Cambodia and Angkor Wat!

We made our escape from Bangkok before any of the serious flooding came to town. People seemed to be getting more and more worried about the floods coming from the highlands, so it was the perfect time for us to head east back into Cambodia to give Angkor Wat another shot.

For our last night in Bangkok we went out for dinner with a few friends who've lived there for a long time, then I decided to go out for the night to see some of Bangkok's infamous clubs. We had a 6AM train the following morning so I figured I'd get to do the partying that I had missed on my birthday and that I could just pull an all nighter and sleep it off the next day on the train. The all nighter was awful, but the train was a great way to get past a hangover. The 6 hour train to Cambodia cost 1$, and we were able to hang off the side watching the rice paddies whizz by as the train rattled along the rails.

We got to Siem Reap in Cambodia and were relieved to find that the city was not entirely underwater this time. We were going to be able to go see the temples! There are tons of different temples throughout the countryside, and our favorites were the ones that were less busy and allowed us a bit more freedom to roam, explore and climb around.  The temples were built 1000 years ago as Hindu worship/holy sights... this is interesting because now, most Cambodians are Buddhist (the same is true in Laos and Thailand).  The temples were incredible to see and the detail and creativity of the carvings was mindblowing. Each carving and each temple had a mythical/spiritual significance which we were able to piece together from a cheap guide book we bought (a proper tour guide was way out of our price range). We bought 3 day passes and hired a tuk-tuk driver who was able to drive around to different sights. 

One of the temples seemed to come straight out of an Indiana Jones movie. It was called Ta Prohm, and was set in the middle of the jungle, mossy crumbling walls were being swallowed up by gigantic white trees that looked like octopi. This temple seemed like it was designed with dripping tree roots and soggy walls in mind.

Another great temple was called Bayon. Full of the iconic giant faces which were modeled after the King who had commissioned the site. Over 200 giant faces, atop tall 4 sided towers. The faces were carved into huge charcoal-grey blocks of limestone that were fitted together seamlessly.  This temple was a definite favorite.

The following day we decided to go a little further out of town to see a smaller more intricate temple dedicated to women and children, and cut into a different pink stone, as well as a series of carvings scattered throughout a mountain and riverbed and waterfall. 

We also went to the landmine museum which was fascinating. The best part of the day was the hour or two of driving in the back of a tuk tuk through the countryside. The flooding in Cambodia seems to have pushed village life closer to the side of the road and it has concentrated village life to high grounds that have stayed above water. Every single house, and scene from life here is postcard worthy... Kids playing with empty gas cans and fishing in the electric green rice paddies, surrounded by dark gray water buffalo covered with green algae from the paddies, coconut trees, tin-roofed stilt houses built to sustain the floods, with clothes lines full of bright scarves and clothing. There are little stands on every stretch of the road selling bright pink dragon fruit, with bunches of bananas hanging from trees by string. They have stands full of gasoline in 1 liter recycled whiskey bottles for the motorcylces and tractors driving down the roads, and every 300 meters or so, a narrow burnt orange clay path divides the fields for the farmers.  Unfortunately, the tuk-tuk was so fast and bumpy it made picture taking very tough.


We had an amazing drive and the saw the sun and blue skies for the first time in a while. Seemed like a great omen for this next leg of travelling.  

After 4 great days in Siem Reap, we packed up our things and bussed back to Phnom Penh to apply for our Vietnam Visas. This was the 3rd visit to Phnom Penh, and we were only there for a day, so we didnt feel bad for taking it easy. We did go out for a great dinner to one of the BBQ beef places that are so popular with all the Cambodians. I bought a grilled water-snake from one of the street vendors after a few beers and the lovals were very impressed... it tasted like swamp though... After that, we planned the next leg of the trip in Vietnam, and put together a loose itinerary. Then the visas came in and we hopped on another bus headed for SAIGON, VIETNAM!