Siem Reap and the Khmer Temples

We arrived in Siem Reap full of anticipation for the temples of the Khmer dynasty, including the famous Angkor Wat, located in the surrounding area. Although we had been forewarned by fellow travelers, we were still stunned by the level of tourist-oriented development in the centre of Siem Reap – a Disney-like “Night Market” and “Pub-Street” with neon signs, loads of fancy hotels and restaurants, merchants and tuk-tuk drivers everywhere trying to solicit business. Fortunately there were still some quaint and quiet roads off the main drag, where we found a hostel that fit the bill. Garden Village Guesthouse had very, very basic rooms, but it had all of the necessary components that we have come to look for as cheap backpackers – clean and comfortable mattress and a fan.  It also had a big bonus feature – wonderful rooftop bar with great ambience and cheap drinks.  We wouldn’t necessarily recommend staying at the Garden Village for the rooms, but the bar was a fantastic place to hang out, and the neighbourhood had good cheap restaurants around. Part of the fun of travelling in this part of the world is going out for every meal, and Cambodian dishes are delicious – fresh stir-fries, barbeque and curry, yum!

We opted to rent bicycles to explore the temples over the next three days, and loved every single minute of it.  The sites were reached by a short ride through the crazy traffic of the town centre, followed by a long stretch of quiet tree-shaded road to set the mood for the spectacular ancient structures. It often felt like we were going back in time, to witness the works of an ancient civilization that built their wonders out of stone.  The Cambodian people are rightfully proud of this heritage, and the sites were well very well marked and maintained.   

Over the three days we saw many of the sites, but nowhere near all of them. It would take weeks of exploration to see all of the temples. Given the three days at our disposal, we picked a few of the highlights.  Our first stop was Angkor Wat with its beautiful and imposing façade framing the large interior grounds surrounded by a moat.

The sheer scale of the structure was imposing, and even the “small” outlying buildings were awe-inspiring.

 The walls were almost entirely covered by intricate stone carvings and sculptures that captured scenes from that bygone era, with exquisite jewellery, imaginative dressing, and the full trappings of life at court. It was not surprising to discover that one of the reasons for the downfall of the enormously powerful Khmer Empire was the bleeding of its people and resources in order to make these fantastical monuments.  However, while they were at the peak of their power, this extravagant civilization must have made for a splendorous sight.

 We then headed over to one of our favourite sites, Ta Prohm.  It felt like walking into the set of a Hollywood movie (in fact Tomb Raider used this location), with massive, gnarly trees growing into and out of the stone buildings, illustrating how time catches up with all things.

In such a setting, Patricia could not resist performing the Yoga Tree pose.

With the light filtering through the trees, the moss and lichens that make their home on the ancient stones glowed a soft green, lending our exploration of the ruins a magical feel. 

We headed over to a nearby temple in the late afternoon as we had heard it was a great place to watch the sunset. It was a good bike ride away, and we were rewarded by the sight of golden sun painting the brick stones of the temple a deep orange.

We climbed the steps to the top and sat on the age-worn smooth surface to admire the view of the dense tropical forest that surrounds these ancient sites.

 The sun set in a blaze of colours, and we biked home in dusk light exhausted and content with our full day.  We chalked up some karma points on the way when we noticed a young couple at the side of the road with bicycle trouble and stopped for Ben to lend a hand getting the rickety two-wheeler fit to travel again.  They were incredibly thankful for the help, and with a warm glowing feeling inside we returned to our hostel and enjoyed a well-deserved beer (or two…) on the rooftop patio with fellow travelers.

Over the next two days we explored the massive site of Angkor Thom, which we found even more impressive than Angkor Wat. The Bayon temple was incredible with striking stone profiles facing out from every side of the many towers. This temple was built by Jayavayarman VII (whom we will call Mr J for short) who identified himself with one of the old gods and built the temple in homage to himself/the god.  These faces were disturbingly similar to Ben’s, leading to a brief god complex, but mostly it made for a fun photo-shoot.

We were lucky with the weather, and sat under the watchful eyes of the Ben/Mr J demi-gods enjoying the sunshine.

Our next stop was the terraces of the Elephants and Leper King.  We had fun roaming around the site, and there were many places to just sit, take a deep breath of the warm tropical air and admire the view.

We climbed the incredibly steep stairs that are present at almost every site (definitely not wheelchair accessible!) in order to enjoy the view of what used to be the Royal Grounds of Mr J’s reign during the Khmer period.

The sites were so large and buried within the jungle that at times you could almost feel lost, an intrepid explorer discovering new trails and wonders…

…especially when the view on the other side is fantastically cool, like an Indiana Jones set…

 On our second day of exploration in Angkor Thom, we attempted to navigate some of the less travelled dirt roads and ended up taking shelter underneath a huge stone gate when a powerful rain storm suddenly hit. Some local ladies pedalled up, completely drenched and joined us until the weather improved. After leaving our refuge we enjoyed our last ride back into town and caught up on some shopping at the Night Market (last chance for cheap SE Asian goodies).

Pousat and Battambang

We were exhilarated from our cycling tour, and motivated to search out a trekking adventure through the jungles of Cambodia, reports of leeches notwithstanding. Ben was on a mission to get us to the Cardamom Mountains in the southwestern region, which is normally accessed through the south via the town of Chi Phat.  Unfortunately this would mean a tremendous detour from our final destination of Siem Reap, from where we would be flying out of Southeast Asia. Since our tickets were already booked, time was of the essence, so Ben looked into other entry points for the Cardamoms. There was little information on whether it was possible to find hiking options through towns north of the mountains, but bits of information here and there indicated that this might be possible from the town of Pousat. Since Pousat was on the way to Siem Reap, we decided to chance it, taking a bus from Kratie, connecting through Phnom Phen with another bus up to Pousat.

The bus system in Cambodia is surprisingly cheap, clean, comfortable and efficient, so this trip was thankfully uneventful.  We were excited but a little apprehensive when we were the only “white-ies” to get off the bus in Pousat; it’s fun to get off the tourist trail, but as we were looking for trekking options, this did not bode well for tourism infrastructure to be present in town. We walked down the main road with our backpacks on and found a hotel with a nice view, from where we could begin our inquiries.

Our fears were born out, as the next day the trip to the Tourist Office revealed that the office was closed – during business hours. We returned again with high hopes, but the doors were still locked, and after a bit of cat-calling and attempting to breach the walls, we had to admit defeat and walk away.

Despite our efforts, there was a significant lack of information around town as to whether hiking into the Cardamom Mountains was possible from Pousat, and due to limited time, we had to give up the dream and continue to head north towards Siem Reap.  However, we did enjoy traipsing around town, the only tourists for miles, and visited the very colourful local market.

We have discovered that Cambodians will eat anything – well, that’s not entirely true. They don’t eat cats or dogs, but that is almost it for off-limits foods.  Anything in the jungle goes, and local favourites include deep-fried spiders, grasshoppers, frogs and snakes. Yum. We weren’t too adventurous with trying out the cuisine, but did experiment with some delicious baked goods.

We had heard that Battambang, which was on the way to Siem Reap from Pousat, was a quaint town with a quainter attraction – a bamboo train!  We decided to make a stopover there, and as soon as that decision was made, it was as if the heavens began smiling on us once more.  We walked out of our hotel with our backpacks on with expectations of having to walk a kilometre to the bus stop, when the bus to Battambang drove right by us and stopped on the corner.  Woohoo! We hopped on, and paid the ridiculously cheap fare of five dollars for a four hour bus ride.

Before arriving in Battambang, we had decided to stay at the Royal Hotel – what do you know, on arrival at the bus station there was a tuk-tuk driver, Mr Soon, who offered us a free ride if we went to that hotel. Great! To top it all off, he ended up being a stand up guy, spoke excellent English, and we ended up hiring him for a tuk-tuk tour the next day to see all of the surrounding attractions.  Things were off to a good start, and as we sat at what became our favourite café next to the hotel, we were treated to the beautiful sight of monks in their bright orange robes walking around town to collect alms.

Patricia also found a fantastic seamstress through word of mouth, bought some beautiful batique fabrics to be made into tunics, which turned out really well.  Yes, Battambang was treating us right.

The next day we hopped into the tuk-tuk with Mr Soon, our friendly guide, and began what turned out to be a wonderful day tour.

First stop was the infamous bamboo train.  A form of transportation still used by the local farmers to shuttle goods back and forth between small villages, it is an extremely ingenious device made out of – you guessed it – bamboo.  The Bamboo platform is placed on top of two metal axles whose steel wheels fit along the railway track, and the entire device is operated by a small engine that attached to the axle via drive belt, efficiently spinning the axle and making the whole contraption move forward surprisingly quickly!  We got a ride with a local and the driver - so much fun. When two “trains” meet going in opposing directions, the one that is the least loaded is quickly dismantled and moved off the tracks so that the other can pass.

 It is fun and efficient, and we enjoyed the ride past rice paddies into the last stop, a small village with little kids who hope to make an extra dollar showing the tourists around and making jewellery out of palm leaves. They were really fun to hang out with, and very talented with their arts and crafts!

The next stop was a drive to where the local fruit bats hang out – huge critters about the size of a crow, dangling from trees, resting during the day so they have energy for their nightly forays into the forest.

We then drove into a muslim village, where Mr Soon treated us to a Cambodia dish consisting of rice and banana steamed in banana leaves. So tasty!

Mr Soon took us to a famous local temple that was reached by a veeeeery long climb up a set of old stairs. On the way up an entrepreneurial young lad saw the opportunity to make some money by continuously fanning Ben all the way to the top of the the steep flight.  This was a source of considerable entertainment, and Ben could not help but take a shine to the boy after exchanging services – his fanning for Ben’s umbrella shade. 

This proved valuable as the heavens opened up with a torrent of rain and a thunder bolt that struck uncomfortably close to the site.  We ran down with haste, but thankfully had time to enjoy the beautiful old stones of the temple.

Our last stop was another temple high in the mountains, where we left the tuk-tuk and made our way uphill by foot. There is a cliff there known for its sordid history, where the Khmer Rouge cadre bludgeoned thousands of civilians to death and threw their remains into a cave.  After the somber visit to the sight, we climbed back out into the bright skies with renewed appreciation for our good fortune in life.

 On further climbing we reached the temple with beautiful Buddhist statues and a gorgeous view of the surrounding area.

We had hoped to catch the exodus of bats from a nearby cave that occurs daily at sunset, and realizing we were late, we ran all the way downhill just in time to see the last trickle of the millions of bats heading out on their evening migration. 

With the sun setting it was time to head back with Mr Soon and his trusty tuk-tuk, happy with the full day of adventures.  Battambang had been a fun stop that got us out into the countryside and provided a relaxed pace before our next, highly anticipated destination: Siem Reap and the wondrous temples of the ancient Khmer dynasty. 

Mekong Cycle Adventure

Stung Treng, adventure capital of Cambodia! Well, at least to us and our good friend Mr. Thiera at Xplore Asia, who gave us the fantastic suggestion of a 3 days / 2 nights biking trip that would span about 150km, ending in the scenic city of Kratie. Even better, we would be unguided for the journey, other than a basic map, some instructions and a local guide on one of the islands to make sure we didn’t lose our way during that confusing stretch of bush. The two nights would be in village homestays that were on a drop in basis so we could make the choice of accommodation. Perfect arrangements for us!

We arrived back in Stung Treng from Ban Lung to begin our journey just after lunch. It was a bit of a late start but the first day was meant to be a fairly easy 40-ish kilometres and the weather looked fine, if a bit hot. We hit the road with nervous excitement and our grins turned into even bigger smiles when light clouds rolled in to shade us from the hot sun. With the wind starting to pick up and the clouds fading ever darker, we knew we were in for a bit of rainy season refreshment. However, we were totally unprepared for the major deluge that struck. Imagine turning on a garden hose and sticking it directly in your face...for about 45 minutes…

Luckily we found an abandoned building with substantial overhangs to take some cover and wait it out. In a hilarious twist, what had been a minor ditch we biked over to reach our shelter became, very surprisingly to Patricia, a deep un-crossable moat. Ben laughed as she splashed over sideways when trying to get back to the road and then looked a bit sheepish after giving it a run only to topple over as well. All of this within the first hour. Great start!

Within an hour of resuming our riding, our smiling muscles were sore with the response to every singly village child that we met along the way yelling a big “Hello!”, and so very excited when we would yell “Hello” back. This became a theme for the entire journey, with every kilometre of riding punctuated by what seemed like unending cries of greeting from the super friendly villagers.

Fortunately the rain eventually relented and we made it without other mishaps to the ferry crossing, which we found on our own despite our best efforts to ask local villagers along the way.  It was a short and cheap ride over to the island where we cycled another handful of kilometres along a single lane dirt track past rice fields that set our surroundings off in a beautiful array of yellows and greens. We ran into a young local cyclist along the way who smiled and said “homestay?” at us inquiringly. Why not? So we followed him through the village to a fine looking wooden structured labelled Homestay #1.

After meeting with the very friendly daughter of the family, who spoke very good English and was studying to be a school teacher, we looked searchingly for a shower. Having biked through sun and rain we had a necessary session of cleaning off our bikes and other gear, and the ladies were kind enough to lend Patricia a typical batique sarong used by the local women for bathing in the outdoor showers.  Afterwards we were left with an incredibly refreshed feeling and the setting could not have been more perfect.

That night we were treated to a great feast of fish, rice, omelette and greens on our own little bamboo mat in the family’s kitchen.  Despite the churned mud present everywhere in the rainy season, the family kept an impeccable home, clean and tidy, and it was a pleasure to spend the night in their pleasant company.

Afterwards we all lay back to chat over tea and to see if we could find a boatman to take us from the village to our next island destination where we could expect a very difficult overland ride. Our inquiry turned into a pretty serious negotiation session with an uncle to the family, involving a phone call back to Mr. Thiera in Stung Treng after we insisted we would not pay his first price. This man was a cool cucumber, no doubt enjoying the out of ordinary excitement, and clearly relishing the tension between the two parties. In the end we agreed on a rate we could all live with and spent a bit more time chatting before tucking in to our comfy bed under fancifully trimmed mosquito net.

In the morning during breakfast we managed to communicate that we were hoping to have a lunch packed for our long ride that day. Grandma understood first and quickly swung into action, resourcefully using mother nature’s jungle Tupperware – the amazing banana leaf. We smiled at the unlikely scene as she packed a great spread including sauce for our fish and rice to go. 

And we were off, bikes in the front of the long and narrow fishing boat. With the morning rain having hit hard earlier and now passed, we were excited to reach the start of the day’s ride and meet our local island guide. Upon reaching the shore, we found ourselves about an hour early at the appointed meeting spot, which was right in front of a family home, a typical wooden house on stilts. As usual in Cambodia, the people were friendly beyond belief, offering us their hammocks in the shade underneath their dwelling. Not being ones to easily laze around, we helped with the common village chore of peeling tough corn kernels from their cobs. We also gave the children some new pens we had brought with us for that purpose, and they were touchingly thankful.

Just then our guide arrived and we swung into action, saying goodbye to our new friends and crossing behind their farm through a gate that led into the bush. Thiera had warned us that Day 2 would be the hardest, but we weren't quite prepared for the level of endurance required to complete 40 km through loose sand and long stretches of water. The rainy season had had its way with the path and it was only with a lot of determination and some good mountain bikes that we would make our way along the length of the island. Perhaps we could have guessed that the going would be tough when our guide opted to go by motorbike!

We slogged along, passing through a mix of forest and grassland, eventually learning to enjoy the challenge of splashing through puddles, trying to keep our balance all the way to the end to avoid dunking our heavy shoes. About midway along we pulled off to find some basic shelter below a tree during a brief heavy rain and decided a picnic lunch was just the ticket to boost our motivation and to take a well deserved break. Super delicious and an incredible pick me up – thanks Grandma!

After another very long and difficult stretch, we made it out of the bush and onto a much better road for the last stretch to our next village homestay. That made it a total of over four hours of really tough slogging and Patricia in particular was quite beat. One anecdote perfectly summed up her feeling and had the fearless cyclists laughing for lack of any other suitable emotion. Ben had just crossed a rather daunting mud and water section, luckily finding perhaps the only way through and was vigorously signalling and shouting for Patricia to follow his trail. Patricia rounded the corner, legs pumping off rhythm, head rising with apparent effort, slowly taking in the magnitude of the obstacle and the instructions being issued from the other side. The mind might have been willing, but the body would not respond and with a forlorn look she continued on her present course, not able to either change direction or to slow down, ploughing directly into the deepest part of the water and taking a slow sideways splash. She got up soaked and after a quizzical look, threw her hands up in the air and erupted in laughter causing Ben to follow suit.

We arrived at the village and our very apparent foreign presence brought us into contact with the local ecotourism leader. He showed us to a house for the night and explained that meals would be served at his home down the road. If we were eager for a shower after the first day, the longing on day two was almost painful. The bikes themselves needed a full on bath to give them some hope of changing gears the following day. As usual, the lady of the house was quite helpful in assisting us with laundering all of our dirty gear and getting shower supplies, while Ben worked the mud out of the bikes with bamboo sticks.

While the sleeping accommodation was fairly simple, unlike our first stay whose family clearly took pride in welcoming guests and keeping a nice house, the meals down the road were really incredible. The ladies who prepared them were eager to chat in order to practice their English, were very thoughtful and intelligent and were definitely making an effort to further their eduation. It was really nice to see and a fun place to hang out. Incredibly tired from a very long day, we walked back home, taking in another spectacular sunset on the Mekong and gladly joined the family for a lay down on the floor in front of some Thai soap opera (there are no couches in the typical Cambodian home, just pillows thrown around the wooden floors or a raised wooden platform). It was a perfectly mindless activity and eased our transition to a much needed sleep.

After a great breakfast and chat with the friendly food ladies, we packed up our gear and took a nice leisurely ride through the village. It was incredibly calm, friendly and picturesque rolling over wooden bridges, past quaint wooden homes. We could hear the familiar refrain of “Hello!” eminating from the children as we rode along and occasionally we would stop to hand out more pens and say our own Hellos. We never tired of hearing this friendly call, except for our facial muscles that were upturned in a continuous smile as we tried to respond to everyone who greeted us. Exhausting being that friendly! But who could resist these adorable and curious creatures…

Reaching the southernmost part of the island, we boarded yet another boat to take us back to the mainland side of the Mekong for the final stretch to Kratie. Our legs were fairly burned out from our mud battle the previous day and so it was fortunate for us that most of this stretch was on easy paved road. We made a stop at a nearby Wat and made a donation at the Turtle conservation group and also grabbed some delicious Rabutan fruits for a break later on. The best entertainment of this ride was getting to see just how far Cambodians could push the carrying capacity of their motorbikes. When we saw each new creative packing job, we tried to pull over to capture the magic.

We finally arrived in Kratie, a notably funny city due to the fact that locals pronounce the name “Crotches”, and found no end to the possible puns involving two cyclists arriving in said town after a long, numbing journey. Thiera had hooked us up with a great hostel, aptly called The Balcony and there we stayed, resting, enjoying the amazing view and great food for two delightful activity-free days. We did wander the town long enough to explore the market and get Ben’s shorts repaired.

Cycling cross-country was a really incredible and intense adventure that gave us an amazing opportunity to get to know the people and the land of Cambodia in a personal way.  And the more we got to know of this country and its inhabitants, the more we fell in love with them.