Journal Entry 4th August 2003
We have just had an amazing trip to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat and the surrounding cities and country.
Taking advantage of David's visit, we left him in charge of the girls and took a weekend all for ourselves. Amanda and I flew out on Friday night, and returned Sunday night. David, Bich and Elle looked after Kelsey and Tamlyn for us.
The flight to Siem Reap was only 40 minutes from HCMC, and when we arrived we found that the travel agent had made no mention of the need for a visa! No problem, we simply paid up our USD20 each and got one on the spot. Getting rid of the oily immigration official who assured us he could "fix it all up quickly" was the most difficult part. Our first taste of the endemic corruption....
Once out of the terminal we were met by our tour guide waving our name. It turned out we were the ONLY people in our "tour". The large yellow bus was for us and Bun. Each time we arrived at a site our bus would be beseiged by hawkers and touts, only to find that the two tourist who got out were the sum total!
We were quickly transported to our hotel on the only good road in Cambodia (built by the Japanese) - and that was not all that great. Cambodia has Thailand on one side (driving on the left) and Vietnam on the other side (driving on the right). Cambodia has vehicles sourced from both countries, and seems to drive on both sides! Actually they were fairly consistent in driving on the right - at least around the Angkor area.
Saturday was our temple day. We gradually built up as the day went on, and it was all stunning. All the buildings were built without mortar or any other joining material - just carefully shaped stones piled on top of each other, including the wonderful domed rooves. It means that when they finally collapse, for whatever reason they become a kids' block set immediately.
Most of the temples have been cleared of the jungle that overtook the whole area, but one monastry we went to had not been, merely thinned to make sure that people could visit. The fantastic trees growing out of the buildings are truly amazing. They are huge trees, hundreds of years old, and totally embedded in the matrix of the buildings. It is not surprising that many of the sites have featured in movies.
The reconstruction work going on is incredible. Stones have been collected and carefully piled up to be painstakingly put back together. One massive temple was taken apart by the French so that the foundations could be restored, but then the Khmer Rouge came in and slaughtered all the Cambodians who had been working with the French, and destroyed all the records. Thousands of labelled stones were now an immense jigsaw puzzle that has taken years to gradually solve. There is progress, but it is going to be decades before it is all reassembled. While it is good to know it will be done, you wonder if the money spent on doing it would be better used helping the people who live there. The poverty was grinding.
Saturday afternoon was Angkor Wat - and words cannot do justice to it. It is stunning. The only place of similar impact that I have been to is the forbidden city in Beijing. Sadly the outside is pockmarked with bullet holes from the war. Inside, though, has been carefully restored, and is wonderful. Fortunately there are not too many hawkers actually in the grounds, and it was possible to explore the place with some peace. In full tourist season it would be bedlam, and the number of HUGE hotels being built around town suggests that the number of tourists is going to explode in the next few years. We were lucky to see it when we did.
The inner temple is several hundred metres in each dimension, and all around it is a 5 metre high panel of carved rock - probably a couple of Kms in total, telling fables and history. The detail and complexity is fantastic - and it goes on and on and on.... The work involved in creating it is staggering.
Right in the centre is a single tower, which can be scaled by steps that are more than 45 degrees. It is a bit like rockclimbing going up them, and even more scary coming down!
Late in the afternoon, while we were in the actual temple, we were hit by a sudden electrical storm, with strong wind, lightening, heavy rain etc. It was fabulous to be in Angkor Wat with nature doing its best around us. Magic. The storm passed quickly, and we ended up having a wonderful sunset, which we enjoyed from a nearby hill.
Sunday was the "rest" of Siem Reap, including a trip out on the lake to see the floating villages. I have never seen such poverty. Whole families living in a bamboo hut that would be a pitiful kids play house. The floating houses were more substantial, including schools, churches and a police station. They move as the water level rises and falls in the lake. It in turn is really interesting, as it acts like an overflow for the Meekong, filling up while the Meekong is in flood, and then draining again as the Meekong subsides.
As the only members of our tour we were able to shape it to suit ourselves, and so we went to the war museum, and a series of craft villages that were interesting, but a bit of a let down after the temples the day before.
The photos deserve their own pages with comments...
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