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I had trouble sleeping, waking up 5 times in the night. I finally woke up at 4:30 am for good. I had a shower. The water is lukewarm at best. A bit bracing but it helped me wake up. The breakfast buffet at the hotel is quite a spread. Omelet bar, fruits, breads, bacon, ham, hash browns, sausage, Asian foods, yogurt bar, etc. Lots of middle aged to older white people dressed in quick dry ‘safari’ clothes (like us). We must be in the right place. There are lots of Brits (as always).
We were getting ready to go out and put our stuff in the room safe and it locked but it wouldn’t open. We were afraid that our stuff (like passports) was gone for good. But Marion called maintenance and it turned out to be a battery issue and all was well. (And demonstrated what I always thought was true that the hotel knows how to open the safe, but presumably not housekeeping.)
We went to the store next door for some water. Two bottles, 75 cents or thereabouts. *That’s* what water should cost. I mean after all, it’s just water. A very nice woman runs the place. Not big on English but that’s ok. We came back multiple times during our stay.
We decided to go see the temples today. It seemed like the tour was going to short shrift us on it. It probably was not the case but we’re here and why take chances? I talked to the concierge about how to see it. We can go by tuk-tuk or car. I decided on the tuk-tuk. It’s more fun (and cheaper). (In hindsight, the car would have had A/C. That would have been nice.) We could do the ‘small tour’ of primary temples or the ‘big tour’ of others. After some discussion I realized it was more the size of the road loop, not the length or scope of the tour, but it took a bit of discussion before that was clear. The small tour was the stuff we were going to see. But since it seemed like we might not see it much, I was still thinking we should do it. But ultimately it made sense to see the stuff we wouldn’t see on the main tour. So we took the other one (the big tour). It turned out to be ruins of other ‘less important’ temples. But it was a good intro to the area and a nice prelude to the ‘big stuff’. And in the end I liked the ones we saw better than the main ones because they were smaller and more ‘accessible’ (in the being able to take them in sense). $20 for ‘all day’ for both of us. You can’t beat the price.
The roads are terrible. But not as bad as Africa. Potholes and areas of dirt. Tuk-tuks have no suspension so it’s a bone rattling ride at times. The driver beeps at everyone to keep them from running into us. That turns out to be the standard in both Cambodia and Vietnam. There are no rules of the road other than don’t hit anybody. People drive everywhere (including the sidewalks). There are few traffic lights and they’re mostly suggestions anyway. So people beep as they come up to you so you know they are there. So the beeping is constant, but effective.
We made 5 temple stops. It’s very hot and muggy. Our first stop was at what looked like a construction site that turned out to be where you buy tickets. First question for us, do we get a 1-day pass or 3-day pass? Will we come back tomorrow? If so, the 3-day pass is cheaper (even for 2 days). But we decided against it. How much temple looking can you really do? We’d save $12 if we came back or lose $30 if we get the 3-day pass and don’t go. We made the right call. After a long hot day, plus another day and a half planned with the tour, we saw all the temples we needed to see.
The drive into the area was a little ‘slice of life’. Or maybe not. It was hard to tell. The road was lined with vendor stands. We stopped at one and I’m thinking ‘ok, a relative he wants us to buy something from’. But no, he needs gas. Gas? How? Turns out the plastic bottles full of what we thought was apple juice or something is really gasoline. It’s much cheaper out here on the road the driver says. I asked him later where they got gas that they could sell cheaper. It turns out there’s no tax (either because legally there’s not when you’re out of the city or illegally and who’s gonna know. And quality may not be the best.) But I still don’t know where they get it. Obviously not from the gas stations in the city. The vendor was an old lady with minimal teeth but a happy smile. Marion bought a water from her (for 25 cents!)
There are lots of hammocks, tied to trees or whatever. It’s the recliner of choice around here. But it wasn’t clear if they lived there or not. They seemed ‘well established’ in their spots. But I guess if you’re going to sit out in the heat all day…
Our first stop is Pre Rup. The place is impressive even in ‘ruins’. It looks like a movie set. There are three big towers and a platform at the top reached by very steep stairs. There’s a gauntlet of people selling things (there and everywhere else). Silks and paintings and a book of the temples (which we probably should have bought). It’s like Zanzibar or Puerto Vallarta. They won’t take no for an answer. No, no, no. “Maybe on the way out”? Please leave me alone… We employed the ‘Sal finger wag’ to good effect (a trick Marion’s Dad had taught us in Puerto Vallarta). I sweated completely through my shirt and pants at the first stop. It’s HOT out there.
My first thought as an engineer is, I wonder where all the stones came from. There are a *lot* and the area is low and wet. There are no mountains or anything. (Turns out there are mountains 50km away and the stones were brought by river or elephant). The rock stairs were a little dicey but I had to climb to the top. Steep, taller than normal stairs, and no railing. It was actually scarier coming down. There were a series of tall towers and a platform at the top. No railings. Just signs that said ‘Be Careful’ which seemed like sound advice. There were only a few idiot selfie takers. But no one backed off the platform taking one (at least while we were there but I’ll bet it’s happened, otherwise there wouldn’t be a sign).
Our second stop was East Mabon. It was similar in design to the first place but a bit smaller and the stone was different. There were elephant statues at the corners that we liked. It had a platform and a central temple. We climbed around for a while checking it out. By now I’m drenched in sweat having already sweated through everything at the first temple. As we came down and walked back towards the tuk-tuk, a woman by the vendor stands called to me. She was selling water and it was like finding an oasis in the desert. I thought I was going to pass out. I staggered over to her and gratefully paid under a dollar for a bottle of water (I could get used to this). I asked her for a Kleenex to wipe the sweat and she said ‘take a lot’ (such nice people these Cambodians). I need to remember a hand towel next time.
The third stop was Ta Som. Marion befriended a cat there with some leftover fish sticks from breakfast. We’re not supposed to feed them but she can’t help it. He liked it and wanted more but we couldn’t without drawing attention. But he followed us for a while. This temple was small. I liked it a lot. Strangler figs growing on the walls looked like they were attacking. But by now things are starting to look alike. The rubble was interesting in its own way. This one was falling down a lot more than the previous two.
Our fourth stop was Neak Pean. This one was quite different. It was a series of small lakes with shrines in them. We crossed a long wooden walkway across a shallow lake to get there. The lake was quite big. There were many dead trees in it indicating it may not have been there originally but who knows how long ago it showed up. It was a nice change after 3 temples. It needs fountains though. The water is brackish and dirty looking. But that would require pumps and in the 11th or 12th century, there really weren’t too many. There are fish in it though. Marion, our expert nature spotter, found some. Also dragonflies in abundance. On the walkway a small band was playing with a ‘Victim of land mine’ sign out front. One player is missing a leg. That’s one of the sad legacies in Cambodia. There are millions of land mines and every year some poor farmer or someone digs and hits one and loses a leg or worse. It’s very sad.
There were lots of idiot selfie/picture takers on the gangway. We got stuck behind one and we were patient for first two but bullied past when it was clear they were going to stop every 5 feet for another one. I thought about accidentally bumping them into the lake but thought better of it. We really do want to avoid Cambodian jail.
Our last stop was Preah Khan. It’s very big. Our driver told us it was the biggest of the five but we didn’t really grasp how big. He had sent us in and said he’d meet us outside the west entrance. Which sounded reasonable as we headed out but then we realized we didn’t really know which way we were headed. That became interesting later.
The temple was laid out like a cross. We walked the long way as it turned out. It seemed like it would never end. Room after room. At this point we’d kind of like to know the purpose and concept behind the temples and all the rooms. We should have bought the book. Towards the end, it started to get mossy. A change of climate from one end to the other? How big is this place? We reached the end where we were presented with a road into the woods. So, is this the west entrance? Should we head down the road? We have no way to contact the driver and it’s a long walk back to the hotel. Hmm. Well, based on the position of the sun and some innate sense, it seemed pretty clear we’ve just walked north/south so heading down the path out seems like a bad idea. But did anyone see a turn back there? Marion hadn’t. I vaguely remembered one but wasn’t sure. We’re tired, it’s hot, we’re sweating like maniacs. Do we go back or forward? Well, back seemed like the better answer so we did. And lo and behold we found the crossway walk. Whew. We still weren’t really sure until we saw the driver. As we headed out there was a group of French girls walking ahead of us wearing big striped pants/shorts. Very French.
At this place and one other a series of statues were all missing their heads. It was not clear if attackers were making a statement or if after 1000+ years the heads eroded and fell off. But a little bizarre. (We found out later it’s largely the result of relic hunters. They can’t take the whole statue so they take the head.) At the last place it looked like they had tried to replace some. But with new stone it looked very off. Sort of Frankenstein’s monster-ish.
The scope of the area is staggering. And we haven’t seen the ‘main’ stuff yet. The sheer amount of building material alone… It would be nice if they didn’t allow the vendors though. Especially within the temples themselves (although maybe they don’t and they just go in). It’s very annoying to be constantly hounded. They’re reasonably polite at least. After 2 or 3 “no’s” they leave you alone (unlike in Zanzibar where they hounded you down the street) but since there are so many of them the harassment is still constant.
The temples, especially the big ones, have lots of little rooms, walls, doorways, windows and various other spaces. They’re beautiful and eerie and since we didn’t buy the temple book (after multiple opportunities) we didn’t know the significance. It became a joke – what’s this for? I don’t know. Too bad there’s not someplace we could look it up…
By the fifth place we’re very ready to hang it up. It was a nice cooling drive back to the hotel. We saw water buffalo and signs for monkeys but no monkeys. There were random ruins and shrines along the way that just added to the grandeur. There are apparently hundreds of temples and other structures in the area. This was quite a place in its day.
The lukewarm shower is just the right temperature for an overheated body. Maybe it’s by design. Regardless it sure felt good. We had lunch at the hotel. Marion tried Khmer food. She liked it. I didn’t try it. I went for the Chicken Cordon Bleu, which was not great but passable.
We went over to the store for some water and a ramen soup for later. I had a rest (that turned out to be a 2-hour nap) and then down to the pool which is quite nice. We figured out how to get Netflix to work on the TV (with some effort) and watched First They Killed My Father about the Cambodian killing fields. Upbeat… not. But interesting and it turned out to be a good introduction to the areas we would see later. In fact, our guide in Phnom Penh pretty much lived the story.
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