Cambodia Pics

Angkor Wat and Cambodia

A few days ago Joey, Gail (Joey’s Aunt) and I all got back from our trip to Cambodia and Angkor Wat. The temple complexes were amazing. The main one is Angkor Wat, which is well preserved and the most complicated. But there are many other wat complexes surrounding Angkor Wat. These were built earlier and most are not as well preserved. There are some that equal Angkor Wat in detail though. One of the most interesting is called Bayon. It has over 3,000 faces carved on the stones and most faces are on a square column with a face looking towards each compass direction (north, south, east and west). In addition to the large faces, some bigger than I am tall, there are many stone reliefs depicting scenes of Khmer history. They range from war to crowning the king. There are also numerous images of women carved into the stone, but I am not sure of the symbolism for those images.

Chiang Mai to Bangkok
But, I guess I should start from the beginning of the trip. Joey and I flew down to Bangkok on Sunday to meet up with Gail at her hotel room around 1 pm. From there we headed to Koh Shan Road. There Joey and I tried to sell our Russian books, but that didn’t work at all. So we left those books at a college in Bangkok that we walked through later that day. On Koh Shan Road we had lunch and browsed the streets and shops. From there we headed to the river and the university that I mentioned before. We enjoyed the river scene for a little while and then headed to the Palace to see if we could catch a glimpse of the buildings inside. It was getting dark outside and the complex was closed, but we did see a little of the buildings.

From there we caught a taxi back to the hotel and rested for a little bit. Gail slept a good while and Joey and I left briefly to grab dinner. We also walked a red light district quickly. After that excursion, we headed back to get some sleep.

Bangkok to Phnom Penh, Cambodia
We had an early morning the next day. Our flight left at 7 am, so we were up before the sun rose. We arrived at the airport and checked our luggage without a problem. The flight to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, was about an hour and passed quickly. We arrived in the airport, paid for our visas, went through immigration, and got our bags without a hitch. While at the airport Gail and I exchanged some money into rils, the Cambodian currency; however, almost all prices there are in dollars. So we really didn’t need to exchange money. For $9 we got a taxi into the city and we found a decent guesthouse.

The capital is ok, but I didn’t have a good feeling about it as we were driving in. When walking on the street, we were constantly approached by kids or mothers asking for money or wanting us to buy something. But there were some nice parts. The street we were on had some nice restaurants and guesthouses and it was along the river. The main Buddhist temple of the city was also somewhat unique and situated on the top of a hill. It has a spiraling walkway leading to the temple, as well as steps. We saw the Cambodian Palace which was interesting, but not as impressive as the one in Thailand. The big attraction at the Palace was the “silver” pagoda, which has a silver plated floor and a Buddha with a 25 carat diamond in it. That was interesting. But overall, it was an average experience while in the capital.
A side street with vendors.

The Palace

The Palace

The other big thing that we did while in the capital was the Touenl Slung museum. This museum is located where Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge government tortured and killed numerous Cambodian citizens and other non-Cambodian people. Historians believe that the regime killed about 2 million people from 1975-1978. The prison and torture site used to be a high school. Pictures of the victims and some stories of them were shown throughout the complex. The museum also had some of the torture tools in the rooms. Horrifying things were done to those victims.











That evening we had a nice dinner at a restaurant close to our hotel. It was a mix of Khmer and French cooking styles, which created distinctly tasting dishes. To end the evening, we went to a bar for a drink and to look out on the river.

The local barber shops are on the sidewalk along the streets.

A few kids I saw playing in a park who were excited about me taking their photo.

The National Museum of Cambodia. We didn't go into this, but I liked the photo.

Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, Cambodia
The following morning we woke up around 6:30 am for our bus to Siem Reap. The bus left at 7:30 am, so we grabbed breakfast to go. The ride lasted 6 hours with a half hour break in a good-sized town. For the most part, the bus ride went through rural areas, where most of the people seemed to grow rice for a living. The houses were all on stilts of at least 4 feet because of the rainy season. The walls were weaved panels of reeds and the roof was a mixture of wood and hay. In general, the houses were small and plain without running water. And as far as I could tell most also did not have electricity. Almost all of the homes had a pool of water in front of them. I am not sure if that water was for household use or something else, like cattle. Either way, it looked pretty dirty.

Upon reaching the Siem Reap bus stop, we hired a tuk tuk driver to take us to the hotel we wanted to stay at – The Red Piano. Luckily, they had room for us all of the nights we were there. To get the last two nights we had to give a bribe, but it was nice not having to find another place. After settling into our room we headed to get a late lunch.

We were taking malaria pills because the CDC recommended it while in Siem Reap, but I don’t think they are necessary. Also, the pills have some nasty side effects. They made Gail throw up; they made all my muscles sore; and they all around irritated Joey. Gail and Joey have stopped taking them. I will finish out the dose, but that is it. I think for Laos, I will not take them. There are too many side effects that interfere with your vacation and the weeks afterwards.

First Trip to Angkor Wat
Gail headed back to the hotel after lunch and Joey and I walked the town a bit. Around 4:30 we arrived back to the hotel to pick up Gail. We then hired a tuk tuk to take us to Angkor Wat for the sunset. The moat for Angkor Wat is filled with water and the wall around the structure remains standing. Because of this, it felt exotic when approaching the temple. It was interesting being there so late in the day with so few people, but we weren’t able to stay too long. The staff was closing everything up and pushing people out the door. We did get a chance to look at the basal reliefs (pictures in the bottom stones) and impressive hallways. But we didn’t get a chance to really enjoy sunset. Also the sunset was cloudy, so it wasn’t too impressive.

After the park closed, we headed to dinner. I think we ate at an Italian/Khmer fusion restaurant. It was very good. Joey had a delicious spinach and chicken lasagna, Gail tried the local dish, amok (which was pretty good actually), and I had a goat cheese salad. Gail and I also had ice cream in different versions, a milkshake and sundae, for dessert. Can you guess who had the milkshake?

All Day in the Temples
The next day we slept in and had a leisurely breakfast. But after breakfast we were running around for the rest of day. We hired a tuk tuk driver for the whole day to take us around the temples of Angkor Wat. Originally we were only going to pay him $10, but we wanted to go to a few other places and he wouldn’t take us there without more money. So we paid him $12 for the day. We saw about 7 different temples this day. We started off in Angok Thom. This complex is VERY large and contains several temples and buildings of interest. One of them is Bayon, the one I described at the beginning of this blog entry. The other structures are Baphon (a temple), the elephant terrace (the king gave proclamations here), the terrace of the leper king (is it suspected that 2 of the kings of this age had leprosy), Phimeanakas (a temple and royal palace ruins), and Preah Palilay (another temple). In addition, the complex was surrounded by a tall, thick wall and wide moat. Now the moat is silted up, but its traces are still there.

Bayon

Bayon

Bayon
Bayon
Preah Palilay

Preah Palilay
Phimeanakas

Phimeanakas

After Angkor Thom, we headed to Ta Prohm, which is where the Tomb Raider was filmed. When the French found the structures in the early 1900s, they were overrun with jungle trees and vines. Since they found them, restoration programs have tried to remove the trees from the temples. But that is impossible for this temple because of how intricately woven the trees are within the temple walls. If you took out the trees, the temple would fall down. This was one of my favorites because of the large trees and root structures showing throughout the temple complex. We had a picnic lunch here and enjoyed the scenery while we ate.

Ta Prohm

Ta Prohm

After this temple we headed to another temple, Preah Khan, with lots of trees that provided shade for us during midday. It was impressive, like all the other ones although I can’t remember anything particular about it now.
Preah Khan

Preah Khan

From there we headed to the king’s swimming pool that he had dug. It is a huge pool, about the size of a small lake. The local kids now enjoy swimming in it, but before only the king and his concubines and wives could swim in the pool. I bet it was gorgeous when the King was swimming in it. Now is looks a little run down.


After the pool, we headed to our sunset destination, Pre Rup. It is a relatively small temple, but reaches a good height that allows for a breathtaking view of the surrounding rice paddies. We had a few hours here, so we played some word games to keep ourselves entertained. We then climbed to the top to get priority seating for the sunset. Unfortunately, our sunset plan went the wrong direction because the clouds came and sprinkled on us, but it was nice being together and playing games. The clouds also hid the sun setting, so we left a little early.


In the middle of this page is a map of the Angkor Wat area. You can see most of the temples we went to on this map. http://www.around-the-world-travel-adventures.com/images/Angkor-Wat-Map.jpg

After this long day, we headed to Dead Fish Tower to eat. This is a funky little place with tables where you sit on the floor, a dance stage for the traditional Cambodian dance, and decent American music. The food was Khmer and about $5 for a sampling of different Khmer dishes. Afterwards, we walked around town a bit and saw the night market there. We also walked through the bar and restaurant district.

Sunrise at Ankgor Wat and Tonle Sap Lake

The next day, Joey and I got up early to catch the sunrise at Angkor Wat. Gail was going to come with us, but her ankles were swollen from the previous day and skipped out. It was too bad that her ankles kept her back. The sunrise was enjoyable and it was nice to have more time to explore the temple. I really wanted to go up to the top level, but it was roped off. I was too chicken to go under the ropes and climb up to the top level. Oh well. Joey and I did find a neat entrance gate to the west, which we explored. After a few hours here, we went back to get Gail and have breakfast.
Angkor Wat's east gate
Girls on bike in Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat east side

Dawn at Angkor Wat

Dawn at Angkor Wat

Sunset at Angkor Wat, from the first day to Angkor Wat

From the first day at Angkor Wat
Dawn at Angkor Wat
Dawn at Angkor Wat

That afternoon, we stopped by a pottery place that practices the traditional Khmer pottery process. It was almost lost because of Pol Pot and the killings during the regime, but the current government and NGOs have put a lot of effort into reviving the traditional handicrafts of the country. After a tour of the pottery making process, we headed back to the hotel. Joey and I took a nap and Gail headed out for shopping and walking around the city. She bought lots of bags/purses.

After the nap and shopping, we got lunch and walked around together for a little while. Later that afternoon we headed to Tonle Sap Lake. This is one of the largest freshwater lakes in Asia and is a huge food source for Cambodia. It connects to the Mekong River and becomes extremely flooded during the wet season. We used the same tuk tuk driver from the sunrise excursion because he had a stutter and Joey has a soft heart for stutterers.

The lake was interesting. We hired a boat to take us out onto the lake, where we saw the floating village. The village is divided into two different sections, the Khmer and Vietnamese section. The guide told us they were separated because of language barriers. Evidently, the Vietnamese know Cambodian, but the Cambodians don’t know Vietnamese. The boat driver showed us their grocery store, restaurants for tourists, battery repair boat, the schools, boat making area, and other little stores that all villages have here in Cambodia. Most of the floating houses had electricity from generators, but they did not have running water and used the lake for their toilet, shower, drinking and cooking water, and trash disposal area. It was an interesting, unsanitary, mix of uses for their lake water.

All the kids in these lake villages know how to swim well and each have their own type of boat to get around in. Most of them have a wooden boat, but others have a large metal bowl that they use to float around in. For a paddle, they have a stick with a semi-flat end. The kids in the metal bowls were usually begging for dollars from tourists. As I mentioned before, begging was very common here.

For our boat ride, we rode through both sides of the floating village and went to a boat that contained lots of crocodiles and fish. This boat also had a second story, which we climbed up to see the sunset. The time before sunset was beautiful, but like all of our other sunset ventures, the clouds came and blocked the final 15 minutes of the sunset. However, I think we got some good pictures.

One interesting thing that the boat guide told me is that the people living on the land and water move with the lake level. During the monsoon season, the people on the land move their homes to a nearby mountain. The people/families that move first get the best place to live during that monsoon season on the mountain. The floating house people also move their homes toward the mountain. I guess they pick up their anchor and paddle their homes that way.

(This is my "National Geographic" picture)

After the sunset, the boat took us back to land and we returned to our hotel in Siem Reap. I think we all agreed that the lake was well worth a trip. We had dinner at a local Khmer restaurant which was enjoyable, although Khmer food isn’t as good as Thai food. After dinner, we stopped by a bar and had a quick drink for dessert. A walk through the night bazaar was required for Gail and purse shopping, so we headed that way after the drinks.

Rolous Group Temples
The following morning was our last day in Cambodia. We headed off to a remote temple complex using the stuttering tuk tuk driver. This group of temples, the Rolous Group, is the oldest group in the area and used more rudimentary construction techniques. Instead of the large rock blocks used in Angkor Wat, the early temples used bricks. They also used plaster for figurine work. The newest of the temples in this area used the larger rock blocks, as seen at Angkor Wat, for the main temple of the complex, but the other buildings of the complex used bricks and plaster for figures. Another interesting feature was that the newest complex still had a filled moat and the walls were covered by lush vegetation, like banana trees and tropical flowers.

Cambodia to Chiang Mai
After seeing this complex, we headed back to the hotel to get our bags and check out for the guesthouse. It was about 11 am. From there we grabbed some snacks and headed to the airport. We definitely needed the 1.5 hours to check in to the airport and get through security and immigration. There were lines for all of these things. One unexpected expense was the exit tax of $25 per person. But I guess they have you there. You really want to catch your flight by this point and you are willing to pay whatever it takes.

We reached our gate with a few minutes to spare, so we had a few snacks. The flight back to BKK was about an hour and then we had to wait about 5 hours for our last flight to Chiang Mai. It was a pain to wait around, but it couldn’t be helped. There is only one flight a day that leaves Siem Reap for Thailand. The BKK flight to Chiang Mai was delayed an hour, but after waiting some more we finally made it back to wonderful Chiang Mai. We grabbed a taxi and were dropped off at our guesthouse late that night. We were all exhausted.

That is it for the Cambodia trip. I am glad I don’t live there, but it is a nice place to visit. It isn’t as cheap as Thailand, but it is still relatively inexpensive. However, there are lots of expensive hotels and restaurants moving into the area and I am sure that it will become more expensive as time progresses. The clientele will become more elite as the prices so up I’m sure. I’m glad that Joey and I went while here. It is definitely worth a trip; however, a week here is long enough for me.