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Saying bye to Cambodia after two more temple visits

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The previous post in this series is here..

We saw an amazing sunrise and came back to the hotel. It was almost 7 AM when we got back. It was time to go pack, check out, have breakfast (eat it like brunch given we have been up since ~4) and load the luggage into the car . Then it was two more must see temples en route to the airport.

The hotel staff bid us adieu as though they were sending a newly married bride off after an Indian wedding. They were all nice kids. We thanked them for their hospitality. Seriously, Cambodia folks redefine hospitality. The best in this trip. Amazing kind hearted genuinely sweet people!

We visited two more temples.

The Bakong temple which was one of the first temples to be built here in the late 9th century. The domes looked like Angkor Wat.. we thought they practiced here before building the big temple. This one was a monster. We had to climb a few hundred stairs to get to the top. We told our driver that given our cold the fact that the sun was up and beating down on our heads, we had no plans to climb up. We were going to walk around the base and take pictures and that was it. So we were 30 minutes early on our plan.

The second one , Preah Ko temple, we walked around. It was relatively flat..This area on the way to the airport used to be an earlier capital of the kings. There were many nandi’s that were stil intact in this temple.

After this, we drove to the airport. On the way a 7 foot cobra crossed the road. Saruk barely managed to avoid it and had to brake real hard. We were happy he did not run over the snake but a couple of ladies driving a moped on the other side of the street were not lucky. They freaked out and may have it the snake. Did manage to catch it on camera even if it is a grainy video..

We took selfies with our driver who was just fantastic and said goodbye! We would recommend him to anyone trying to do a compressed schedule.

A video highlights reel..

The Siem Reap airport is brand new (Chinese are taking over Cambodian infrastructure building). The airport was empty when we went there. There was a lounge which had flat seats. I took a two hour nap. When I got up was still feeling slightly feverish.. but it was time to board our flight to Bangkok and and then on to Chiang Mai. Funny thing is that this plane was a small propeller plane. So all luggage had to be checked in and directly to Chiang Mai. We were told that the passport stamping will be in Bangkok but we will be diverted in Chiang Mai to the international baggage claim by airport reps to collect our suitcases. We were praying they reach.. We had carefully distributed clothes so that there will always be something to wear at the wedding. The thought of having all our bags checked was worrying. Luckily they all made it to Chiang Mai.

We had a three plus hour layover in Bangkok airport and went to another lounge where they had 15 minute complimentary massages. Majority of this day went just in traveling from Siem Reap to Chiang Mai. The massage lady told San “your husband is definitely having a fever. Give him medicine”. Given all the adventures, I had brushed aside any feeling of heat. So went and grabbed some tylenol. By the time we landed in Chiang Mai, was feeling better already!

Our guide and driver came with his wife to pick us up from the airport. They are a really nice couple Joy and Goy. Joy spoke English but Goy only understood and needed an occasional translation from her husband. They dropped us off and said we start at 7AM. Be ready! Our hotel room had a decorated bed with mosquito nets. We were not sure if that was for mosquitos or for decoration! We had arrived at 8PM and the restaurants were all a drive away. Our hotel was off from the busy area and we did not have the “Grab” app which doubles up for Uber, Doordash and everything else in Thailand. . We walked to the local 7-11 to get some bananas and yoghurt but they would not accept USD! They also had a minimum charge for credit cards which we did not meet. If they tell you folks in Thailand accept USD everywhere, it is not true. In Cambodia everyone took USD and spoke English. In Thailand it was not the same experience.

The hotel manager, was a nice guy and understood our plight. He loaned us 350 local currency, got on the phone with a local Indian restaurant and got us some Nan, daal, rice and yoghurt., paid them and got it delivered to our room. It was not what we expected but some food was better than no food and we ate what we could. The rice and yoghurt was at least a safe bet. We were also told that the hotel resaurant was closed for renovation the entire month of December and there will be no breakfast but if we pick from a menu they will have it delivered to our door at 6:30AM. The options were not what we were used to. This was going to be tricky the next few days.

We ordered a breakfast list hoping at least some items would be okay for me to eat and went to bed.

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The mother of all temples - Angkor Wat

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The previous post in this series is here..

We had seen the outside perimeter of the Angkor Wat temple earlier in the morning when watching the sunrise. Instead of going into the temple with the crowd, we had visted Bayon temple, the tomb raider temple, Banteay Kdei temple and Kravan temple and finally made our way to Angkor Wat.

Our driver said we could walk around ourselves and follow the crowd or better take an official guide from the entrance for 15 USD. So he found a guide who was his friend. This guy had practiced English lines with a Boston accent and he recited the lines at the right locations. He happened to be a decent photographer (not the same caliber as our driver but not bad). He told us there are 3 courtyards. The outer which we were in, the middle courtyard and a top courtyard which involved climbing a bunch of steep stairs.

The sun was up and there was no shade once we reached the middle courtyard. So we told our guide “while we have the energy, lets go to the top and do the difficult stuff first”. He was surprised by the request but said “whatever you want!”. So up we went, saw the main shrine first, then we came down and everything else was relatively a piece of cake.

The building below is the library in the background. No books. That building was just amazing. The moat around the temple was equally amazing. 1.3 km by 1.6 km with a 90 feet moat around the entire perimeter that was manually dug and filled !

The four main corridors converging below a square rock that align perfectly on a compass with the main directions.. marvellous engineering from a 1000 years ago!

We walked around the middle courtyard and made our way out through some stores to the parking lot. The guide said “I have to walk back a km to the point where we started our tour. you guys go straight up and turn right and your driver will be waiting for you”.

So in an hour and a half we had seen Angkor Wat Temple instead of 3 hours.

A video highlights reel..

When we came out, our driver asked us if we saw abc, xyz etc.. and we were like “Nope”. He skipped those. Later we had to google the Ramayana mural and dasavatar and figured out he had casually shown us some stuff but we did not go around the middle courtyard completely because we avoided a crowd. I was temporarily upset but got back to reality pretty quickly. We saw as much as we could see at that speed.

It was really hot and humid and I was getting a migraine. We really wanted to eat and get back to the hotel for a nap. We had started at 4:30 AM and it was close to Noon. We had walked miles in each temple. So we told our driver to tell his guide friend to do more coverage next time. He realized we were exhausted and suggested we drink some coconut water (we had wanted it the previous day). The coconut water outside the temple in the shacks was delicious and sweet. Next stop was our hotel. We stopped on the way at the market and while our driver waited we went through the market and shopped for T-shirts and linen pants with elephants on them.

We had some leftover from the breakfast that had been packed in the morning before seeing Angkor Wat. So we skipped lunch and took a nap in the hotel. The headache was getting pretty severe and San was tired as well. We rested for almost 3 hours and it was time to visit Siem Reap by ourselves in the evening.. We were to start at 4:30 AM again the next morning!

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Tomb raider - Ta Prohm temple .. where the roots take over

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Previous post in this series is here..

The sun was still coming out and we had already finished the Bayon temple. We drove past the elephant terrace where the elephant stables were and on to Ta Prohm temple.. aka Tomb Raider temple. The giant roots that take over the ruins of this temple are famous. We used to play a game in the early days of iPhone games where we had to run through the ruins of this temple and collect gold coins. It was called Temple Run.. while the adults used to huff and puff and struggle to get 1000 points, the little one who was probably 3 or 4 at that time would casually grab the phone and hit 100000 points and show it and go “what is the big deal?” We would all stare at it in disbelief.. We were thinking of our not so little one when visiting this temple.

The roots and ruins make an amazing backdrop. We also stopped by the victory gate if I remember it right and took pictures (including Yoga pics). Our driver was okay with me doing yoga poses as long as there was no risk. He also practiced some new techniques we had discussed.. I hope my suggested additions to his tool kit come in handy for future tourists.. The picture below was his idea..

Then he showed me a new trick.. made us walk through the temple and he took a pano shot.. froze in the middle and asked us to walk out and pose again on the other side.. now I have something added to my photo tool kit!

The photo galleries below. Yet again, these photos and videos do not capture the way nature has taken over mans creation when abandoned even for a few hundred years.. we as humans are insignificant.

Portraits gallery. Our driver was right.. This was magnificent and breathtaking like the Bayon temple and at places more interesting..

A video highlight reel..

After we finished this temple, we had one more temple to visit before hitting Angkor Wat. Given our speed, Saruk suggested we go see a bun tea kadai.. so I was thinking we were going to a shop to have some bun and tea and then go see a temple. I was in for a surprise.. that in the next post..

Copyright © 2012, Sundar Narayanan. All rights reserved.