I hired a tuk tuk for 3 days to explore one of the main reasons we came to Cambodia, the Temples of Angkor. We decided to join the hoards of tourists and make it to Angkor Wat for sunrise, which involved getting up at 4:30am to make it to the temple by 5:30. Ouch - getting up that early should be outlawed! Despite it being overcast which meant the sunrise was pretty uneventful, it was still a pretty cool experience to watch the morning clouds roll over Angkor Wat as the sun tried desperately to break through. It also provided excellent people watching as masses of tourists poured into the grounds to get the best position to set up their tripods and cameras, only to be herded back onto their air-conditioned coaches shortly after and whisked away to the next temple. Although independent travel can be challenging at times (and every now and again you catch yourself wishing someone would just take you by the hand and make all the decisions for you), watching the tour buses roll in and out of each temple in quick procession reconfirmed for me just how nice it is to be able to determine our own itineraries and timing.

Walking around the corridors of Angkor Wat was a bit of a surreal experience for me. Angkor Wat is not only the national symbol of Cambodia, it is one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. Perhaps it was this build up, or the incredibly early hour of the morning that we were there, but I have to admit that I wasn't moved or supremely awed by Angkor Wat. Although the temples and its extensive grounds were a lot larger and better preserved than I had expected, visiting Angkor Wat wasn't the defining moment which I thought it was going to be. Compared to some of the other temples we visited, it felt sanitized, like a cotton wool wrapped tourist playground.

I won't bore you with a recount of all the temples we went to over the 3 days (12 in total) - just a brief mention of some of our favourite places.

* Agkor Thom - a massive walled temple compound that is surrounded by a 100m wide moat. Our favourite temple here was the Bayon which was the King's state temple. This is the quintessential Angkor temple with 54 towers and 216 faces of Avalokiteshvara (the Buddha of compassion) smiling in every direction. We both loved this place because of the detail in the carvings and the ability to climb the towers and walk through all the temple corridors.

* Ta Keo - this temple is a 50m high pyramid with 4 stair cases (north, east, south and west) that lead to a platform with 3 towers. What made this temple stand out was the near death experience that visitors have when they climb up and down the stair cases that seem to have been built for very tall people with very small feet - the height of the steps meant that coming down you couldn't actually see the step below you, and the steps were so narrow that you had to attack the stairs side on. Coming back down i resorted to sitting down and sliding down each step, praying to make it to the next one without breaking my neck. Good fun had by all (especially when we made it back to the ground!).

* Ta Prohm - You might recognise this temple as one of the sets used for the movie Tomb Raider - which unfortunately makes it a stop off for every tour bus. Despite the hoards of snap happy tourists, this temple was great fun as we weaved our way through the very Indiana Jones feeling corridors. A lot of the temple has been devoured by the overgrowing trees with roots strangling the stonework and, in some areas, crushing the temple and causing corridors to collapse.

* Phnom Bakeng - The first time we came here was during the middle of the day and we were practically the only ones there. We came back at sunset and it was a complete circus as thousands of people climbed the temple to get the best spot to watch the sunset. Although you can see Angkor Wat from the top, ironically it is south-east of this temple so those expecting to see the sunset over Angkor Wat were a bit confused and disappointed.

* Banteay Srei - this temple is 32km outside of Siem Reap so it was a bit of a hike to get there in a tuk tuk that probably did a max speed of 20km/hr. Despite the trek, this temple had some of the most intricate carvings of all the temples we had seen.

On a more sobering note, we also went to the landmine museum. This place was set up by a Cambodian man called Aki Ra, a former child soldier for the Khmer Rouge and the Vietnamese, who has dedicated his adult life to removing landmines in Cambodia that he was once forced to lay as a soldier. Although the figures quoted about the number of landmine victims and their stories were horrific, the museum was really informative and I'd recommend a visit.

The city of Seam Reap was a pretty cool place to hang out - Brendan was wrapt because we were staying in a guest house that sold $0.50 US draught beer. We also had great fun hanging out with Madeline and Roeland who we first met in Malaysia and then again in Koh Samui.

That's it for now. Next stop - Phnom Penh!

//Kate