I got up at 6 on the 28th in preparation for a 7 am departure for the Cambodian border, but we didn't get going until about 8 after picking up tourists at several guesthouses. It took about an hour for our minivan to get through Bangkok's morning traffic and another three hours of travel through the flat, now dry, rice lands east of Bangkok before we reached the Cambodian border at Poipet. There were quite a few people, both tourists and locals, coming and going and it took over an hour and a half to take care of the border formalities. The Thai side was quick, but on the Cambodian side I had to buy a visa (for $20, plus a suspicious 100 baht ($3) fee) and then wait in a long line to be stamped in. The Cambodian side of the border has casinos almost right on the border catering to Thais. I had to deal with Poipet's infamous taxi mafia to get a ride in a share taxi to Battambang. (Almost all the other tourists were heading directly to Siem Reap.) I finally negotiated a $10 fee, probably about twice the real fare, and was soon on my way. We passed first through dry countryside and then through greener areas, filled with banana trees, just before Battambang, Cambodia's second largest city, where we arrived about 4. I checked into a good hotel for $5/night and looked around. The city is on a river and has quite a few attractive old French colonial buildings. I walked along the riverfront and through side streets and had a good dinner. There were a good number of western tourists in that friendly city. I spent an hour or so after dinner sitting in a quiet outdoor street side bar with a guy from London on a pleasant night.
The next morning I walked around town, up the river a bit to the old French Governor's Mansion and eventually to the old train station, which seemed closed for good. Back in 1994, when I first visited Cambodia, you could take a very slow train from Phnom Penh to Battambang and ride for free in the first few carriages because they were the ones most likely to be blown up, or at least derailed, by mines set by the remnants of the Khmer Rouge. Nearby some kids were playing a gambling game with a plastic basin and three dice, using very small bills, worth two and half cents, for their wagers. Two of the older ones hid their faces when I took a photo.
I had a long breakfast and about noon took a tuktuk (a motorcycle with a comfortable open-air carriage attached) on a tour of the countryside. First, we headed just a few miles out of town to a place where you catch the so-called "bamboo train." This mode of transportation began in the early post-Khmer Rouge days when the roads were terrible. The bamboo trains consist of two sets of old train wheels (each set consisting of two wheels linked by an axle). Over these is placed a bamboo platform that hooks onto the axles. Attached to the bamboo platform in a small motor that powers the contraption. Another tourist who was waiting there when I arrived and I set off down the warped, wobbly tracks, with the motor man behind us. You don't go that fast, but it is exciting since you are so low and close to the tracks, somewhat like riding on a cowcatcher, I guess. When you meet a bamboo train coming the other way, which we did several times in our half hour excursion, the one with the lightest load gets pulled off the tracks, first the bamboo platform and motor, then the wheels, and then is reassembled after the heavier load passes. It was great fun. After a half hour stop at a small village, we traveled back the way we had come. The scenery was interesting, with mostly dry rice stubble, but several ponds, one with ducks and one with people fishing with nets and poles.
After the train ride, we headed south to a hill called Phnom Sambeau, about 300 feet above the flat plains. I climbed it and looked around the various temples, some honoring the victims of the Khmer Rouge, with a shrine full of the victims' bones next to it. There were good views over the country from the top. From there we headed to another hill, Phnom Banan, with five Khmer towers on top. I climbed it, too, a climb of only about 250 feet. The towers are in a fairly ruinous state, but the place was peaceful in the late afternoon, with good views. Red "Danger Mines" were posted all around the hillside, restricting you to the safe stairs up and down. These signs were all over Angkor when I first visited it in 1994. I enjoyed traveling in the tuktuk, sort of a fresh air taxi, through the countryside, passing villages and fields. We got back to town about 5:30 or 6, just before nightfall.
The next morning at 7:15 I left on the boat, with maybe 25 passengers, bound for Siem Reap. It felt cold in the early morning as we came down the narrow river, with much activity to be seen along the banks -- washing, fishing, agriculture and villages. About 9 I wised up and sat on the roof, where it was warmer in the sun than in the boat under the roof. I stayed up there until about 11 as we passed through a very narrow stretch of the river, bumping the river bed several times. The wakes of boats caused little fish, only two or three inches in length, to leap out of the water. I saw one land on a small wooden boat tied to the bank and leap around several times until it regained the river and safety. We had a half an hour stop for lunch at a little shop with good rice and chicken and vegetables and then reached a much wider portion of the river, maybe 300 or 400 feet compared to maybe 30 feet at its narrowest earlier on. About 3 we finally reached Tonle Sap, the enormous lake in the middle of Cambodia. We crossed its western end for maybe 45 minutes, with only a faint view of the shoreline to the west and north and no view at all in other directions. We eventually reached a river on the northwest bank, went up it a short distance and docked about 4. A tuktuk took me to Siem Reap, where I checked into the same very nice hotel I had stayed in last year, for only $6/night. I talked to some of the staff there about travel to the outlying temples and had a good dinner. They have excellent Cambodian fish dishes, with garlic, or coconut milk and curry, or pineapple. I was tired, after too many early morning departures (Delhi, Bangkok, Battambang) in the past few days and went to bed about 8:30.
I got up the next morning after 7 and spent a leisurely day. I read my guidebook and planned my itinerary (which has subsequently been revised and is likely to be revised again) and rested. In the late afternoon I took a walk around town, first to the gardens in front of the 1929 Grand Hotel d'Angkor. I went into the hotel and looked around. In the "Celebrity Bar" were photos of Charlie Chaplin (I think), W. Somerset Maugham, and Jackie Kennedy. There were were several of Jackie Kennedy, most with Prince Sihanouk with her taken during her mid 1960's visit to Siem Reap and Angkor. When I first came to Siem Reap in 1994 this hotel was boarded up waiting renovation, which occurred in 1995-1997, according to a plaque. Siem Reap itself wasn't much in 1994. It was so nondescript that I hardly remember it. Now it is filled with fancy hotels and restaurants, a huge chance from 1994. I walked along the river, passing a new, or newly renovated, wat, to the old market area, now in the middle of restaurants and bars and shops catering to tourists. The town seems to be almost completely given over to tourism, but still seems a pleasant place.
The next morning I got up at 5:45 and was biking my way to Angkor by 6:15. I stopped at the guard post to buy a three day pass for $40 and passed Angkor Wat about 6:45. I continued north, going through the monumental old south gate of Angkor Thom, the former Khmer capital city, and reached the Bayon temple, at the center of Angkor Thom, about 7. Angkor Thom covers a huge area, several square kilometers, but all that remains are the walls, gates and the stone religious buildings inside. Everything else, including the royal palace, was made of wood and is gone, with only forest covering the grounds. It was quite enjoyable to pedal through in the early morning, under the giant trees, with monkeys on the roadside. The Bayon is a Buddhist temple at the center of Angkor Thom, with 216 giant, half-smiling faces of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara on its 54 towers. It wasn't very crowded when I first got there and I enjoyed watching the faces get lit up by the rising sun. I spent about two hours there, the last part walking past the great bas-reliefs on the first level. There were huge crowds pouring in when I left at 9.
I biked north to a spot near the Terrace of Elephants and had breakfast and then biked further north, out the north gate of Angkor Thom, to the Preah Khan temple, where I spent a couple of hours looking around. I walked along its outer wall, with few other tourists around, and then through the temple itself. It was midday and hot in the sun, but not bad in the shade of the trees or of the temple. I biked back to the place I had eaten breakfast to get lunch, then biked south past the Bayon and Angkor Thom's south gate to Phnom Bakheng, a hill with a temple on it just south of Angkor Thom. I climbed the hill and then the temple for the views over the countryside. It was a little cloudy, but the views were pretty good. I could see the towers of Angkor Wat to the southeast but I couldn't see any of the ruins of Angkor Thom just to the north. All I could see was the jungle canopy. I walked down the hill on a path with elephants ferrying tourists up and down the hill, and biked the short distance south to Angkor Wat. I parked and crossed the causeway over the wide moat and entered the west gate. There were masses of tourists coming out. From the entrance gate there is a long stone procession way to the temple itself. I walked about halfway down, to a set of stone buildings along the procession way, but didn't have the energy to battle the crowds in the temple itself. I sat there enjoying the view for half an hour or so, although the facade is covered with scaffolding and green mesh, as it was last year when I was here. In fact, it seems to have spread. It was now late in the afternoon, so I returned to my bike and pedaled back to town and my hotel, arriving about 6, just before dark.
I got up at 6 the next morning and at 6:30 left on a tuktuk for Angkor. It was cold on the tuktuk that early in the morning. We reached Ta Prohm, east of Angkor Thom, about 7 and I went in. There weren't many tourists there for the first half hour and I enjoyed walking around, mostly by myself, as birds, mostly parrots, chirped in the trees. Ta Prohm, unlike almost all the other temples at Angkor, has mostly been left unreconstructed, giving it a "lost in the jungle" look. This temple was my favorite spot when I first visited Angkor in 1994. Back then there were far fewer tourists (maybe one per cent of what there are now?) and you were allowed to rent a motorbike to visit the sites. I spent seven days at Angkor that year and most mornings I would get up in the dark, leave at first light and go to Ta Prohm. Almost no one would be there early in the morning and you were allowed to climb all over. I would climb up on a roof with a good view of the massive trees growing on the temple roofs and eat the breakfast I had brought with me, a baguette with cheese and tomatoes, while monkeys played in the trees and the birds chirped away. (Back then there were no restaurants or food stalls at Angkor. You had to bring food from Siem Reap or return there for meals.) I was so disappointed to see how Ta Prohm had been transformed when I came here last year after 16 years. Construction activity was going on, and is still going on. Wooden walkways have been built to guide you through the ruins that previously seemed to be left to nature, and there are little wooden platforms to allow tourists to pose next to the most photogenic tree roots fastened to the masonry. Of course, you are no longer allowed to climb up on the roofs. I suppose it is all necessary given the massive crowds visiting now, but it is still disappointing. But being there early in the morning this year was enjoyable. The first group arrived at 7:30 and when I left at 9 they were pouring in. I would say there are as many, if not more, Asian tourists, as western ones.
From Ta Prohm, we headed to a restaurant opposite the Eastern Mebon on the eastern side of Angkor, and then headed north about 20 miles to a temple called Banteay Srei. I had gone there in 1994 on my motorbike on a very dusty and sandy road, which made for very slow going with several wipeouts (which I believe is the technical term, or am I confusing motorcycling with surfboarding?) in the extremely sandy portions. Now there is a good paved road with tourist stalls seemingly all along it. Before, there were just quiet villages and homes with people seemingly surprised to see me. In 1994 Banteay Srei was as far north as you could safely go, with the Khmer Rouge to the north. I remember a soldier greeting me at the temple entrance. Others were lounging in the shade to the side. Now there is a huge tourist complex in front of the temple, with exhibits, restrooms, restaurants, and a massive parking lot. There were hundreds of tourists and Banteay Srei is a small temple. In 1994 I think I was the only one there. Banteay Srei is famous for its delicate carving, the most delicate in the Angkor area. I enjoyed seeing it again and was a little amazed by the change.
From there we headed further north to a hill called Kbal Speon. We parked and I took a trail up the hill for about a mile, rising 400 or so feet through dense forest, to a river, only a trickle now in the dry season. The river's rocky bed has many Hindu carvings -- lingas, Shiva, Vishnu and other deities. There are hundreds, maybe over a thousand, carved lingas in the riverbed. It was all very scenic and pleasant in the forest gloom despite being mid afternoon. From there we headed back south to the Angkor area, stopping at Banteay Samre, an interesting temple to the east of the others with two walls around it, and a now dry moat between the two walls. It was almost deserted and pleasant there in the late afternoon. We headed back to town, arriving just after 6 and catching the sunset reflected on a pool on the way back.
The next morning I again got up at 6 and left on a tuktuk at 6:30. We reached Angkor Wat about 15 minutes later and I spent four and a half hours there. I entered through the quieter eastern gate, passing the large trees on the route. Quite a few monkeys were playing just east of the temple and I watched them for a while. Among them were a very young baby with his or her mother and a very fat female, perhaps pregnant. Angkor Wat wasn't too crowded early in the morning and it was great to just wander around. The third level was closed, though, for "cleaning." It, too, has changed since 1994, when you could clamber all over it. Now you can't go up the very steep stone stairs up to the third level. You have to take a wooden staircase (when they are not "cleaning). I finished off with a walk along the bas-reliefs on the first level and then had breakfast in the northern portion of the courtyard outside the temple. By then the crowds were enormous. I think they may have been bigger than usual as it was the Chinese New Year. From Angkor Wat we headed north into Angkor Thom to the Terrace of Elephants and the royal palace area. I got off there and spent a couple of hours in the royal palace area looking at the carved terraces and the temples among the trees. There are a couple of stepped ponds, full of greenish water, in the royal palace precincts. Nearby they are reconstructing the Baphuon, a temple that was the center of the capital city before Angkor Thom was built after invading Chams from Vietnam had destroyed the previous capital in 1177.
I had lunch where I'd eaten two days before, looked over some more ruins just to the east of that, and then we set off and went out the north gate of Angkor Thom, turned east and headed to Preah Neak Poan, east of Preah Khan. This is a fountain complex, with five pools, with fountain heads in the shape of a horse, a lion, a man and an elephant. Continuing east and then south in the late afternoon, I visited Ta Som, not much crowded and with its eastern gate crowned by a big tree growing on the stones, and then the Eastern Mebon, with stone lions at the corners of that multi-level pyramid and views of the setting sun. The last stop was at the large pyramidal funerary temple of Pre Rup. Big crowds were gathered there to watch the sunset. I climbed to the top and looked around, but left before the sunset to beat the crowds on the way back to Siem Reap. I did catch a scenic sunset on the way back reflected in a pool of water. The moat around Angkor Wat had quite a few picnicking Cambodians on its banks (and quite a bit of their garbage left behind). Some Cambodians have Chinese ancestry, so they may have been celebrating the new year. There was a huge amount of traffic on the streets as we got back to town.
The next morning I left with the tuktuk at 7:30 and we made for a temple about 40 miles from Siem Reap called Beng Mealea. It took us almost two hours to get there, the first hour on the national highway to Phnom Penh and the second on a quieter, but still paved, road. I enjoyed the second half of the trip more in the fresh air taxi. There were buses, vans, cars and only a few tuktuks there when we arrived. I spent about four and a half hours there looking around. It was cool when I first arrived, but heated up, though it was still okay in the shade. Beng Mealea has not been reconstructed and has trees growing all over its roofs and corridors. Fallen stones lie everywhere. There is a wooden walkway, built for the filming of a 2004 movie called Two Brothers, my guidebook says. The walkway is in large part elevated and affords some great views over the temple ruins. I also clambered all over the ruins, over the massive fallen blocks, into dark corridors and up onto the walls and towers, and it was great fun. There were quite a few people there in the late morning, including lots of groups clogging the wooden walkways. I found my way to a deserted interior courtyard to avoid them and spent a half hour or so sitting on a block of stone and listening to the birds, chirping even at midday. From about noon on there were few tourists, though groups were again arriving when I left about 2. I had lunch and then we made the two hour trip back, arriving in Siem Reap about 4:30.
The next day (today) I was planning on heading north to Anlong Veng, the last holdout of the Khmer Rouge until 1998, and hoping to go the the temple of Preah Vihear on the border with Thailand, but fighting broke out yesterday afternoon between the Cambodian and Thai armies near Preah Vihear. I did visit Preah Vihear before, in 1992 when I approached it from the Thai side. It was then guarded by young Khmer Rouge soldiers in tattered uniforms and flipflops, and rifles, and they and the Thais shared the entry fees. Both Thailand and Cambodia at one time claimed Preah Vihear and the World Court resolved the matter by awarding it to Cambodia. Thailand accepts that, although some Thai nationalists do not, but they are now disputing a 4.6 square kilometer area (a little over one square mile) nearby. News reports say two Cambodian soldiers and one Thai villager were killed yesterday. I checked out the travel situation last night and this morning and decided to spend the day relaxing and eating the good fish dishes at my comfortable hotel. There are a couple of other temples I would like to visit in this part of Cambodia, Koh Ker and Preah Khan, but they are either expensive or difficult to reach.
