Our final stop in Cambodia was also it's most famous destination - Siem Reap, home to Angkor Wat (the biggest religious site in the world). We took the 12 hour night bus from Sihanoukville, which involved lying in a coffin-like bunk bed on a giant coach with very questionable safety. Luckily I'm a super heavy sleeper and managed to pass out for most of it, but poor Imogen was throwing up below me for the duration of the journey. At first we thought it was just travel sickness, but after we arrived at the hostel I suddenly had to vomit as well... perhaps the huge meal full of fresh fruit and veg which we treated ourselves to the night before wasn't such a good idea.
We were both pretty knocked out for the entire day, only making it out to Siem Riep's night-market late in the evening. The night market and 'Pub Street' are awesome places; as usual, many complain that it's become overcrowded and touristy, but I absolutely loved the vibrancy of it. The market is a haven if you're after the standard SE Asia traveller goods like elephant joggers, but they also have lots of really beautiful handmade stuff. You'll also find tons of street food including insects of all varieties fried and skewered, which we passed on. A lot of tourists (from other parts of Asia in particular) seem to visit only Siem Reap in Cambodia, so this was the city where I saw the most diversity - families, tour groups, people of all ages from all countries. Of course, they all come here for 1 main attraction; Angkor.
Angkor Wat
Firstly, a note on the price of the place. They increased the ticket cost just a week before we arrived which was really frustrating - from $20 for a 1-day ticket to $37 or about £30. In the scheme of things this isn't too much to see such a vast and important historical site; some castles in England probably cost around £15-20 to enter and Angkor does encompass so many different temples over such a wide area. But one of the main motivations to go travelling in SE Asia is the cheap cost of everything. $37 in Cambodia feels like much more there than it does in England or Japan. It makes me wonder if some young people travelling through that part of the world might be put off altogether, because they'll be thinking about how much else they can get for the same amount of money. Of course, whether that's a bad thing or a good thing is also up for debate.
Anyway, we weren't too deterred and on the advice of some people who had visited already we arrived at the ticket office at about 5pm when they started selling tickets for the following day. This meant we wouldn't have to queue up in the morning when we were rushing to see the sunrise. We could also use the ticket that evening - which happened to be Valentines Day - so we had an accidentally very romantic time watching the sunset at a temple called Pre Rup. Then it was up at about 4am and into a Tuk Tuk the next day for the main event... sunrise at Angkor Wat.
I had read a lot of conflicting opinions about seeing sunrise at Angkor Wat, the main temple in the ruins of Angkor. A lot of people complain that it's too busy, too loud, it's lost the magic it once had. And I do see where they are coming from. Everyone crams around this one lake with their cameras at the ready. I don't mind this at all, since I want the best view and the good photos as much as any else -can't complain when I'm part of it. However, whilst the vast majority of people wait quietly and respectfully, unfortunately there will always be that small number who have no vocal awareness and ruin the peace and beauty of the moment for everybody else. The sunrise was absolutely stunning and we got some lovely photos but before it had fully risen we broke away from the masses to go and have an explore of the site on our own before it got too crowded.
This was my favourite part of the day. Whilst most people were still waiting by the lake, we spent a half hour or so wandering round the ruins and watching the light cast a gorgeous golden glow over the buildings. We heard monks doing their morning chant somewhere in the forest, and admired all the ridiculous detail that had gone into the temple.
**History note**
Angkor was the capital city of the Khmer Empire, which at one point ruled most of South East Asia. So today, Angkor refers to the entire site where the ancient capital used to lie. Angkor Wat is the most famous temple complex on this site, known for its beautiful sunrise silhouette. Angkor Wat is seen as the pinnacle of impressive architecture during the empire, but there are tons of other temples to visit too. They were built at different times throughout the empire and therefore incorporate different styles and elements of society. For example, when the empire started out it followed Hinduism which is reflected in the carvings of Angkor Wat. However in the 12th century the King shifted the state to Mahayana Buddhism (the same branch as Japan), and built Bayon Temple which features Bodhisattva faces. Finally this changed to Theravada Buddhism, which is the prominent religion in Cambodia today. It was really confusing walking round sites with Hindu symbols, Mahayana symbols, and Theravada monks. But I loved how, like Japan, different religions could intertwine here.
After Angkor Wat our Tuk Tuk driver took us to about 5 more temples. There were 2 which really struck out, which unsurprisingly were the other 2 most popular. The first was Bayon, which had these amazing faces carved into all the pillars. The second was Ta Prohm, also built in a Mahayana Buddhist style. This one is famous because it was used as a location in Tomb Raider. Everywhere, there were these ginormous silver trees growing out of the ruins, like something out of Day of the Triffids. They were so imposing and had become so inseparable from the buildings. If it weren't for the huge crowds of people taking photos it would feel very post-apocalyptic. This temple had a really high density of people because there wasn't as much space as Angkor Wat, but it was fantastic anyway and really memorable.
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| Bayon |
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| Bayon |
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| Ta Prohm |
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| Ta Prohm |
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| Ta Prohm |
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| A female monk (?) giving me a bracelet which will either give me a super long life or kill me if I ever take it off. Thank u |
After that we headed back to the hostel, and I was still feeling a bit run down from the day before so we took it easy. On our last night we went to "Phare", a wonderful circus performance in Siem Reap. Although it's a circus, and there were acrobatics and funny parts, it incorporated acting and had a much heavier emotional message than your average circus performance. We watched a story called Sokha, which followed the struggles of a girl who lived through the Khmer Rouge regime and how she came to terms with her grief through a creative outlet. As saddening as the Killing Fields in Phnom Penh were, for me it was equally valuable to see this creative performance by individuals who had actually lived through or grown up with the effects of the Khmer regime. It seems like the circus does amazing things for young people in Cambodia today and I'm really glad we had the chance to see it.
Then I had the long journey back to Kyoto (somehow it took longer to get back from Cambodia than it does to get back from England) and a few days of peace before my brother and sister arrived! But more on that another time. I'll leave these Cambodia posts with a final foodie photo of the pancakes & smoothie bowl we got on our last day in Siem Riep. I couldn't enjoy it much because I think I'd had more than enough of the Cambodian fruit by then, but it's a good at least.
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