Siem Reap and the Temples of Angkor



Back at the Bayon Temple



In the past couple of days ive been exploring the temples and having fun in Siem Reap in the evenings. Yesterday I hired a bike and was taken by a local, who we'd met at one of the bars in Siem Reap and who is also a temple tour guide to some of the more lesser known but still very good temples. It was great going with a tour guide who can give you more information on the temples than the lonely planet guide book which is what I rely on. It also helps as you don't get hassled by the souvenir sellers as much as when you are just with Western people.



Sunset at Phnom Bakheng


We stopped for lunch at a small restaurant in the temple grounds. Things are so different and far more laid back here. After lunch we relaxed in some hamocks in the back of the restaurant, I fell asleep and was woken up a hour or so later by a chicken with its chicks walking past me!?

We went to watch the sunset near Angkor Wat at one of the temples called Phnom Bakheng which is on top of a big hill which, as you can see was fantastic. I'm still really liking Siem Reap im tempted to stay longer and think its a place I'd like to come back to.




Sunset at Phnom Bakheng


Ive booked an overnight bus from Siem Reap to Sihanoukville in the South of Cambodia for tomorrow evening. This will be my final stop before making my way to Vietnam via Phnom Penh on 17th July to get ready to start my CELTA on 25th July.

Angkor Wat and the Temples of Angkor



Angkor Wat


In the past two days since arriving in Siem Reap I've been going to visit Ankor Wat and the various other temples in the area. On the first day I got my own tuk tuk driver for the day. He was a nice local chap called Chives whose sister works at the guesthouse im staying in.

What I didn't realise is that besides Angkor Wat there are a large number of other temples all in the same surrounding area and these temples aren't like the ones ive been seeing to date... there huge!





Bayon Temple

 Naturally the first temple I went to was Angkor Wat. I have read that going in peak season can be quite stressful however as its off season I got lucky and there was not too many tourists there. As you can imagine the Angkor Wat is a very impressive place. The grounds are huge and the detailed carvings on the walls are great.

After this Chives took me to a place called Angkor Thom which is an area a few square miles in size that contained a number of other temples. The next one on the list was the Bayon temple which I think is my favourite one and in my opinion more impressive than Angkor Wat.



Faces on the Bayon temple


It looks like a pile of rocks from the distance but when you get up close there are hundreds of carved faces and other drawing. It also had a number of floors to the temple and you were allowed to go pretty much to the top.

After this I was take to a number of other temples including Preah Palilay, Phimeanakas and one other that was in the middle of a jungle. Since it was abandoned for a number of years it had been reclaimed and had trees growing all over it.

Temple in the Jungle

This particular temple was used in the Tomb Raider films and we were shoewn the very step where Angelina Jolie stood for the photo shoot which was used on all the posters.

One good thing about Cambodia is since the health and safety laws are pretty relaxed they let you climb all over the temples. I think this really adds to the experience even though it is a little dangerous. Some of the steps are so steep that you actually have to use your hand to climb up them.

On the second day I hired a bicycle and went to a handful of temples it was a 13k ride there but I missed the turning and must have cycled for another 10k before realising. It was pretty hot and by the time I got home I was pretty knackered. One of the temples I did see was called Preah Ko which was again huge.

On my ride home a local on a moped pulled up next to me and started chatting, he rode with me for the last 5k home but it turns out he works at the Orphanage which i remembered cycling past earlier . Conversation eventually turned to football and I told him about my refereeing, he invited me to come and referee a game for the kids at the orphanage in the next few day. Im not sure I'll be able to do it because im getting a bit pushed for time but Ive got his details and he asked me to call him if I could.



Preah Ko



I really like Siem Reap and Cambodia. The above is a great example of how friendly the people are. Ive been on a few nights out with a guy I met back in Pakse who happened to be here and we have always ended up chatting to lots of locals as and playing pool against them. Im going to stay in Siem Reap for a few more days before moving on. I want to get up and see the sunrise at Angkor Wat tomorrow but this means a 4:30am start. We will see!!

Phnom Penh - Siem Reap



Phnom Penh to Siem Reap


I've had my last day in Phnom Penh which was very enjoyable. I managed to get my Vietnam visa sorted and went to watch Transformers 3 at a cinema in Phnom Penh. This was quite an experience as during the film there was cheering at randon moments. There was also a brief clip which showed Angkor Wat at which point the cinema errupted with screaming and cheering, it was very strange.

Broken down again

However the time had come for me to go to Siem Reap to see the Angkor temples for myself, the journey was expected to take 5 hours. As usual I would have to take one of the buses where the journeys are always full of suprises. I was hoping that my luck would change as i'd had quite a string of bad journeys recently where the last bus had broke down. After completing my last journey I regreted afterwards not taking a picture of the bus being fixed as it would have been good for the blog. As fortune would have it, this bus broke down too. It looked like a similar problem to last time, something was wrong with the tyre.

Deep Fried Spiders and Deep Fried something else

This took about 40 minutes to fix but then we were on our way. After this point on came the Karoke on the TV which stayed on for the rest of the journey.

we stopped for lunch at a Cambodian service station which is where I took the next photo. There was a good selection of food available which included deep fried spiders and deep fried crickets. I waved my chance to have this and opted for the fresh pineapple on a plate next to these.





Kicking everyone off the bus


The journey continued slowly until a few hours later, for no reason, the driver pulled over and started indicating for us all to get off. Fortunaly someone translated this for us so we knew what was going on. We were not given a reason for this but after about 30 minutes he changed his mind and let us all get back on again. This was all very strange and even the Cambodian people, who are all very chilled by nature were getting frustrated.

Eventually we did make it to Siem Reap. The 5 hour journey took 8 hours. These bus trips really are an experience. Ive found the best way is to just assume its going to take most of the day and go with it. I was sat next to an expat who is currently living in Phnom Penh who does these journeys regularly and was very grumpy, I did try my best to cheer her up but it didn't work. It also didn't help that she was only going for the day to see her boyfriend and would be returning to Phnom Penh tomorrow so would have to do the whole thing again.




One way of tranporting bikes

 
Siem Reap seems like a really nice town though and Im looking forward to seeing the Temples of Angkor tomorrow.

I took the final picture as it make me laugh. It says alot about how relaxed these countries are in South East Asia about pretty much anything.



Phnom Penh - Day 2, Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng Museum

Today I went to both the Killing fields and Tuol Sleng Museum. I started at the Tuol Sleng Museum which is a converted school where in the late 1970s, when the Kymer Rouge took over control of the country, they used as a prison to torture and hold people. It was a very strange place to go.

Many of the rooms still had the iron beds and shackles in them and the barb wire was on a number of the buildings. There were thousands of photos on display of the prisoners who went to the prison which was the worst part. In the 3 years it was operating 20,000 people passed through here on their way to be executed, only 7 survived. There was all sorts of information on the stories that went on here which was pretty hard to read at times.



Photos of the Prisoners at Tuol Sleng

As you can imagine it was a sobering experience but good to understand this part of Cambodia's past which happened not that long ago. After this I went to the 'Killing Fields' which is where the prisoners were taken for execution. There is a morcelium there now which contains over 1,000 of the skulls and clothes that were dug up when a number of the plots were excavated in 1980. As the area is prone to flooding there is still parts of bone and clothing being washed to the surface around the site. Whilst walking around I saw a number of teeth and items of clothes which the victims were wearing at the time they were executed.

Morcelium at the Killing Fields

There was a great museum which had more information and a video about what happened. All in all it was a pretty depressing experience but very good to see and one that makes you appriciate how lucky you are.

I went to the National Stadium after this and I was in luck as they were showing a football match and I needed cheering up. I arrived 20 minutes into the match. The game was between Chhlam Samuth and Preah Khan Reach. Two teams from the Cambodian National League.

Football at the National Stadium

It was a very good game and finished 3-0 and only cost about 30p to watch too! When I left the stadium after the game there was alot going on around the ground. All the locals has come out to play football, volleyball and tennis. The facilities weren't great (some of the pitches had floodlights in the middle of them) but they just got on and enjoyed playing the games.

I also noticed that they have aerobics classes on the top of the football stadium which was interesting to see. You could see everyone was enjoying themselves and got a good feeling about what the locals get up to in the evening. No one seemed to be worried about a huge thunderstorm coming!!

Outside the Stadium

Overall it was a great day and I think I really like Phnom Penh. Tomorrow I'll be sorting out my Vietnam Visa, booking my ticket to Siem Reap and possibly going to watch Transformers 3 at the cinema they have here.

Ive added an album with the photos I took today, some of them were taken at the Prison and Killing Fields so are not pleasent but I hope you like them.

Phnom Penh - Day 1

4,000 Islands to Phnom Penn

I took a bus with a number of other travellers from the 4,000 Islands in Laos to Phnom Penn in Cambodia yesterday and was told it would be an 8 hour journey. We were also told it would be a VIP bus but as per usual we were lied to on both accounts. To make matters worse, as it envitably would when you take this many old buses.... it broke down. Fortunalty our driver also seems to have some expertise in fixing vehicles so when I went outside to see what was going on he had a tire off and was beating something with a spanner. The good new was this obviously did the job and after about an hour we were on our way. What made this situation worse was that whilst he was fixing the bus he tortured us by leaving the Laos Karoke on the telly. After about 30 minutes we all had a discussion and took the matter into our own hands and turned the TV off.

The Royal Palace

Anyway the journey turned out to be 13 hours but I arrived safely and made my way to a hostel. I had to use my negotiating skills, which have been forced to develop during this trip, to get a tuk tuk to take me at a reasonable price and I suceeded in getting him from $5 to $2!!!

The town is very busy but has a great feel to it. I've done all the major walking sites around town including the Royal Palace, which was very pretty inside but unfortunatly I couldn't take any pictures. I also went ot the national museum which has some good sculptures, a number of markets, Victory monument and took a explored the river front with all its bars.



The Phnom Penh traffic is nuts!


On the way back to my guest house I could see a huge thunderstorm coming in quick so I spotted inside a sports bar, I has a good chat to the owner who was Australian who has been running the bar for 7 years... He had some great stories. There was a quiz on a 9pm and I managed to get chatting to a small gorup of people - who happened to be English teachers in Phnom Penh and joined their team. Iwasagreat evening and good to chat to some teacher whoare doing what I'm going to do. They all love it and really love Phnom Penn.

Victory Monument

The city does have a really nice feel to it and after one day I can see why they like it. The locals are friendly and there is alot to do. I must however have politely said 'no' to at least 150 tuk tuk and moto drivers today. There is so much traffic here and when you cross the street you take your life into your own hands. You have to just walk into the road and the bikes go around you. Although its a 100 times busier than anywhere in the UK the people just take things a bit slower and are more accepting of people breaking the traffic laws which I think people only really see as guidelines.


I'm off to see the killing fields and Tuol Sleng Museum tomorrow which isgoing to be tough but interesting. Also ive added some more pictures which I took today around town.

4,000 Islands, Laos

Vientiane to 4,000 Islands

After leaving Vientiane 6 days ago and travelling about 28 hours broken up with a number of stops, ive finally arrived in my final Laos destination which is the 4,000 Islands. This is basically a group of Islands in a wide part of the Mekong River in the southern tip of Laos. The River at this point is several kilometers wide and depending on the river hight there are approx imately 4,000 Islands. I personally think this is a big of exageration. I'd say there is a few hundred but not 4,000. It would be like calling Poole Habour '200 Islands'. Perhaps this would be a good idea to boost tourism.

Laid back Don Det

I spent my first night on the biggest Island called Don Khong. It was very quiet being low season but I hired a bicycle to explore the Island. About 5k into my bike ride I got a puncture so had to walk back to the shop. Id not past anything except fields on the way so this took along time. Some on the local children found it hilarious and stopped to point and laugh at my misfortune.I got a new bike and decided to go the other route around the Island. As this Island is in the Mekong river there are no beaches and it was mainly paddy fields and small wooden huts along the dusty roads.




Li Phi Falls

 On the second day I moved to another Island called Don Det. Again I hired a bicycle to explore the Island. Don Det is far more scenic than Don Khong and the ride took me the length of the Island along the river front. There was a bridge to a second Island and a place called Li Phi falls which is an area of the Mekong River where the river is rapid. Locals believe bad spirits get trapped at this place but I didn't see any whilst I was there.

This is my last evening in Laos and I will be catching a 9 hour coach to Phnom Penh in Cambodia tomorrow. I'm looking forward to moving on and going to a city after the quiet past week coming down through the south of Laos.

Another Big Buddha on a hill

View from Don Det

Southern Laos

Mekong River with clouds on the hills

In the 5 days since leaving Vientiane I’ve been slowly making my way further south in Laos. I caught an overnight bus from Vientiane to a place called Savannakhet which was a nice chilled town with lots of nice French postcolonial buildings. I then moved to a place called Pakse which is slightly bigger town but still very small when compared to places in the UK and I’m now in a village called Champasak which is a good base to see Wat Phu Champasak which is Laos’s oldest and most famous Temple ruin which I did this morning.

Small town near Champasak

It’s been nice to see some proper towns that are not full of tourists but at the same time this usually means there is not that much to do. However it has still been really good to just see people going about their daily business and I’ve always been lucky enough to meet good people at the hostels to chat with and have dinner and drinks with. I’ve also been able to catch the tennis which works out quite well as it’s on in the evenings here.

Every place I seem to go I feel like I’m in the middle of nowhere however after a few hours I realise that’s not the case but today in Champasak, I think this really is as close as I’m going to get.

Fishermen on the Mekong River near Champasak

After taking a combination of bus, boat and tuk tuk I arrived at my destination and booked into a hostel. The town is literally a dirt track and a row of houses along the Mekong River, it was pretty deserted and I didn’t see any other western people. I hired a bicycle and cycled to Wat Phu Champasak . It took about 40 minutes but you have to dodge chickens, dogs, goats, pigs, cats, cows and water buffalo that all roam free along the roads (or mud tracks) Also all the locals look at you like your from another planet as they probably don’t see many Western people. It really is a strange but enjoyable experience and like something out of a film.

Wat Phu Champasak

I’m off to my final stop in Lao tomorrow for two nights in a place called 4,000 Islands. After this I will be crossing the border into Cambodia for my final two weeks before going to Vietnam to start my teaching course. Can’t believe how quickly the 6 weeks have gone so far!!! Also monsoon season is in full swing. We get very impressive rain storms on a twice daily basis and when we were in Vientiane it rained big time for two full days.

I’ve added an album of random photos from the past 5 days. They’re not very exciting as there’s not been much to take pictures of (compared to the places I have been previously) but it gives you an idea of what Laos is like.