Siem Reap (Angkor Wat et al)

The two days I spent visiting the temples of Angkor Wat and the surrounding environs were sublime. I had heard widely varying advice on the amount of time one should spend there ("Oh you can do it in a day" to "I've been here a week and still want to stay longer"). Since I made up my mind to push back my return flight home by a few days, I happily didn't feel at all rushed and decided to just play it by ear.

Our bus got into Siem Reap (the town next to where the temple are) in the evening and had a guy with my name on a sign waiting for me ("Hello Mr. Andrew Hagen!")--it's quite common for guest houses in Phnom Penh to sell the names of people heading to Siem Reap and get a commission. The place in PP was pretty decent so I was fine being lead by the hand to an unknown guest house (which ended up being just fine). Also waiting for me was a motorbike driver-cum-guide who would take me to the temples bright and early the next day to see sunrise over Angkor Wat.

Unfortunately, I overslept and got a later start on the day. So I decided I would take at least a second day in the area to hit the hugely popular temples which by that time were probably crawling with tourists and we drove for a very long time out to some of the more far-flung and less frequented temples. I don't have my guidebook in front of me so I couldn't say the name right now, but this one of the highlights--a temple of the less common rose-colored limestone and covered in beautiful carvings:





On the way back, I visited the landmine museum created by a very diligent (and obviously careful) landmine clearer. The guy who was recruited into the Khmer Rouge when he was a child became and expert landmine planter but was captured and defected to the Vietnamese army. After the war, he felt remorse and made it his life mission to clear as many of the landmines remaining in Cambodia as possible which continue to kill and maim people to this day. By his estimates, he has cleared over 50,000 mines in his life (still has every limb intact) and has a sort of shelter for child victims of landmines. Here's a shot showing some of the UXO (unexploded ordnance) in the museum:



After this, we went on a tour of the peripheral temples, all interesting in their own ways, but it was of course all warming up to the big boys the following day.

Day 2

On the second day, I did manage to wake up at four-damn-thirty so that we could see sunrise over the glorious Angkor Wat--the largest religious monument in the world (you could play hide-and-seek with the Vatican in there and not find it for some time). It was a bit overcast so I knew the sunrise wouldn't be overly spectacular, but all the same, I staked out my spot amidst the other early risers and mounted my tripod. The following is the best shot I got before I decided a change of plans was called for...



First though, a diatribe. I am admittedly a very selfish person when it comes to touristing. Most others detract from my experience: there's the crowds that slow everything down, the people that act rude or inappropriately, and the photographers I resent for treating the world like a scavenger hunt and just snapping a picture of something mentioned in their guidebook and walking away before really even looking at the wonders they're ostensibly documenting for posterity. So anyway, before the sun had risen (and I got tired of shaking my head at people with thousand-dollar cameras who thought a flash might help illuminate the wat from 300 meters), I struck off on my own. Angkor has a main entrance and you more or less wander around the enormous structure, looking at the Hindu mythology rendered in bas relief etc. etc. and exit at a specified location. My recomendation to anyone planning a visit is to do as I did, and sneak in through the exit when there's no guards nearby. By virtue of it being just before the sunrise crowd entering and being at the end of the huge loop, I had Angkor Wat all to myself for enough precious minutes to really absorb the awesomeness of the place. Walking bare-foot alone through the enormous temple was amazing and the chanting and gongs from a nearby Buddhist temple only added to the atmosphere.

I savored the moment as long as I could before I decided it was time to move on. Since most people follow a defined temple-visit route, if I maintained my head start and kept at a reasonable pace, I would be far from the madding crowd the whole day, and indeed that is how it panned out for the most part. Here are some more photos from that wonderful day:


Bayon temple


In some temples, it seemed the invasive jungle was the only thing holding them together


I think this is the "Tomb Raider" tree--was in a scene in the movie


A troupe of musicians--all victims of landmines

I finished the whole circuit around noon (sounds early but when you start at 5:00...) and had the rest of the day to revel in the memories of the experience and hang out with some people I bumped into that were on the Mekong Delta boat tour with me. So two days was the perfect amount of time for me and that evening I made arrangements for a bus to cross the Thai border and go to Pattaya, where I would see Jess again and go to the birthday party of one of her co-workers before heading down to the islands.