A Side Trip into Cambodia
I had one last thing to do to complete my traveling through the Indochina region.
The morning after Carol’s departure I caught an early morning bus east out of Bangkok to the Thai/Cambodian border. The journey of around 200km through Thailand was straightforward and quick. I arrived at the border town of Aranya Prathet in time for an early lunch before proceeding on to the border post itself.
Checking out of Thailand was a formality. Although recently slackening of controls when entering Cambodia means that visas are now issued at the border, most travelers obtain their Cambodian visas through one of the many travel agents in Bangkok. Of course, these agents will add a fee onto the cost of the visa for this service. Now with Carol gone I am economizing again, plus I am a tight git anyway. I decided to head straight to the border without a visa and maybe save myself US$6.
The cost of the visa is US$20. On the Cambodian side of the border I filled in the visa application form and handed it in with a $20 note. I even included the required passport photo which the Japanese guy with me didn’t have. The application was handed back to me, the official saying the cost would be 1000 Baht, about $24. On telling the official I didn’t have the Thai currency but did have the correct US$ amount I was told to go back to a money changer on the Thai side.
Now I am sure it is easier for these guys to work in nice round figures especially when it is $4 in their favor. I wasn’t having any of this. I noticed the guy at the next window stamping the visas/passports looked like a higher ranking official. So I stepped over to his window and handed over my application, money and passport, sans visa. Well, he had a few swift words with his colleague. After a few minutes my visa was handed back to me with a nice crisp new Cambodian visa stuck in it. It was quickly stamped and I was in Cambodia. Now I don’t think I beat the system in anyway. I just did what I though was required, but also preventing some dodgy immigration official creaming of a nice little cut for himself. Even the Japanese guy’s visa was processed for $20 without a passport photo.
In Cambodia things changed immediately. Gone where the nicely sealed roads with luxury air-conditioned buses. The Cambodian border town of Poipet is disorganized, dirty and crowded. Local peasants push hand carts to and from the border. Hordes of ragamuffin children no older than 7 or 8 dressed in nothing more than a dirty pair of shorts carry little babies on their hips. On spotting a westerner they swarm around their feet begging for handouts.
After a half an hour a dirty, dusty mini bus turned up. Fourteen of us plus luggage were loaded into it and we headed out of town further east towards Siem Reap. Now you would expect that even in the worst of conditions this journey of about 150km to be covered in 3-4 hours. No chance! Eight hours later we arrived in town. The road for the most part is riddled with potholes. With no air-conditioning and dust streaming through the open windows within minutes we were covered so that we all looked like we had dark tans and ginger highlights in our hair.
Although progress along the road was painfully slow we did pass some very rural and typically looking villages. Wooden horse carts stood outside grass and bamboo huts. These were built up on stilts amongst the jungle foliage. When we did stop for relief we were again swarmed by children. Except these kids just wanted to play and practice their English.
The reason people come to Siem Reap is to see the world-famous temples of Angkor, situated a few kilometers to the north. In fact the place has become a boom town of late. There has been a huge influx of tourists since the country threw open its borders in 1998 after the downfall and demise of Pol Pot and the terror reign of his Khmer Rouge. Development of luxury accommodation continues unabated and there are many large and expensive hotels about. Our bus, obviously in cahoots with the owner, did drop us at the Sunway guest house where I got a cheap ($3) room which was spacious and clean.
Next day I didn’t do much except have a look around Siem Reap town itself. The reason for this was that I had arranged to hook up again with my old travel mates from Chiang Mai and Laos, Steve and Garath. It was great to see them again and we had a lot to catch up on. Since I had last seen them in Laos they had also traveled through Vietnam. In fact, I nearly managed to catch up with them in Saigon but always was one or two steps behind. These two must be a bad influence on me. Either that or we had a lot to celebrate meeting up again. I think during the course of the day we ate two Indian curry meals (Why? Garath is hooked on curries.) Later on in the evening we lost Garath so Steve and I headed for the Angkor What? Pub. I don’t remember getting home from there and I left Steve to continue on with the party with some new friends he had met.
The next day we were still in no rush to get around to seeing Angkor Wat. What with the World Cup taking place, today was the day that both England, who S and G fanatically supported, and South Africa (me) play the last games of the qualifying groups. Both needed at least a draw to progress.
My infatuation with riding motorbikes continued because in anticipation of riding around the Temple complex the next day I again hired a bike to get around.
England played their game in the early afternoon. They did enough to get a 0-0 draw with Nigeria and are through. That left us with about three hours to ride out to get our passes for tomorrow to visit the Angkor complex. A nice bonus is that if you buy your ticket for the next day after 4pm you are able to enter the area for the remainder of that day. We decided to visit the main temple, which is Angkor Wat itself and stay for the sunset.
These temples were built between the 7th and 11th centuries when the Khmer civilization was at the height of its power. The kings of this empire ruled over a vast territory which extended from the tip of South Vietnam, north to China and west to the Bay of Bengal. The Khmer kings utilized the vast wealth and labour of the empire to carry out a series of construction projects intended to glorify both the kings and the Hindu religion which had swept into the area from what is now India.
Every year the Mekong River (that river again) actually reverses its flow in Cambodia and turns upriver, emptying out into the huge Tonle Sap lake. It was here that the Khmer kings built their capital called Angkor.
Angkor Wat, with its five soaring pineapple shaped towers and extraordinary carved base reliefs is considered to be one of the most inspired and spectacular monuments ever conceived and built. It is dedicated to Vishnu, with whom the 11th century king Suryavarman II was identified as god-king. It was used as his funerary temple.
We explored the three storeys, the last of which is reached by ascending up an impossibly steep and high staircase. I walked around the square enclosures intricately interlinked with hallways and galleries. The building is balanced and symmetrical giving the complex a sublime unity. All rather Indiana Jones-like.
Along the outside of the central temple are a series of 800m long bas reliefs. The most famous scene is the brilliantly carving of the ‘Churning of the Oceans of Milk’. It depicts 88 devils and 92 gods churning up the sea to extract the elixir of immortality.
The temple is surrounded by a 1.5km by 1.3km moat. Although the overcast conditions didn’t provide such a spectacular sunset as the scenery deserved, the dusk made for some very atmospheric photographs with the towers reflected on the water.
The South African soccer team played well that evening but were eliminated from the World Cup by losing 3-2 to Spain. Well done the Boys, you did us proud.
Next day I was up at dawn and rode the motorbike back to Angkor Wat to get some sunrise shots. Then it was back to town to meet up with Steve and Garath. We hired another driver and bike, it would be an easier day riding around with four people on two bikes.
Back at the complex we rode through one of the five monumental gates into the fortified city of Angkor Thom. Inside we explored around The Bayon, exactly in the centre of the city. This temple has more than 200 carved faces of Avalokitesvara. They stare eerily and unsettling down from 54 towers. Here are also Bas reliefs depicting 12th century Cambodian life.
On to a 12th century Buddhist temple, Ta Prohm. This is known as the jungle temple. It has been left just as it was discovered by French explorers more than a century ago. This abandonment to riotous nature just shows how all-devouring and destructive the jungle can be. Inside it is a maze of narrow corridors and crumbling stonework. Some areas are roped off as the chances of collapse are serious. We clambered onto the upper levers where you can truly witness the jungles ongoing assault on the temple. I couldn’t make up my mind if this was the perfect setting for “Laura Croft Tomb Raider” or King Louis from “The Jungle Book”.
To finish we clambered a hilltop to the popular temple mountain of Phnom Bakheng. This gave us outstanding views overlooking Angkor Wat itself and the vast surrounding jungle.
Temple overload kicked in by mid-afternoon. Weary and exhausted we headed back to our hotel well and truly templed out.
There didn’t seem to be any easy way of leaving Siem Reap except by one of the nightmare bus journeys to either the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh or back to the Thai border. Steve and Garath had traveled up from Vietnam through the capital.
After some discussions we decided that there wasn’t really much more for me to see in the rest of the country. Anyway, we were all sort of heading in the same general direction and had similar agendas. With a few tweaks to each of our schedules we could all travel down through the islands and beaches of Southern Thailand, into Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore together.
So on June 14, we all took the awful bus ride back to the border and on to Bangkok.
We spent three days back in Bangkok, our various flight dates had to be altered and the lads wouldn’t budge until they had seen England beat Denmark 3-0 in that damn World Cup.
I am now heading back to Koh Tao. S and G want to do a diving course and I never say no to getting wet with an aqua lung.
That really completes another phase of this epic journey. After nearly three months in South-East Asia I have visited all the countries in the Indochina loop and most of Northern Thailand. I am looking forward to traveling with Steve and Garath as company. Both are great English lads, one very laid back, the other very funny. We all get on really well. Here’s to a good trip.
When I leave Bangkok tonight it will be for the last time, on this trip anyway. Sad really.
