Temples of Angkor: Day 1

Having done more than our fair share of cycling the day before, we decided to see the Temples of Angkor in a more leisurely fashion and hired ourselves a tuk-tuk. 

Luckily, our pal Barang had given Dave his telephone number for just this reason when he'd dropped us off on our first evening, so we got in touch and he soon arrived to take us around the much-anticipated ancient ruins.

First stop was yesterday's elusive ticket office, where we each had our photo taken and paid $40 for a three-day pass to all the temples.

The first one we visited was Angkor Wat itself, the crown jewel in Cambodia's Khmer temples and a symbol of huge national pride - it's even on their flag! (Dave: And on their beer!)

Barang stopped in the car park opposite the entrance to the temple and told us to take our time. We crossed the moat that surrounds the enormous temple - Angkor Wat is the largest religious building on Earth - passing young boys hurling themselves into the water with impressive backflips.

Once through the main entrance, we walked up the long, wide stone path that leads to the main section of the temple, flanked on either side by palm trees, ponds and scattered ruins. There were a lot of tourists around but it wasn't heaving and we ambled at our own pace in a relaxed atmosphere. Very relaxed for some...

We began to get a sense of the scale of the site and also for its masterful architecture and intricate carvings.

We wandered among passageways, gazed up at majestic towers, peered through windows and doorways, and marvelled at beautifully carved figures of ancient Khmers and their gods and monsters. 

The central tower, signifying Mount Meru (the sacred mountain in Hindu and Buddhist mythologies), is reached by climbing a tall flight of steps, but I wasn't allowed up because even though I'd brought my sarong with me to cover my legs apparently this wasn't enough to appease the gods of moral modesty. But Dave was ok in his outfit and so went up to take a look. 

Speaking of Cambodian fashion statements, Angkor Wat was the first place I noticed the intriguing phenomenon of women wearing matching pyjama sets out and about during the day. It's a common sight and one we'd become very familiar with - but never less amused or confused by. The men have their own statements to make in the wardrobe department: the young ones have a habit of wearing their baseball caps very high up on their heads (a bit East 17), while the older men like to cool off in the humid climate by not taking off their shirts, just gathering up the front and exposing their bellies to the open air. (Dave: A look I'm planning to introduce once back in Blighty!)

After we'd had a good look at the inner sections of the temple, we went to see the 800 metres of bas-reliefs carved around the outside, some of which show an early version of the Hindu Ramayana.

Angkor Wat certainly lived up to the hype. It was impressive and beautiful and we had a great hour or so wandering around it. We looked forward to heading back there the following morning to see it at sunrise. But in the meantime there was much more to be seen elsewhere.

Next on the agenda was the Bayon, which turned out to be one of the most spectacular of the temples. It comprises over 200 wonderfully expressive carved faces of the Buddhist deity Avalokiteshvara, looking out peacefully in all directions.

The effect is absolutely breathtaking, and although the site was beginning to fill up fast with tourists and the rain started to fall in earnest, it was a wonderful place to meander around.

At the back of the Bayon is a large pool and lots of playful monkeys throwing themselves out of the trees into the water and teasing the tourists.

We met Barang back at his tuk-tuk, where he'd parked not far from the Bayon, and as we were climbing in to continue our fascinating tour a very young girl with a basket of woven bangles came up to us trying to sell her wares. 

She was obviously well practiced at her patter: "Hello lady, one bangle for you," she said in her tiny little voice. They didn't look anything special and being on a backpacker budget and with only limited space, one has to be very careful not to accumulate too many souvenirs  "No thank you," I said with a smile. "Ok three bangles one dollar," was her next attempt. "No thank you," from me. "Ok fives bangles one dollar," she said. "Oh no thank you sweetheart, I don't need any," I replied as Barang started the tuk-tuk and we got ready to pull off. She was relentless and the number of bangles I could purchase for one dollar kept rising as she could tell we were about to leave. Still smiling, I told her "No thank you" one more time, and as Barang began driving away she thrust one of the bangles into my hand with a gesture of 'it's ok you can have it'. We hurtled down the road away from her, my new most-cherished-possession clasped in my hand, and the irrational temptation growing to go back and buy everything in her basket. It was a delightful encounter that I'll always remember.

After the Bayon, we visited Angkor Thom and the Terrace of the Elephants. While Angkor Wat and the Bayon were still very much intact and it's possible to walk around them as complete temple structures, this area was far more dilapidated and nature had really begun to re-stake its claim.

It was very peaceful around Angkor Thom and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. Quite a contrast to what it used to be; at its height, the city was about 10km square and had a population of around 1 million. And this was back when London only had about 50,000 inhabitants!

However, we did need to dodge a couple of local kids who had quite clearly set up a bit of a scam. First we were asked for some money to go towards school materials and although we were becoming quite adept at avoiding a lot of the barrage of hawkers in SE Asia this was a new one on us. We'd heard about similar rackets but hadn't had any experience of refusing and so ended up parting with a not-insignificant sum of money to this rather charming young man (it was about what a night's accommodation was costing us). When he then asked for more - we'd given him dollars and now he wanted some Cambodian riel too - that was far enough and we quickly extricated ourselves to go and see the ruins. 

Not far away we were accosted by another young lad who wanted to give us a tour. We told him no thanks and that we were happy to look around on our own, but he shadowed us recounting the history of the site. After about 10 minutes of this we had to quite firmly tell him 'thanks but no thanks' and he then asked us for money for the information he'd already given us. We clearly explained that we wouldn't give him anything as we'd told him from the start that we didn't want a guide. He skulked away, clearly a bit miffed. 

Finally back on our own and able to concentrate on what was around us, we made our way through the ruined city to the Terrace of the Elephants, the last stop of the day.

After a long day of spectacular ancient history, it was time to head back to Siem Reap and we gratefully got back into the tuk-tuk to rest our weary bones for the homeward journey. Before going back to the guesthouse though, there was one more visit we had to make.

Blue Pumpkin is a smart ice cream shop in Siem Reap with the most delicious flavours on offer - mint choc chip, dark chocolate, peanut, pistachio, coconut, Khmer fruits, green lemon and kafir lime, raspberry... to name but a few - and nothing less would've satisfied us after a day of temple-traipsing than two big indulgent sundaes. 

Then, exhausted after a very rewarding day and acutely aware of our pre-dawn start the next morning, we went back to our room to crash for the evening.

Extreme dedication to the temple cause

We'd heard that cycling around the temples of Angkor was the best way to see them, and as we both enjoy riding bikes this seemed like a great way to experience the culture and history for which we'd come to Siem Reap.

Garden Village rented out bicycles and even though they were a bit on the rickety side, they were cheap and convenient, and we were itching to get going. 

The Roluos Temples, about 13km out from Siem Reap, are among the earlier temples built by the Khmers in the area and it's recommended that if you have a few days to explore this is a good place to start, as they give you an idea of the development of the architecture.

It was a long ride but as Cambodia is so flat it wasn't a difficult one, and it gave us the opportunity to see some of the countryside and life along the road, like buffalo-pulled carts and kids walking to school jostling for the chance to wave at us and shout 'hello!'

We arrived at our first temple, hot and thirsty, and after a quick rest in the shade and the guzzling of lots of cold water, made our way to the entrance. A man asked for our tickets and as we hadn't bought them yet we enquired where they could be purchased. At the ticket office near Angkor Wat, was the answer. Angkor Wat, the signs for which we'd cycled past on our way here, about 10km ago. The only place you can buy the tickets to see any of the temples. Right.

Back on our bikes we got, even though the morning was getting on and the sun was climbing higher in the sky. After we'd cycled back the way we had come a little way, we spotted a signpost pointing to Angkor Wat and decided to follow it away from the main road to try and find the ticket office. There was less traffic down this road and it was still very flat, we passed a few lodgings with more smiling shouting children, and a few tuk-tuks passed us, each one receiving increasingly envious looks from me as they disappeared into the distance and we ate up the kilometers a pedal at a time.

The road went on and on. And the day got hotter and hotter. And the lack of suspension or padding on our bikes became more and more noticeable. And the road went on. And on. The signposts seemed to run out and the signs of life did too. It eventually reached that point where we had come too far to turn back, even though we both knew we'd made a mistake turning off of the main drag and coming down this road that was some kind of mockery, like the never-ending path that Jennifer Connelly is on in the film Labyrinth that just keeps stretching ahead of her into the distance, no matter how fast or how far she runs. 

Dave cycles five days a week in London and is generally fitter than I am, but my legs were failing, I was saddlesore, and I was having to stop pretty regularly. Plus, concerned about my Irish so-white-I'm-nearly-blue complexion, I had put on the denim shirt I'd packed for modesty in the temples and borrowed Dave's hat to save myself from burning to a crisp, whilst sweltering under the extra clothes. 

We had probably been cycling for a couple of hours by this point and it must have been around midday. Finally we came to a turn off that was flanked by a couple of restaurants and we stopped for cold drinks and a break from the razorblade saddles and relentless pedalling. Checking the map, we could see that we weren't far from Angkor Wat but would be coming in on the wrong side of it for the ticket office. By this point all I wanted was a shower and to lie motionless on a soft bed, so we decided to cut our losses and head back. Once we'd gotten back on the bikes - an action that took every ounce of will I had; if I'd seen an available tuk-tuk at that point I'd have ditched the bike and taken the consequences upon returning to the guesthouse - it didn't take too long before we started seeing signs for Siem Reap. With a lot of stops and fighting back tears from me (this was not my idea of a holiday) and a lot of encouraging words from Dave (heroic once again) we eventually got back to our room, where I hobbled into the shower.

When I came out and eased myself onto the bed, Dave was looking at Google Maps on the laptop. "Would you like to know how far we rode today?" he asked, a look somewhere between triumph and wonder on his face. I nodded. "Fifty five kilometers," he told me, "On the world's most uncomfortable bikes, in the Cambodian midday sun". And I, genuinely kind of proud of myself that I hadn't DIED, fell back onto the pillows, the most relieved I've ever been to not be on a bike.

The next day we resumed our temple mission, this time in a tuk-tuk, and with far more success...

Thailand to Cambodia

We'd booked ourselves onto a bus from Bangkok to Aranya Prathet, where you can cross the border into Cambodia (country number three!)

We said goodbye to our guesthouse after filling up on fried eggs, toast and coffee to fortify us for the trip, and hailed a cab to the Ekamai bus station. Once there, after not too long a wait, we were ushered over to what was little more than a people carrier and squeezed in alongside about 10 other people and their baggage. 

Once we'd fought our way through the Bangkok traffic and out of the city, things really got interesting. We seemed to have found ourselves in the care of a man who wasn't just willfully reckless in his driving, but appeared to have a full-on death wish. For all of us! 'White knuckle' just doesn't go far enough; he sped, weaved, braked, honked, zoomed, dodged, screeched and tore along the roads for two hours like a true maniac. 

In many Southeast Asian countries, it's common to see spirit houses outside of homes and business and alongside roads. Apparently these are to house mischievous spirits that, if they didn't have anywhere to go, would be out causing chaos - like making people crash their cars or fall off of their bikes. Funny, I would've thought that drivers having a little knowledge of road safety, a modicum of patience and some general regard for the sanctity of human life would have its own protective effects.

The spirit houses protecting us from calamity. PHEW!

The border crossing was one of those experiences that the Lonely Planet seemed to spin up into a stressful obstacle to be endured and powered through with one's head down. The book basically tells you to go straight to Cambodian immigration, not to speak to anyone as they're all scammers who work for local 'cartels' who'll harass you onto their buses and sting you for way more than a taxi driver would charge to get into town, and that you'll likely be charged extra exorbitant fees by officials for your Cambodian visa. Following our harrowing roadtrip to Aranya Prathet, I was feeling a little on-edge and the guidebook's warnings weren't helping any.

Luckily, Dave kept a very cool head and took the lead. Once we'd gotten through the Thai exit formalities, the first thing he did was to start talking to someone (!?) who ushered us over to a building where we were to purchase our visas, while I lagged behind generally panicking and cursing under my breath that it was all already going horribly wrong. We filled out our forms, only paid an extra 200TBH backhander on top of the official $20, and were then ushered on again by Dave's new best bud to the border crossing. By this point, paranoid me was convinced we'd been shafted and that whatever had been stuck into our passports resembling a Cambodian visa was actually some piece of expert forgery scrawled on the back of a napkin. 

Standing slightly stressed in the short queue of tourists waiting to clear Cambodian immigration, I overheard two English lads behind us who'd taken the guidebook's warnings to the extreme; they'd indeed completely bypassed the visa office and headed straight to the crossing - just as I'd probably have done if I hadn't had a calm, sensible Dave with me. 

Then it was our turn up to the counter, where they stamped our visas with a smile and digitally took our fingerprints. Then we were through! Into Cambodia! Without being arrested or laughed at or bankrupted! Sighs of relief from me. Sighs of mild irritation from Dave at my lack of faith. And yes, the the hapless guys behind us did have to go back to the office and buy their visas before trying again to enter the country!

So don't trust the Lonely Planet in this instance if it's whipping you up into a frenzy of apprehension about how tough the crossing will be; it's really not that bad.


Next step was to board the bus from Poipet (the Cambodian side of the border) to Siem Reap, where we'd be staying in order to spend the next few days taking in the ancient temples of Angkor Wat. New best bud had shadowed us through to the other side of immigration, and fair enough he did work for the 'cartel' on duty that day and did usher us onto their bus into town, but it only cost us $9 each and it was there and going in the right direction, and we were tired, and he was really nice, so hey, no harm done.

The bus journey took about an hour and a half and gave us a good opportunity to see a bit of our new destination speeding past the windows. The landscape was incredibly flat, with green fields stretching off as far as the eye could see. Alongside the road, water channels fed the crops and provided bathtime and recreation for the locals, with people swimming and even kids playing in rubber rings. Pale, saggy-necked cows and black bulls with huge horns plodded the water's edge, and white cranes frequently spread their huge wings to take flight over the scene. The roads were also dotted with more of SE Asia's ubiquitous roadside ‘shanty shops’ and the soon-to-be-very-familiar baguette carts. We shared the road with people cycling on rickety old bikes and whole families crammed onto scooters - dad up front, mum at the back, with at least three children of varying ages and usually a pet in between them. 

We had a brief pit-stop at a roadside cafe for a much-needed can of the local Anchor lager.

The roads got a little more nail-biting again as it began to rain and darkness fell (no streetlights!) but soon enough we arrived in Siem Reap and new best bud (let's call him by his real name - Lowk Barang) was ready for us in his other guise as rickshaw driver. So we got in - trying not to get too wet - and off we went to Garden Village, a guesthouse/hostel we'd found online, to find ourselves a room. The whole journey, from leaving Bangkok to getting to our accommodation in Cambodia, took about nine hours.

We got a large room with air conditioning and hot water for about £6.50 a night. They only had a twin available, so we pushed the beds together! The place also had a big rooftop bar and restaurant which served draught lager for 30p a glass and decent meals for about £1.50 a head. They also had a free pool table, free jukebox with great music and free WiFi. It was understandably full of backpackers! 

We planned to take it very easy the next day, taking a wander around Siem Reap to get our bearings, and then the following day we'd start exploring the temples of Angkor Wat. But until then it was time to kick back, drink some cheap beer, fill our bellies, listen to some good tunes, and get a good night's sleep.

Every little helps, Bangkok style

One (admittedly odd) highlight of our first stay in Bangkok was a quick trip to Tesco. It's funny how something that's so mundane at home takes on a whole new level of novelty and excitement when you're on the other side of the world. 

The chain has a relatively big presence in Thailand, giving itself an added element of Asian mystique by adding 'Lotus' to the end of its name. There's a big branch not far from The Jim Thompson House (see last post) so we popped down there on the hunt for handwash detergent (tired of washing pants with shower gel) and a mosquito net.

I've always found foreign supermarkets fascinating and most of the fun we had came from browsing the multitude of bizarre Thai foodstuffs:

Like crisps, but really not.

'Win'. 'Delicious & good taste'. Neither of these descriptions of fried cuttlefish rang true with us TBH.

ALL the industrial strength Red Bull.

Crab stick danishes. I don't care if they're only 10TBH, it's a 'no'.

Angry Birds chicken balls. I can't believe these haven't caught on in the UK!

After all that, you're going to need a breath & BELLY mint!

Not even in our wildest dreams did we imagine we'd find something so perfect.

So, travelling. It's not all snorkelling, temples, festivals and wildlife... sometimes all it takes is a trip to the local supermarket to blow your mind.

P.S. We managed to get hold of the detergent too: Cross Super Laundry Liquid Detergent. It's great and now our pants smell fabulous.

Our first stop in Bangkok

After seven weeks in Indonesia it was time for us to move onto mainland South East Asia. From Gili Air, we used our magic piece of paper to get us back to Bali, via Lombok, and stayed in Padang Bai for a couple of nights (at Beach Inn 1, which was quieter and cheaper than Marco's) before catching a bus up to Denpasar for our flight to Bangkok.

The plan was to stay in BKK for 4/5 days to run some errands. We needed visas for Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos; more malaria medication; and various essentials we hadn't been able to get hold of on our tiny island. Even though leaving the Gilis was a little traumatic, we were actually looking forward to being back in a proper city for a few days... massively shallow and probably immoral, but all I wanted was to eat Maccy D's and go to the cinema!

Our flight, via Hong Kong, was a piece of cake and we landed in BKK in the very early hours. So it was straight into a taxi from the airport to our guesthouse, Baan Hualamphong. When we arrived, dropped off by our very cheerful female driver, we were told that the room we'd booked was full so we'd be put in an aircon room for no extra charge. Fine by us! Especially considering the weather, even at 2am, felt like being in a steam room.

We paid 520THB per night (about £10.50) and got a big room with two double beds (incredibly hard mattresses), A/C, fridge, private bathroom, towels and loo roll provided. Breakfast was included too and was good, provided you like toast and fried eggs (the only option). Also, we soon discovered that the location of our guesthouse was excellent - not too close to the crazy tourist part of town but really near the Hua Lamphong Metro station, so it was a perfect base for exploring the city.

And what a city it is. One thing I was beginning to learn on our travels was that preconceptions are pretty much useless. I've never been interested in visiting Thailand, least of all Bangkok, which I was under the impression was some sort of unbearably dirty, seedy slum. As far as I was concerned we'd get in, do the necessary jobs, and get out as fast as we could. What did I know?? It's a fabulous, vibrant, thriving, modern metropolis. I fell madly in love with this place and, mainly due to my enthusiasm, we ended up staying for 10 days.

It turned out, after much internet research (with WiFi pilfered from the cafe across the road from our room), that we didn't need to organise our three visas ahead of time and would be better off just getting them all at the respective borders. So we threw ourselves into our other missions, namely: shopping and eating.

One of our first stops was to the MBK mall (one of about, oh, a MILLION!) We founds Boots - an exciting reminder of home - and bought the rest of the malaria tablets we needed to get us through Asia. We also purchased our first pot of Tiger Balm, which we soon realised is an absolute essential; great relief from mosquito bites and various other ailments - although we're still to figure out how it can cure flatulence, as it claims on the label... just rub some under your nose perhaps?? MBK was also our first encounter with the glorious phenomenon of 'Asian tat' - shops and stalls full of coloured plastic, grinning cartoon characters, cutesy animals, and unironic bling. Plus on the sixth floor, they have a great foodhall where there's a huge variety of cuisines available for bargain prices. You buy vouchers and then swap them for a meal; the best we found was the vegetarian stall where you choose three delicious dishes for 50THB (about £1).

We ate very well in Bangkok. The area called Siam is full of hip young things (BKK is so much more fashionable than I would've expected too!) and we had some good food around here (between my bouts of drooling over the shops and market stalls full of clothes I couldn't afford to buy). 

We treated ourselves one night to the Hard Rock Café, gorging ourselves on meat and various deep fried accompaniments. We also went to Som Tam Nua for the eponymous green papaya salad, plus excellent chicken wings, fried fish and sticky rice.

We took the extremely cheap and fun river taxi down to the Khaosan Road area where we bought a knock-off copy of the Lonely Planet guide to Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos & Northern Thailand, and stopped off for a lunch of som tam, tom yum kung (a hot and sour prawn soup), chicken noodle soup and spring rolls. Most of what we ate in BKK was supremely spicy (after all that bland Indonesian food, everything we ordered in Thailand had to be swimming in chili) and when we told the waitress we wanted our dishes 'Thai spicy' not 'tourist spicy' she agreed, but kept coming back to our table during our meal to check we were ok!

Even though I came travelling with grand ideas of eating street food everywhere we went, the multitude of stalls lining the pavements were rarely all that appetising once we'd considering how long the edibles had been sat in the open or how much diesel fume had choked them. So we didn't really delve into that culinary adventure.

We did push our boundaries with some stuff that was kind of odd though: raw prawns and sun-dried beef (both really delicious) at a place called Heap with our friend Toby. This was also when we discovered that pork fried rice in Thai is pronounced 'cow pat moo', so we'll never go hungry as we'll never forget that! We also had dinner with our friend Josie, who introduced us to pomelo, a big citrus fruit that we had as a yummy salad.

Also, bubble tea, which comes in all kinds of flavours but is basically flavoured milk with chewy balls in it and an extra wide straw so you can suck them through. I had a chocolate one. It was awesome.

The Paragon Shopping Centre is the high-end mall where all the posh designer stores are: Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Mulberry, Chanel, H&M. Yep, you read that right. We were accidentally there for the grand opening of the first Bangkok H&M store and it was a frenzy! Hundreds of people queuing out of the door, mums taking photos of their kids in front of the signage. Hilarious. 

Our main reason for visiting Paragon was to go to the cinema though. We'd heard really good things about the Bangkok multiplexes, especially the big comfy seats and the glorious air conditioning. We saw Dredd on a massive digital screen with great sound, and ate our body weight in Häagen-Dazs. All for about £4.20 each. A great indulgence after a month on an Indonesian desert island in the middle of nowhere!

The weather was sweltering the whole time we were in the city so opportunities to escape inside to air conditioned comfort of shopping malls and cinemas were extremely welcome. It broke one night though, with a spectacular storm right over the top of our guesthouse, and woke us up with some of the loudest thunder and brightest lightning either of us had ever encountered. It lit the room up like it was midday and came through our eyelids to wake us up! It was still ridiculously hot and muggy the next morning though.

As well as shopping and eating, we did do some sightseeing. We had a lovely afternoon at the Bangkok Art & Culture Centre, looking round the galleries of brilliant Thai artworks and chatting to a young artist called Kan who was selling some of his drawings in the public space.

The Jim Thompson House was also really interesting. He was an American who settled in Thailand and set up a huge silk empire (before going missing in Malaysia) and you can look around his gorgeous 1950s Bangkok residence. It was a very interesting little tour and a really nice way to spend an hour or two, looking around the gardens and his collection of artifacts.

One evening we had a speedy walk through the Patpong area, constantly dodging the invitations to ping pong shows. We didn't feel the need to linger, as the 'sexpats' (dodgy old white men enjoying the company of beautiful young Thais) were quite noticeable enough without going looking for them.

We mostly got around the city using the BST (skytrain) and Metro systems. They were fast, easy and cheap... a bit like the girls in Patpong!!! Sorry. 

Ahem! The trains are pretty entertaining in themselves, with constant adverts showing on the overhead TVs and priceless people-watching opportunities. Sometimes there's more than just watching too... like with the friendly old guy who told me about his massage business, said I was very 'modern' looking and then nodded knowingly when I said I was from London, then gave me his card and kissed me on the cheek before disembarking.

All of this urban sprawl got a bit much in the end though, and Dave especially was getting antsy and keen to move on. So, knowing we'd be back to my 'new favourite city' in a couple of months, we booked ourselves onto a bus to Aranya Prathet at the Cambodian border and left for country number three.