We took a day bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. Sarah and Will, our Aussie friends, were to meet us the following day so we can do Angkor Wat as a team. Mr. Ya’s (our tuk tuk driver from Phnom Penh) friend Mr. Why Not (not his real name, of course) picked us up as arranged from the bus depot and took us on a brief tour of the town before depositing us at a guesthouse to check out the rooms which we liked immediately. Let’s just say this is the nicest place we have stayed thus far and smells as good as a Holiday Inn room. The A/C is strong, the beds are comfy, the pillows are superb, the bathroom sink was big enough to do laundry in and the shower was separate from the rest of the bathroom and even had a curtain! Plus HBO, Starz and some other Western channels. What more could we possibly want??
We booked a room for Sarah and Will and then arranged for Mr. Why Not to pick them up from their bus and bring them to the guest house when they arrived the next day. That evening we shared a green shrimp curry which was only so-so and an “amok” dish with chicken that was truly stellar. Amok is a Cambodian dish where the food is cooked in banana leaves and whatever protein you choose is cooked in coconut milk and tastes amazing. It was so good!
The next day we set off in search of the Cambodian Landmine Museum but after walking close to 2 miles, we discovered our 2007 Southeast Asia guidebook is no longer valid with respect to the museum's location and we were forced to turn back in defeat. Though we did get to see a nice temple thanks to a Cambodian recommendation that we received from a passing motorcyclist.
By the time we got back to the guesthouse, Sarah and Will had just been dropped by Mr. Thy, Mr. Why Not’s brother in law. They took some time to get sorted and then met us up downstairs. We all set off to the marketplace to one of the little restaurants for a late lunch/early dinner. I decided to try frog so Amir found this dish of sautéed frogs in chilies. It was very good. On the way back to the guesthouse, we stopped off for whiskey and Coke supplies. Then the entertainment continued in Sarah and Will’s room with whiskey Cokes and Pringles, peanuts and chicken flavored coated peanuts. The TV was on in the background for a while but conversation was so easy and fun that it was turned off pretty early in. Will played his tunes and we had a great night before going to bed around 11pm or 12.
Next day, Angkor Wat adventure day, we woke up early at 7am in order to have time to get ready and snack up before being picked up by our tuk tuk driver, Mr. Why Not’s other brother-in-law, at 8:30am. Amir and I picked up some baguettes, camembert, fake Pringles, fruit jelly turnovers and waters. We set off maybe 15 minutes later than planned but still had plenty of time to see all the temples on the list. The drive took about 15 or 20 minutes to get to the entrance where we picked up our park day passes for $20 each. They are smart enough to take a photo of the pass holder so they can’t be reused in the same day by other people.
The first stop was the famed Angkor Wat temple built by King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century for the god Vishnu (Hindu god). It is possibly the most grand of the Wats of Angkor and has become the country’s symbol and takes pride of place on their national flag. All the temples at Angkor are crumbling but efforts are being made year round throughout the area to restore and rebuild them. Some parts of the temples were closed off due to reconstruction and restoration.
One of the areas had begin to have roof leaks which was causing water damage to the bas reliefs to they had closed it all down to take apart and then rebuild the roof before restoring the damaged bas reliefs. A lot of the restoration efforts are sponsored and/or conducted by foreign countries, particularly France and Japan.
We spent the full day wandering through the temples and being ferried by our tuk tuk driver to the next temple site (the temples are somewhat far from each other). We had intended to catch the sunset at Phnom Bakheng but were fairly tired out by 4:30pm when we arrived there so we ended up just climbing up the path to the top and then scaling the narrow stairs (only 3-4 inches wide) to the top of the temple to check out the view. The temple itself isn’t the attraction but rather the 360 degree view from the top of it. It supposedly gets packed around sunset time and, in fact, there was already a crowd gathered on the West side of the temple when we got there around 5pm.
The temples are amazing to contemplate because they are so old and have lasted a good 900 years before the elements even made a noticeable difference and restoration became necessary. The bas reliefs feature numerous things from rows and lines of flowers to godlike figures to Cambodian armies fighting against monkey soldier armies. One of the temples had giant Buddha like faces built into the faces of the stone structures towering over the lower buildings. It was amazing to be there in person seeing it all as it was originally constructed, just weather by time.
Amir and I drank 2 large bottles of water each throughout the day and were still dehydrated. Fortunately, though, there was some cloud cover for us during the first half of the day. At our third temple (or maybe our fourth) we stopped for lunch prior to exploring. Sarah and Will shared some tomatoes and we shared our cheese. My favorite picnic lunch without many resources is a cheese and chip sandwich. A baguette with melty camembert and mayonnaise ketchup flavored fake Pringles was heavenly. For snack later before our last temple of the day, we shared the jam filled turnovers. They were delicious. The Cambodians definitely know their baked goods.
When we all got back to town, we stopped off to buy overnight bus tickets for the next day at 8pm and then headed back to the guesthouse to shower and rest up before dinner at 8pm. Amir and I had worn sandals trekking around Angkor and our feet had turned dark brown from all the dust and dirt.
Later that evening we all met up for dinner followed by drinks and dancing until 2am. It was loads of fun. The Cambodian hookers were giving us dirty looks for dancing on the stage, though. I think they were mad about losing the "spotlight" that they probably rely on heavily to get them dates.
The next day, everyone hung out (and hungover) in one of the rooms and the heavenly A/C for most of the day, but I left for a while to go check out the artisan workshop called Artisans d’Angkor, a nonprofit designed to curb rural depopulation by training local people in various traditional art forms and helping them set up shop in their home villages. The workshops are in two different long, L-shaped buildings that are divided up into workshops by craft. There is sandstone and soap stone carving, wood carving, brass working, silk weaving, silk painting and wood painting. It was a pretty cool place to visit and all the staff and artisans were very welcoming.
After that I wandered through the marketplace which was huge and had everything from hairdressing shops to clothing to seamstresses to fish and produce. Then I gratefully re-entered the air conditioned sanctuary of our air conditioned room to hang out before the night bus to Sihanoukville.
Next stop...beaches, white russians and endless delivery food.
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