Angkor - Cambodia 2006

M and I are well into our Cambodian adventure - today we went to Preah Kanh (my favourite temple so far) and another one the name of which escapes me. I'll keep this entry about events up to COB yesterday and will fill in the gap shortly.

Yesterday we visited the Angkor temples - starting with Angkor Wat then Bayon, Baphuon and Ta Prohm, with lunch at Chez Sophia (in the Angkor carpark) inbetween. Angkor Wat lives up to its billing; it is a truly amazing and awe-inspiring experience. I was very proud of myself for clambering up a set of thousand-year-old, steep, crumbling, narrow steps to the top level of the Wat - and even more proud of myself for making it back down (although admittedly on the way back down I had a rail to cling onto). The amazingly-detailed reliefs carved into the walls were very beautiful (although the battle scenes dragged on a little) and overall my time there were a few of the more interesting hours in my life to date.

Then to Bayon - approaching it, it looks almost like it has been reduced to rubble; then when you arrive it is in fact very much more. More than a hundred faces of the buddha carved of stone, so that everywhere in the temple felt like you were being watched by the buddha [apparently carved in the likeness of the King who built the temple]. Lots of little corridors, steep stairs and towers. A huge, intricate - and decrepit - temple, and quite an experience.

Although AW and Bayon were very busy, the sites were big enough that private moments could be found - at times, no-one was within sight and huge expanses of temple and surrounds felt totally private - allowing the illusion that we were alone amonst the beauty, history and heat.

Lunch at Chez Sophia [thanks Jack for the recommendation] in the AW carpark was excellent. Run by an eccentric Frenchman and his Cambodian wife, we ate high-quality and well-priced French / Khmer food and gained some respite from the constant harassment.

Within the temples you are mostly 'safe', but the rest of the time in Cambodia we are pretty much constantly harassed by people wanting to sell something (usually a postcard or a ride in a tuk-tuk] or begging. The people selling stuff is basically everyone, but the beggars are primarily small children, pregnant women holding babies or people missing limbs [presumably as a result of land mines]. These people are clearly needy, but nevertheless it is not a lot of fun being harassed every 30 seconds or so walking down the street.

We visited the temples in a tuk-tuk with Wisar, a friendly young driver [he drove us again today as well]. M somehow offended him by offerng him a bottle of water, but otherwise all was good. Except for the time his attention wandered and he almost drove off the road into a ditch. It made me a little nervous when he put his helmet on (we had no helmets, were not buckled in and the motorbike was connected to the carriage by an unbolted padlock).

We're staying at the Golden Banana, a guesthouse 'over the bridge' - just out of the main part of town. Having a little distance is proving a good thing. The place is pretty cute and the staff ok (although we seem to have conversations that don't go anywhere and where i'm not sure exactly what just happened). They certainly all speak way more English (and are far commercially savvier) than the people we dealt with in Laos last year. The experience is only marred by the construyction work going on long hours just outside our door. Watching the workman working bare-foot on the roof in heavy rain is a cross between entertaining and terrifying. Also, our bungalow is brand new and in fact not totally finished. But nevertheless it's pretty good - a good colour scheme, comfortable bed and bathroom downstairs, then up some VERY (bizarrely) steep (and uneven) stairs is a sitting room and balcony. Great tiled floors in contrasting colours and lots of personality.

Last night M was heat-stroked after a long day at the temples, so we crashed early and read. Very peaceful listening to the rain that comes in at night and just hanging out. The previous day we had some great food and drinks at the Foreign Correspondents Club - happy hour there was very happy and is highly recommended.

Our night in Singapore was fun - stayed at Hotel 1929 - a cool little boutique hotel in Chinatown. Our room was ultra-tiny but fine for a one-night stay. We arrived in Singapore about 830pm (after travelling approx 12 hours) and left on a 6am flight to Siem REap, so just enough time to go for a wander around Chinatown, find a street of food stalls, eat some pretty good food and wander back to sleep for 4-5 hours. We both slept really badly, then up at 345 for our flight. The flight to Siem Reap was uneventful, except for some great scenery as we approached the town and the most enthusiastic safety intructions I've ever seen - we were almost hoping for the plane to put a problem so that we could put our new training to good use.

So this is the extended version ... I will try and keep it shorter from here on in. Finally a little rave about Preah Kanh - it is straight out of Raiders of the Lost Ark, is huge and very symmetric and totally awe-inspiring. Standing under the 900 year old arches while wondering how they are still standing and at the ingenuity of the contruction and detail of the design - and trying to picture the lives of teh people who lived there - is pretty good. A vast temple complex, partly lost to jungle and with massive trees growing out of / inside walls and rooms, many chambers and passages and monuments and just totally amazing.