Berk’s Blog

This is Nell’s take on the second leg of our trip.

Greetings from Siem Reap!

 

We’ve had a wonderful few days here in Siem Reap.  We’ve been getting up early each morning to explore the Angkor Wat temples, before the hot sun overwhelms pale, sun-adverse little me.  The first morning we hired a guide and explored the two main temple complexes, Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom.  Our guide was fairly new and although he was full of details about the mythology and background of the carvings (which were local derivations of Indian Hindu mythology combined with local events and battles), he wasn’t as interested in telling us about the practical stuff, such as how the temples were made (the blocks of sandstone and lighter igneous rock all have small holes where ropes were attached and they were dragged up the temples by elephants using a pulley system) and why they each had a moat (both for agricultural/drinking water and to keep the sandstone from drying out).  Our driver and guide the first day were both too interested in taking us to see another site for ‘little more money’ (for which we later learned they got a kickback) so we found a new driver the next two days who was much better.  He gave us much more background during the drive between temples and we were able to wander and explore on our own. 

 

The next morning we went to Angkor Wat early to watch the sun rise over the main towers – a beautiful sight.  The monkeys (at recent addition to the area, apparently) were also up looking for leftovers for breakfast, which is always amusing.  We watched a standoff between one of the larger males and a stray dog (which are everywhere); the monkey won easily.  After sunrise we visited the more remote Ta Prohm temple, where parts of the movie Tomb Raider were filmed.  The temple has not had much restoration work done and looks in imminent danger of collapse, with huge trees growing on top of the walls with immense root systems engulfing the break as it reaches the ground.  The rest of the smaller temples were in worse shape, with only basic restoration work having been completed.  It’s easy to see why the temples are listed among the world’s most vulnerable monuments.  By 10:00 am each morning huge numbers of tour groups were crowding the small temples, creating traffic jams on the narrow roads.  There is nothing preventing people from touching many of the carvings or leaning against the unstable walls.

 

Since it quickly became too hot and crowded to enjoy the temples, we retreated to our hotel in the afternoons.  Our hotel is wonderful – it includes a hospitality institute that trains people from rural areas to work in the hotel industry here (a booming industry).  The service has been wonderful and everyone very helpful.  The hotel has a spa, as well (John read that it was recently voted the second best spa in Southeast Asia, and it was the ‘featured hotel’ in the Thai Airways travel magazine), so we’ve taken advantage of the massage and spa services in addition to relaxing by the pool. I had a heavenly 2.5 hour cinnamon, capsaicin and chocolate body scrub followed by a hot oil massage yesterday.  On Christmas, the hotel prepared a nice dinner for all of the guests, complete with bad covers of Christmas music, and ‘Santa’ left us each a wrapped present from the hotel and a card signed by all the staff.

 

We leave in a few hours for Phuket.  The dive boat picks us up tomorrow afternoon for 5 days in the Andaman Sea .  They claim to have internet access, but I’m skeptical that we’ll actually have access so far from the mainland.  We’ll see.  John bought a little computer to use which promptly died as soon as we got here.  So if you don’t hear from us, have a happy new year and we’ll write again on our return to Phuket!

  Note (IUP guys, pay attention) that while Nell was getting her spa treatment, I was touring Pub Street.  I did not have a full body wrap with cucumber, lilac, and cinnamon, or whatever she got.  Her skin *was* much smoother than mine at the end of the day, though.

Nell and I started our Christmas day with a 4:30am wakeup call so that we could catch sunrise at Angkor Wat, which our guide from yesterday said was a moving experience.

Our driver met us promptly at 5am and proceeded to take us to the temple. Almost immediately we could tell something was different from the driver and guide from the previous day. He was chatty, enthusiastic, outgoing, and though he only spoke English for two years, was a much better communicator. It also turned out that he owned the tour business and employed the two guys from yesterday, but we didn’t rat them out.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat was amazing. When we arrived, it was still dark, but with the full moon shining bright, you could see the silhouettes of the 5 towers in the night sky. Then, as the sun started to creep up, the reflection on the lake began to show. Every few minutes as the sky continued to brighten, more details became apparent. The temple is an amazing sight as is, but having it unveiled in this manner was beyond words.

After the sun began to crest over the horizon, we left to hit as many other sites as possible before the temperature and crowds became unpleasant. Next on the trip Ta Prohm. This is where Tomb Raider was filmed. As Angkor Wat was immense and grand, Ta Prohm was more modest, sprawling but without the tall towers. Rather, it had many smaller towers in which statues of the Buddha in various positions used to be kept until looters got to them. One of the amazing traits of this site was the trees that were growing from the top of the ruins down over the walls, with their massive root system exposed. Great backdrop for a creepy action film.

From there, on to a few smaller temples, then back to the hotel for breakfast and a quick nap. We got more done before 9am than most tourists got to do all day.

Had a couples’ massage in the afternoon, and now off in search of some more cheap local beer.

Merry Christmas!!!