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Day 28: Siem Reap, Hot! 37°

Angkor Wat…Stupendous!😉

Up very early this morning at 4:00. Not upset because finally it’s time to see Angkor Wat!

Stopped to purchase our picture ID for our two day passes.

Then it was on to the far side of AW to walk to the site in the dark with our guide Billy. It was extremely quiet until we arrived at the front of the AW temple where 200+ people were also waiting for the sunrise. The hawkers were already there ready to sell their wares that I’m told are mostly made in China.

Billy set us up along the front fence and told us to stay at our spot until the sun showed up. It would be a long wait, but like everyone else we had come to see the sun rise over Angkor Wat. More and more people showed up, brought there by hundreds of tuk tuks, tour buses and cars. I would estimate that there might have been some 600 gathered. Billy told us that prior to Covid the numbers were much higher, over 60% higher. The Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese have not returned in significant numbers. We’ve seen quite a few Korean tour groups, but as we noticed on the flight here, the tourist population is pretty ‘white’. Very different from our experience the past 4 weeks.

The process started a little slowly. We chatted with our English neighbours to help pass the time.

It’s well into the dry season, so the pond in front was fairly low.

The wait was pretty slow, but lots of visiting with others .

At about 6:30 many people decided that the sun wouldn’t show enough for a decent sunrise and began to slip away to visit the temple. Billy said this happens all the time, and then when the sun does show at around 7:00 there are many unhappy people. I’d estimate that well over 50% slipped away.

And then gradually there it was!

We finally stopped to have a cold breakfast, and I enjoyed a beer stein full of Cambodian loose leave tea. A bit bitter, but it was hot and not too bad.

When we were done we walked up to see the main temple. Billy told us all sorts of stuff about the temples, but the most interest information for me covered Cambodia’s recent history, the political situation and what it’s like to live here. Billy was pretty forthcoming.

There is a library at each temple and this one was AW’s.

We walked around to the back to enter the temple. Most visitors go through the front entrance, but in this way we missed most of the crowds. Many had already come and gone very early as well and of course missed the sunrise.😳

A massive complex is on three levels representing the three levels of ascendency. Basically where you shake out based on your behaviours.
For Rob.
The hot, sweaty but delighted travellers.
The towers are magnificent!
The frescos below are on the wall to the right. They run a very long way!
Some of the many intricate reliefs cut into the walls.
These reliefs are throughout the temple and I believe relate to fertility.

Billy wanted to take lots of odd photos of us, but I largely avoided them. I like taking photos but prefer to miss being in them.😬 Perhaps AM will post a couple on her Facebook page.

The wood stairs to the top of one of the towers. Definitely in demand, and in some ways a bit similar to the Mayan towers in the Yucatan area of Mexico, except more intricate.

We then moved on to the next temple complex, Ta Prohm.

We passed a few of the many tuk tuks waiting for their passengers to return.

A very interesting temple site with a definite link to the Banyan tree.

Very cool root systems pushing into and over the rock.

Many of the reliefs were so well done.
Crazy, right?

To the right of this picture there was a long lineup of a large tour group all wanting their individual photos taken of themselves beside the roots.🙄
I could spend days wandering here. A bit hot, but super impressive. We were drinking lots of water supplied to us ice cold by our driver.

A famous image in these parts. Can you spot the dinosaur?
A Japanese team is restoring parts of the temple and others as well. He had high praise for Japan. Less so for China.

Billy was pretty clear that there isn’t much love for the Chinese government here. Paying for improvements in this not so very well developed country, but mostly for their own benefit. Much as they are doing with their Belt and Road initiative in many developing countries and oddly in Italy.

China built the airport we arrived in yesterday, but will keep the revenues for 50 years before turning the facility over to the Cambodian government. Just one example.

Moving on we passed through a beautiful gate.

The cap stone on the gate top. We were to see many more of these faces shortly.

And we were off to temple three, Ta Prohm which just sort of appears out of the trees.

The temple grounds have a nice vib and you don’t feel like hurrying through. So we didn’t.

A steep uneven set of stairs that I was left to climb on my own. A veteran archaeological site stair climber, I managed to find my way up these ones yet again. I’ve had fun climbing parts of an Egyptian pyramid, several steep Mayan pyramids in Mexico, steep temples steps in Japan and others. However, they seem to get a bit steeper each year!!
And at the top there were more!
The three at the top.
The descent down was a very uneven stairway and wasn’t much fun, but I spared myself any blushes and made it without needing to be rescued! That’s Billy and AM sitting to the right of the gate.

And finally we were off to the last temple of the morning. Angkor Thom. Billy said it’s his favourite temple on day one. Many tours start here and it’s overwhelming in the mornings. However, by late morning it was dead quiet. Nice.

Look closely at the towers and you will see some 30 of those large faces!

Pretty much had the place to ourselves.

Once you begin to spot the faces, you see them everywhere. Very cleverly settled in to the stone work.

Nixon?

From here we walked along the lake to the end of the road out of the main temple AW and then moved onwards towards another bridge crossing the lake. However, before we arrived there we passed a giant modern Buddha where there was a troop of monkeys getting into all sorts of trouble.

They were attempting to liberate some food from the Buddha offerings.

I gather the monkeys hate cats because a woman was threatening them with one and then threw it at the monkeys who scattered.
A monk decided to feed the monkeys!

Then onwards to the bridge.

They reminded me of the perfectly carved life sized figures at Temple 68 on the top of the highest climb on the 88 Temple walk in Japan

The gate at the end of the bridge protecting the temple complex

After our tour process was over we were taken to a high end Cambodian artisan shop which contained some wonderful items and carpets. This wasn’t our first rodeo, so when they said that we didn’t have to buy anything, but to just look, that’s exactly what happened!

We then agreed to go for lunch to a place our guide recommended. We knew there would likely be a kickback to the guide. But we were hungery and accepted.

My hot and sour soup.

And that was it for today. We did spot a lovely family on the family motorcycle

Note the newborn. Just like Vietnam use to be.

That’s it for today. A long day and now I need some sleep. We head back out to the UNESCO protected temples tomorrow at 8:00. Lots of fun!

Cheers!

Geoff🍻

One thought on “Day 28: Siem Reap, Hot! 37°”

  1. Another incredible day the likes of which a person doesn’t see too often in their lifetime of travels. While different, there are similarities in some of the pictures you have taken in Cambodia to some of the pictures of figurines you took in South America. – or, for that matter – pictures in books – Marco Polo Travels! – but I guess that is to be expected as they are all travel areas in different parts of the world.

    I thought I saw images of the dinosaur in one of the columns which you referred to and I couldn’t help but think of the Dinosaurs that populated the Drumheller Bad Lands east of Calgary – right in our own back yard!! Small world.

    Happy travels – sleep well

    Dad

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