Siem Reap - More Than Angkor Wat

By Dylan T Wyer

It was a week into my time at Siem Reap when we were all sitting around the hostel bar, and the topic Angkor Wat came up. I mean of course it did, how could it not, after all we were sitting 20km away from the ancient temples, drinking Angkor Wat beer. It was then that I realized I had been in Siem Reap a full week without seeing what has been dubbed the 8th wonder of the world, Angkor Wat. My fellow travellers couldn't believe it, for sure I was bluffing, but I wasn't. At that point the question arose, what did I do for a week in Siem Reap?

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The simple of it would be that I hung out with the nicest people I've ever met, Cambodians! However, the nicest Cambodians are found in the country side and the villages. These people truly are genuine, they value their quality of life more then trying to get rich quick. Rich obviously being a loosely used term here, as most Cambodians make around a $1000 a year. The ones that haven't decided to move to the city, still make it by farming their own food and trading it amongst the village people. Working by sunrise, and drinking rice wine by day, and early to bed at night. One of my best days in Cambodia was when I took a trip out to a village and visited with true Cambodian's for the day. Cooking fish and beef on an open fire, next to a fresh water reservoir where the locals fish and take fresh afternoon dips to cool off! Furthermore they showed us their farm, their techniques, their home and introduced us to their family, making us all feel extremely blessed.

The town of Siem Reap is also the perfect place to be at anytime of day. With the french influence here, there's always a coffee shop, or a baguette for 25 cents near by. Bustling bars line every street here, not just on pub street! The locals are always keen for a game of pool or snooker at one of the many snooker halls, or on one of the many bars if your lucky enough to score a table. Or why not grab an ice cream cone from Swensens' ice cream (the best in town) and head out on a river stroll towards where the locals play beach volleyball. The fast paced game, of the highly talented locals will keep you on your toes, or maybe you even want to join in and play on one of the many courts available. Looking for more sporting opportunities, well Siem Reap is also home to Cambodia's only climbing gym. Not quite your pace? Maybe try heading back across the river towards "Common Ground" an American owned coffee shop with a good cause. The prices are a little hefty, but with every $1000 of profit they're able to build a house in a new city located in Khan Dang Kao. Cambodia's poorest area where 1500+ families are living in extreme poverty, visit buildacity.org for more info! It's a $1.50 for an ice coffee, a buck for a small bottle of water or more than I care to admit paying, $2 for a large bottle of water. I went for the molten lava cake, a rich chocolate dish topped with whip cream, that ran me a well worth it $2.

Still not your pace? Then I'm sure 50 cent draft at one of the many pubs on pub street will do you well! Bustling bars line every street here, more then just on pub street! The locals are always keen for a game of pool or snooker at one of the many snooker halls, or at one of the bars if your lucky enough to score a table. Some places serve 50 cent draft through all hours of the night, but most backpackers tend to head towards the famous "Angkor What" bar, the bar that started it all back in 1998. Here you can meet countless other like minded travellers, eager to tell their stories and hear yours. It's no longer 1998 anymore, nowadays there's plenty more late night bars for you to check out as well. Temple bar is across the street, and is the place to go for a late night meal, since their kitchen never closes. Down the street is X bar, an Australian ran rooftop bar with a half pipe at the top! Yes! A half pipe, even if you don't have your own board (since I'm yet to meet someone who travels Asia with a skateboard) you can rent one for 5 bucks and they'll throw in a pint with it! More options include Tuk Tuk bar, Laundry bar, Mezze bar, Miss Wongs bar and what ever special one you find on your own!

Siem Reap is much more than just a party town of buckets and music. In fact for a week of my stay the music was shut off and I never once was left wishing it was on. A music less pub street lost its vibe quickly, so we looked elsewhere to entertain us. Whether that be, the locals taking a group of us out and showing us there favourite spots or spontaneous decisions to go mini-golfing at 9:30pm a good time was always found! Some nights were nothing more than a beautiful sunset at lesser know locations like Phnom Krom or Wat Atwea and then early to bed. If over crowded tourist attractions aren't your thing, then these temples will be for you! Maybe not as impressive, but seemingly as good when there's no crowd!

Tee, the owner of the mini-golf course, was another genuine local of Siem Reap, who arranges a pick up service for his mini-golf, as it's on the south out skirts of town. Unfortunately for Tee, he owed me three beers before are group even left the hostel, after a few games of pool. Once at mini golf, a hole-in-one, won you a free beer and between the five of us we managed to get two hole-in-ones which made six free beers out him. Since Tee wanted a rematch, but this time at snooker, he took us out to a local snooker hall on the way home from mini-golf where I managed to keep my streak up and beat him once more. The group of six of us shot many games of snooker and drank a few more beers for only eight bucks in are own private a/c room. Tee then dropped us off at Temple bar for a late night eat to cure are hunger before it was time to go in. We talked over pizza, a little in awe about how nice the locals here can be, and of course about the mini golf course itself, a fun challenging course in which we all shot over sixty in just fourteen holes!

More options of things to do include the West Baray, the largest land man made baray in Angkor, offers stunning views for a peaceful day away from the crowd. Siem Reap is also home to a military shooting range (30km out of town) where you can shoot nearly any gun you can think of, or even shoot a rocket launcher... into a cow if that's your kind of thing, though it will run you around $400! It used to be possible to throw a grenade, but unfortunately for safety reason the military has banned this. Fifty kilometres north of Angkor Wat also offers some beautiful waterfalls worth checking out, and just east of the city is a wildlife sanctuary, and south there is a floating village. Furthermore, hot air balloons and helicopter rides are also all available at flash packer prices. When you're bored of all that and you're lucky enough to stay somewhere with a pool, its time to relax! If not just head to Downtown Siem Reap hostel and use theirs for two bucks, but maybe you want to grab Swensens ice cream on the way!

This article is part of my new website http://www.Capturingendlesstravel.com here you can find more travel articles, my photo portfolio and a photo blog of my travels. Let me know what you think!

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dylan_T_Wyer

In awe of ancient Angkor

By Jojie Alcantara

April 2, 2011, 4:26am

Entrance to Bayon Temple (photo by Jojie Alcantara)

Long before Angelina Jolie made Angkor Wat a thrilling destination to visit through her movie Tomb Raider, I was dreaming of seeing this mystical location in the dense jungle of Cambodia.  How to get there didn’t occur to me.

As if teased by fate, early this year,  my two buddies and I finally found ourselves packing for a trip to Phnom Penh, Cambodia for the ASEAN Tourism Forum. We figured that by leaving a day before the opening ceremony, we could travel back and forth in a day from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. You see, we figured a lot of things. We thought that Angkor Wat could be done in a day.  And so we found out that Phnom Penh is six hours away from Siem Reap.

So we planned an elaborate itinerary that meant long bus rides from border to border. 

Here’s how we got to Angkor Wat:  We boarded Cebu Pacific from Davao to Manila, then to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) so we could stay the night and experience Vietnam for a day.  Luckily, Cebu Pacific gave us a connecting flight of Davao-Manila-Saigon with the convenience of unloading our baggage in Vietnam.

Making sure everything is well-documented, I packed two cameras, two lenses, my laptop and My Passport portable hard drive (Western Digital’s one terabyte capacity assures me of quick backup and safe transfers).  I figured this thingy will cope with my trigger happy shooting for 24 hours daily, given that I suddenly decided to ambitiously embark on filming video as well (eagerly planning to launch a cinematographer’s career on YouTube).

From Vietnam, we bought bus tickets ($12 dollars) at Mekong Express office for a long 7-hour ride next day to Phnom Penh, the biggest and most progressive city in Cambodia.  On board the air-conditioned bus with toilet and video, we realized how much they loved Angelina Jolie from a marathon of movies that included Tomb Raider, The Tourist, and Salt throughout the trip and back (with inserts of your Cambodian videoke MTVs).

In between border stopovers, bags in tow, we went through a line in the Vietnam immigration departure area. Mekong Express staff collected our passports and facilitated for us so we were lucky. Others in line must have waited eternally as they rode on cheaper buses. We just waited for our names to be called (which weren’t pronounced clearly) and off we went.  After a few minutes,  we went through the same process as we entered Cambodia (hauling luggage once more).  Restaurant stopovers along the way were good and cheap, and so were snacks in the bus. This was the start of my craving for spicy frogs’ legs, but that’s another story.

In Phnom Penh, we again bought tickets at the Mekong Express for a 6-hour trip to Siem Reap, the gateway to the Angkor Complex.  Surprisingly, the once sleepy town is a beautiful and modern place to stay (think Raffles Hotel for the high end or choose Hotel dela Paix, a uniquely stunning boutique hotel, where we stayed).  Around the province, temples are scattered from a few kilometers away  (Angkor Wat, 7kms) to as far as 55kms away in the Kulen Mountain. 

With only the whole afternoon  to roam the famous ruins, we got ourselves ticket passes at $20 for a day ($40 for 3 days and $60 7 days) at the entrance office and hired a tuktuk ($12 for a day) whose driver patiently waited while we traversed the safe (cleared from mines) and touristy paths.   

Angkor, the capital of Khmer empire from 9th to 13th century, once governed territories of Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos. Khmers built hundreds of temples and Buddhist monasteries throughout Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. In 819 A.D. King Jayavarman II (802-850) made Siem Reap province an administrative center of Khmer empire when he moved his settlement there.

The kingdom began to crumble after frequent attacks and army invasions from all sides. From the early 15th century until late 19th century, the jungle swallowed the remnants that time forgot.  Only the Buddhist monks stayed and slept there, making Angkor the largest religious building in South East Asia.

Although the ruins of Angkor have been documented as early as the 16th century, French naturalist Henri Mouhot’s discovery and travel accounts in the 19th century heightened the world’s interest of the hidden wonders, and prompting the French government to launch a restoration program. Archaeological research halted during the Khmer Rouge political upheaval (70s-90s). Despite signs of barbaric pillaging, broken statues and stolen artifacts, most of the ruins remained intact and have withstood the test of dangerous times.  In the 90s, Angkor was opened to the world again, and restoration continues to this day.

The Angkor golden age is said to have lasted six hundred years, over several sovereignty and religions (from Hinduism to Buddhism), with hundreds of temples built, placing a few kings in history more prominently than others for the more ambitious structures, like vast waterworks and majestic shrines. Viewing this immense UNESCO World Heritage Site the first time defies description. It was shock and awe, transporting me back to a lost time when a seemingly advanced civilization once prospered in power.  Nothing can prepare you for its magnificence.

With little time left before sundown, we were only able to visit three most popular temples.  The wind was chilly as we passed through huge tree-lined roads in view of bikers and ancient sanctuaries peeping from forest hills. Everything was dreamy and surreal, setting you back in a time warp.

Ta Prohm was the site Tomb Raider was first filmed so you hear guides incorporating it in their tales proudly (”this is where Angelina Jolie ran across…”). Here giant silk cotton trees mysteriously wrapped their mammoth roots like claws onto temple structures, twisting and slithering like snakes engulfing their prey, making the scene an untouched wilderness of immense artistry.  King Jayavarman VII was said to have built this elaborate shrine for his mother in the 12th century.  Another popular must-see temple he has built is Bayon in Angkor Thom, an ancient city complex with five sophisticated entrance gates (gopuras), columns of demon and god statues all lined up, and intricate carvings monumental history.  Bayon has an exceptional architecture of 214 smiling giant faces on the towers, said to be replicas of the King.

Angkor Wat (meaning “City Temple”), the famous temple complex and a magnificent showcase of Khmer architecture, was originally built for King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and capital city. As the country’s top tourist attraction, it has become a powerful pride and symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag. Its breathtaking, massive scale of advanced construction feature bas relief carvings of war and life, triumph and celebration, gods and beliefs, giving us glimpses to a rich empire that has left many visitors awestruck.

At sundown in Angkor Wat, we felt a newfound respect for mankind’s achievement. I highly recommend brushing up on history before your trip to prepare yourself for this people’s culture and identity. There is just no short cut to learning so many fascinating things.  I bought a few books with colorful illustrations at $5 from young teens selling outside locations.  I was hooked over Khmer history, its glory, downfall and mystery, of devatas and apsaras (dancing nymphs so prominently etched on walls), manmade reservoirs and moats that were built to protect them.  If I go back again, I would want to stay longer and soak up in sunsets and sunrises at different vantage points, perhaps earlier than the growing throng of tourists who flock in thousands to spoil the serene view.  I will most likely visit the least popular temples hidden in the jungle, despite warnings of mines.

Presently, the Apsara Authority which manages the complex, has announced that 1.15 million people visited Angkor Wat in early 2010, up by a 24 percent increase in tourist visits from the previous year.  So if you want to explore the ancient architectural marvel, now is a good time before a million more people will think about it.

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Jojie Alcantara is a travel photographer and lifestyle columnist in Davao City, who explores off-the-beaten paths that she loves to share through her stories and images. Her articles and photography are featured in Mabuhay Magazine, and other publications. View them in www.pbase.com/jojie_alcantara

When in Cebu City, please visit gregmelep.com for your real estate and retirement needs.