Bayon, Ta Prohm, Wat (Angkor)
Really starting to cheat with the BTWs now I'm afraid! But we've started so we'll finish.
Having so little time in Indochina we flew straight into Siem Reap from Saigon and our first impression was how commercialised the town is. I guess in many ways the temples at Angkor are the Machu Picchu of South East Asia, but Siem Reap makes Cusco look off the beaten track. So we headed straight out to the main temple, Angkor Wat and the first thing that hit us was the Indian influence, which could only be a good thing, and the grandeur of the complex, and after all, it was the temples we had come to see, not the town. We knew we were never going to have time to see anything of the "real" Cambodia, so that will have to wait for another trip, but I think it is safe to say Siem Reap is not representative of the rest of the country.
Having said all that, as we had so little time to see the temples, we had very long days and it was great to have places like the Blue Pumpkin to come back to in the midday heat for a refresh! We definitely had the best tuk tuk driver in Cambodia, who probably thought we were crazy going to see so much in such a short time, but helped us plan it all in anyway.
The only disappointment with the temples was the number of tourists, but the advantage Angkor has over places like Machu Picchu is the large area it covers, which allows it to absorb more people. We were impressed to see they are at least taking the effect of such huge numbers of visitors seriously and have closed the steps up to some of the main temples to build mobile wooden stairways that can be placed over the top. Sunrise over the temple was impressive and as always, getting to these places early is always a good idea to avoid the bus loads, so we had relatively few people wandering around with us and it was very atmospheric.
We managed to visit all the temples at the top of our list and my favourites were Bayon (with all the faces), Banteay Srei (beautifully restored carvings, a great drive out of the town to see a bit more of the countryside and, a bit like Nefatari's tomb in Luxor, helps picture all the other structures as they once were) and Ta Keo (big pyramid) purely for the scramble up! My favourite experience though was being in Ta Prohm just after sunrise and having it to ourselves - although needless to say that didn't last long!
East Mebon was also a great temple - we had to see that one because of the great elephant statues which are impressively intact. Also Preah Khan was good to see for the interiors and colours. We also went up in the balloon which is great for seeing the whole layout of Angkor Wat, even though we did it a bit too late in the day for good light and it was already a hazy day. A visit to the landmine musuem on the way back from Banteay Srei was eye opening and unusually for our travels, gave us a reason to be proud of being European as most of Europe has signed up for the Mine Ban Treaty, unlike the US, China, India, Russia and 35 other countries.
We drove to Phom Penh to catch a flight to Bangkok and had hoped to visit the killing fields, but we hardly had any time and then discovered that the management of that site has been sold to a Japanese company - needless to say the people are outraged that effectively their government have made huge profits out of their tragedy and now a Japanese business is benefitting too - another of those dilemmas that you often face when travelling. We don't ever want to support corruption in governments but want to show our support for the local people and their history. It is a tough one.
Having so little time in Indochina we flew straight into Siem Reap from Saigon and our first impression was how commercialised the town is. I guess in many ways the temples at Angkor are the Machu Picchu of South East Asia, but Siem Reap makes Cusco look off the beaten track. So we headed straight out to the main temple, Angkor Wat and the first thing that hit us was the Indian influence, which could only be a good thing, and the grandeur of the complex, and after all, it was the temples we had come to see, not the town. We knew we were never going to have time to see anything of the "real" Cambodia, so that will have to wait for another trip, but I think it is safe to say Siem Reap is not representative of the rest of the country.
Having said all that, as we had so little time to see the temples, we had very long days and it was great to have places like the Blue Pumpkin to come back to in the midday heat for a refresh! We definitely had the best tuk tuk driver in Cambodia, who probably thought we were crazy going to see so much in such a short time, but helped us plan it all in anyway.
The only disappointment with the temples was the number of tourists, but the advantage Angkor has over places like Machu Picchu is the large area it covers, which allows it to absorb more people. We were impressed to see they are at least taking the effect of such huge numbers of visitors seriously and have closed the steps up to some of the main temples to build mobile wooden stairways that can be placed over the top. Sunrise over the temple was impressive and as always, getting to these places early is always a good idea to avoid the bus loads, so we had relatively few people wandering around with us and it was very atmospheric.
We managed to visit all the temples at the top of our list and my favourites were Bayon (with all the faces), Banteay Srei (beautifully restored carvings, a great drive out of the town to see a bit more of the countryside and, a bit like Nefatari's tomb in Luxor, helps picture all the other structures as they once were) and Ta Keo (big pyramid) purely for the scramble up! My favourite experience though was being in Ta Prohm just after sunrise and having it to ourselves - although needless to say that didn't last long!
East Mebon was also a great temple - we had to see that one because of the great elephant statues which are impressively intact. Also Preah Khan was good to see for the interiors and colours. We also went up in the balloon which is great for seeing the whole layout of Angkor Wat, even though we did it a bit too late in the day for good light and it was already a hazy day. A visit to the landmine musuem on the way back from Banteay Srei was eye opening and unusually for our travels, gave us a reason to be proud of being European as most of Europe has signed up for the Mine Ban Treaty, unlike the US, China, India, Russia and 35 other countries.
We drove to Phom Penh to catch a flight to Bangkok and had hoped to visit the killing fields, but we hardly had any time and then discovered that the management of that site has been sold to a Japanese company - needless to say the people are outraged that effectively their government have made huge profits out of their tragedy and now a Japanese business is benefitting too - another of those dilemmas that you often face when travelling. We don't ever want to support corruption in governments but want to show our support for the local people and their history. It is a tough one.
posted by MandiB at
05:17
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