Cambodia – We found the monsoon. It was at Angkor Wat.

Another undesirable bus trip. We were told we were getting a nice, fancy-looking bus with a bathroom, free water and free wi-fi (that part’s just dreaming—I don’t know how I believed that in the first place). When we got to the bus station in the morning, after being given not one but three locations the bus would be leaving from (in the end we got it), we discovered a clunky old bus. We had been given the smallest seats all the way in the back corner after being promised cushy, spacious, reclining seats. Lies, lies, all lies. We scooted ourselves into the seats in front of those we were assigned. They were at least more comfortable.  

We happened to be traveling on the second-biggest holiday of the year, one to celebrate the deceased (another festival missed by the guide book). The day we left for Siem Reap (the city Angkor Wat is in), the majority of Phnom Penh was also on the road. It took two hours of stalled traffic just to get out of the city. Then the bus made four stops along what is normally a six hour trip, which was a bit unnecessary. This trip took closer to ten hours. I’ve been coming down with a cold and the a/c wasn’t the healthiest thing for it. My nose was a constant drip and to stop the constant sniffing, I spent most of the trip with tissue paper in my nostrils. Attractive.  

On the bright side, the bus driver didn’t try to leave us anywhere! 

After getting off the bus at the Siem Reap bus station, we prepared to battle the tuk tuk drivers for a decent price when lo and behold, the complimentary tuk tuk pick up we requested from our guesthouse materialized with a sign that said “Marcus Montana”. Joy of joys! There’s no way we were anything close to on time and we were shocked and delighted. Score number two for the guesthouse? Free breakfast. And the most smiley owner you could imagine. Very nice guy named Sam So who greeted us when we arrived and came to speak with us every morning to see what we were up to, to tell us what he was getting up to, and just to have a nice, friendly chat. We like him.  

It was raining when we arrived so we went to the closest restaurant, were served some horrendous dishes that weren’t what we ordered, and called it a day. 

The next day was an Angkor Wat day. Angkor Wat is one in a series of Buddhist and Hindu temples built all around each other back in the 1100s and 1200s. They were built around the same time many of the great Cathedrals were built back in Europe, say roughly at the same time as Notre Dame to put it into perspective. These temples are also works of architectural and artistic magnificence, though slightly more mystical since they stopped being used soon after they were built (warring with neighbors, Brahmas taking over the main religion for a while, etc). There are quite a few different stories for the different temples as well as for this area in general. Our guide on day two told us all the temples had been abandoned until the 1900s when people began to search for them again and rebuild. We also read something about Angkor Wat that said it’s been in continuous use since it was built. I suppose it’s all guess work, though I also assume there’s a generally-accepted version of the temples’ history. Somewhere. Maybe in one of the books the many touts were selling out front. J 

There are a few different ticket passes to see the temples (and these passes are checked regularly, so no getting around it). There’s a one-day pass for $20, a three-day pass for $40 and a week pass for $60. Pretty steep considering our visa to get into the country was $20. But we opted for the $40 pass. The site has also conveniently marked out a small circuit (15+ kilometers), and a big circuit (30+ kilometers)  for viewing the major temples.  

Our first day, we rented bikes and did the small loop starting with Angkor Wat. It was impressive and very busy with foreign and Cambodian visitors alike. During the major holiday, a lot of locals came to tour around their national monument (free for Cambodians). We discovered, the next day, that this was pretty lucky as it meant that the usual slew of souvenir sellers took the day off and we were able to see the temples in relative peace. There was also some ridiculously loud disco music coming from somewhere else inside the Angkor Wat walls that accompanied us while we visited that temple. Didn’t quite seem to go together…. 

Angkor Wat was built by King Suryavarman II around 1113-1150 and the temple was consecrated to the Hindu god Vishnu. It’s surrounded by a massive moat that’s 190 meters wide and 1.5 x 1.3 km around. There are 800 meters of wall carvings around the outside of the central temple complex. Pretty impressive. 

The next temple compound we visited was Angkor Thom, the most massive compound in the area that reportedly was home to the royal palace and one million citizens at the same time that London had a population of 50,000. It was built by King Jayavarmon the second. The Bayon temple was the main temple, and Marcus and I agree that this was our favorite. It’s not in the most well preserved of states, but that’s part of what gives it its charm. That and the Buddha faces on each of the towers.  

 

Next to this temple are other main sites including the Terrace of Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper King. Apparently it was from these terraces that the king would watch processions and parades, giving himself a good vantage point (though the terraces aren’t super high).  

Our last stop of the day was Ta Prohm, a temple originally built for the King’s mother that has since been taken over by the jungle with massive trees growing out of various parts of the building.  

It had been raining on and off all day, but as we were finishing up at Ta Prohm, it began to pour. Our little splash rain jackets were useless and the hour-long ride back into the city left us both soaked to the bone. We actually had to empty our rain jacket sleeves a few times because they had filled up with so much rain! We had been planning on going into the city that night for dinner, but decided against it opting for pizza delivery instead. Awesome decision. 

During our first pass check earlier that day, the guy checking our passes was giving us some information about which route to take (pretty obvious info, but it seemed like a nice gesture) offered to take us around the following day in tuk tuk for $18. It was a little more than the going rate, but he seemed nice and we decided to give it a go. So day two at the temples was with the nice checkpoint checker/tuk tuk driver. He took us around the big loop and at each temple stop he’d tell us a little about the temple (not much more than what was on the signs outside, but he was enthusiastic) then he’d wait for us while we went in to have a look around.  

First we went to Preah Khan, the temple the King built for his father—the sword temple. The “sword” was some sort of stupa that the tourists of course enjoyed taking pictures with. The one that’s in the temple is a replica, though, with the original over at the national museum in Phnom Penh. 

Next we attempted to visit Neak Pean, a temple that was built as a hospital though apparently not with medicine so much as with healing waters. The pathway was covered with water, so we kicked off our shoes with the rest of the sightseers and puddled on down to see the temple covered in water. 

As we were waiting for a few Frenchmen ahead of us to finish taking their pictures, a young Chinese tourist bumped past us, stood right in front of us and started snapping away. Then he turned around to ask us to take his picture, thank you. It’s the first time I’ve ever declined to take someone else’s picture, explaining that it was a bit rude to stand right in front of us while we were trying to take pictures. Then Marcus and I chatted about what it must be like to come from such a crowded country where you probably do have to push and shove in order to make it through and what a culture shock it must be to go to Europe or other places where the cultural rules are so very different. And, as has often happened after these sorts of encounters with Chinese tourists, I reconfirmed that I’m not ready to visit China yet. 

Temple number three was Ta Som. Our guide told us this temple had been destroyed by Pol Pot back in the 70s, though the sign inside said it hadn’t been targeted for restoration until the 80s or 90s.  

The next temples were Hindu temples whose architecture was slightly different from the others. The first, East Mebon, had three main towers that represented the three Hindu gods, Vishnu, Brahma and…maybe Ganesh? I’ve completely forgotten now. The other Hindu temple, Pre Rup, was a funereal temple, and the only temple our guide came into with us and provided unique information about. The temple had been used for cremating the remains of members of the royal family. Our guide showed us where the coffins sat before the actual cremation. He also showed us the two cremation towers whose insides are still blackened and the covered area where the ashes were cleaned with coconut milk (not sure how that works, but that’s apparently how it happened). Up on the third level of the temple were 12 little rooms where the bones were placed, with each room representing one of the 12 astrological years. The bones would be placed in the house corresponding to the year in which the person died. 

The last temple was another Buddhist temple, Banteay Koei, where a bunch of Buddha statues were found during excavation. Other than that, there wasn’t much information on this one. 

We paid a bit more for our “guide” (more of a driver than a guide) than we could have, but he was so friendly, easy-going and didn’t try to sell us anything. It was a bit of a gamble, but it was worth it for an easy day of sightseeing. He dropped us off in town, which we hadn’t been to yet since we’d been flooded by rain every night so far. Luckily we had lovely weather that day and were pleasantly surprised to find that Angkor Wat was a rather charming little city. At least in the touristed area, of course. J Aside from pub street, there were backstreets and alleyways full of boutique souvenir shops, cafes and restaurants. We had some coffee and experimented with some different desserts—banana springrolls (which are exactly what they sound like—banana rolled into rice sheets and deep fried) and another strange but somehow tasty combination of pumpkin, rice bubbles and coconut milk.  

Dinner was in one of the alleyways watching the hustle and bustle, fluorescent lights and wandering cats. Then the electricity went out and we finished our meal, with the rest of the diners up and down the way, in a not unwelcome darkness. It was a funny way to spend our last meal in Cambodia.  

It had begun raining at some point during the evening so we donned our raincoats for the walk home which was almost a swim home. It was pouring and the streets were completely flooded. There were some areas where the river running through town was completely joined with the canals of water filling the street. Watching cars drive through was quite entertaining, though slightly less so the next day. 

In order to avoid yet another horrific border crossing, we booked in a private car to take us to the Thai border. We wanted to be prepared this time and were ready to pay for a more comfortable crossing after nearly being left at the border twice. Originally, a night bus sounded like the best idea but after scouring the online travel forums, we found out that most tourists who book in a big bus ride get picked up in minivans, whose drivers say they’ll drop them off at the big bus but then proceed to drive to the border. These minivans also apparently average five to six hours making multiple stops along what should be a two-hour drive. Then after long lines at customs, minivans wait for them on the other side as well to drive the rest of the six to eight hour, squishy, uncomfortable drive to Bangkok. A far cry from the large, comfortable, air conditioned buses the tourists pay for. Sounds familiar. 

We followed the recommendation of booking a private car that, though more expensive, was a sanity saver. We were a bit worried that the company we booked with could be shady, so we paid a deposit and said we’d pay the rest when we were safely deposited at the border. Luckily everything went smoothly, though I did worry about the flooded roads we drove through on the way.  

Thankfully we got to the border, had a surprisingly easy time going through customs with short lines and no bribery attempts. We got to the Thai side, got into a tuk tuk for the expected price, went to the bus station and got on a bus to Bangkok. It was the most expensive but the easiest border crossing we had during the entire trip. We made it back!