We flew from Ha Noi via Laos to Siem Reap in the north of Cambodia. Our hotel was basic but great value for money. A quick lunch and we were off exploring the town.
Siem Reap is the town nearest to Ankar Wat and its purpose is mainly to serve the visitors for Ankar Wat. The result is a highly commerical, restaurant riddled town where everyone speaks English and has the sole purpose of getting dollars from you. Its a nice town, well laid out and there not totally Eurpeanised yet.
Ankar Wat is a huge geographical area in which there are numerous ancient temples...some grand, some huge, others more localised temples and smaller. We bought a pass for the week that enabled us to go to any temple without extra costs. As with most people I guess, we headed straight for the largest and the main temple on the first evening. To get to the site, you need to take a Tut Tut which is a carriage pulled by a motorbike. I loved this mode of transport and have lingering and favoured memories of driving around the area enjoying the scenery. It took us a couple of days but we eventually managed to connect with a young guy we liked and we hired him for the rest of the week to drive us wherever we wanted to go. He was great and really looked after us. He made himself exclusively available to us until 6.00pm when he went to school to study management.
So back to the temples.........we both LOVED the ones that were more rugged, that had been taken over by the trees, These trees are called Elephant trees and you can see why when you look at the 'trunks'..they really do look like elephant trunks. Unsurprisingly, some of these sites have been used for shots for the Indiana Jones movies in the past......you do feel like you are in a film set sometimes. It really does pay to follow the advice in the guidebooks to go when most of the visitors are eating breakfast or lunch. The difference in the atmosphere is huge when there are not hordes of photo clicking. video making foreigners crawling over everything....OK, I know I am really one of them but I like to pretend that I am not!
The only downside of going in the quieter times is that you are open fodder for the many people who have something that you do not want to sell you for 'just a dollar'. That was the main downside of Siem Reap. From the minute you leave your hotel to the minute you get back, there will be someone snapping at your heels wanted you to buy something from them or simply to give them money....there are a lot of beggars. The temples are the worst but the town is much the same especially at night. It does get a little tiring at times. They are not aggressive but but very persistent.
It was interesting going to Cambodia from living and working in Vietnam. Both are countries ravaged by recent disasters that led to an unbelievable number of deaths. I have great admiration for the Vietnamese for how they have picked themselves up and are charging forward. They are very resilient and focused. Its probably totally unfair as I was only in Cambodia for one week but I just didn't feel that there. There seem to be quieter, more subservient people....more likely to be led rather be leaders as a general characteristic. I guess I was surprised to find the huge difference in character but that's like assuming that the English are like the French (ha ha) or the Americans and like the Mexicans just because of the proximity of their countries. It took me a few days to adjust but then I did begin to enjoy the differences in the people.
One of the highlights of the trip was that we went horse riding. I was totally amazed by the quality of the stables.....talk about 5 star treatment!!....it was owned and managed by a Cambodian who had lived in America for years and had obviously done very well for himself. We went for 4 hours through the countryside which basically meant that we were paddling (or rather the horses were paddling) through water for most of the time given the fact that we were at the end of the rainy season. It was great if not just a little long to be in the saddle. My horse did not have the best of walking gaits and we walked for most of the time. Out guide had only been riding for 3 months and had obviously had little experience of anything above a walk. We did one trot for about 2 minutes when he abruptly stopped saying that his belly hurt.....hmn......I would have loved to have a canter and my horse was desperate to do the same but I didn't push it as I really didn't have any faith in the ride leader and had the feeling that my horse would be off like a bullet given half the chance. But it was all great fun and we got to see some stuff that we had not seen to date. Unfortunately, photos are limited as I was rather busy keeping my would be galloping steed in check but trust me, it was all rather lovely. Wasn't sure about the herd of water buffalo that we had to ride through. These are big ugly and strong animals and they have an eerie habit of watching you as you move past. They were very edgy about the horses and there were a lot of them.......was glad to be the other side of that part of the ride.
The best bits of the holiday.....
Spending some quality time with Sarah. We chose to spend the 6 days in Siem Reap which gave us a lot of time to do stuff and time to just chill out and chat.
Some of the temples were just wonderful. I also loved the walk up the mountainside we did with our driver.
Driving around in the Tut Tut.
We made friends with some of the locals in town who were fun to be around for a little while.
The fresh air. I had had a cough for a while in Ha Noi and it went almost immediately when we got to Siem Reap. Within two days of being back, it re emerged....just one of the few downsides to life in Ha Noi.
Being active.. I love being outdoors and being active. I did not go anywhere near a computer or a phone for the whole week and it was such a treat. Although of course, I hasten to add that I am more than happy to get back to using the computer just as I am delighted to be back in Ha Noi despite the pollution.
So that was Cambodia. Would not dash back but delighted to have been. The only other area of Cambodia that I would like to visit is the coastline which is supposed to be lovely and, in parts, unspoilt and non touristy..........watch this space, maybe it will happen.
This blog is written with my own personal viewpoint and opinion and in no way reflects any views or beliefs of VSO.
