World Cambodia Angkor

David and Natalya's Around the World Tours David and Natalya's One Year Trip Through Asia

Arrival at Angkor Wat Apr 26, 2005

April 25 - 26, 2005

Natalya

Our journey to Angkor Wat was long and exhausting. We started with an air conditioned pick up truck that drove us from Ko Chang to just outside of the Cambodian border. We did a lot of research about entering Cambodia by bus from Thailand and were expecting long waits and lots of hassles. We crossed the boarder on foot and had our exit Thailand stamps, Cambodian visas and entering Cambodia stamps within 20 minutes. But what awaited us was an 8 hour drive in a packed minibus with almost no air conditioning through the Cambodian countryside. The dirt road was bumpy and metal bridges were shaky, but we made it to our designation safe and sound (and also sweaty and covered in dust). As soon as we got to Siem Reap we negotiated with a tuk tuk (pronounced "took took") and arrived at our hotel. Our hotel seemed like such luxury after seeing thousands of poor Cambodian homes from our minibus window. The homes consisted of a small shack raised about 4-5 feet off the ground with thin walls made of thin bamboo sticks and dried palm leaves, now severely weathered. No windows, no doors and mostly no electricity or running water. It was truly a shocking sight. Despite the many hardship Cambodians experience, we caught a glimpse of many that seemed content swinging in their hammocks with a smile on their face.

People of Cambodia seem extraordinarily friendly and kind. They have a great sense of humour and are inventive in their ways to make a living. Of course, as in any poor country, there are a lot of beggars. My heart really goes out to them. Being in Cambodia makes me realize that Canada is really a phenomenal country. The support that poor and disabled people have in Canada, health care and social services are really remarkable.

On a brighter note, yesterday we rose at 4:30am to be able to watch sunrise at Angkor Wat. We hired a driver for the day, Mr. Thep and he drove us in his tuk tuk to the amazing site of Angkor Wat. It was truly phenomenal to be walking on stone that was transported more than 50 kilometres by hand to become part of this spectacular structure. Angkor Wat looked mesmerizing in the morning sun. Every drawing, wall sculpture and tower was filled with warm pinkish golden tones of Cambodian sunrise. After the sun rose we walked inside and were stunned by the size of Angkor Wat. We walked through a number of hallways to find a large structure in the middle that was not visible from the outside. In front of us was an insanely steep staircase. The term staircase is a bit of a stretch here. It was more like mountain climbing. I am not afraid of heights yet it took me some courage to get to the top. The only way to do it is to continue looking up and never look down. This was the idea behind why staircases were made so steep at Angkor Wat - one has to look to the higher power to get them to the top. The view from the top was amazing. There was an entire labyrinth of hallways and rooms with terraces and other staircases leading down. The climb down was even more challenging. And just like in repelling, it was difficult to get going, but once you did, the climb down was not only easier, but also was the only option.

Later in the morning we went to see the Bayon, which is another ancient temple with dozens of towers with hundreds of giant faces carved into stone. Detail on the carvings was spectacular and crumbling walkways and hallways were drawing you in to walk through them. We started at the east gate and toured Bayon in a clockwise direction, which was absolutely phenomenal in the warm rays of the morning sun.

Natalya

April 26 - 2005, Siem Reap Cambodia

Dave

Siem Reap, and the nearby temples of Angkor Wat are the top tourist draw in Cambodia and it is easy to see why. The town itself is quite unlike the rest of the country with 5 star hotels, great restaurants and paved roads, contrasting to the rest of the country where running water and electricity are scarce luxuries. This is all very new, having really just developed in the past 5 years as a world class tourism destination, in the aftermath of a long and bloody civil war that has scarred this country so heavily.

The reason for this development has been the Angkor Wat Archaeological Park, a series of temples and ruins built in the 11th century, and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Angkor Wat is a phenomenal historic site, it easily justifies the crowds from around the world that it now draws. Seeing it is really on par with going to the Great Wall of China, Niagara Falls or the Pyramids of Eygpt.

We had heard the best time to see the main Angkor Wat temple was at sunrise, so we got up at 4:30am, hired a driver for the day (for only $10) and set off. We arrived at the perfect time just as the sun was coming up over the horizon. The scale of the temple only became apparent as we got closer, and saw the thousand year old enormous structure rising up before us. We climbed up a perilous staircase to reach the top of the temple and spent the better part of the morning exploring the caverns, corridors and carvings that make up the complex.

Our next stop was another temple that was even more impressive in some ways, the Bayon. Here the main attractions were stone towers raising high above with enormous faces carved into them.

We went back to the hotel to recover for a few hours and then returned at sunset for another visit, this time to a mountain top temple for the sunrise. The view was again impressive, but this spot at this time of day was really overrun with thousands of tourists, shattering any illusion that this was a bit of an undiscovered gem we were visiting.

We finished the day with a romantic, but somewhat surreal dinner at a restaurant under the stars called the "Green Mango" with great food, and for entertainment a continuously running Bee Gees greatest hits DVD that was a bit of a mismatch with the Cambodian night.

Dave