Angkor Wat

After the lazy day we had had after arriving in the country we decided that we needed to get out there and “do” Siem Reap. This would be easily achieved by hiring a tuk-tuk driver for the day and ordering him to take us round the temple complex at Angkor Wat, some 6km north of the town. We had been offered a decent price by the hotel so we accepted and met him outside at 10:00am.

We were greeted by a silver-toothed, friendly-faced tuk-tuk driver, who introduced himself as Mr T. I jest not. We climbed into his tuk-tuk (although it wasn’t really a tuk-tuk, it was a motorbike towing a little carriage) and discussed our route through Angkor Wat. It is spread out over 400 square kilometres and there is no way you can just wander round the place and investigate at your own pace. That is why they offer 1 day, 3 day and 7 day passes, as it is a lot to see in one day and some people (with more time and money than us!) may choose to do it over a number of days so that they don’t get “templed out” as it were. So we purchased our ticket as we entered the park, and Mr T drove us down to the start point.

Mr T and our ride

As we drove along the moat/river we neared the main site, and suddenly, there was the entrance across the river. It was a majestic sight, apart from the obvious fact that there were hundreds of tourists milling around the place. Mr T parked up and ordered us to go and enjoy the site and to meet him back there in the car park in 2 hours. That seemed like a long time, but there was supposedly quite a lot to see, so we jumped out and headed for the entrance.

Approaching the entrance 

It was hot. And I mean HOT. No breeze whatsoever and a blazing sun overhead, even though we had been told there would be some cloud that day, there was none to speak of. As we approached the main site we crossed the river and were blown away even just by the entrance. It was such a distinctive design and architecture, and was very well preserved, with the odd bit of restoration work here and there. As Mr T had implied, there was a lot to see, so we wandered round the outskirts of the main site and saved the central/main bit for last. And it was worth waiting for.

Pretty good, eh?

We climbed up the steep steps to get to the top of the complex and looked out all around us. Amazing. You could see everything and it looked fantastic surrounded by the forest all around. As time was running out we needed to get a move on and headed to a smaller area out the back that the other tourists seemed to not be interested in. We found a small building and a lake, and there was probably a lot more around to see, but we needed to get back to Mr T and his tuk-tuk. The best thing was seeing a huge spider that James very nearly trod on. See below…

This is a life-size picture

We found Mr T no problem and he took us to a place to eat (which I am sure slipped him a few Riel to get us ther) which was pretty over-priced, but only what we expected from being in the biggest tourist trap of the country. We enjoyed the food and left, with our silver-toothed guide taking us to the next set of temples. When we arrived we wandered round at our leisure and agreed to meet up with him after an hour or so. This set of temples had hundreds of faces carved into the huge stone blocks and gave the place an eerie feel all round. There were the usual hawkers all trying to sell you something, and even some small kids trying to get a buck or two from you claiming to be an orphan. Whether they were or not I do not know, but if you give one of them anything a hundred others will come running from out of nowhere.

He got a biiiiiig face!

After the “temple of faces” we saw a few more smaller temples, each one amazing in its own right. There seemed to be a distinct lack of Health & Safety, but it came across as a breath of fresh air compared to what we are used to back home. Soon enough we were with Mr T again and we continued our little journey through the temples and ruins. As part of the deal we were treated to the occasional chilled bottle of water and a lemon wet-wipe, which were very refreshing! We were glad of them as our clothes were becoming increasingly moist out in the blazing sun, especially as we were wearing trousers to show a little bit of respect.

Another cool temple

At one of the temples a little further down the line we came across some indigenous wildlife that I just had to get some pictures of. In Thailand we had come across a decent sized centipede, but here in Cambodia I spotted a massive millipede, like something out of the movies. I got some snaps and then gave it a gentle poke to see if it was still alive. Some local guy came up to us and said to be careful as they bite and are poisonous like a snake. I left it alone after that. I also came across another large spider, which I could not identify, but didn’t fancy getting too close due to the red and black colours on its body. Whilst trying to get a photo of a lake I felt something crawling on my leg. I looked down to see a huge red ant on my calf and managed to flick it off after about 6 flicks (it was a stubborn little blighter). Much to my dismay I realised I was standing in the ants nest and there were more of them charging up my legs. Luckily I didn’t get bitten, but the one I “accidentally” flicked onto James did sink his teeth into him. Apparently insects just love the taste of him.

Don't touch! Poisonous! Too late...

We hit a final temple, which was to be the end of our little journey, and as we walked round and made sure that there were no more red ants around us, we noticed that the skies were darkening. It had been threatening to rain for a couple of hours, and we were half egging it on so that we could cool down. When it did start, it really started. But thankfully we had the temple to shelter in. After 10 minutes we made a dash for it as Mr T would be waiting. Once inside his tuk-tuk he closed the plastic sheeting around us and we felt like royalty.

High Five!

As usual the rain stopped soon afterwards and we parked up to put the sides up and dry off. It was just as the sun was setting and it was a lovely end to the day. When we got back to the hotel we were pretty wiped so we did the usual – shower, food, 50 cent draft beers, and a large Angkor to drink back at the hotel. Lovely stuff.