Ankor What?

I decided I had to visit Ankor Wat because everyone told me I had to, and who am I to test the will of the people? It felt a little silly visiting a country for only three days to see one thing, but who's counting? Not me anymore.

Early Tourist Catches the Cow - View into a dry moat around the ancient city

Entering Ankor Wat

Observations on Cambodia will be limited since Siem Reap is a tourist Mecca and other than that all I saw was a long bumpy dirt road through the relatively flat terrain, but I'll try a few. Cambodia, more than the other countries I've visited, has a long sorted history of tragedies of which wrapped up only recently. Cambodia remains scarred by the war in (and with) Vietnam and still feels the wounds of the years of bloody civil wars which followed, and the rise of the Khmer rouge. Cambodia has only relatively recently gained any stability and has started to put the past behind them. You get a sense from many of the people that they're a little beat up, have trouble trusting each other and still remain unsure of the future and the continuum of problems they face. As I learned at the Cambodian Landmine Museum, Cambodia ranks third in the world, behind only Iraq and Afghanistan, for deaths or injuries from left over mines or UXO (unexploded ordinances). The museum is a tasteful and informative collection of materials which fill a makeshift bamboo pavilion and courtyard which lie a couple Ks off the main road on a long bumpy road lined with the poor, local Siem Reapers you don't see at the temples. The museum is run by an ex Cambodian soldier who was forced to lay mines in 60s and 70s and now has dedicated himself to training his country mates on the demining process. His teams can clear mines for about $.70 a piece, which irks international NGOs that often charge thousands per mine. All in all, the museum is frightening, depressing and inspirational. Definitely worth a visit if you're headed in that direction.

Apart from all that, the Khmer Food gets a thumbs up with its own little twist on the standard food of the region. The noodle soup breakfast hits the spot, and they have their own version of a sour soup like the stuff I had in Kaili, China but with more of a curry base. This was so delicious I had to have it two nights in a row. I also sprung for some stir fried pumpkin and shrimp which was also extraordinary. Although the local beer is pretty standard draft, one place had Beer Lao which put a smile on my face.

Ok, ok, now on to the (blaring horns - dun da duuuuun) temples of Ankor (applause). The temples of Ankor are a sprawling complex of ruins which around 1200 AD were part of a city about the area of NYC with a population of roughly one million people. The large stone temples and city walls were one day along side a wooden city (stone buildings being only appropriate for the gods) which has long ago vanished and been replaced by dense jungle. I hired a tuk tuk the first afternoon and headed to Ankor Wat - the largest and most magnificent of the temples - to catch the sunset. I bought my three day pass at the entry gate and jumped back in the tuk tuk. We continued north along the road and abruptly turned left. I quickly realized why as I looked out over a huge moat, wider than a river and perfectly uniform as it spread out before me, then taking a perfect right turn up ahead. The human effort needed to dig this moat alone was staggering to me, but as it turned out, I hadn't seen anything yet. After following the moat around the turn we were quickly among a swarm of tuk tuk drivers napping in the shade waiting for their fares and of course, the tour buses - and oh were there tour buses. I made my way across the earth bridge, lined with decaying stone dragons and through the ornately carved gate through the wall. The complex now spread out in front of me, a large raised walkway which seemed like a mile long made a B-line to the main temple, a huge stone building with 5 large towers. Approaching the building you go through 5 layers of stone hallways and courtyards and eventually climb onto the main tower, all along flanked by elaborate carvings and reliefs representing a mix of Hindu and Buddhist stories and gods. The towers and walls are covered with impressively ornate carvings which, though muted by ages of wear, still retain most of their original beauty.

Bayon in the Morning

The Faces of Bayon

It took over 2 hours to explore the whole complex and I took my share of pictures in the fading light. The complex was mobbed with other tourists and large groups following the bouncing flags in their matching hats, but they were surprisingly easy to escape and get small sections of the complex to myself. I eventually made my way to the top and sat back on the hard stone to watch the sun disappear over the trees.

I woke before dawn grabbed a baguette and hit the road on my rented bike. It was almost ten kilometers to the temples and after almost an hour of peddling I reached my first temple of the day by 8 am. It was quiet, the touts and shop keepers slowly putting together their stalls in anticipation of a day of hectic activity and I was surprised by how quickly the sun had rose in the sky since I left the guesthouse. I started at Bayon with hundreds of huge stone faces surrounding the towers and then was amazed at how you can easily lose yourself just wandering from temple to temple out into the woods. I got in about 2 hrs of good viewing and photos before the sun was too high for good photos, the heat was too much for me and the tour groups were quickly multiplying in numbers, so I jumped on my bike to see some of the more remote temples. Some temples were less restored than others and more like true ruins (aka were ruined). One impressive thing were these resilient trees which grew on top of the temples and temple walls, ripping them apart slowly with their root structure. The trees grew really quickly and could grow anywhere. In one instance a tree had started a good 15m up on the top of a snapped trunk, its roots weaving down over the dead trunk all the way to the earth below. Crazy.

Over the next two days I wandered the area on my bike - figuring I covered at least 80 Km over the two day period - and saw probably 25 of the sights, only a small fraction of what was available. I'll let some photos tell the rest of the story.

Ruins of Ankor

The road from Siem Reap to Bangkok was long and impossibly bumpy. Though it's perfectly straight and flat it's riddled with potholes. Whizzing past us at incredible speed were pickup trucks spilling over with people wrapped in scarves and sunglasses to keep out the dense dust. At one point the dust was too much for our driver and I was wrestled from my book by the impact with the large truck ahead of us. We filed out of the full bus and after surveying the crumpled front and mashed steering system the driver decided to continue. After objections from the other passengers one guy who spoke Cambodian kindly translated for the driver who was telling us "It's this bus or no bus." Baking in the noon sun, that settled that, and the next nerve racking 25Ks to the border proceeded slowly and chewed up the clutch pretty good. There are rumors that a certain airline keeps this road nice and sketchy and then lines the road with billboards for flights to Bangkok. I was expecting a sign somewhere that said " Are sure you don't want to fly - this is your last chance?" with a travel agent below and taxis waiting to take you to the Siem Reap airport. The road on the Thailand side was better and we had a VIP bus to Bangkok. The next thing I knew I was running through the streets of Bangkok close to Kho San road looking for a taxi that would actually use the meter to get me to the bus station to move on. 30 Minutes later I had jumped on a bus with about 60% confidence that it would take me to the small fishing village where my friend Katie is doing research.

I'm currently playing some catch up, but will post soon on my 4 days in southern Thailand, but for now enjoy these pics of the great wonder of Ankor. Cheers.