It was another early start this morning; we had to be on the coach and ready to leave by 7.30am. As we left the Aviary Hotel after breakfast, the weather was already hot and sultry; it was going to be a scorcher today.
Nobody can ever come to Cambodia without visiting the world-famous temple complex of Angkor Wat. The largest religious site in the world, it is spread out over 400 square kilometres and is the national symbol of Cambodia, appearing on the country’s flag. It was built in the early 12th century by Khmer King Suryavarman II, with construction spanning about 37 years, and it is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
It was originally built as a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Vishnu and it served as the king’s state temple and eventual mausoleum. Whilst it fell into decline at the end of the Khmer Empire’s ruling it was never fully abandoned, even though much of the site was reclaimed by jungle. It was only in the mid-19th century when it was rediscovered by French explorer Henry Mouhot that it was brought to Western attention. Since then, significant restoration work has taken place; while we were there there were still a lot of building works going on with lots of scaffolding evident.
The best time, allegedly, to come to Angkor Wat is at sunrise in order to avoid the crowds, but that would have involved getting up at 5.00am. We had to make do with arriving just after eight o’clock and, to be honest, the crowds weren’t too bad anyway.
The coach pulled up and Moonie said we were to meet back at this point at 10.30am, before our next stop. We each wore our “listening devices” so we could hear Moonie’s commentary, but we would have plenty of free time to do our own thing.
As we entered the vast grounds we walked over a wide path, the five famous towers of Angkor Wat before us. It is interesting in that most photos only show three towers, but that’s because two of them are behind the others. Some researchers believe the temple’s measurements and tower alignment with solar and lunar cycles were an attempt to anchor the king’s power to the heavens.
I didn’t get a photo at this stage, as the sun was shining directly towards us; better to wait until we were out at the other side of the temples.
As we strolled along, looking around with interest, we saw several wild macaque monkeys, some with babies. These monkeys are native to the forests that surround the temple complex, but their behaviour had become more bold and aggressive due to human interaction, particularly from social media ‘content creators’ who feed and photograph them to upload to the internet. As such, Moonie asked us not to get too close to the monkeys if we could help it.
There was one female, though, who was just too cute to ignore as she had the most adorable baby with her. We stood at a safe distance and took photos, but Mum must have got fed up with all the strange people and strange noises, as she gathered her baby into her soft belly fur and ran off, the baby clinging on underneath.
To enter the temple complex, we went up some stone steps, along and under an arch, then down the steps at the other side. The huge stone structures provided a welcome respite from the sun, and I took copious drinks of water. From the openings and archways we could see into the lush temple grounds of grass and many trees among the religious buildings. There were also carvings and effigies of the ubiquitous Buddha, and ‘altars’ with fruits and flowers.
We walked around to the back of the famous towers. On the way, there were several large boards erected saying in both Khmer and English that there were “Men at Work” and entry was prohibited. As we continued around, past scaffolding and building materials, we thought we wouldn’t be allowed to go any further, but the guys who were working there just let us past. We were pleased that they did because wow! What a sight we saw before us! 🙂
In front of us, we could see two of the famous towers with very steep steps going up. One of them had the original stone steps and a sign saying we were not to climb them, but the other one had some modern wooden steps built in front of the original stone ones. These modern ones had wooden and metal hand-rails and were obviously designed to allow visitors to climb up into one of the towers. However, they were steep, very steep indeed. I counted them; there were 46. As the 30°C heat and the sun and the humidity beat down on me, I pondered whether or not to make the climb… I had to try it. 🙂
I resolutely started the climb, holding onto the hand-rail and ensuring I had both feet on each step before climbing the next step. The polished wooden handrail was uncomfortably hot too touch, so I had to place my hands on the cooler metal railing underneath it. It took a long time for me to get to the top; I had to rest frequently. I am not the fittest person and doing it in this heat was exhausting. Finally, I made it to the top and thankfully sat down on a nearby stone ledge to take a long drink of my now-lukewarm water. But I was here! 🙂
We wandered through the different chambers we had a fantastic view of the lush countryside beyond; we were actually higher up than we’d expected. I wondered whether there was another way of getting down that wouldn’t involve all those steep steps, but it looked as if they were the only option. 🙁
Going back down was worse than going up. At the top, we looked down towards the others in our coach party; they seemed a long way down. I was suddenly aware that one mis-step would have you tumbling down over and onto unforgiving stone. I therefore tried not to look down as I stood sideways on the steps and used both hands on the railings as I stepped gingerly down, once again ensuring both feet were on each step before I continued. It was a massive relief when we found ourselves at the bottom again, and from there I watched, with interest, at the progress of the others who were coming down, acting just as cautiously as I was.
After having a rest, we walked around and took some photos. My water bottle was long since empty and I looked around for a refreshment stand; we had passed some on the way, earlier. In the meantime, I managed to get a picture of that famous view of the three towers of Angkor, which forms the featured image for today. 🙂
Soon we found a place selling bottles of water and cans of soft drinks. They’d originally been placed in a large cool box with ice, but that had long since melted, and now the bottles and cans were bobbing about in cold water. I purchased a bottle of water and drank it down in one, before using the nearby restrooms, washing and sanitising my hands afterwards. I felt hot and dusty and sweaty and grubby, and really quite tired.
We all walked along, past the distinctive towers of Angkor Wat (whose shape reminded me strangely of drill bits!), unable to take our eyes of that which we had come so far to see. We soon arrived at the meeting point for joining the coach again, and we had a few minutes to wait; during which time I gratefully sat on a low wall in the shade.
Our next visit was to the Bayon Temple, in the nearby walled city of Angkor Thom. The Bayon Temple was only completed about 100 years or so after Angkor Wat, and one of its significant features was the number of smiling faces carved into the sandstone rock; believed to be about 200.
The coach parked up once again and we followed Moonie towards the grand, arched entrance of the temple grounds, crossing a bridge that contained a series of intricate carved statues on the way. Each of the four faces above the arch looked in one of the cardinal directions.
We walked through the temple grounds, trying to stay in the shade as much as possible. We had the chance when we came to a series of galleries, supported by massive stone pillars (great for leaning against to rest!) containing some amazingly detailed bas-reliefs. These intricately carved depictions illustrated historical events and scenes from the daily lives of the Khmer people, as as well scenes from Hindu mythology. It was really quite incredible.
Just before 12 o’clock, Moonie rounded us all up and we returned to the coach, and a replenishment of our cold water. It was now time to go to lunch. 🙂
We rested for a while on the bus with the aircon on full blast. I looked back over my photos and thought “Hey! We’ve been to Angkor Wat!” in delight. Soon we pulled up at a restaurant and walked down a side street for a short while, before entering a cool, dim, scented interior.
I made a beeline to the Ladies and washed and sanitised my hands before taking my seat at the table next to Trevor. We each ordered a freezing cold 600ml bottle of Angkor beer, which really went down a treat, before tucking in to a selection of local dishes. It had seemed a long time since breakfast! 🙂
After an hour or so Moonie had started making noises for us to finish off and get ready to leave again, as our next visit would be to the amazing Ta Prohm Temple (yet another temple!!). 🙂
Built in 1186 AD by the Khmer King Jayavarman VII, the temple served as a Mahayana Buddhist monastery and a university before, over the centuries, it was allowed to fall into “managed ruins” where massive tree roots and jungle growth have reclaimed the ancient stone structures. If you’re into computer games, it is also known as the Tomb Raider temple after famously featuring in the 2001 film spinoff Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.
It certainly was very surreal. Large blocks of stones contained huge, twisted tree roots and many of the empty, abandoned buildings that were still standing were coated in a thick layer of bright green moss or lichen. It looked like something out of a fantasy world; exactly the type of backing that would be used for an interactive computer adventure game.
We continued walking through this strange landscape, and soon we came to a less-ruined area where a couple of Buddhist monks, in their distinctive orange robes, were resting. One of them was a boy novice, and he allowed us to take his photo.
It was about 3.20pm when we arrived back at the Aviary Hotel, after a very interesting day indeed. I was completely knackered by now and all I wanted to do was crash out on our bed with the aircon going full blast, and enjoy a good hour’s nap. I’d done over 13,000 steps today in the heat, which equates to about six miles, and I was aching all over.
It was around half-past four when we got up, and we had but one thought: the rooftop swimming pool and a freezing cold beer. We changed into our cossies and made our way up to the pool, grabbing a towel each and procuring a sun lounger. Many of our party had already taken to the water, and the cocktail glasses lined the edges of the pool. 🙂
It was absolute heaven sliding into the cool water, splashing around and washing off our lethargy. We swam for a few desultory lengths before climbing out, resuming our sunlounger, and beckoning to the barman to bring us a chilled “Cambodia” beer each. It was fantastic just sitting there drinking our beer, enjoying the tasty roasted nuts that accompanied it, and letting ourselves dry off gently in sultry air. We then enjoyed another beer and a cocktail before Brian came over and asked us what our plans were for tonight. By now it was about 5.50pm (happy hour would end in 10 minutes!) and we hadn’t really thought about tonight. He said they’d be going out around 7.30pm if we cared to join them.
We enjoyed another cocktail, then just sat by the pool as the sun went down. Being so close to the equator (13° north, well into the tropics), Siem Reap’s sunrise and sunset are roughly 12 hours apart, so the sun set around 6.00pm each night, at the midpoint between midday and midnight. I didn’t want to look at the clock or plan what I was going to do; I just intended to go with the flow, and it was just too nice sitting here now to want to hurry.
Around 6.30pm I went into the nearby pool bar and restaurant to use their loos, and while I was in there I took a look at the menu; it looked as if you could order smaller portions or ‘tasting plates’ and, as we fancied something to eat but didn’t want a huge meal, we decided it might be a nice idea to have something here, sitting outside in the balmy air.
While we were waiting for our food to come, we tried another of the signature cocktails; I went for the rum-based “Night Owl” this time while Trevor tried a “Jungle Bird” (dark rum, pineapple and lime).
Our food, when it came, was delicious. It was savoury and tasty, with hints of lime and chilli and plump prawns with crisp vegetables. We washed it down with one more cocktail; this time I tried a “Pink Flamingo” (strawberry, lime and tequila).
While we were enjoying our drinks, the hotel cat put in an appearance. He was a large tabby and we had first seen him in the dining room this morning, when he had just strolled in, jumped up onto a chair and started washing himself. A member of staff had removed him, but here he was now staking out his territory at the rooftop pool bar. We knew he belonged to the hotel because he wore a collar and was obviously better fed than the other furry little waifs we had seen around. He was walking along a wall and he paused briefly, purring, to allow me to stroke him, before his attention was diverted by a number of chit-chats climbing up the wall. 🙂
The Malaysian House Gecko, commonly known by its onomatpoeic name chit-chat, is a small gecko that is ubiquitous to south-east Asia. We see and hear them everywhere, indoors and out. They may be small, but they are easily recognised by their loud and distinctive chak-chak-chak-chak call. They are completely harmless, and its actually quite good if you get them in your room, because they’ll eat all the mozzies and other bugs. 🙂
It was quite dark when we returned to our room and we decided we didn’t really want to go back out again. It would be nice to have a good night’s sleep to make up for all the early mornings so we just spent the evening reading, watching the English-speaking TV channels and doing most of our packing, because we would be on the move again in the morning.
We slept soundly.