Cambodia

13/10/06:

Woke up at 4am (?!?) and took a tuk-tuk (see bleary eyed pics - will post them a.s.a.p) to the temples of Angkor in hope of catching the sunrise (an apparent must-see) at Angkor Wat. This must-see was a cloudy murk and a complete waste of time! It was too dark to appreciate the temple, so we were advised by our 'tour guide' (who in actual fact was just the tuk-tuk driver from the dirt cheap hotel and had absolutely no real clue about the temples) to go and get breakfast at his ‘commission earning’ stall and start exploring later. The picture of the guy sleeping in a tuk-tuk in amongst the temple pictures is the enthusiastic ‘fountain of knowledge’ himself… he had to be woken by a fellow ‘tour guide’ when we returned from the ‘Angkor Wat’ - we’d obviously got him up far too early.

Despite the disappointing start, and the fact that we had to decipher info on the temples ourselves, our day at the temples was a fantastic experience and we were glad that we’d got up early, as the temperature was bearable for most of the morning. We spent over 10 hours in the complex as we wanted to see as much as possible in 1 day. The entrance fee was 20 GBP each, which completely swallowed up our day’s budget. We therefore hoped that we could get away with 1 days sightseeing, rather than the intended 2. I was really, really surprised at how much I enjoyed it, it was so much better than I had anticipated. The size of these structures is awesome, and the amount of detail that goes into each stone is incredible. The fact that they are still standing with such grandeur, after almost 1000 years (sometimes more), withstanding numerous wars and natural catastrophes, is really remarkable. Although we managed to see the main Hindu and Buddhist monuments (Angkor Thom: Bayon, Phimeanakas, Terrace of Elephants, Terrace of Leper Kings; Thommanom; Ta Keo; Ta Prohm; Banteay Kdei; Pre Rup (oldest – 961) and Srah Strang; Pasat Kravan and finally, Angkor Wat) we only saw a tiny proportion of the 100 + monuments in the complex. Our favorite was of course Angkor Wat, which is just humungous and very regal. The steps to the top were almost vertical, and since the steps are so narrow (half the size of my size 6 foot) it was a bit hair-raising! Mum – you would have hated it!! Not many people ventured up to the top precisely because of this obstruction.

All the temples are unique, which meant that you didn’t get bored (as I thought we would) of visiting temple after temple….The Bayon (see pics of the structures with four faces carved on each of the 54 towers) was an impressive site and Ta Prohm looked like it was being reclaimed by nature: massive tree roots sprawled haphazardly across the temples walls. It felt like you were in an Indiana Jones movie!

Wayne’s words of wisdom regarding the temples were offered whilst exploring the Angkor Wat: ‘this is a wicked place to play hide and seek’ – typical Wayne!!! Hahaha - Rich I think, at that point, he wished you were there instead of me!

That evening, to top off a really cool day, we went to a REALLY cool restaurant: The Deadfish Tower (unfortunately the camera battery had died by that time so we don’t have any pics ) It was a bright, funky, multi-level open planned space, with a crocodile pit (where you could feed the 13 crocs with fish – which of course ‘nature boy’ chose to do) and the option of sitting on cushions on the floor – which ‘nature boy’ – with his long legs, chose not to do! There was live dancing and music and a really great atmosphere – recommend it to anyone who happens to be in Siem Reap!

14/10/06

Bored, Bored, Bored, Bored, Bored, Bored, Bored! Wished we’d splashed out and gone back to the temples as there is NOTHING to do in Siem Reap – it really is just a service centre with accommodation and restaurants for the tourists who intelligently chose to spend their days looking at the temples.

We did however find a live King Cobra Show to go to (guess whose idea that was…) We both held a whip snake (although I must add that Wayne only did it after I’d done it – to make sure they didn’t think he was a ‘wuss’!) We looked round the ‘mini’ farm and saw a massive 6m long (about 5” wide) python and 2 cobras. The show was pretty cool – as we were the only 2 in the audience – yes I told you this was Waynes’ idea (where he found out about it I have no idea!) It was really good though, as they made US participate. They wrapped a python round our legs: it was incredibly strong and squeezed a bit too tight – I wanted them to get it off! We also held it round our neck?!?!? Moments of madness…. The scariest part was when they ‘made us’ (well since we were the only ones there we had to otherwise the show would be ruined!) crouch in front of 3 cobras (only about 1 metre away)….we survived though. The bloke (Mr D) was a nutter – he was kissing the cobras and dodging there attempted attacks. Our tuk-tuk driver (the guy who drove us round the temples) got a free viewing of the show so he was chuffed with us.

15/10/06

Other travelers had told us that the main place to visit in Cambodia is the temples, so we hadn’t planned to bother wasting time traveling around the country, when there was very little else to see. Instead we flew to Vientiane. The flight was hilarious – it was like a bus! We stopped off at an airport in the south, right outside the entrance door…let a few people off, let a few more on, and continued on our trip. It was very odd! We weren’t sure what was going on at first, because they didn’t explain anything! The actual plane was an old-ish propeller plane, and so the flight was a bit bumpy and loud (Claire – I thought of you!!)

Vientiane is in a word: ‘dull’. If I could re-write the guidebooks on this city I would simply write: ‘don’t bother’. There is absolutely NOTHING to do here, hence the lack of photos. We visited the museum today (which summed up the state of the city – dull) and paid (stupidly) to walk up the Patourxai (Arc de Triomphe – attempted French look-a-like). The most interesting fact about this monument is that the country used US aid money (intended for the completion of the airport) to complete this over-promoted structure. It is therefore more famously known as ‘the vertical runway’!

We have spent most of our time (due to slight illness – which I think our bodies timed immaculately well considering the place we are in) in our hotel room. Luckily we decided to splash out a bit and booked a hotel with a nice clean room and satellite tv. We have therefore spent most of our time here reading books and watching films – just like being at home!

We are off to Vang Viang tomorrow morning and can’t wait to get out of here…should be cool as there is plenty of stuff to do in this small town: caving, trekking, tubing, white water rafting and kayaking…roll on tomorrow!

Hope all are well, keep e-mailing us….. lots of love E and W xxx