The Kingdom of Cambodia

Young and old

After a surprisingly pleasant flight on Vietnam Airlines, we touched down in Cambodia. The stewardesses, who spoke nearly understandable English, served up biscuits, the ever present cup of pre-sealed water and a bun so tightly wrapped in plastic that it was impossible even to guess how old it was.

Another pleasant surprise was the airport in Siem Reap. It was excellent. In fact, it was so efficient that in less than 20 minutes of the plane's wheels screeching onto the runway, we had both entered the terminal, applied, paid and received Visas, picked up our luggage, passed through customs and were sitting happily in the back seat of an air conditioned taxi heading into town. This airport is so well thought out that it would put any European airport to shame. Guess when there's so much money coming from tourism (this is the airport serving Angkor Wat, Cambodia's number one attraction) you make sure it works well.


Stone face

Our cab driver, an irritatingly pushy man in his forties, was our first unfortunate indication of the apparently common Cambodian trait of stubborn salesmanship. He was so hellbent on not taking no for an answer, that when we declined booking him as our driver for the next few days, he followed us up into our hostel and sat in the lounge for hours, sulking like a little school boy.

Later, in the evening, after we watched the 'Killing Fields' in our hotel room, we had our first visit to Angkor Wat, the real reason why we are here. We took a tuk tuk to the site, some 8 kilometers out of town, to watch the sunset at Phnom Bakheng, one of the myriad of temples.

But the closer we got to the actual site the more we realized the immense popularity of it all. In a real life human lemming train of hundreds of Japanese tour groups, each one with its own leader and unique recognizable flag, we shuffled, elbowed and clawed our way up through a well trodden forest path. A community music group of Cambodian land mine victims serenaded us with very out of tune musical numbers, their artificial limbs lined up in order to persuade visitors buy CDs.


Sunset crowds

Once we could see the impressive temple we clambered up the ancient, ridiculously steep stairs, alongside thousands of other sunset pilgrims. It was quite the sight. On the top of this 9th century landmark, amongst loose stones and unbelievably dangerous stone structures, was a sea of middle aged Asian tourists fighting to get their shot of the sunset. We were nearly more fascinated by the spectacle of the pilgrims than the marvel of the temple itself.

When we descended to the dusty car parks, a long line of vendors ambushed us in that pushy Cambodian way - to try their luck in flogging postcards, roasted nuts and inflatable power rangers.

The next day we headed out, bed-headed and foggy-eyed, at 5am, in an attempt to see sunrise at Angkor Wat - the grand daddy of the temples. It's the most famous of them all (it even appears on the Cambodian flag), and for good reason too.


Ankor Wat at sunrise

Amongst massive awe-inspiring stone towers, pillared walkways and an endless number of intricately hand carved mural galleries, there is an unbelievable maze of steep stairs, corridors and spectacular fortifications.

It was originally a Hindu temple, but since a long time ago is dedicated to Buddhism. According to some it mirrors the constellation of 'Draco' (like the Pyramids mirror 'Orion's Belt'), bringing even more intrigue to the place. The fact that there are thousands of bats living in the dark roofs, making Gollum-like gross sounds, makes it even more ominous.

After this we visited several of the other temples, almost all equally amazing. It seems a succession of Khmer Kings all wanted to leave their mark and to build a bigger meaner temple than the last guy.


Revenge of the jungle

It's clear to see how the Khmer civilization was once a super power in the region. But also very sad to see how today, a thousand years later, it has fallen from grace and lies mainly in disrepair.

Sure, there are restoration projects on the go (like Luang Prabang Angkor Wat is a UNESCO Heritage site), there are scaffoldings here and there, and a few roofed photo boards showing before and after pictures. But almost all temples have ugly, recent graffiti saying things like 'Kevin from Minnesota, 2004', 'Bollocks' and 'Raj was here'. If only the people in charge would complement some of the hundreds of ticket staff (it costs $20/day) with a few on site guards, then perhaps people would have a bit more respect.


Blessing the girls

The temples of Angkor Wat have survived the rise and fall of the empire that built them, plus a number of horrendous wars, and even the destructive powers of the Khmer Rouge. But today it faces the toughest challenge yet - the flip flop of the modern tourist. Like us, everyone who comes here must leave with a feeling of great awe and pity.

Tomorrow we leave Siem Reap and Angkor Wat, to go to Phnom Penh, once again rushing out of a place where one could happily spend years exploring. On the other hand, if we hadn't rushed from the last place then we wouldn't have had time to see this. And this was definitely worth it.


Hello Moto