I'm writing this after an early rise at 5am to go and see the sunrise at Angkor Wat which is a bit of an institution if you come here to visit!
Siem Reap is the town where people stay whilst visiting the Angkor Temples as it's only a few km away and i arrived here around 3 days ago from Phnom Penh. I wasn't sure what to expect, it's actually a really nice town and very well catered to tourists (you can tell a lot of rich folk holiday here as there's lots of big 5 star hotels!). Unfortunately i'm only staying in a 6 USD/night guesthouse but it's clean, has a TV and my own bathroom so who can complain..it's also 5 mins walk from 'Bar Street' and the night market so plenty to do! The only thing that has been driving me absolutely nuts is people shouting 'ladieeee..you want tuk tuk? ladieee you want buy something? ladieeee you want cold water? ladieee you give me a dollar'. Yeah you get the picture, tourists literally can't walk down the street without being harrassed for money in some form and even though i'm glad i came here to see the temples, i definitely wouldn't be back in a hurry. It's particularly bad when you have young street kids following you down the street saying they have no food and no money to go to school but i've got to the point where i just keep walking and don't make eye contact (as i'd probably give in then). Sounds a bit harsh, i know, but if i gave a dollar to everyone i'd have given out more than 100 by now and there are plenty of rich, Western folk here who can afford to give them money so i'll leave that up to them. It was bloody tourists who created the problem when they started giving money and sweets out in the first place!
Anyway rant over and onto the main reason i came here which was to visit Angkor Wat and the other temples in the area. It has been completely amazing and unlike anything i have ever seen before (The Roman Forum comes close, but i think Angkor beats it!). It's crazy to think people actually lived in these temples so many years ago and even more amazing to think how they managed to built them with no machinery.
On the first day i hired a tuk tuk driver for the day (10 dollar, which ended up costing me 20 when i felt sorry for the wee boy!) and he took me around the grand circuit which is around 37km in total. There are basically 2 circuits, one grand & one small, and it's a good starting point to get an idea of the sheer size of the place. It's just like a massive forest/national park and when you drive in you can't see any temples at all as the main ruins are within a zone of around 60km squared which is pretty big so you don't tend to see temples until stopping right next to the them.
The stories of my 3 days spent here are probably best shown in the pictures i have put up..each taken at different times of the day. I was pretty knackered after day one as i spent 6 hours floating around the lesser known temples which were all very cool in their own right. It would be far too difficult to do by foot so i was glad i'd hired the tuk tuk to drop me off at one end of the temple, and pick me up at the other side once i'd walked through them.
On day 2 i decided to hire a bike to get some exercise and above all to save some cash cos it only cost me 1 dollar for the day as opposed to 20 for the tuk tuk! The roads aren't too intimidating here and it took me around 45mins-1hour to get from the town to the park, specifically Angkor Thom which used to be a city within itself. This almost killed me as i left at 2pm, at the peak of the afternoon heat, so i ended up stopping for some fried rice and fanta at a wee food shack after the woman practially chased me along the road to come in. I had a float around this area which contains the Bayon (or the one with the big heads carved into stones) then i decided to make my way along to another temple to watch the sunset. Prohm Bakheng is where alot of people go to watch the sunset as it's on a slight hill, so it was mobbed, which i hated as i hate tourists and bloody tour buses haha! The sunset was rubbish as it was too cloudy and started to rain, all in all a bit of a dissappointment and especially since i had to cycle back in the dark which was a little scary!
This morning i set my alarm for 5am and almost never got up as i wondered whether it would be worth the hassle given the sunset the night before! I luckily got a tuk tuk in my street so he took me there and back for 7 dollars.
I couldn't believe that so many people were up starting work at 5.30 in the streets but when i arrived at Angkor Wat it was packed with tourists - see i'm not the only crazy one! I got some really nice shots, again a little cloudy but better than the sunset :) they say it's always better to photograph in early morning or late afternoon as the temples catch the light in a certain way, so true! It was beautiful and especially the ones which reflected Angkor Wat in the moats in front of it.
It was a bit surreal walking around Angkor Wat at 6am in the morning, but I'm glad i did as the sun was already pretty scorching by 8am and i was back in Siem Reap eating a banana and chocolate pancake with a pineapple and coconut smoothie for breakfast.
I'm heading back to Thailand very early tomorrow {7.15am) so today is chillout time and i'm going to see a film about the Khmer Rouge at the wee cinema later on.
Looking forward to getting back to Bangkok and land of the backpackers as i must admit i'm a bit lonely in Cambodia as i haven't met any friends, however getting used to my own company more and more.
