4th April 2006 - 7th April 2006
Cambodia wasn't one of the top places on my travel list until a few months before the trip. I had only ever seen a few photo's of Angkor Wat but never really knew anything else.
I was still working for FC at this time so the trip was only going to be a quick holiday. The plan was to fly into Siem Reap, Cambodia for 3 nights & then drop into Bangkok & Singapore before returning home.
4th April 2006. We landed in the very small airport of Siem Reap. On this journey it would be Melinda (my girlfriend), Dave (a mate) & myself. Dave had never been overseas so I'm sure this would be a shock, much like my first ever trip a few years earlier.
As we made our way out of the Airport we were hit by the usual commotion of Asian Airport arrival. "I'm the Cheapest, I have a cheap taxi, come with me" that sort of thing. But despite all of the banter & yelling we had our arrival transfer already book courtesy of the Red Piano Guest House.
We were greeted by a man dressed in smart Asian attire. Black shiny shoes, blue dress pants & a white button up shirt. After packing our belongings into his Toyota sedan we began our journey through the dusty, badly sealed streets that is Cambodia. Dave was sitting silently in the back with a little bit of culture shock just staring at the every day antics that is Asia.
Our drivers name was hard to pronounce so he asked us to call him Red. On the way in, we made the everyday idle chat of what do you do, where are you from, before he began to tell us about his family & the Khmer Rouge. Reds father had been killed by the Khmer Rouge & he seemed to be concealing only one eye behind some 1970's godfather styled sunglasses. I found it hard to not be to intrusive as I wanted to learn as much about not only the temples on this visit but also the very recent history of the Khmer Rouge.
We made a right turn off the main road & drove a few short meters onto a red dirt road before reaching our guest house. Before we all grabbed our luggage & headed off Red told us of the services he could provide. He would be our private driver from sun up til sun down for a mere $20 US a day. We didn't see the point in arguing over a few cents especially considering there was three of us.
After putting all our belongings in the green room (each room in the Red Piano Guesthouse is assigned a different colour) we made our way back down to the agreed meeting spot where Red would pick us up to take us to Angkor Wat for the afternoon.
A short 10 minute drive through the bust streets bought us insight of this stunning man made creation. This would by far have to be one of the most stunning ancient creations in history & I was quite surprised that it wasn't over run with tourists. I'm not sure if it was the time of year or even the fact that not many tourist seemed to consider Cambodia as a safe destination, or a good one, but there were no more than 30 people sharing this giant monument with us.
After spending several hours wandering around the ancient carved rocks we were eventually kicked out by security so we decided to head back into town to find somewhere good to eat. The Red Piano Guest House shared it's name with it's co owned restaurant down the street. The food here was amazing & defiantly of the best standard of Asian food that I had tried. We later found out that this was also the restaurant that Angelina Jolie ate at whist visiting during the shooting of Tomb Raider. Funnily enough another thing we learnt about her on our visit here was that even though she has a much publicised affair with Cambodia, the movie was actually banned here due to a scene where she stood on an image of Buddha. You would think she of all people would know better.
The next day we got up at 20 minutes to dawn which was about 5:30am as Red told us the sun always comes up at 5:50am. The reason for the early morning rise was to try to catch a stunning photo of Angkor Wat with the sun rising upon it. By the time we got to the temple though it was drizzling & overcast which was not really the photo we were after. Once the sun had risen however the storm clouds parted & there was nothing but blue skies for the rest of the day.
That afternoon we decided to visit some of the other temples within the ancient Angkor region. These included the Bayon which is the second most visited temple in Cambodia. It consists of around 200 hundred faces that just seems to question every single tourist that enters it's ancient gates. We also visited the tree covered temple of Ta Prohm which was crawling with tourists, before going on a hot air balloon ride that takes in one of the best perspectives of Angkor Wat. We then made our way to Phnom Bakheng where we rode elephants to the top & shared the sunset view with 83 other people.
On our last day we decided to get Red to drive us to the outskirts of the ancient region to visit one of the least touristy sites, but from what we read it was one of the best. The name of the temple is Beng Melea & it lies just over 60 klms from Sieam Reap. This for me was one of the best sites we visited in Cambodia with out a doubt. The roads in Cambodia at this stage were quite bad. They were red dirt roads with very little clearance for cars, bikes & pedestrians to pass each other. After stopping off a a few smaller temples along the way we finally reach Beng Melea. This is the kind of temple you imagine yourself crawling around in Indiana Jones style before you come to Cambodia. As we made our way to the entrance of the temple we were please that there were only 3 other tourist there & they were leaving, but not before telling us how stunning it was. Most of the outer walls of this temple are still intact & so to a lot of the inside chambers & corridors but there is also a lot of areas where it has crumbled under the weight of the trees. This is much like the tree covered temple of Ta Phrom except it has not been maintained which is a shame, but it's also quite nice to visit such a place & know that time is the only thing that have left its mark on the temple We made our way past the crumbling library & up some very shady rocks to take in the view from the top of the temple. Although entirely unsafe it is stunning to see. We seemed to take a lot of happy snaps & video in this place & after walking around mesmerised for about 2 hours we still found it hard to leave.
As we made our way out of the temple & back down the long walk which use to be lined with statues, we decided to take a left turn down a small dirt road where we saw a few children playing. After passing a few houses that seemed to be untouched from any outside influence we were gazed upon my several young inquisitive eyes. These children were so friendly & dared each other to say hello & wave before running away. These are the kind of moments that really turn a good trip into a great trip. A few of the photos have managed to make it into several of my photo frames.
We made our way back to Siem Reap stopping at one last temple. Banteay Serai. This is one of the best preserved temples still in Cambodia. The walls are covered in intricately carved deities & dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. The building itself is quite small in size compared to the rest in Cambodia but it's not hard to see why this red sandstone monument is a favourite among tourists.
That evening we went back to Angkor Wat for some more sunset photos before hiring 3 Tuk Tuk so we (me, Mel & Dave) could have a race back into to town (needless to say, I won). We had dinner at the Red Piano again & enjoyed some of the music wafting across from the another nearby restaurant.
We flew out on the morning of the 7th April 2006 aboard Bangkok Air. A small 4 prop plane that would take us to Bangkok, Thailand. After 5 nights here it would be onto Singapore for 3 nights & then home.
For me Cambodia is probably my favourite destination in all of South East Asia. Having something so close to home that is of the same standard as the Pyramids of Giza, but not overrun with tourism is something you don't really seem to find anymore. The Cambodian people are also exceptionally friendly & will to have fun with there bartering.
I have been told by a few people I know, who went there about a year after I did that it has already changed. I know the money from tourism is greatly needed in the country, as they are still scarred from the Pol Pot & the Khmer Rouge regime but I really hope it doesn't loose it's innocence. I will go back one day & find to for myself.