Day 2 (23/11) - Siem Reap (Angkor Thom, Phnom Bakheng)

Day 2 was possibly the xiongest of the days during our trip over in Cambodia. Physically that is. Cos mentally, I would still vote the xiongest days to be those travelling on the inland buses.

It was this day that we would visit the biggest temple complex, Angkor Thom. Which consist of but not limited to Bayon (Smiling Buddha faces), Baphuon (long bridge erected from solid ground leading to what seemed like a sacrificial shrine), Royal Palace area (nothing outstanding), Terrace of the Elephants (like a mini Great Wall of Cambodia, with Elephant engravings) and Terrace of the Leper King (didn't walk till there but would assume instead of Elephant engravings would be Leper Kings?) and Prasats Suor Prat (Orangey solitary stand-alone buildings which served as burial grounds?).

From the copy of the Siem Reap Angkor Visitor's Guide, it states that "if you see only two temples, Ankor Wat and Bayon should be the ones." I couldn't agree more. Bayon is possibly more profoundly distinctly compared to Angkor Wat. 3 cone-like structures vs. smiling Buddha structures. You decide. The postcards, currency bills, backdrops of Aspara performances all revolve around Angkor Wat and the Smiling Buddhas.While Angkor Wat, the symbol of Cambodia is known globally, I believe Bayon is the symbol of Cambodia known locally. If I'm a local living in a Buddhist country, which structure would I feel more towards?

Anyways, enough of it's compliments, honestly, I didn't know of Bayon before I got there. The smiling Buddha faces were indeed very refreshing for me amidst all the temple engravings and monumental stone structures. It's almost like seeing the faces of all the Presidents (dunno what that place is called) in America. If I was forced (I thought every place has it's own uniqueness) to rank the structures in Cambodia, Bayon would be number 1.

Bayon was our first stop in Angkor Thom. When we alighted our Tuk Tuk, we were greeted by elephants passing through. Quite a handful of them, carrying tourists on their backs and every once in a while the rider would play some music with his self-made flute. I later learnt that a ride like that would cost around $30 per pax, and think it's just a walk around Bayon, not Angkor Thom. But if you're looking for a unique experience and don't mind paying that amt, this is one of the more interesting stuff you can do over there.

We spent a considerable amount of time over at Bayon because it's quite the maze, and once again filled with "booby traps". My dear would be frowning upon what I'm going to type next, as she would always say I remember the "bad stuff". Well, true to some sense, but thought I should pin it down to warn tourists about it. I'm not trying to show the "ugly side" of Cambodia or bring "injustice" to it. I'm simply stating the facts. What I experienced over there, I will not hold back just because I'm afraid to offend those of you who loves Cambodia. You just haven't seen the other side of it, like I have...

There are some dark regions in the temple, even though it's broad daylight, it's still pretty dark. At those regions, be wary of joss-stick campers. They will strike when you enter, push a couple of joss sticks and have you to pay your respects to an unbelonging Buddha statue. Don't get me wrong, Buddha statues belong every and anywhere, but not when it's shifted intentionally to a place for the purpose of being made use of.

After paying your respects, you'll be obliged to pay them a tip, wait.. obliged is too nice a word... COERCED, FORCED, COMPLIED, HARASSED, THREATENED ... the list goes on. The "forces" are not physical, but mental. When an old lady shows you the "you better give me a tip" face, how would anyone "dare" to walk away. Well, my dear unknowingly took a few joss sticks and before I knew it, I was caught in the "scam". I didn't have small change then, only had a 2 dollar bill. So guess what? She had change for me! To give tips! How "awesome" is that?

There was a pretty brand new dollar on the tip plate, but I thought it would be rude to take back change from there. But instead of offering the dollar on the tip plate, she dug out a worn out dollar from God knows which part of her body (seemed like her bra, but according to my gf was an inner pocket, well, I didn't even wanna look or know). This was one of the ways I separated with my dollar bills and I thought it was downright unscrupulous as to how it was done.

True the locals are living in poverty, true she's an old lady, but that's not the right way to earn money I thought. Age doesn't warren the rights of people to do bad things. "Entrepreneurship" endeavors like selling textbooks and souvenirs and getting the sympathy of the tourists by saying "please buy from me so I can study" (I succumbed to that) are definitely much better off than "cheating" in the name of religion gravitated by conducting such an act in front of a religious statue!

There are 3 layers of Bayon - The first is the open area, where piles of stone are scattered around the complex; the second is a inner maze, with many of the stairways leading to the top layer blocked off by signages saying the stairway is meant for descend. I believe there were 4 stairways (as I mentioned, like a cubish compound).

However, it seemed that whichever stairway we went to, were all leading down. Confusing it was extremely, especially since you'll have to conquer the maze like route from 1 stairway to another, passing through bits of dark regions.

We finally decided to go against the flow when a "guard" wasn't located at a stairway and my gosh. The 3rd and final layer, is an open deck, where all the smiling Buddha faces greet you. There, all the tourists suddenly pop out from nowhere. While we were stuck in the 2nd layered maze, there wasn't many tourists. But at the 3rd layer, the area was overflowing with tons of them!

Every turn of a head, every angle possible that you can position your body to, will surely meet one of the smiling faces. It was indeed the "light" at the end of the "tunnel". Being at the top layer really felt so good that we spent a great deal of time just walking around, and chilling out with the other tourists. There, there's also a group of locals dressed in costumes for phototaking. My dear thought the bunch of them, especially one particular lady liked super grumpy. She looked so tormented with every photo she took. At least she had the guts to show it, the other luckier ones were merely hiding behind masks. ;p That scene, is also a postcard picture.

Another postcard picture was one where you can see 3 aligned faces of the Buddha by standing at a single point. It wasn't difficult to find, if you even bother looking for it.

But for us, we chanced upon it when we saw a tourist telling another to stand at a specific spot. I was wondering why they were all standing at a single point snapping shots... and when I did so myself... Ah, cos of 3 aligned smiling Buddha faces!! We didn't know it was a famous shot until we saw such a shot on postcards at souvenir places.

One interesting point to take note is that Cambodia's temples give you lotsa opportunities to take framed shots, I mean literally. There's countless "window frame" stone like structures seen at many temple complexes. What was initially a novelty turned into plain ordinary with each stop we took (cos frame shots doesn't really capture and complement the structures around).

We also reached a spot during our descend back to the 2nd layer, where there were lotsa flat stones piled up on each other. Reminded me of a stone puzzle game I used to play on my iPhone. Don't think they were puzzles though, maybe someone did that and everyone else followed suit. That was the first, but not the only, spot where one can see the congregation of such "artworks". I was, however, rather disturbed because at every such spot, I realised there weren't flat stones lying around. But before I let my imagination run wild, I simply dismissed that oddity with the explanation that there used to be, just that all of them were used up for the artworks. And I rather leave it as that.

Made our way to our next stop, Baphuon. Do note that at that point of time, we had no idea (maybe my dear did), at least I had no idea where I was going. I just walked towards the structures which were more outstanding. Along the way, there was a huge Buddha sitting snugly under a cosy shrine, with the locals sitting around as well.

You can't miss Baphuon, it's like a Kungfu Panda high security prison. The one where Tai Lung (evil villainous snow leopard) was held captive in. Also kinda reminded me of a classic scene in a lot of fantasy movies like Lord of the Rings and Clash of the Titans. Basically, it consists of a huge long pathway/bridge erected on a solid ground leading to a temple.

When we were walking the bridge, it felt so good to be so vulnerable yet so mighty at the same time, a feeling one can only experience by walking down the path. There's no railings, or protection along the bridge, expect lotsa settings like that, cos Angkor temple complexes is meant for both risk adverse and the risk takers. There's no strings attached, some ulu-fied temple complexes have no boundaries, if you dare to climb it/wonder off to the outer edges, you can just do that with not a care in the world. I wouldn't be surprised that accidents, or even fatalities have occurred before.

It was at Baphuon, that we came face to face with one of the most memorable experience of Angkor temples, the death-defying steep steps. Reaching heights of 15cm tall, with step widths of less than 10cm (less than a full length feet), climbing aids only at the sides, uneven or even broken steps midway, forcing you to change your course of ascend from one side to another, having to sidewalk a good 1.5 metres of length without any support... Woohoo!! For those who like thrills and have no fear of heights, it's quite exciting. But for those who hate thrills, have fear of heights and falling, then it's your worst nightmare.

There's no first aid personnel on standby. Should you fall, you'll have to grit your teeth, move on, and wish for the best because guidebooks all say one thing, unless utterly necessary, you wouldn't want to seek medical treatment in Cambodia.

It's no exaggeration and the daunts will only give you a more accurate depiction of the possible dangers of exploring such places. But fear not, slow and steady wins the race, climb slow and careful, keep your mind focused at all times, never be waivered by strong gusts of wind and you'll surely be fine. =)

In Baphuon, we came across the one and only site which has what seemed like International chess pieces aligned together. I've no idea what they're used for, prolly should have sticked around long enough for a group with a guide to be close to us. However, the sun was blazing hot so everyone stayed in the shelter, only 2 clowns were happily taking photos of the "chess pieces".

We also saw elephants structures at different levels of the temple. In total you could climb 3 steep flights of stairs up, which by logic, would be around 4 storey's high? At each story, at the four corners, there an elephant facing outwards (so you get to see it's bottoms at each level, cool ain't it?). By now if you haven't already observed, elephants are possibly a sacred animal in Cambodia (even though I wonder why the locals "torture" it to ferry tourists around).

At the top, you'll see the first signs of different colored rocks (reddish-brown). I assume it's the type of rocks used, which we would soon see elsewhere as well, but these rocks always seem to add that little "sparkle" to the structure somehow. It's a little stone hill leading to a stonehenge like portal made up of window-framed structures. However, access is denied so I can't really tell you what at the peak of Baphuon. From the looks of it, some ancient witch must have conducted some sacrificial or rituals up there. Of course, that's an absurd explanation.

I think a more reasonable explanation would be to tell/predict time perhaps?

Baphuon compound was more spacious and had lesser tourists around. So it's a possible good chill out place.

Proceeded to the Royal Palace area and Sras Srei (both of which we only did a quickie because it didn't look like anything much). Oh, if you're wondering, the Royal Palace area has this structure Phimeanakas, and is like another stone structure with stairs leading up, just that it's more blockish, and for Sras Srei, it's a small pond near to the Palace area. We didn't really check out the "actual" Royal Palace area (if there even is an actual one because looking at the map, it looks like it's just a empty square).

The entire Royal Palace area is surrounded by a stone wall, but there are little holes which would allow you to take "shortcuts" instead of having to walk one big round. After which, we carried on to the Terrace of the Elephants. There, we didn't even know it was the Terrace of the Elephants, we thought it was just an exit point for the Palace area.

So we wondered off to the opposite side of the road, where there were many solitary-like structures which we mistook to be the "Elephants" from the way they looked and the way weeds stuck out like hair on the structure, animating them. However, there's only a few routes you can take to the structures because they were surrounded by ankle deep waters or mud.

The structures, we later know them to be Prasats Suor Prat, are actually burial grounds. They line both sides of the road and the structures on both sides looked slightly different, with one side looking older and duller, while the other newer and more enticing. That goes without saying which side we went for.

It was there, where I was distracted by a view that I injured myself cos I was wearing flip flops then. As a matter of fact, when I injured myself, I had this ominous feeling about that place (though at that time thought them to be the "innocent" Terrace of the Elephants). Didn't wanna freak my dear out so I kept mum. There was like only 1 other tourist there. The rest were all locals chilling out just outside the structures, where they managed to find shady spots under the trees and most of them were napping away.

There's really nothing inside, so if unnecessary, I don't recommend checking them upclose cos the distant view was good enough.

We returned to our Tuk Tuk driver, after being approached by a tiny girl (seems like all the children there are all very small in size) asking us to buy drinks from her. Stopped by one of the Gates of Angkor to take photos.

We thought there was only one, but as the trip progressed due to the places we traveled, we realised there's quite a handful (3 I saw so far) of such "Gates". Got the name of them from postcards, and these gates are simply entrance-like bridges, which would always be lined with stone figures (actually Gods) carrying Balustrade-like (a term they call the ledges of the temples) structures towards a common destination, ironically away from the main gate.

The main gate has a smiling Buddha face on both sides. And some gates are more complete than the others (heads of Gods were intact), unfortunately the one we took photos of were not so complete.

Kim stopped by an eating place, a roadside stall near Ta Prohm which according to him is set up by his friend. There, we treated him (unknowingly) to a plate of delicious fried rice (costs $6 per plate) and my dear ate Amok (sweet curry-like dish). My dear was singing praises of the $4 dish served in a coconut about it being one of the best Amoks in Cambodia in the days to come. However, due to all this pulling of strings, and considering the food there wasn't cheap even though it's considered roadside stall, I'm still pissed about it.

Subjectively, I didn't like the place. But objectively, yes, the food was good. Another point you'll have to take note, I think I mentioned it somewhere in my previous post is that expect your food to take "forever" to come. You can see it as freshness, or you can see it as budgeting, since they don't wanna waste the food and only cook it when necessary. So don't wait till you're starving before finding food for your tummy if not you'll be crawling over during your expedition in Angkor.

Anyways, Ta Prohm was over-rated. The way they market it is that it's where the movie Tomb Raider was filmed. After being there, I can only doubt the rationality of the director in choosing it as it's filming location. I'm not sure if only bits were taken there, or that the entire movie was filmed there (believe it to be the former and it was just bogus marketing) but it sure was a letdown.

We were greeted by a stinky green mash of swamp-like waters, with restoration works cordoning a good 1/5 of the complex, and stones blocking most paths, I can't see what's there to like about this place (Actually there was, how nature fused with one of humans' greatest build). My dear, on the other hand, thought it was the most "ruin-like" temple so far so she kinda liked it. Fallen stones, stinking smell, limited access, lousy view due to restoration works, the only saving grace of it was the way the trees seemed to inhabit the temple, actually, like a reign over it.

Welcome to the planet of the trees, where huge-trunked trees have driven their roots into and around the stone structures. It's supposed to be what's unique over at Ta Prohm. At that point of time, it did seem rather different, but the next few days actually showed me that there were nicer "tree-infestations" around. But still, Ta Prohm was the only one with the largest number of "tree-fusions".

There are dark corners over there as well, and a local guy was trying to "con" tourists into following him up to a less frequented part of the temple where one will get to climb up to the top of Ta Prohm and the view, according to the local "was very nice and beautiful".

A load of bullcrap. I didn't doubt the view, but why do I need him to "usher" me up? I'm sure a tip-face awaits after... so... I rejected him, not upright though. As I mentioned, I was careful not to offend them since I'm sure the locals have lotsa connections around. ARRGHGH!!! Felt so insecure over there.

Quickly tried to "drag" my awe-stricken dear away from the spot using my invisible false sense of urgency but think she didn't quite get it... (=^.^=)

Newaz, we reached what seemed like the centre of the jungle temple where two massive trees stood majesty in the open space. Didn't take us more than 50 steps to reach the other end of the temple, the other exit/entrance. So if you think about it, perhaps the open space wasn't that centre afterall.

We had to make our back from where we came from cos our Tuk Tuk driver was over on the other side and on our way back, we surprisingly saw a few other friendly giants. This time, they received better recognition, especially one tree which even had a photo-taking platform setup just for it.

On the other side of the structure (the tree was growing over the structure) the roots stretched to such great lengths it was quite the impressive sight. One would feel so tiny in comparison to the big white, friendly giant.

Our last stop, based on the itinerary was Phnom Bakheng (a stone structure on top of a hill), where we would witness Cambodia's sunset in all its glory.

Before before that, when Kim stopped us at the base of the hill, we backtracked a little because we wanted to check out this other temple by the name of Baksei Cham Krong. Yup, the name's a little hilarious, like Baksai Chum, Wrong. But jokes aside, when we got there, there was a couple of elephants heading our way. The reason for me saying this is that while Kim told us a day later that the elephant rides were only restricted to Angkor Thom region, we realised that the elephants actually do also go around the Phnom Bakheng region (there's a track for elephants to climb up the hill) and I believe the descending route will be to pass by Baksei.

Anyways, Baksei is really unchartered territory. There's no one to check your pass (unlike in Angkor Wat, Bayon and Baphuon; don't think they did in Ta Prohm) and it's really quite dangerous over there. There's an extremely long flight of steps leading to the top and even for me, for once, didn't feel it was worth it and safe to go up. We checked out a 3 couples climbing up the steps before heading to our intended last stop, Phnom Bakheng.

Phnom Bakheng and Baksei Cham Krong were only a stone's throw away (finally a scenario where it's more than apt to use such a proverb) from each other and they were both situated at the main entrance of the Angkor temple (Ie. near to the ticket counter).

Walking up Phnom Bakheng was like climbing Bukit Timah Hill, with a more even pathway and it kinda reminded me of Taiwan's Erzhiping Trail (which we checked out on our second trip to Taiwan - Not recorded in my previous Taiwan post). They're similar in the sense that it's a constant walk up a gentle slope, fairly leveled ground leading to one "ultimate" attraction at the end. Both ascends will take you around 10-15mins, with Taiwan's Erzhiping Trail slightly farther.

When we reached the summit, or near the summit, we had to climb yet another scary flight of steps up to a squarish stone compound. It was there where we chilled out for an hour, in wait for the much awaited sunset. There were many tourists all there for that very purpose. Sitting around, talking cock, taking photos etc. We couldn't find a good seat, so we seat near the bottom of a raised platform, with the sauna-like rocks emitting heat from our backs. It wasn't therapeutic, but wasn't that hot nonetheless so we weren't too bother by it.

When the time finally came, moment clearly portrayed by other tourists from the none-stop taking of photos, we too hurried into the mini-crowd and started snapping. God-knows what I was snapping, quite frankly, the sunset was like any other in Singapore, maybe even worst. There's really nothing to much see initially, since the Sun was hiding behind a boat of clouds.

Then the rays started to shine through the little holes between the clouds and that was, that was... the sub-climax of the sunset experience. No, it wasn't priceless, it was just better than whatever we saw so far. Such a mood damper.

When the skies started getting dark, everyone started to make their way down the steep stairs. THAT was the climax of the sunset experience. Priceless. My dear had this slight phobia and theory about how we shouldn't be squeezing to get down like everyone else because of the dominos effect. It would be fine if we were on top, but it would get more intimidating if we were below. Me on the other hand, thought it would be somewhat fun to feel that exhilaration of a possible human dominoes.

It was a long tedious day for us. Covering that much ground in a single day, with all that physical (climbs) and emotional (awe) activity going on, we still didn't give ourselves the much deserved break because we wanted to check out the night life of Siem Reap.

Went to pub street, ate a scrumptious meal of a hybrid of a hot plate/hot pot for just $4. Also

munched our way to the local banana chocolate pancake which only costs about 3,000 Riels ($0.75). It's actually sliced bananas and Milo powder on Roti Prata, topped with a generous portion of condensed milk before being wrapped up. Thought there was too much condensed milk, was extremely messy to eat but overall, tasted real good. You can get really cheap and good food over at Pub Street.

We just kept walking to the brightly litted parts and before we knew it, we were at Noon Night Market where there were lotsa massage parlours around. They can go as low as $3 (standard price over there due to competition) for a 40 min foot, and complimentary shoulder and neck message. The focus will be on the feet, about a good 30 mins and 10 mins for the shoulders and neck/head.

There's a lot of fish spas over there, and reading a recent article about how there's a possibility of the spread of diseases, especially even AIDS, we were too paranoid to try them out. They were cheap alright, but I didn't really register the prices. But thought it wasn't worth it regardless of the cost. At least massages don't require that kind of contact. However, many Caucasians were actually fond of doing the fish spas (which kinda made it look safe).

Less than 100 meters away we were connected to Angkor Night Market. Angkor Night Market was one of the best places to chill out in Siem Reap. 1. Because it's a night market, 2. Because it's a shop-for-souvenir bargain place, 3. There's even a massage place in there and 4. Because the bars there sell cheap alcohol. As a matter of fact, the alcohol in Cambodia is "dirt cheap". Mind the language, they are in no way dirty, but comparing their prices to Singapore's alcohol, dirt cheap is the best comparison I can use. A mug of beer cost $0.5o to a $1 max. Cocktails costs $1.50-2 each (dependent on happy hours). Imagine that! Singaporeans risk death by alcohol poisoning over there!

There you can literally drink till you drop without burning a hole in your pockets! And the best part of it, though some less pubish stalls also serve cocktails, the cocktails at the pubs over in Angkor Night Market are pretty classy. Ie. Doesn't feel cheap or taste awful. There's even a pool table where you can play pool for free! And because no one else plays that, the pool table's basically yours! We know of it, been there, done that because on our last night during our first visit to Siem Reap (Day 4), we chilled out over there!

But not that night. We were quite worn out by with all the additional walking and headed back to our Villa not long after. Took the long way back, which was about 10 minutes through the more lit-up roads because we couldn't figure out the shortcut back to the Villa Kim was telling us about.

Long but extremely productive, possibly our most productive day during our trip there in Cambodia.