Tag Archives: Angkor Wat

Day 185 – Demi-Anniversary

Yummy breakfast

Yummy breakfast

One of the reason why we didn’t mind too much that we had booked an expensive night rather than two is that today is the sixth month-i-versary or demi-anniversary. After being on the road for six months, sleeping in a freezing tents, moldy cupboards or scorching shoe boxes, this one night was well earned.

So we slept in, making good use of the noon check out time. Breakfast was included so we feasted on scrambled eggs, baguette, muesli with milk, a croissant with pineapple jam, fresh fruit, orange juice and of course tea and coffee. It was a very enjoyable breakfast.

Approaching Angkor Wat over a bridge, crossing the moat

Approaching Angkor Wat over a bridge, crossing the moat

A bit of lounging and blogging later, we had to pack up already and move to our next accommodation. Check in was no problem but it was only 12.20pm again, the hottest time of the day. So we decided to have a bit of a siesta before leaving at 2pm. We had left Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom for our last day at the complex and I was anxious to get a good look at them.

Angkor Wat is a tourist magnet so you cannot except a quiet walk around the premises. However, after having seen the crowd at sunrise, we were positively surprised by how much space you still got. You start by walking over a bridge which crosses the moat and leads to the entrance comprised of three gates. On the inner premises, you cross quite a bit of space with a first a library and then a pond on each side before the walkway leads you to the actual temple of Angkor Wat.

Through the first gate, looking towards the temple itself

Through the first gate, looking towards the temple itself

Starting from the terrace, the galleries are decorated with massive bas-reliefs so we spent a good while circling the building to look at all of them. Here, the knowledge that we had gained through our museum’s visit in combination with the information in the Lonely Planet gave us a good insight. We actually had a lot of fun trying to find the important gods in all of the battle scenes. Flo even managed to find another couple without any kind of guide or information sheet to whom he explained two or three of the bas-reliefs.

bad times for the Vietnamese ... but they will remember this, don't you worry ...

bad times for the Vietnamese … but they will remember this, don’t you worry …

The order in which we looked at the scenes was as follows: The battle of Kurukshetra, the army of Suryavarman II, Heaven & Hell, Churning of the ocean of milk, Vishnu conquers the demons, Krishna & the Demon King, Battle of the Gods & the Demons, Battle of Lanka. This will probably tell you nothing but it might clearify the order of our photos in the gallery a bit. These scenes seem to be unrelated at least in so far as they don’t tell a continuous story but rather many, many battles. After finishing this round, we were tired already. Going up into the inner part of Angkor Wat, we re-discovered the crowds, all queuing up to climb the last stairwell into one of the towers. Given how long the queue was, that it was 4pm already and that the late afternoon light was very pretty, we abstained from the last level. Instead, we went back outside to take more photos of the whole complex. Then, we also had to move on to Angkor Thom.

Rocinante and Bayon in the late afternoon light

Rocinante and Bayon in the late afternoon light

Angkor Thom is an even larger complex than Angkor Wat as it was a whole city inside a moat and walls once. Given the time, we rode Rocinante straight to Bayon which is the largest temple in the area. It was already tinged in a beautiful yellow light so I took pictures of the bike and the temple. We were still all bas-reliefed out so we skipped this round and went straight up to the towers. In Bayon, the remarkable feature are the large faces adorning the towers. They looked awesome in this special light. Flo even gave one of the faces a hongi. 🙂

Tired but satisfied we left the Angkor temple complex after visiting Bayon. Yes, there is a lot we haven’t seen but there is also a lot we managed to see in just three days. We are quite happy with our time here.

 

Day 182 – Into Cambodia

We started later today than we would have liked to. Our hostel offered breakfast with the room but my request for vegetarian food broke the system. After taking away Flo’s food as well, we were left waiting for over 30min with nothing happening because the staff person spoke very little English and seems to have thought that we simply didn’t want breakfast. Without dinner last night and a delayed breakfast, I was getting hangry real fast. Luckily, I only had to complain once for things to move in our favour…

On their way to Cambodia

On their way to Cambodia

Getting to the border was only a matter of about 50km now. So we prepared as best as we could with a full gas tank, a passport photo of each of us and US$20 for the visa on arrival. Trucks started to queue but the border for “normal” people was moving very quickly on a Monday morning. And then it turned out that Cambodia should be my least liked border crossing so far. For some reason, there is a rule that only one person can accompany one vehicle. Thus, Flo was going through the “vehicle” lane and had to deal with his visa and the bike stuff while I was left to my own devices going through the “passenger” lane. Of course, there are not a lot of cross-over opportunities between the two which made me nervous.

Last shot - we tend to not take pictures to avoid hassle at the border

Last shot – we tend to not take pictures to avoid hassle at the border

Getting out of Thailand was no big deal at all (well, I can only speak for myself). They looked at the passport, took out the departure card, stamped it and off you go. Then you leave through a special exit, get herded through a pedestrian lane with a wall at one side and a fence at the other and arrive at a tent on the Cambodian side. While walking around confused, I was called over to a desk inside the tent that said “Quarantine”, was sat down to fill out the “Visa on Arrival” form and had my passport photo stapled to it. Armed with this form, I moved into the building on the other side of the road to pay my fees. Costs for the visa have gone up to US$30 now which was all well and official but then a “stamp fee” of 100 Thai baht was collected, too. While the US$30 have even been stamped onto my visa as the cost, I am pretty sure that the 100 baht are a form of systemic bribe. Or a way to get a better wage. However, there was no way around it so I paid it; it’s the equivalent of NZ$4.

When I met up with Flo again, he was still fuming about the “stamp fee”, even if it isn’t a lot of money. I guess that’s what you get for crossing at Poipet which is the main throughfare from Bangkok to Angkor Wat. Many tourist buses cross the border here as well so it might be more tempting.

Anyhow, we made it to Cambodia! Wohoooo! With a visa for “30 days”, from February 1st to March 1st. *lol*

Most of Cambodia is made up of pancake flat silt from the Mekong and Tonlé Sap

Most of Cambodia is made up of pancake flat silt from the Mekong and Tonlé Sap

From the border, it is a mere 150km to Siem Reap, the city which is sustained by the tourism at Angkor Wat. Many differences to Thailand became apparent straight behind the border. For example, traffic is slower, overloaded trucks and bikes are common and the landscape is very dry and savannah-like. All in all, it reminded me a lot of the Indonesian islands in the East that we have been through. Also, very noticeably, Cambodians are interested in our travels which wasn’t the case in Thailand. So people ask us where we come from, if we have ridden the bike all the way and are just generally excited that we are visiting. This makes them genuinely NICE. 🙂

With roads being worse again and traffic generally slower, we stopped at a tourist diner along the road for lunch. Two tourist buses were having their lunch break here, too, so we overheard some of their itineraries. Seems like the loop Bangkok-Angkor Wat-Laos-Bangkok is very popular. It is also weird to suddenly be travelling in the high season of a country.

Such a nice spot - stupid high season ...

Such a nice spot – stupid high season …

Arriving in Siem Reap, every accommodation (in our price range) that the Lonely Planet suggests, was fully booked for the next couple of days. Booking through agoda, we still found a range of free rooms and decided to go with the cheapest one for US$13 including breakfast. Of course, it was not as cozy or stylish as the recommended ones but it was solid with everything we need: bed without bugs, big fan to keep us cool, enough space to store our luggage and even our own private bathroom. Being cheap on the sleeping front, we went out for dinner at the Ivy guesthouse. This guesthouse is where we would have liked to stay, not least because it offers a range of vegetarian foods on the menu. On the way home, we sorted out the Cambodian SIM card so that we will have mobile internet in this country as well.