Siem Reap

We had a smooth flight from the south coast of Cambodia on Wednesday up to Siem Reap. It was the smallest plane I've ever been on and Will thinks he's only been on a smaller one in the Caribbean islands as a child. As we looked out of our plane window, we were both surprised by how flat the land is around Siem Reap. I hoped we might be able to spot Angkor Wat, as there were no mountains blocking the view, but it turns out we flew in from the wrong direction! After a 40 min taxi from the airport to the city, we checked in to our hotel and went out to find dinner and a launderette. We were successful on the dinner front, but no launderettes in the area, instead we decide to use one of the many washing services and we paid a local lady to wash and dry our laundry for us. Beats having to do it ourselves!

For our first full day in Siem Reap we were keen to head to the main attraction of the area: Angkor Wat. We joined a tour, which took us to the ancient city of Angkor Thom first, where we learned about it's history and stopped at the south gate, our guide pointing out the different symbols in the architecture. Then we walked around several of the city's temples and even a terrace, where they used to watch elephant fighting from! After lunch at a local restaurant and a palm cake for dessert, we were taken to Ta Prohm temple, whose structures have been left in the same state as when the French  found them, with trees growing out of the cracks and crevices. In contrast to the other temples, which have had their trees removed and the brickwork restored, Ta Prohm temple still has vegetation growing out of the crumbling stones. It was also the location of a Tomb Raider film, which our guide told us several times throughout the day. We think he's a bit of an Angelina Jolie fan, as he also told us lots of other information about her and how she helped clean up landmines in Cambodia after filming there. 

Then it was time for the highlight of the day, Angkor Wat! We visited later in the day as our tour guide had assured us it would be practically empty at that time and he was right. There were only and handful of people and we explored and climbed up to the central part of the temple. The temple lives up to its name of being the largest religious monument in the world. We were amazed at the size of the building, but we were sadden by how much of it's former glory was lost, thanks to thieves. There was no sign of the gold leaf that had previously coated all surfaces and several statue's heads had been removed. It was a thoroughly interesting day, learning about the ancient city, it's inhabitants and their king and was definitely worth adding Siem Reap to our itinerary.

On Friday we visited a floating village on the Tonle Sap lake. As we're here during the hot season, the lake water level was low and when we arrived at the village we were surprised to see that there was no sign of water at all. The lake edge was a few hundred meters away, leaving the village completely dry. The stilt houses looked odd without the water, with the buildings 5-6m up in the air. But we were able to walk through the village and really appreciate how high the water level rises during the rainy season from the ground. After we'd met some local children in their English lesson, we got a boat out onto the lake where we had drinks at a floating restaurant. We relaxed on the terrace roof and watched the sun set as best we could through the cloudy sky. Then it was back to our tour bus and onward to Siem Reap for dinner.

Sunday's activity was a trip to see the 1000 Lingas and the Kulen waterfall. We took a tour bus to the river, where the Lingas are carved. We had learned previously that the Linga is the male element of a stone symbol used in the Hindu prayer process. You pour water over the Linga, it collects in the Yoni, the female part, which transforms it into holy water. The 1000 Lingas are carved into the river bed stone and the river water is therefore considered holy by the local people. When we visited, the water was fairly shallow and we could see lots of the carvings, but apparently most tourists miss out because they visit just after the rainy season, when the water levels are high. Next we went to a local temple where we got to see a Linga being used and we had the option to be blessed using the water collected in the Yoni. The final stop of the tour was at the Kulen waterfall, where we took off our shoes and socks and hopped between the rocks at the bottom, until we had found a good perch to sit and admire the falling water. We enjoyed people watching, as there were lots of local families going for a dip and even a few monks! Then it was back on the tour bus for a lengthy drive back to Siem Reap.