Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Antics of Earthbound Astronauts

We are officially templed-out after exploring the temples of Angkor Wat and Vietnam is lingering in our sights.

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15^th, 16^th & 17^th Feb

We apologise for the time between posts, but it is purely due to the few days after our last post not warranting any real report. Unfortunately, we had our first run in with suspected food poisoning. We were too fearful to leave the room in Siem Reap and were living off a bare trickle of food, including tiny croissants, cheese biscuits and wagon wheel like biscuits called “choco pies”. This resulted in the Choco pie incident of 2013…… Even so, we were still in pretty high spirits and did enjoy the time relaxing (if you can call it that) even though the guilt of being so close yet so far to the temples was occasionally evident. In a way, we were lucky that we were both impeded by this illness at the same time. Sharing such a small room with a bathroom that seemed to amplify everything, has definitely cemented our friendship pretty solidly, unlike our bowel movements. Needing a reason to test our health, we felt it was necessary to visit “Pub Street” for a few drinks.

18^th Feb

After feeling up to the challenge, Casey decided to ride west of Siem Reap to visit some small temples that are older then the temples at Angkor, yet due to their size, don’t receive the same level of relevance of the larger, newer temples. Unfortunately for Casey, the tickets to the temples were not sold in this general direction, so the ride towards the temples was partially in vain even though he did get to enjoy an introduction to the Cambodian countryside. I, however, still not feeling up to the task of endeavouring too far from the safety of the room/bathroom, stayed behind.

19^th Feb

We both seemed to have recovered and decided to venture out towards the north-eastern temples, and following the suggestions of the Lonely Planet guide, would see the older, smaller temples first and leave the awe inspiring Angkor temples for the final day. After jumping on bikes and enthusiastically stopping off at every temple around the circuit and enjoying the individuality of each, the temples slowly started to morph into one, signaling an end to the day. After agreeing to meet a friend that we had made in Battambang on “Pub Street” that night, we again ventured out in to Siem Reap for a well-deserved Angkor beer.

20^th Feb

The day had finally arrived! We were going to visit the Lonely Planet acclaimed eight wonder of the world! Angkor Wat definitely deserved this title. The sheer size of the moat that surrounded the temple of Angkor Wat was mesmerizing, as was the land bridge that was in place allowing tourists to cross the threshold. Obviously weathered through age, it was incredible to think about what these temples had been through on both a cultural and political level, and you couldn’t help wondering what the marvelous structures would say about the folly of man. Unfortunately, restorations were occurring at the entrance to Angkor Wat, which played a very spoiling role in the majority of the photos that were taken. However, we continued to traverse the highly preserved temples admiring the intricacies of even the smallest detail. We, unknowingly, had worn singlets and shorts that did not cover our shoulders or knees. This almost obvious point now, was the reason we were not allowed into the main temple. This prompted us to leave Angkor Wat at this point vowing that we would return to complete this pilgrimage we had charged upon ourselves. With a slight loss of spirit we continued onto the Bayon temple complex, which was a wonder in it’s own right. After watching sunset from this temple, we rode our bikes back to our hotel past the monkey-laden grounds and ruins that speckled the heavy foliage along our route. Looking forward to a dish I had seen in a menu the night before, a Khmer curry, Casey and I decided to spend a little more on dinner ($3.50 each) and try this dish that proved to be the most enjoyable we’d had in Cambodia thus far. Finding out that the bus to Kampong Cham City (Our next destination, designated the “Gateway to the North” by Lonely Planet) left at 7.15am the next morning, we decided to spend an additional night (taking us to the morning of the 22nd) so we could go back to Angkor Wat at sunrise and finish what we’d started.

21^st Feb

After hearing Casey’s alarm go off at both 5am and 5.30am and observing Casey consider getting up both times and then returning to the fetal position, I was provoked to wake him up knowing I wouldn’t hear the end of his disappointment if we had missed his big opportunity for a photo shoot. We again hired bikes and raced to Angkor Wat, where we both got briefly separated as I took a slightly different turn, however, we both got there and got to enjoy a rather overcast sunrise. Of course we now had our shoulders and knees covered, determined to enter the temple that we had been denied entry the day before. The temple didn’t open until 7.40am so we decided to source ourselves some breakfast. Seeing a man selling bread, we decided to buy two incredibly fresh bread rolls and two coconut buns. Not such an interesting fact, but the comments we got from two locals must have been one of the highlights of our trip thus far. The first man said, “Hello sir, you want water, another bread?” (It was yet to occur to us that this man did not sell bread) and then a woman that shouted, “Hello Mr big bread!” before entering into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. This made our day and definitely gave us something to raise our spirits even though we were both exhausted from the early wake up. We finally had an opportunity to see the temple, which definitely reinforced the beauty of this almost mythical site.

One thing had crossed my mind over the last few days was where was the tree that Angelina Jolie was in front of in Tomb Raider. Unbeknown to us both, we had missed one temple! Ta Prohm was the temple that we had been imagining this whole time, a temple that had almost been lost in forest. This temple was beautiful and it was obvious why it was so iconic. Obviously this fact was known by about half of the tourist in Siem Reap, who were there in droves. Otherwise this place was truly magical, it was incredible to see the roots of trees intertwined with the temple structure, which had been so physically altered that each seemed symbiotic of the other. Feeling like we had finally seen every temple in the Siem Reap area, we called it a day and triumphantly returned to the hotel where we recuperated from our early morning and prepared for the journey we would undertake the following day. It would be sad to leave the hotel we had grown so accustom to, yet it was time to leave the room that hadn’t been cleaned since our arrival and was harbouring our filth. We’d also left a lasting impression with the hotel staff……

22^nd Feb

Again, sleeping past the alarm, we were late to leave our hotel and reached the bus with a comment from the bus driver saying, “Come on, the party’s over!” Feeling a little guilty, we said our goodbyes to Siem Reap and prepared for our arrival in Kampong Cham City. After about a 7 hour journey we arrived in a town that was our first destination by the Mekong. It was completely empty and without much attraction, which was reflected by the single paragraph dedicated to the town in the Lonely Planet. We decided to go north the next day, which we were told left at noon.

23^rd Feb

Waking up leisurely at 9.30am and leaving the hotel room at 10.20am, we decided to go and book our bus trip and then have a quiet breakfast before we boarded the bus for 8 hours. When we arrived at the bus company we were quite shocked to realize that the bus arrived at 10.30, which was, at the time, two minutes away. Running back to the hotel, paying and then running fully loaded with our packs and other items, which we lacked time to pack, we arrived at the bus stop and waited for a bus that was luckily 10 minutes late. The bus was very nice, enjoying the Cambodian countryside as we headed northeast to Ban Lung. Exiting the bus at a very bizarre bus stop a few kilometres from town, we, with some friends we had made, continued to walk down the main street until we eventually approached the centre where we found accommodation in a nice guesthouse.

24^th Feb

Finding out there really wasn’t much to do in Ban Lung either, except to see a large volcanic crater lake called Boeng Yeak Laom. We set out to this lake with the two friends we had made the night before by foot (it was about 6km). It felt quite rewarding when we reached the lake and were able to enter the beautifully clean and refreshing water whilst marveling at the incredible formation of this crater. Casey decided to run back to the hotel from the lake as I returned with our evidently unfit friends, who really struggled with the elevated slopes returning us to the main road that returned us to town. We then organised a 6am bus to Phnom Penh, which is going to be our final destination of Cambodia before we progress into Vietnam.

25^th Feb

The bus to Phnom Penh must have been the most enduring so far. Not only was the bus not properly air-conditioned, but we both felt that they were employing some form of torture in the form of a Cambodian comical singing duo or Cambodian soap operas that involve someone either getting run over every few minutes or love triangles. We have, however, arrived in Phnom Penh in high spirits. It is completely different to any other Cambodian town we have visited and definitely has a high degree of western influence. We were elated to know that the room we booked actually included an air conditioner, a luxury usually declined due to the high price mark up of the room. And that brings us up to now. We officially feel we have seen enough temples to do us for a while and we are ready to leave Cambodia and experience a slightly different country. In saying that, we still have found the Cambodian people incredibly friendly and have definitely enjoyed our time here. We will spend the next day exploring Phnom Penh and seeing what it has to offer in contrast with the other Cambodian towns.

We’ll be in touch soon. Our love goes out to our family and friends, please let us know how new jobs and moves are going via Facebook, you’re all never far from our thoughts.

Keep posted.