This post is a continuation to one I did regarding traveling in Cambodia a few months ago. It was after this that my blog dropped off from the face of the Internet due to laziness on my part.
Siem Reap, Cambodia: It's Cambodia's second largest city and easily the most developed for handle throngs of tourists from all over the world. What they all come to see is the famed temples of Angkor Wat, a massive city complex built about one thousand years ago in honor of the pagan god Vishnu. Built by the Khmer Empire, the city is Southeast Asia's best preserved ruins from a time long past. Having survived centuries lost in the thick jungles, the ruins luckily escaped numerous wars and modern-day skirmishes relatively untouched. Today, Angkor Wat is to Cambodia what the Mayan Ruins are to Mexico.
After bidding Adieu to Valentina and Fabio, my travel companions from Italy, I started looking for hotel to stay at in Siem Reap. It turned out that the reservation at a local hostel I had made didn't go through and as such, there was no more room. With the help of a local Tuk Tuk driver, I found a place in the center of town for about $25 per night, very expensive in Cambodia. The room was nice and clean with a very comfortable bed. Being in the center of town, I walked around the riverside and through the market for a bit before returning to my room to take a nap. I was still tired from traveling from Bahrain and reminded myself that I was on vacation and in no hurry to see anything. The rest of that day was spent relaxing and just taking strolls through market places and trying to meet up with people.
Luckily enough, I was met a German fellow on Couch Surfing who was willing to share a Tuk Tuk with me to see Angkor Wat. His name was Jens and he was from Berlin. The ride to Angkor was stunning, you drive through the poor parts of Siem Reap and come into a thick lush forest right out of Tomb Raider. You eventually pass by a lake and some big trees and there it is, the first glimpse of Angkor Wat, except it's not it, it's really the gateway leading to it! The Tuk Tuk stopped among the throngs of tourists already at the ancient marvel. Hundred of people were trying to get that famous picture in front of the gateway and the mobs of tour guides trying to get you to hire them was hard to ignore.
Jens and I were happy to see Angkor on our own as not to be rushed. Walking up to the gate are two lakes or big ponds on both sides of you with people walking around them and even some Buddhist monks in their traditional orange robes. I got a picture of them and I considered myself lucky to get it.When you reach the gate, you have to ascend steep stairs, which are being renovated, as if you had to bow so far just to pay tribute to the ancient civilization. While constructed well before Buddhism came to Cambodia, Ankor Wat now serves as a sort of Buddhist pilgrimage of sorts. Inside the gate is a statue of Buddha to make offerings to and long hallway corridors with walls that contain carvings from a millennium ago. This part took long to get through as I took plenty of pictures (see FB).
Once your through the gateway, it's still a fair distance before you hit Angkor. You have to tread carefully through a grass field of ancient building and stones that once adorned magnificent architectural wonders the world can only image looked like in their full glory and context. All of Angkor is now a dark black and gray color, but it still holds its own beauty from the hands of the designers who made the complex so long ago. Near the forest, there are make shift restaurants where you can buy coconuts and basic food to enjoy being in the presence of history. I proudly did so after our tour was finished. After all, this place is Cambodia's piggy bank for tourism, they want you to drop a dollar anywhere you can.
Once your in the main temple of Angkor, you can climb all the way up to the main tower (for lack of a better word) and have a grand view of the forest. To ascend it was no easy task. One can easily fall to their doom should you take one wrong step on the ancient stone stairways covered in plywood for safety concerns. Jens and I explored this place like it was none other on earth. It was a fascinating experience to see hundreds of people and the expressions on their faces as they gazed into magnificence. During the trip, we also saw some monkeys on the ground and in trees which added a bit of excitement to the day.
On the way out, I couldn't help but think of what I had just saw. My mind went back to that old CNN commercial that first got me interested in Cambodia and to the gateway where I entered the country. For the rest of the day, Jens and I went to many other ancient temples and buildings just as old, if not older, than Angkor Wat. I also spent three more days after this in Siem Reap just to enjoy the local people and the company of my new German friend. It was a great place and I look forward to returning one day to pay Cambodia more travel justice than what I gave it at first.
Until then, I have the memories of that journey.
- Jesse
Siem Reap, Cambodia: It's Cambodia's second largest city and easily the most developed for handle throngs of tourists from all over the world. What they all come to see is the famed temples of Angkor Wat, a massive city complex built about one thousand years ago in honor of the pagan god Vishnu. Built by the Khmer Empire, the city is Southeast Asia's best preserved ruins from a time long past. Having survived centuries lost in the thick jungles, the ruins luckily escaped numerous wars and modern-day skirmishes relatively untouched. Today, Angkor Wat is to Cambodia what the Mayan Ruins are to Mexico.
After bidding Adieu to Valentina and Fabio, my travel companions from Italy, I started looking for hotel to stay at in Siem Reap. It turned out that the reservation at a local hostel I had made didn't go through and as such, there was no more room. With the help of a local Tuk Tuk driver, I found a place in the center of town for about $25 per night, very expensive in Cambodia. The room was nice and clean with a very comfortable bed. Being in the center of town, I walked around the riverside and through the market for a bit before returning to my room to take a nap. I was still tired from traveling from Bahrain and reminded myself that I was on vacation and in no hurry to see anything. The rest of that day was spent relaxing and just taking strolls through market places and trying to meet up with people.
Luckily enough, I was met a German fellow on Couch Surfing who was willing to share a Tuk Tuk with me to see Angkor Wat. His name was Jens and he was from Berlin. The ride to Angkor was stunning, you drive through the poor parts of Siem Reap and come into a thick lush forest right out of Tomb Raider. You eventually pass by a lake and some big trees and there it is, the first glimpse of Angkor Wat, except it's not it, it's really the gateway leading to it! The Tuk Tuk stopped among the throngs of tourists already at the ancient marvel. Hundred of people were trying to get that famous picture in front of the gateway and the mobs of tour guides trying to get you to hire them was hard to ignore.
Jens and I were happy to see Angkor on our own as not to be rushed. Walking up to the gate are two lakes or big ponds on both sides of you with people walking around them and even some Buddhist monks in their traditional orange robes. I got a picture of them and I considered myself lucky to get it.When you reach the gate, you have to ascend steep stairs, which are being renovated, as if you had to bow so far just to pay tribute to the ancient civilization. While constructed well before Buddhism came to Cambodia, Ankor Wat now serves as a sort of Buddhist pilgrimage of sorts. Inside the gate is a statue of Buddha to make offerings to and long hallway corridors with walls that contain carvings from a millennium ago. This part took long to get through as I took plenty of pictures (see FB).
Once your through the gateway, it's still a fair distance before you hit Angkor. You have to tread carefully through a grass field of ancient building and stones that once adorned magnificent architectural wonders the world can only image looked like in their full glory and context. All of Angkor is now a dark black and gray color, but it still holds its own beauty from the hands of the designers who made the complex so long ago. Near the forest, there are make shift restaurants where you can buy coconuts and basic food to enjoy being in the presence of history. I proudly did so after our tour was finished. After all, this place is Cambodia's piggy bank for tourism, they want you to drop a dollar anywhere you can.
Once your in the main temple of Angkor, you can climb all the way up to the main tower (for lack of a better word) and have a grand view of the forest. To ascend it was no easy task. One can easily fall to their doom should you take one wrong step on the ancient stone stairways covered in plywood for safety concerns. Jens and I explored this place like it was none other on earth. It was a fascinating experience to see hundreds of people and the expressions on their faces as they gazed into magnificence. During the trip, we also saw some monkeys on the ground and in trees which added a bit of excitement to the day.
On the way out, I couldn't help but think of what I had just saw. My mind went back to that old CNN commercial that first got me interested in Cambodia and to the gateway where I entered the country. For the rest of the day, Jens and I went to many other ancient temples and buildings just as old, if not older, than Angkor Wat. I also spent three more days after this in Siem Reap just to enjoy the local people and the company of my new German friend. It was a great place and I look forward to returning one day to pay Cambodia more travel justice than what I gave it at first.
Until then, I have the memories of that journey.
- Jesse
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