Siem Reap

Friday, March 27th

Sunrise over Angkor Wat - 4:30am rise, 5:00am pick-up, 6:00am sunrise, tourists behaving badly...

Unfortunately, it wasn't a good start to the day for me - last night's Tequila Sunrise and dinner re-appeared about 2:00am, and the remainder was left beside a green waste bin inside the Angkor Wat grounds. Luckily it was till dark, so not so public, although one western girl decided to sit nearby while I was being sick. Perhaps she was in the queue?

Our guide had taken us to a spot near a small lake as the best place to see the sun rise over the temple. All the other guides had given their clients the same advice. We soon realised that the "money" shot was supposed to be the reflection in the lake - too bad in contained water lilies, bugs and rubbish, so that wasn't going to happen.

We were starting to think the whole thing would be a flop, especially since there were clouds to the east and the sun wasn't quite behind the temple anyway - at least from where we stood.

Other people had their own vantage points - at least they had a seat.

We decided to leave, not least because I still wasn't 100%.

On the way out we realised that the best view was from the other (south) side of the causeway. After all, it was about equinox time so the sun would rise slightly to the north of the temple. Hmmm - where is the equator again? I'll have to check.

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Sure enough, we found a nice location just as the sun broke through the clouds. I don't know what those people down by the lake are doing right now.

And if you want the real "money" shot - use your telephoto lens at cut out the crowds.

We had earlier seen this balloon (to the west) but I wasn't convinced it was a balloon, given its shape. It turns out it is a tethered (helium?) balloon that takes paying passengers up a few hundred meters to see the sun rise. I hope they're on the right side of the axis.

I lost the last of my dinner back at the hotel, had a short nap, and then felt like eating, so we had a late breakfast. We cancelled the morning's activities and asked the guide and driver to return around 1:00pm. After another couple of naps we headed out of town to visit a couple more temples.

The first is about 30km from Siem Reap along a country road, and it's called Banteay Srey - citadel of women. It's smallish, but has some very fine carvings.

And a lot of red dust.

Someone should have got a level.

We though we would be alone, but the site is still very popular among tourists, many of whom make the trip by tuk-tuk - slower than by car, and more uncomfortable. It took us 45 minutes to get here, so they would have required over an hour in each direction.

Exquisite Hindu themed reliefs.

And here's another tourist that kept getting in the way.

Does it look as hot as it was?

On the way back we passed a market selling the local specialty - palm sugar. That cauldron was quite hot, and despite the temperature to girl is still over-dressed, at least by my standards.

I originally thought this was macadamia nuts and peanut butter, but it's actually "refined" palm sugar in "blob" and "paste" forms. Prue bought some, but had no intention of eating it. Doctor's orders were that I couldn't have any either.

As everywhere else, if one person is doing it, everybody is doing it. Note the coconut tree with "ladder" in the background.

And immediately across the road, palm trees with the fruit from which they make the sugar.

Closer to Siem Reap on the way back we visited another site - Banteay Samre (citadel of the farmer).

This site dates from the same period as the other one - the 10th century, both well before Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom.

It's of a similar size and design to Banteay Srey, but the reliefs not quite as intricate.

Just checking for "level".

One of the symbols often seen in Hindu architecture is the lingam (a phallic shaped stone) inside a yoni (a vagina shaped stone). Water poured over the lingam and running off the yoni is reputedly holey water.

All the lingam appear to have disappeared over the centuries - boys will be boys.

Sometimes it just isn't obvious to some tourists.

Windows always seemed to be made with cylindrical stone columns - I reckon once they mastered making these, they just couldn't stop themselves.

Pretty much the whole way from Siem Reap to these two temples passed by small, single family fields, currently very dry and unused. It is the dry season, after all. Most of the houses are quite basic, and it's clear that this is still a very poor country.

In one small area there was rice growing, and our guide explained that this area was lower than the rest of the countryside and so it had enough water to produce three crops per year.

Houses are built on stilts, not to make them cooled (apparently) but to be closer to heaven...

Grass is burned to prepare for the next rice crop when the rains come in May/June. They do have to address their smoke issue though.

We never ate dinner in our hotel (pictured), although it did make itself very attractive. Too bad about the nearby street traffic.

We had a G&T at a Pub Street bar and watched this enterprising, and hygienic, woman make fresh juices in a blender until she was moved on by the local "police". We're not sure whether it was time, or whether she was illegally parked all the time. The van is actually a sidecar to the small motorbike on which she is sitting.

We both felt like a pizza, me for obvious reasons, and we chose a balcony seat to watch the Pub Street crowds go by. There was a small local traditional music group just in front, but it eventually became repetitive and then clashed badly with the loud live music in the bar opposite - time to go to bed.
 

And leave the hundreds of geckos to get on with their lives.