SIEM REAP

3rd - 6th July 2015

Our journey to Siem Reap was an interesting one and nearly didn't come to pass because of the low water levels in the river, (low season haunts us once again). We were told the boat bus hadn't been running recently, but luckily they said it was the next day, so at 7am we were on the water and ready to go. We slowly meandered upstream for the next 8 hours. The first few hours were dominated by lush green trees lining the waterways and the occasional fisherman out on small boats. 

The closer we got to civilisation, the more we started to see small clusters of houses on stilts by the side of the river, which in turn gave way to large floating villages, where houses were actually built on floating platforms on the water! We stopped off at a floating restaurant for a breakfast of rice and pork, and I had a floating wee. 

The villages were so picturesque, life was lived on the water and people got about solely by boat. A lady on our boat knew everyone in the villages and was merrily talking / shouting to everyone we passed, most of which were lazily swinging in hammocks on their front porches. Our boat served as a lifeline to these cut off places, delivering rice, fuel, and a small packet to one guy that looked rather like an iPhone box! 

Towards the end of our journey, the waterway widened out when it reached Tonlé Sap lake, and at this point the water got noticeably shallower. Within minutes we were in trouble, as the motor at the back was spewing out brown instead of clear water - it was churning through the muddy base of the lake. This was when the men of the boat all stripped down to their undies and had to get in to push as we were grounded. Will hopped in, and the water can't have been more than a foot high, two foot if you count how far he sank into the muddy river bed. They made slow ground for 10 minutes, trying to get back on course to the slightly deeper passageway. Eventually we found it and were on our way again, with 6 muddy footed men!

We shared a tuk tuk into town with another British couple who were onboard. Eventually we checked into the Damnak Kunthea Villa after a bit of a false start with the first hotel that was full, but on the plus side we received TWO complimentary welcome drinks, complete with a cool white face towel. (They weren't very white once we had finished with them) We briefly stuck our heads into a place called Funky Flashpackers, (god knows why we even bothered, with a name like that) looked at each other and simultaneously said NO!!! It had a small pool that was literally FULL of horny 18 year olds. Dreadful.

The place we stayed was beautiful, a huge room, a balcony with pool view, oh and obviously a pool! On our first evening we chilled out by the pool and ate some incredible food from a basic little restaurant at the end of the street. Marinated pork kebabs cooked on the bbq with bread and salad. Simple but delicious and dirt cheap.

The main reason to visit Siem Reap is to visit the incredible temples of Angkor Wat. We got a tuk tuk with the couple we had met the day before, rising at an obscene hour to be there for sunrise. The hotel very kindly made us a packed brekkie, so we watched the sun rise over Angkor Wat with a boiled egg and toast. They also packed us a bunch of bananas, but a couple of monkeys clocked us, making eating tricky. The scene was unbelievable, and even though there was quite a crowd, everyone was speaking in hushed voices to respect the surroundings. The sunrise was truly something special, the entire scene kept changing in front of our eyes. 

After the sun was well and truly risen, we walked along the causeway to cross the giant moat and entered the temple itself. It is the worlds largest religious building, and is named as one of the 8th wonders of the world (try googling 7 wonders of the world and you'll find a million different lists, but I think Angkor Wat deserves it's place as 'one of' the 8th wonders). The steps up were exceedingly steep and we later found out it was built this way on purpose as it isn't meant to be easy to rise as high as the gods.

Our next stop was to Angkor Thom to the Bayon temple, which was unlike any place I'd been to before. It had 216 enormous stern stone heads bearing down on you from every angle. It was such an atmospheric place to be, you felt like every step you took was being watched... It was also a complete labyrinth of narrow corridors and was really fun to explore.

Next was Baphuon, a pyramid style temple. It was a wonder that it was even standing as it was painstakingly taken down before the civil war, but the records were destroyed during the Khymer Rouge years, meaning it had to be put back together without the instructions. Strewn around the temple were all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that hadn't yet found their place. It was rather like when you're building a STROMN Ikea bookshelf, and you're left over with a piece of dowl and 2 screws. Except that there are thousands of pieces left. And they're 1 ton rocks. And it's not a bookshelf, it's a temple. I reckon they should send all the dads of the world there, as dads are experts at doing DIY without reading the instructions. (Except Will's he informs me)

In the Angkor Thom area we also saw the Terrace of the Elephants, Terrace of the Leper King, and several other smaller temples which were deserted.

The final stop for the day was visiting Ta Prohm, and if we thought exploring Bayon was fun, this was on another level. It is a temple complex that has been returned to nature - huge trees have sprung up, meaning roots and ancient rock buildings have become one. The whole area is in ruin, and your way through is often blocked by huge piles of rock bricks that have fallen from above. The trees tower above you, causing amazing dappled light effects, and you imagine what it must have felt like for explorers of old! This temple is also most well known for being in Tomb Raider so we did a Tomb Raider pose causing all the Asian tourists to waaaaoow and copy us. 

After 10 hours of temple-ing, we called it a day and headed back for a snooze and a swim. We were completely cream crackered because of the intense heat. Thank god for the hats we found in Bayan.

That evening we decided we would hit up Pub Street (yes that's actually it's name). We had many 50cent beers and then decided it was time to venture into a club. We promptly walked straight out again because it was awful and decided we ought to find a bar more suited to us (and our years) and soon found Charlie's - and it was showing Wimbledon! Result. We got 2 seats at the bar, got some G & T's and got thoroughly pissed. Half way through the night, a large Indian guy named Charlie sat next to us. Hang on a minute we thought... That's the name of this bar.... You must be THE Charlie. He WAS! He spoke English in a thick Scottish accent, having won a scholarship to study in Aberdeen 20 years ago. He was a formidable man, and on more than one occasion I thought he was going to punch either me or Will for no real reason. We got chatting to an English couple sat the other side of us, and the 5 of us had a brilliant evening, watching Murray - who Charlie thought was a miserable bastard, drinking shots provided by Charlie and debating life. When it was time to leave, Charlie got into a tuk tuk and as we walked away, he pulled up along side us and said "if you have any problems in this town, call Charlie" and handed me a business card. What a badass.

The next morning we were exceedingly hungover and decided only eggs and a swim could cure us. It semi worked, but the extra 3 hours back in bed also helped. We left the hotel at 3ish for a wonder, and found a cinema with private screens, where you could watch any film you wanted on a huge screen sat on comfy sofas! We thought that would be a great way to spend a hungover afternoon, and chose to watch The Killing Fields, to prepare us for the horrors we were to see in Phnom Penh.

The following day we ventured out of town to the Land-mine Museum. We felt it was a real must do, and both felt we learned so much from the displays there and their explanations of Cambodian history. To understand the extent of the problem of land-mines in this country is truly shocking. One out of every 290 Cambodians are amputees. Land-mines are literally strewn all over the countryside, and clearing them is such a huge undertaking. Most land-mines are not designed to kill the victim, but to maim, because an injured soldier will be more of a burden to your enemy than a dead one. To learn this was horrifying, but when you think that now it is usually kids that are the victims as they play in fields and stray off paths, it is awful. I cannot believe that any army would drop these weapons of immense destruction and not have a clear plan to remove them when the fighting was over.

Aki Ra was a former child soldier in the Khmer Rouge and then defected to fight the Khmer Rouge with the Vietnamese. At one point he said he was aiming at a Khmer Rouge soldier only to realise at the last second it was his own uncle. He shot a few rounds over his uncles head until he retreated. His uncle now works with him at the museum. I bet that was an awkward reunion. Aki has since devoted his life to removing land-mines in Cambodia, caring for child victims of land-mines, and setting up the land-mine museum to inform others of the terrible impact they cause. The work of Aki Ra is invaluable and long may he continue to make the land safe again so that folk are able to use the land to farm to make a living, and their children can play where they chose.

Later that day we went to Preah Khan temple which was basically deserted at 5.30, so the light was just turning, making for a moody atmosphere, where we weren't quite sure if we should still be there or not. After being slightly had by a security guard who wanted money in return for taking a few photos of us, we headed to Pre Rup temple for sunset, along with millions of other tourists. But no bother, it was a great setting and everyone was enjoying the immense view.

That evening we collected our bags, had one last quick bite to eat at our favourite BBQ pork place, then headed off to get our hotel night bus down to the south.