I finally arrived in Cambodia, dusty and sweaty after flying from Guilin to Bangkok and stopping at a hostel for the night (well for about 5 hours sleep) and getting up the next morning to catch a bus to Aranya Prathet, crossing the border and getting another bus to Siem Riep. I had heard about the bus ride from Poipet to Siem Riep and was expecting it to be pretty bumpy and dusty - and it certainly was!!! For 6 hours!!!!
On arrival in Siemp Riep at 9pm was absolutely knackered!! I went straight to my hotel room to shower. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and thought - hey, I'm looking pretty tanned, but alas, the tan was actually a layer of red dirt which coated me from head to toe!
I decided I need a day just chilling out in Siem Riep on my first day, so I had a lie in then went to explore the markets. By about 2 pm I was bored and had heard that if you purchased your ticket to Angkor after 4 pm you could enter for the evening before also, so I went and found myself a moto guide and headed for Angkor Wat.
Angkor Wat truly is amazing. Photos do nothing to capture it's immense size and being there as the sun went down was beautiful - the temple silhouetted against a purple sky. It really was magical.
Day 2 I decided to set off in time to capture sun rise at Angkor Wat and was therefore up and away for 5am (despite having met up with an Aussie couple I met on the bus the night before and going out for beers until about 12!!)
The roads were rammed with people headed to Angkor Wat to catch the sunrise and everyone was poised with cameras ready for that perfect sunrise shot. Considering I barely know how to use my camera, and knowing I would never achieve an amazing sunrise shot I opted to head straight through the temple instead so that as the sun came up I watched it from the back of the temple and was able to explore the temple with hardly another person in sight. Besides, in my opinion the sunset made for a much more beautiful image than the sunrise.
Next I headed off to Banteay Srei which is about 20 kms from Angkor Wat. Being that it is so much further out it is visited by many less tourists than the other temples, although it is considered to be one of the most beautiful. Banteay Srei means Citadel of the women, and as such was decorated with images of women (goddesses) throughout.
I then headed back towards Angkor Wat and visited East Mebon and Pre Rup two of the smaller temples.
Just before lunch I arrived at Ta Prohm which was my favourite temple and the one which is nicknamed the Angelina Jolie temple because tomb raider was filmed here! It is also the temple that the French decided was to be left in it's natural state and was allowed to be left as it was found in the 19th century. This means that tree roots have grown up through the temples which made it a shady haven for me in the heat of the day. With the tree roots entwined in the temple structure it also gave it a fairytale quality.
After lunch I headed to Ta Kea and Thommanon, then on to Bayon and Angkor Thom.
Bayon was a huge structure with numerous towers on top, all decorated in faces so that it feels like you are being watched the whole time you are there.
I have to admitt that by the time I reached Angkor Thom and Bayon I was pretty much templed out - being that it was now 3pm and I have been templing since 5am!!! I had to force myself to walk around Angkor Thom and was trying really hard not to think - oh right, another pile of stones about these amazing temples, but there are really only so many temples you can see in one day!
So it was on to Battembang the following day (which is where I am now) I explored the town and booked myself on to a cooking course at smokin pot! - What did you think I was referring to in the tittle....
The cooking course was great fun! Firstly we headed off to the markets to buy all of the ingredients for the 3 dishes we were going to cook. All the food was so fresh! So fresh in fact that we were able to buy our fish live and watch the women bludgeon it to death and scale it in front of our eyes - oh joy!
We cook Amok fish which is a coconut curry and a local Khmer speciality, some spicy beef and basil stir fry and the Khmer style Tom Yum soup with chicken. It was great fun and they give you a cook book with all the recipes, and loads more, so I'll look forward to cooking some when I get home!
Off to Phenom Phen tomorrow. I've met a German girl named Kerstin who I'm going to travel with and share room/ transport etc with in Phenom Phen so I won't be on my own which is great.
