Cambodge
Well, and hello again. Sorry to have abandoned you for a while but rest assured I've been busy. Lessee... got to Bangkok for the third time, saw Thai boxing for the second time, got the bus to Siem Reap in Cambodia for the first, last and only time. You get warned in the guidebook that the road from the border's crap, and they don't lie. About twelve of us, plus baggage, packed into a knackered old minibus, minus suspension, and proceeded to spend the next five hours having our bones rattled and our nerves shot. A dozen times I was convinced the five-mile-deep pothole we'd just dropped into would be the one that finally shattered our undercarriage, but by some miracle the old girl made it. Fortunately the guesthouse we got taken to was pretty decent, supposedly you get trouble if you try and choose another (bus company and guesthouse are in cahoots - the bus deliberately goes slow so you'll arrive in the middle of the night in no mind to do anything other than accept what you're given).
A new development: I finally stopped spurning all humanity and have been going about the last few days with a group of guys and girls met on the bus. Quite fun going out drinking with them, and it does give you more of a safety net (falling asleep in the bar last night would have been a tad riskier on my own), but overall I'm still convinced solo is the best option. Everything's so much easier when you don't have to agree with anyone...
Anyway, to the reason for all the efforts: Thursday, yesterday and today I have mostly been templing. Angkor Wat, Bayon and Ta Prohm to start, followed by five other smaller sites yesterday and Beng Melea this afternoon. Angkor Wat you'll know, and it seems half the world wants to visit: the place is overrun with bleedin' tourists. Even at 5am there are hundreds milling about outside to get that calendar photo of the temple at sunrise. Fortunately though most don't go inside at that time so it's a good opportunity to look around without getting crushed by fat middle-aged white people.
Obviously, it's beautiful; obviously, the scale is intimidating (it's the largest religious structure in the world) and obviously it hardly needs my recommendation. I would say it's much better in the early morning even if you don't get the right light for the photo (it was overcast when we went, disappointing no doubt to the scrum outside but almost made me feel smug - I mean fercrissakes do you honestly go somewhere like that just to take photos of it? Got the distinct impression that some people do), just for the breathing space it affords you. Bayon, much smaller, is the one with the 216 faces of Buddha cut into the stone, all with slightly different, enigmatic, dreamy-looking smiles. Could almost be creepy if they didn't seem so benign. Ta Prohm has become known (lord help us) as 'the Tomb Raider one' cos that's where they made a lot of the film. Very atmospheric: they've left some of the trees that were there when the temple was redisovered to grow on, around and through the stone, so you get a picture of man's work being slowly and beautifully undone by nature. And not so beautifully littered by tourists. OK, I know, I am one, I'll stop banging on.
The other five places were interesting too but I won't bore you further with descriptions - anyway I have to check in the guidebook and through my photos to sort out which was which! Philistine undoubtedly but after a while your head starts spinning and it's hard to remember details. I'll write something down somewhere. Went to see a floating village on Tonle Sap lake (enormous) later in the day, an unusual sight - they even have a floating church!
Beng Melea is like a rawer, more hardcore version of Ta Prohm - it's on a similar scale to Angkor Wat (minus the mahoosive moat) but in this case nature's really had a go and a lot of it's rubble. Again though, very attractive rubble. Which you can clamber about on like a big and quite dangerous climbing frame. And cos it's about 80km out of Siem Reap there aren't many tourists either.
Think I'll leave Siem Reap tomorrow, probably stopping at Komphon Thom on the way down to Phnom Penh, but not totally sure yet. Can't meander as much as before though cos only have a couple of weeks left before I have to get back to Bangkok and the plane to Oz. Full steam, um, somewhere.
I'm off; if you're wondering why I haven't mentioned photos yet, Ringo is being an arse (no Beatles jokes please) and won't let me upload any shots, but as soon as I can you'll have them and can see what I've been going on about.
A new development: I finally stopped spurning all humanity and have been going about the last few days with a group of guys and girls met on the bus. Quite fun going out drinking with them, and it does give you more of a safety net (falling asleep in the bar last night would have been a tad riskier on my own), but overall I'm still convinced solo is the best option. Everything's so much easier when you don't have to agree with anyone...
Anyway, to the reason for all the efforts: Thursday, yesterday and today I have mostly been templing. Angkor Wat, Bayon and Ta Prohm to start, followed by five other smaller sites yesterday and Beng Melea this afternoon. Angkor Wat you'll know, and it seems half the world wants to visit: the place is overrun with bleedin' tourists. Even at 5am there are hundreds milling about outside to get that calendar photo of the temple at sunrise. Fortunately though most don't go inside at that time so it's a good opportunity to look around without getting crushed by fat middle-aged white people.
Obviously, it's beautiful; obviously, the scale is intimidating (it's the largest religious structure in the world) and obviously it hardly needs my recommendation. I would say it's much better in the early morning even if you don't get the right light for the photo (it was overcast when we went, disappointing no doubt to the scrum outside but almost made me feel smug - I mean fercrissakes do you honestly go somewhere like that just to take photos of it? Got the distinct impression that some people do), just for the breathing space it affords you. Bayon, much smaller, is the one with the 216 faces of Buddha cut into the stone, all with slightly different, enigmatic, dreamy-looking smiles. Could almost be creepy if they didn't seem so benign. Ta Prohm has become known (lord help us) as 'the Tomb Raider one' cos that's where they made a lot of the film. Very atmospheric: they've left some of the trees that were there when the temple was redisovered to grow on, around and through the stone, so you get a picture of man's work being slowly and beautifully undone by nature. And not so beautifully littered by tourists. OK, I know, I am one, I'll stop banging on.
The other five places were interesting too but I won't bore you further with descriptions - anyway I have to check in the guidebook and through my photos to sort out which was which! Philistine undoubtedly but after a while your head starts spinning and it's hard to remember details. I'll write something down somewhere. Went to see a floating village on Tonle Sap lake (enormous) later in the day, an unusual sight - they even have a floating church!
Beng Melea is like a rawer, more hardcore version of Ta Prohm - it's on a similar scale to Angkor Wat (minus the mahoosive moat) but in this case nature's really had a go and a lot of it's rubble. Again though, very attractive rubble. Which you can clamber about on like a big and quite dangerous climbing frame. And cos it's about 80km out of Siem Reap there aren't many tourists either.
Think I'll leave Siem Reap tomorrow, probably stopping at Komphon Thom on the way down to Phnom Penh, but not totally sure yet. Can't meander as much as before though cos only have a couple of weeks left before I have to get back to Bangkok and the plane to Oz. Full steam, um, somewhere.
I'm off; if you're wondering why I haven't mentioned photos yet, Ringo is being an arse (no Beatles jokes please) and won't let me upload any shots, but as soon as I can you'll have them and can see what I've been going on about.
posted by Pearson at 12:16 PM
4 Comments:
Hi Adam,
sounds wonderful and the photos (particularly the tree/temple ones) are amazing - get some tags done though!
Agreed with you on group - safety net good (although in your case, almost essential!), decisions by committee slow and annoying...
take care
Sara
xxx
Well I suppose I euphemised: as you can imagine from my usual bloody-minded, no-compromise stance, actually I just went along with what they were doing and as they weren't really that interested in the temples that meant rushing through places I would've liked to spend longer at. Now I can dawdle to my heart's content :o)
But What were you doing falling asleep in bars...?!
Groups have pros and cons indeed. I think I'll need one every so often. I'll get lonely otherwise.
Haven't I ever fallen asleep in a bar when you were there? Must have done: it's a hobby, and a gift... Don't worry though, I've managed to restrict it to that one time so far out here.
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