Siem Reap Archives - Wandering North

Asia Cambodia South East Asia 2013

Siem Reap to Battambang

Our final day in Siem Reap was spent in town. Two full days of temples was enough to satisfy us and so we spent the fourth day shopping for souvenirs in the market. There are so many beautiful things, but of course one has only so much room at home and in one’s suitcase, so we tried to limit ourselves. That being said, we have had to purchase a third bag to carry our purchases.

Betty Lou shopping the market amuses me greatly. Cambodia is a culture of bargaining. One never pays the first price and, while not merciless, some haggling is expected. I enjoy this process; Betty Lou does not. While I play along with ‘the whole, hesitate, walk away and name low prices as a starting point’, she willingly pays the first price, or, often, she pays more. A shopkeeper asks $4 for a pair of earrings and Betty Lou pays $5, saying that they are worth more than the asking price. With this strategy in place, I am sure the merchants of Siem Reap were sad to see her go.

But go we did, after a couple meals sitting in the perfectly warm night air. The following morning we took a bus to Battambang. We were told the journey would be 3 hours and it was closer to 5, but the ride was very lovely, through the countryside. At one point we stopped for a break and we bought sweet rice and beans cooked in a bamboo stalk, which one peels back in order to feast on the contents. There were also roasted beetles and crickets for sale, but we took a pass on those.

Battabang is not a particularly nice looking city. It is dusty and the buildings are old and not particularly well maintained, aside from that though, there are some nice restaurants and cafes and some interesting, poorly kept french colonial buildings. The main reason for stopping here though is for the countryside, which is said to be some of the country’s loveliest.

We checked into our Hotel (the Royal Hotel), which is unremarkable, but adequate, and very affordable. It is also right across the street from the market and steps from good places to eat.

One of the welcome things about Battambang is that it is so quiet compared to Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. Here people are not constantly trying to sell us stuff or offer us services. People are mostly just going about their daily lives. It is nice to take a look at a regular city in Cambodia.
The first evening we went for a bit of a walk and had some amazing curries; i also visited a temple and saw many monks chanting before i settled down at a local restaurant for a cigar and a bit of reading. The next day would prove to be action-packed.

Asia Cambodia South East Asia 2013

Temples – Day 2

Today we again had our tuk tuk driver Mr. Lum take us to temples. Today we did the ‘grand tour’, which was a longer ride through the countryside, past fields of rice, and villages of simple open air homes of wood and thatched houses on stilts, with families outside, chopping wood, cooking dinner, and selling fruit. We passed one street of women stirring large caldrons of what we discovered was palm sugar which they made into delicious sweets. The ride was wonderful, although in the morning we did contend with a downpour, which left us wet and muddy.

I hobbled though the temples, and climbed over stairs and tree roots with great caution. Betty Lou seemed delighted that for once I was not walking at too brisk a pace, and could only amble.

All of the temples were lovely and each a bit different than the next. One was only accessible by walking on a long bridge over a picturesque swamp, another was built in a pyramid configuration, and another, Bantay Srei, was a glorious pink color and featured impossible ornate and in tact carvings.

Today we again had our tuk tuk driver Mr. Lum take us to temples. Today we did the ‘grand tour’, which was a longer ride through the countryside, past fields of rice, and villages of simple open air homes of wood and thatched houses on stilts, with families outside, chopping wood, cooking dinner, and selling fruit. We passed one street of women stirring large calrdons of what we discovered was palm sugar which they made into delicious sweets. The ride was wonderful, although in the morning we did contend with a downpour, which left us wet and muddy.

I hobbled though the temples, and climbed over stairs and tree roots with great caution. Betty Lou seemed delighted that for once i was not walking at too brisk a pace, and could only amble.

All of the temples were lovely and each a bit different than the next. One was only accessible by walking on a long bridge over a picturesque swamp, another was built in a pyamid configuration, and another, Bantay Srei, was a glorious pink color and featured impossible ornate and in tact carvings.

There were far fewer tourists at these temples than yesterday’s, but there were still countless children and women selling palm juice, fruit, and souveniers, and groups of men with limbs lost to landmines playing haunting music.

We returned to the hotel fairly beat from the walking in the heat and me also from my stupid limping. We had a tasty lunch at an outdoor restaurant which included the most delicious lemon smoothie. We are staying in tonight. Tomorrow is our final day in Siem Reap and we have nothing planned aside from arranging our transport to Battambang and doing a bit of shopping. Right now i am sitting on the balcony of our hotel with a cigar and listening to the noise of the street.

Asia Cambodia South East Asia 2013

Angkor Wat

On our second day in Siem Reap we hired a tuk tuk driver, Mr. Lum, to take us to the temples. The journey was not long but was wonderful, riding through the shady jungle streets in the tuk tuk, past troupes of monkeys, elephants, and roadside vendors selling coconuts, fruit and water.

We began by visiting Angkor Thom, of which the highlight is the Bayon temple, which is three levels structures with of dozens of faces, all of them huge and perfectly carved and identical to one another. It was spectacular to climb over the stones and in and around the temples’ various rooms, some of which held Buddhist or Hindu shrines and were thick with incense smoke. There were many tour groups there, but it did not spoil our visit.

Let me say this of this temple and all that we visited so i need not repeat myself unnecessarily all of the temples, are amazing. They bear many similarities: each is situated in the jungle and is surrounded by the forest as well as countless smaller temples, statues, walkways, and pools, and everything is or was ornately carved with design and religious figures. All are about 900 years old, give or take a century. Some have been well maintained and others have let the jungle enclose around them, with vines and enormous strangler figs growing on and through them and slowly reducing them to rubble. Around each shrine or temple are locals selling drinks and souvenirs and there are throngs of small children selling postcards and musical instruments. Our driver took us to each temple and we had more or less unlimited time to explore. It was a great way of visiting. Some people took bicycles to the temples, which seems like a great idea in the morning, but by the afternoon, the heat is oppressive and i did not envy them in the least.

Next we visited Ta Prohm, which is one of those temples where nature has been allowed to take over, it was amazing to see what will happen if the trees are allowed to grow as they please.

On our way out of that temple we saw what looked like a foot long twig but was the largest walking stick insect i have ever seen. Aside from its mantis-like head, it looked exactly like a stick. Incredible. We also saw a large, dead black millipede and some flying beetle the size of a big cockroach. There were also innumerable cows and several grazing water buffalo (at least that’s what they looked like).

We visited numerous other temples, some of which involved climbing steep stairs to the top, which afforded wonderful views over the landscape. Betty Lou was delighted to find an artist from whom she bought a painting.

Our day of temples finished up at Angkor Wat itself, which is truly magnificent, rising above the jungle and approached by way of a long walkway bordered by carvings and a large moat.

We walked around the temple taking in the incredible bas reliefs and i was looking forward to climbing up to the high inner chamber when i fell down some stairs (because i was being stupid and not paying attention) and badly twisted my ankle. Betty Lou sprang into action, assessing the injury (not a break but a sprain) and fashioning a bandage out of her krama (traditional Cambodian scarf). The end result of that was that i can walk/limp, very slowly and my ability to climb stairs is somewhat limited, so i did not get to climb up to the inner part of the temple. It is painful and annoying but it shall not otherwise hamper my sightseeing.

In the evening we went out for a dinner of traditional Khmer food – i had a lovely curry and an odd dessert of cooked potato and tapioca – before going to bed, early and exhausted.

Asia Cambodia South East Asia 2013

Siem Reap

We arrived at the airport in Siem Reap the other morning after a 45 min flight from Phnom Penh and quickly arranged a tuk tuk to take us to our hotel – the Golden Temple Villa. The hotel is lovely with a courtyard filled with tropical plants and palms, pools of fish and statues of Vishnu and Buddha. The service is impeccable, the room is simple but charming, the wifi is good and it comes with swell perks like free coffee, tea, and bananas, and a 1 hour free massage (of which Betty Lou has already availed herself), all for the princely sum of $24/night.

After getting settled we went out to explore the town. It feels much smaller and while the traffic is still madness and there are even more hawkers, it is much quieter than Phnom Penh. We are staying a few blocks from the hub (at least as far as tourists are concerned) of Siem Reap – the market and streets lined with colorful and inviting shops and restaurants. There is a river running through the town and which connects it with Phnom Penh.

We had a lovely time exploring and browsing at the market for spices, tea, fruit and clothing before settling in to a lovely outdoor eatery for some amok. The rest of the day was spent exploring the town, including popping into one temple to listen to the monks in prayer, chanting, which was very peaceful.

In the evening, we sat at one of the many bars/restaurants on “pub street” for some people watching, which was alright. There are so many tourists here. It is to be expected i suppose, but they are really concentrated into this one area. It is a nice area though. After exploring and eating Betty Lou enjoyed her massage and i enjoyed some relaxation of my own variety at the hookah lounge across the street from our hotel which was crowded with locals and thick with shisha smoke.

It feels a bit hotter here than our other stops – hotter and more humid. It is still fine, but you have to accept that you will never feel cool or clean and makeup is impossible. We did get some laundry done (cleaned and pressed for $1.50), but those clothes are already filthy.

Here, as in our other stops, people in the business of catering to tourists speak decent English. Our attempts at speaking Khmer are simple at best. We noticed in Phnom Penh that many locals who spoke no English, also had little ability to read Khmer. A few times i used my phrase book to point to sentences written in Khmer (like, ‘do you have vegetarian food’) but they were unable to read them. The same goes for maps. But one can always make one’s self understood.

We are here for about four days and plan to spend about two of them visiting temples.

Tag: Siem Reap