The Further Temples Of Cambodia
Dec. 15th, 2017 12:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lupestripeI’ll skip Tuesday and move on to Wednesday on account of it being easier to write on the move. Tuesday had been exceptionally busy, with over ten hours out with a tuk-tuk and guide exploring the temples nearer to Siem Reap. On Wednesday, we went further afield and this necessitated hiring a car. Furthermore, I was also up at 4:30am for a 5am departure as I wanted to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat, this being one of those things that I felt important not to miss (I moved this to Wednesday as I couldn’t face such an early rise on Tuesday, after an evening when I really need to recover some sleep). As I had gone to bed before 10pm the night before, getting up that early wasn’t the chore I would usually find it and having met with my guide, who worked for the Cambodian state and was waiting for me in the hotel reception, we were soon driving through the darkness along with the world and his wife to Angkor Wat, some 7km north of Siem Reap. There were many tuk-tuks ferrying tourists to the ancient site so it was hardly surprising to see a stream of people filing into the monument as soon as we arrived. After my guide picked up some water, we joined them, making our way across the wibbly wobbly floating pontoon over the moat before entering the temple through the furthest gate, which was ironically reserved for paupers when it was built (and perhaps as a result was the less busy one today - everyone wants to enter like a king after all). My guide used his torch to enable us to pick our way through the darkness as we headed for the best spots to watch the sunrise, at either side of the main causeway in front of the pools. Everyone else of course had the same idea and the crowds were camped three deep, particularly on the left side, which my guide had recommended to me as being the better of the two. Fortunately I spied a space and snuck in, with only the head of a Japanese photographer who was up and down from his chair more often than the average church congregation and an annoying pair of Chinese women who kept waving their sodding selfie stick in my face whenever they took pictures. Despite this, we were looking up of course and I had a reasonably unobstructed view of the pool and temple, with its reflection in the water becoming increasingly pronounced as the light washed in. The only issue was when I wanted to take photographs but with the right angle and slightly off-centre, I was pretty pleased with the shots I managed to take. Of course now all we needed to do was play the waiting game as the gloaming appeared then disappeared, giving way to the dawn. As the light grew in intensity, so did the backdrop. Starting as a silhouette, the five towers of Angkor Wat formed a shadow on the night sky which gradually revealed more and more detail as the light afforded it. The colour was the first to change, with the stonework revealing its increased intricacy over the half hour I was there. Meanwhile the sky was a beautiful haze of yellows, blues and pinks, and this was reflected in the water of the pool, mirroring the skyline. Around twenty minutes into this process, I muttered something under my breath about my selfie stick friends and this made a gentleman to my right laugh. We started talking and it turned out he was from Myanmar and was traveling alone too. I noticed he was struggling to get good shots so I offered to trade places with him as my position was better than his. He accepted but not before a vicious Chinese woman barged me out of my place, such was her consuming desire to take a selfie. She soon disappeared though, and I followed about ten minutes later, sadly not getting chance to say goodbye to my new friend.
As I had left the hotel so early, I hadn’t had chance to have any breakfast, so I headed over to the various huts at the side of Angkor Wat who were serving food. It was touristy and expensive, but served a purpose. I didn’t feel like anything substantial so just ordered some toast and butter, but I was served a huge baguette which was warm and incredibly tasty. This must be one of the things the French brought with them when they colonised the region from 1854. As I ate, various kids came up to me and tried to sell me souvenirs, and it became a little relentless turning them down but at least each one wasn’t overly insistent I guess. I ate on a wooden table overlooking the temple, albeit my view was partially obstructed by trees. After ordering and indeed during eating, I noticed that the sun was just poking its head up behind the temple and so I spent a good time running backwards and forwards the 50m or so between my food and the same place I had taken my earlier photos from. In a way I had forgotten why I had cake - to see the sun rise over the temple not just watch it get light - but I did manage to get some good photos at least. The sun did not rise right above the temple though but to its southerly side, deviating as much as it usually would due to it being near to the shortest date. Indeed it is on the two equinoxes - 21 March and 21 September - when the sun rises directly overhead the Bakan, the central tower of Angkor Wat.
With sunrise seen and me having already visited Angkor Wat the day before (more on that later), I met up with my guide once again and we headed back over the wobbly bridge and to the car, which was parked in a huge dusty car park on the other side of the moat. We were destined to see three temples during the day, with the nearest being Banteay Srei. On the way, my guide asked me whether I had seen Pre Rup the day before but I wasn’t so sure. As we were driving right past it, he asked the driver to pull over and upon getting out, it did seem familiar meaning we could get straight to our first destination. This was just as well as it was only 7:15am and the main temples apart from Angkor Wat only open at 7:30am - we did have a lot of driving after all. This meant we were soon on the road to Banteay Srei, which resembled a country road in the UK. There were a number of farming villages en route, largely with houses on stilts which were built out of wood, while we also saw a number of people in the traditional pointy straw hats out in the fields harvesting rice as it’s just the end of the rainy season. We also saw another unfortunate tradition - a man driving a motorbike had five dogs in a rudimentary wooden cage on the back. These dogs were going to be slaughtered for dog meat, which is quite a popular delicacy in Cambodia and is enjoyed by 60-70% of the population. I was told that some families even kill their own pets for food. Being a dog lover, this was all quite sad, particularly seeing the sorrowful amber eyes of one grey/brown collie type dog which seemed to suggest he knew what was coming as he looked wistfully into the distance. It’s something I’ll never forget. Fortunately, I was distracted further down the road as we pulled outside a small hut where a lady was distilling sugar cane juice. It comes from both the male and female parts of the plant, which look quite different, and is then boiled at the side of the road to increase its thickness. It’s then sold on and is made into wine or liquor, which the sugar cane harvesters then sell by the roadside. They also sell sugar biscuits which aren’t too dissimilar to eating raw sugar. I got to try some of the sweet and smooth wine and the more abrasive spirit, buying a bottle of the latter as I kinda felt obliged into making a purchase. As this was labelled I thought it better than the sugar biscuits.
With that we set off and soon completed our forty-five minute journey to Banteay Srei. With the time still not yet 8:30am it was beautifully serene, with hardly any tourists around whatsoever. This was a huge blessing although it did help that this temple (and indeed the others we were to visit) were further away from main population centres, particularly Siem Reap. After a quick toilet trip as the ones here were quite good, we walked towards the beautiful sandstone temple across ground of a similar intense orange colour. Banteay Srei is one of the smaller temples but what it lacks in size it makes up for in beauty. The pink sandstone gave it quite an aura in the early morning sunlight but it’s carvings detailing various Hindu carvings are absolutely breathtaking. These are placed above the doors to the numerous shrines, all pointing up to the heavens. The temple was completed in 967 and dedicated to Lord Shiva, and there were numerous stories relating to him and Vishnu in the carvings. Between the main entrance and the shrines, there lies the remains of a bull statue, with Shiva being associated with the bovine. The intricate artwork above the doors is wonderfully preserved (just the odd head was missing) and it was such a marvel to see such exceptional craftsmanship. As we walked around the square-shaped complex, my guide told the Hindu stories to me, although a few I could recognise myself following my trip to Angkor Wat and associated temples the day before. We weren’t allowed into the middle section, we were confined to the perimeter, but we could see all the carvings pretty clearly and it was interesting to see the monkey statues lining the temple as protectors of it (the monkey, along with the snake, is often seen as a protector). I was determined to stay ahead of a large party of Korean tourists who were just behind us, which was only thwarted slightly when my guide met up with one of his friends who guards the temple and had to write out a wedding invitation for him. Still, it was important so I didn’t mind and we soon got ahead of the Koreans once again.
Our next stop was about an hour away, and was the part of the day I was least looking forward to. Kbal Spean is high in the jungle and is reached by a steep 1.5km trail through the forest. My fear of snakes was a concern, as was such a physically demanding climb in the tropical heat, but I was reassured that I wouldn’t see any of my slithery friends and that we would take the climb slowly. As we pulled into the car park, I was reassured by the presence of a group of about five tourists waiting to scale the path, believing that the associated noise would likely keep the snakes away. Upon exiting the car, I was soon accosted by a saleswoman called Linda over at Stall 14. She was selling the same shirts, scarves and t-shirts they were all selling back at Angkor Wat and despite declining her wares, she insisted I look at her store when I came back down the mountain. I was non-committal but soon we headed off, delving deeper and deeper into the thick jungle. The trees provided some welcome shade so it wasn’t as hot as it might have been, while pagodas every 300m did allow for a breather. Some of the path was quite flat but there were points which involved scrambling over rocks. This wasn’t too great for a man with little grip on his shoes - and the ubiquity of sand really didn’t help on the rocky surfaces - but I battled gamely and in the end managed to scale the trail pretty swiftly. As I did, I noticed the sheer number of French people on the trail, nearly everyone here was from there for some reason. Anyway, our initial target was a waterfall, the source of a river with water incredibly crystal clear. Marker signs counted down from 1500m to the top but the falls were actually around 200m. You could hear them in the distance and through the thick trees it was quite a romantic sound. Shame it was just my guide and I. The area is so secluded it was only discovered in 1969 when a hermit pointed its existence out to Frenchman Jean Bouldet. This area was further made inaccessible between 1979 and 1990 as it is where the most dedicated members of the Khmer Rouge operated after the Vietnamese ousted them from power. Therefore it was a very dangerous place and well off the tourist map until recently. The site itself contains a number of lingas carved into the riverbed which don’t look too dissimilar to those anti-slip nodules you get on the ground at traffic lights. These have a purpose I Hinduism though as symbols of fertility, with the node representing the penis and the groove the vagina. When clear water passes over them, it’s said to be auspicious. Also up here are carvings of some Hindu deities into the rock, including Vishnu riding on the back of a serpent. After Shiva has destroyed the world in a flood, Vishnu sleeps for a thousand years on the back of the snake who carries him. Then a lotus flower grows from his navel and it is this which symbols the rebirth of life and creation. The area was very tranquil and it was quite the experience being inside a jungle, so much so that I took many pictures. We even saw a parasitic tree which had wrapped its way around and killed another one, which was fascinating yet gruesome in equal measure.
The walk back down to the car park was surprisingly swift and soon we were on our way again to our third and final temple for the day. This was another hour away so I settled back into the car, with ice cold water and moist towelettes aiding refreshment. Along the way, we drove around a rather large roundabout and as we turned into our junction, we saw two students jumping up and down in the middle of the road along with someone filming them on quite a professional looking Sony camera. We stopped and were told they were participating in a Cambodian game show for the Bayon TV network (a channel I had already seen in my hotel room). It was a bit like Treasure Hunt - they got a clue to destinations in the local area and then had to find the subsequent clue once there. They asked us whether we minded giving them a lift and as their destination was only a 4km detour, we consented. This saw the cameraman climb into the back passenger seat next to me and the two rather excitable students clamber into the boot. We had ideal chat for the fifteen minute journey, with much of it being filmed. I was offered some sticky rice by the gentleman student which was beautifully presented in bamboo leaves which were bright yellow and criss-crossed over each other to form a lattice container. He offered me the whole diamond but I declined, and by the time I could take the smallest piece, we had arrived at their destination, which turned out to be a barrier across the road and a checkpoint where foreigners had to pay a toll to cross for some reason. Assumedly their next clue was in the tollbooth or something, but either way they were very thankful to us as we drove off. The show is set to air in January and I think I presented myself quite well, chatting in English about Cambodia and answering their questions. It was odd being on camera but I soon thought nothing of it - it will be interesting to see what the final edit looks like, I just wish I wasn’t so sweaty and beardy after that long hike and two weeks without a razor.
We retraced our steps a few kilometers before taking the road we had initially intended, driving for another forty minutes or so until we reached our third temple. However, I was feeling hungry and as it was approaching lunchtime, I was taken to a restaurant just down the road called Rom Fuol Angkor II. It’s clear the guides have an arrangement with these establishments as you’re basically paying western prices for the meals but it did enable me to sample some Khmer food, namely stir fried keng, which was basically a collection of vegetables with some beef, served with the obligatory sticky rice. It was quite tasty but the peas were a little underdone and the artichokes were of an odd squidgy texture. With it, I got some ABC beer, it being the only beer on the menu I had not yet tried. It turned out to be an 8.5% extra stout, not the sort of thing that goes down well in the tropical heat. When paying, the owner of the restaurant questioned how many of those I could drink in one sitting and I said four or five. The reality was in this heat one was hard enough.
The final temple was Beng Mealea, some 68km away from Siem Reap. It’s hard to tell that the floor plan of this temple is the same as that of Angkor Wat as it’s all tumbledown with nature reasserting it’s control. Built in the twelfth century, you can largely make out its form but so much of it is now represented as a pile of stones that it’s hard to envisage what it would have looked like in all its glory. In addition to this, weathering has turned the bricks somewhat grey and green, making it look like concrete. There’s a wooden walkway through its environs and the way you can see the carvings of the now familiar Hindu stories is testament to what this temple actually was. However with trees sprouting out of it, it’s clear that it’s glory days are over and there is a certain haunting sadness to this. It laid undiscovered for so long, and even the long guardian serpents on each side of the temple have fallen by the wayside in places, breaking their continuum. Some of the five - or in some places seven - heads of the snakes have also been weathered. These used to form bridges over a giant moat measuring 1.2km by 900m but there is little evidence left of what this was. Haunting is the word to describe this place.
It was shortly after 2pm that we finished and the idea was floated that we could go and see the fishing villages on our way back to the hotel. However, as our journey progressed, our guide started to fear about the time we had before sundown and decided we should head back to my accommodation instead. This was a shame as I would like to have seen the lake and the villages but this presented me with another opportunity - the possibility of seeing the Explosive Detection Dogs show at 4pm. By my reckoning we would have enough time to get there but it was something you had to book in advance. Fortunately my guide was willing to do this on my behalf, along with arranging a tuk-tuk to take me there once we got back to the hotel shortly after 3pm. This was much appreciated and our driver’s quickness meant I had half an hour to freshen up before heading out again. I said goodbye to the team and went to my room, where I found a huge plate of fruit and an offer of a free Khmer massage as an apology for the cleaners leaving my door open and unlocked the day before. This was most appreciated, particularly as I wanted to get a massage anyway, and the fruit which I ate later that evening was tasty too. Puppies like tasty treats.
I was a little late out of my hotel room, meant we were cutting it fine in terms of getting to the show. The dog training headquarters were near the airport around 6km away and my tuk-tuk driver clearly didn’t know exactly where it was. Indeed initially we went to their main office on the other side of the road rather than the dog training centre but a nice man who worked there showed us where to go by hopping on his motorbike and urging us to follow him. To be fair, the map on the leaflet was misleading but at least we had arrived, albeit a few minutes late. I feared I was going to be late to the show and would have to enter at the back embarrassingly so it was quite a surprise to discover that I was the only one there and would have a private demonstration on how the dogs are trained and how they locate mines and other unexploded ordinance. It’s a huge problem in Cambodia as there are still between three and five million pieces of ammunition in the ground, largely from the US-Vietnam war and the Khmer Rogue days. The dogs are ten times more efficient than humans at mine detection and do so by sniffing the TNT inside the munitions. The work is done in conjunction with a Norwegian NGO, Norsk Folkehjelp, and I was met by a lovely Australian lady who explained everything they do. She showed me a small exhibition of the types of things they find along with pictures from their recently started puppy program, before she gestured me towards three rows of metal bleachers where she showed me two short films - one on the specific issue in Cambodia and another on how land is cleared through both non-technical and technical surveying. This is important as locals believe more land is affected than is the reality and their justifiable fear means they cannot farm this land or use it. The process of how land is deemed safe was really interesting and it’s good to hear they have a target of a mine-free Cambodia by 2025, as ambitious as this is. At Beng Mealea we saw a sign saying this area has been cleared by mines through a German governmental project and it’s great to see this happening as the war was forty years ago yet it is generations who weren’t even alive when it happened who are suffering.
It was then time to meet the dogs, who were brought out with their handlers, who I was told live on sight with them. Each handler has their own dog so trust is built up. Nergard is an eleven year old veteran who is soon to retire. He’s found mines in Bosnia and Myanmar before working in Cambodia. Meanwhile Inna is a four year old bouncy ball of fun who’s doing fantastically well out in the field. The first test was to see whether Inna could find some TNT inside a long row of bricks. The bricks are the ones with holes in, and a piece of red plastic fused with the smell of TNT was placed in one of the holes. It was then up to Inna to find it and she got it very quickly, stopping and sitting down at the exact point where the TNT was. She was then given her Kong reward as a treat. The second test was similar but was on a piece of ground. I was asked to place the sample in the grass and then Inna was walked up and down in one metre width lines until she found the piece. I then got to see Inna complete an obstacle course similar to the one they use at Crufts. It only took her 21 seconds and she did it twice, largely because I forgot to video the first time. Finally I got to see some obedience training with both dogs and their handlers before I was allowed to meet the dogs and pet them. They were very friendly, particularly the spritely Inna who jumped up on command and gave me a lick. I got to take quite a few photos with the dogs and afterwards, when they went back to their kennels, I chatted some more with the NGOs about the project and Siem Reap in general. It’s a great project and I bought a few souvenirs and gifts from them on the way out. They told me that the dog shows are a new thing and they’re trying to advertise them, as they’ve only been going since October. This is why I was on my own but I do hope interest grows - it’s a fantastic venture for a worthwhile cause and to meet the team and the dogs, as well as have a one-to-one demonstration was a real treat.
Back to the hotel we then went, with the tuk-tuk driver having stayed and waited for me at the event. Indeed towards the end he seemed to become quite interested, I guess because before then he hadn’t heard of it. Upon arrival, I booked my free massage for 6:30pm, giving me an hour to get showered and changed, and honouring their need for half an hour’s notice. I received a call, then a knock on the door as I prevaricated, when it was time to go down to the treatment centre, which was in a small wooden hut next to one of the two pools in the complex. With the curtains drawn, I stripped off and let the masseuse commence the massage, which was to last an hour and was a full body affair, back first and then front. It was incredibly relaxing, although the attempts at small talk did break me free from my mind space. The eucalyptus scented bucket of water underneath the head hole did help though, and random thoughts and images soon tumbled out of my mind. I do find it frustrating though that I couldn’t fully get into it as my mind kept thinking about pertinent things - Brexit, what I was going to do that evening, the Leeds Meets etc - but all in all it was exactly what I needed. It was the only massage the spa offers without oil and did involve a lot of stretching/pulling along with hand induced pressure. Either way though it definitely worked and afterwards, once I had obtained my wallet, I left a sizeable tip at the front desk for her.
Upon going to my room I was so relaxed I didn’t want to do anything but I needed food, so decided to go to the Siem Reap Brewpub, remembering their live music night. I jumped in a tuk-tuk, making the reception desk check my phone that I would use to call for a return pickup had credit this time, and soon we were on our way. Keeping with the tradition of guiding drivers to places they didn’t know before, I got the impression that again we were flying somewhat blind but he did get me there pretty swiftly. I must admit I was a bit disappointed with just how quiet it was, with only two other tables occupied. I guess this is why they were so eager to serve me. I bought an IPA and ordered some loc lac, beef cubes marinated in a black bean type source served with vegetables. It was incredibly nice and although I couldn’t eat all the rice, it was definitely one of the culinary highlights of the trip. As I ate, I listened to the performing trio; a female singer, a male singer/guitarist and a male drummer using his chair as the percussion. The singing wasn’t the greatest to be honest but they added a nice vibe, so much so that I ordered the honey infused wheat beer so I could hear some more. They soon finished however, and with an early start to catch my flight, I thought I had better head too. I had a quick peer at the teddy bear art exhibition they had on in the restaurant which was basically loads of different paintings of teddy bears before calling my tuk-tuk driver. Fortunately the phone worked this time and soon I was on my way back to the hotel, reminiscing about my wonderful short stay in Cambodia. I’ll definitely be back.
As I had left the hotel so early, I hadn’t had chance to have any breakfast, so I headed over to the various huts at the side of Angkor Wat who were serving food. It was touristy and expensive, but served a purpose. I didn’t feel like anything substantial so just ordered some toast and butter, but I was served a huge baguette which was warm and incredibly tasty. This must be one of the things the French brought with them when they colonised the region from 1854. As I ate, various kids came up to me and tried to sell me souvenirs, and it became a little relentless turning them down but at least each one wasn’t overly insistent I guess. I ate on a wooden table overlooking the temple, albeit my view was partially obstructed by trees. After ordering and indeed during eating, I noticed that the sun was just poking its head up behind the temple and so I spent a good time running backwards and forwards the 50m or so between my food and the same place I had taken my earlier photos from. In a way I had forgotten why I had cake - to see the sun rise over the temple not just watch it get light - but I did manage to get some good photos at least. The sun did not rise right above the temple though but to its southerly side, deviating as much as it usually would due to it being near to the shortest date. Indeed it is on the two equinoxes - 21 March and 21 September - when the sun rises directly overhead the Bakan, the central tower of Angkor Wat.
With sunrise seen and me having already visited Angkor Wat the day before (more on that later), I met up with my guide once again and we headed back over the wobbly bridge and to the car, which was parked in a huge dusty car park on the other side of the moat. We were destined to see three temples during the day, with the nearest being Banteay Srei. On the way, my guide asked me whether I had seen Pre Rup the day before but I wasn’t so sure. As we were driving right past it, he asked the driver to pull over and upon getting out, it did seem familiar meaning we could get straight to our first destination. This was just as well as it was only 7:15am and the main temples apart from Angkor Wat only open at 7:30am - we did have a lot of driving after all. This meant we were soon on the road to Banteay Srei, which resembled a country road in the UK. There were a number of farming villages en route, largely with houses on stilts which were built out of wood, while we also saw a number of people in the traditional pointy straw hats out in the fields harvesting rice as it’s just the end of the rainy season. We also saw another unfortunate tradition - a man driving a motorbike had five dogs in a rudimentary wooden cage on the back. These dogs were going to be slaughtered for dog meat, which is quite a popular delicacy in Cambodia and is enjoyed by 60-70% of the population. I was told that some families even kill their own pets for food. Being a dog lover, this was all quite sad, particularly seeing the sorrowful amber eyes of one grey/brown collie type dog which seemed to suggest he knew what was coming as he looked wistfully into the distance. It’s something I’ll never forget. Fortunately, I was distracted further down the road as we pulled outside a small hut where a lady was distilling sugar cane juice. It comes from both the male and female parts of the plant, which look quite different, and is then boiled at the side of the road to increase its thickness. It’s then sold on and is made into wine or liquor, which the sugar cane harvesters then sell by the roadside. They also sell sugar biscuits which aren’t too dissimilar to eating raw sugar. I got to try some of the sweet and smooth wine and the more abrasive spirit, buying a bottle of the latter as I kinda felt obliged into making a purchase. As this was labelled I thought it better than the sugar biscuits.
With that we set off and soon completed our forty-five minute journey to Banteay Srei. With the time still not yet 8:30am it was beautifully serene, with hardly any tourists around whatsoever. This was a huge blessing although it did help that this temple (and indeed the others we were to visit) were further away from main population centres, particularly Siem Reap. After a quick toilet trip as the ones here were quite good, we walked towards the beautiful sandstone temple across ground of a similar intense orange colour. Banteay Srei is one of the smaller temples but what it lacks in size it makes up for in beauty. The pink sandstone gave it quite an aura in the early morning sunlight but it’s carvings detailing various Hindu carvings are absolutely breathtaking. These are placed above the doors to the numerous shrines, all pointing up to the heavens. The temple was completed in 967 and dedicated to Lord Shiva, and there were numerous stories relating to him and Vishnu in the carvings. Between the main entrance and the shrines, there lies the remains of a bull statue, with Shiva being associated with the bovine. The intricate artwork above the doors is wonderfully preserved (just the odd head was missing) and it was such a marvel to see such exceptional craftsmanship. As we walked around the square-shaped complex, my guide told the Hindu stories to me, although a few I could recognise myself following my trip to Angkor Wat and associated temples the day before. We weren’t allowed into the middle section, we were confined to the perimeter, but we could see all the carvings pretty clearly and it was interesting to see the monkey statues lining the temple as protectors of it (the monkey, along with the snake, is often seen as a protector). I was determined to stay ahead of a large party of Korean tourists who were just behind us, which was only thwarted slightly when my guide met up with one of his friends who guards the temple and had to write out a wedding invitation for him. Still, it was important so I didn’t mind and we soon got ahead of the Koreans once again.
Our next stop was about an hour away, and was the part of the day I was least looking forward to. Kbal Spean is high in the jungle and is reached by a steep 1.5km trail through the forest. My fear of snakes was a concern, as was such a physically demanding climb in the tropical heat, but I was reassured that I wouldn’t see any of my slithery friends and that we would take the climb slowly. As we pulled into the car park, I was reassured by the presence of a group of about five tourists waiting to scale the path, believing that the associated noise would likely keep the snakes away. Upon exiting the car, I was soon accosted by a saleswoman called Linda over at Stall 14. She was selling the same shirts, scarves and t-shirts they were all selling back at Angkor Wat and despite declining her wares, she insisted I look at her store when I came back down the mountain. I was non-committal but soon we headed off, delving deeper and deeper into the thick jungle. The trees provided some welcome shade so it wasn’t as hot as it might have been, while pagodas every 300m did allow for a breather. Some of the path was quite flat but there were points which involved scrambling over rocks. This wasn’t too great for a man with little grip on his shoes - and the ubiquity of sand really didn’t help on the rocky surfaces - but I battled gamely and in the end managed to scale the trail pretty swiftly. As I did, I noticed the sheer number of French people on the trail, nearly everyone here was from there for some reason. Anyway, our initial target was a waterfall, the source of a river with water incredibly crystal clear. Marker signs counted down from 1500m to the top but the falls were actually around 200m. You could hear them in the distance and through the thick trees it was quite a romantic sound. Shame it was just my guide and I. The area is so secluded it was only discovered in 1969 when a hermit pointed its existence out to Frenchman Jean Bouldet. This area was further made inaccessible between 1979 and 1990 as it is where the most dedicated members of the Khmer Rouge operated after the Vietnamese ousted them from power. Therefore it was a very dangerous place and well off the tourist map until recently. The site itself contains a number of lingas carved into the riverbed which don’t look too dissimilar to those anti-slip nodules you get on the ground at traffic lights. These have a purpose I Hinduism though as symbols of fertility, with the node representing the penis and the groove the vagina. When clear water passes over them, it’s said to be auspicious. Also up here are carvings of some Hindu deities into the rock, including Vishnu riding on the back of a serpent. After Shiva has destroyed the world in a flood, Vishnu sleeps for a thousand years on the back of the snake who carries him. Then a lotus flower grows from his navel and it is this which symbols the rebirth of life and creation. The area was very tranquil and it was quite the experience being inside a jungle, so much so that I took many pictures. We even saw a parasitic tree which had wrapped its way around and killed another one, which was fascinating yet gruesome in equal measure.
The walk back down to the car park was surprisingly swift and soon we were on our way again to our third and final temple for the day. This was another hour away so I settled back into the car, with ice cold water and moist towelettes aiding refreshment. Along the way, we drove around a rather large roundabout and as we turned into our junction, we saw two students jumping up and down in the middle of the road along with someone filming them on quite a professional looking Sony camera. We stopped and were told they were participating in a Cambodian game show for the Bayon TV network (a channel I had already seen in my hotel room). It was a bit like Treasure Hunt - they got a clue to destinations in the local area and then had to find the subsequent clue once there. They asked us whether we minded giving them a lift and as their destination was only a 4km detour, we consented. This saw the cameraman climb into the back passenger seat next to me and the two rather excitable students clamber into the boot. We had ideal chat for the fifteen minute journey, with much of it being filmed. I was offered some sticky rice by the gentleman student which was beautifully presented in bamboo leaves which were bright yellow and criss-crossed over each other to form a lattice container. He offered me the whole diamond but I declined, and by the time I could take the smallest piece, we had arrived at their destination, which turned out to be a barrier across the road and a checkpoint where foreigners had to pay a toll to cross for some reason. Assumedly their next clue was in the tollbooth or something, but either way they were very thankful to us as we drove off. The show is set to air in January and I think I presented myself quite well, chatting in English about Cambodia and answering their questions. It was odd being on camera but I soon thought nothing of it - it will be interesting to see what the final edit looks like, I just wish I wasn’t so sweaty and beardy after that long hike and two weeks without a razor.
We retraced our steps a few kilometers before taking the road we had initially intended, driving for another forty minutes or so until we reached our third temple. However, I was feeling hungry and as it was approaching lunchtime, I was taken to a restaurant just down the road called Rom Fuol Angkor II. It’s clear the guides have an arrangement with these establishments as you’re basically paying western prices for the meals but it did enable me to sample some Khmer food, namely stir fried keng, which was basically a collection of vegetables with some beef, served with the obligatory sticky rice. It was quite tasty but the peas were a little underdone and the artichokes were of an odd squidgy texture. With it, I got some ABC beer, it being the only beer on the menu I had not yet tried. It turned out to be an 8.5% extra stout, not the sort of thing that goes down well in the tropical heat. When paying, the owner of the restaurant questioned how many of those I could drink in one sitting and I said four or five. The reality was in this heat one was hard enough.
The final temple was Beng Mealea, some 68km away from Siem Reap. It’s hard to tell that the floor plan of this temple is the same as that of Angkor Wat as it’s all tumbledown with nature reasserting it’s control. Built in the twelfth century, you can largely make out its form but so much of it is now represented as a pile of stones that it’s hard to envisage what it would have looked like in all its glory. In addition to this, weathering has turned the bricks somewhat grey and green, making it look like concrete. There’s a wooden walkway through its environs and the way you can see the carvings of the now familiar Hindu stories is testament to what this temple actually was. However with trees sprouting out of it, it’s clear that it’s glory days are over and there is a certain haunting sadness to this. It laid undiscovered for so long, and even the long guardian serpents on each side of the temple have fallen by the wayside in places, breaking their continuum. Some of the five - or in some places seven - heads of the snakes have also been weathered. These used to form bridges over a giant moat measuring 1.2km by 900m but there is little evidence left of what this was. Haunting is the word to describe this place.
It was shortly after 2pm that we finished and the idea was floated that we could go and see the fishing villages on our way back to the hotel. However, as our journey progressed, our guide started to fear about the time we had before sundown and decided we should head back to my accommodation instead. This was a shame as I would like to have seen the lake and the villages but this presented me with another opportunity - the possibility of seeing the Explosive Detection Dogs show at 4pm. By my reckoning we would have enough time to get there but it was something you had to book in advance. Fortunately my guide was willing to do this on my behalf, along with arranging a tuk-tuk to take me there once we got back to the hotel shortly after 3pm. This was much appreciated and our driver’s quickness meant I had half an hour to freshen up before heading out again. I said goodbye to the team and went to my room, where I found a huge plate of fruit and an offer of a free Khmer massage as an apology for the cleaners leaving my door open and unlocked the day before. This was most appreciated, particularly as I wanted to get a massage anyway, and the fruit which I ate later that evening was tasty too. Puppies like tasty treats.
I was a little late out of my hotel room, meant we were cutting it fine in terms of getting to the show. The dog training headquarters were near the airport around 6km away and my tuk-tuk driver clearly didn’t know exactly where it was. Indeed initially we went to their main office on the other side of the road rather than the dog training centre but a nice man who worked there showed us where to go by hopping on his motorbike and urging us to follow him. To be fair, the map on the leaflet was misleading but at least we had arrived, albeit a few minutes late. I feared I was going to be late to the show and would have to enter at the back embarrassingly so it was quite a surprise to discover that I was the only one there and would have a private demonstration on how the dogs are trained and how they locate mines and other unexploded ordinance. It’s a huge problem in Cambodia as there are still between three and five million pieces of ammunition in the ground, largely from the US-Vietnam war and the Khmer Rogue days. The dogs are ten times more efficient than humans at mine detection and do so by sniffing the TNT inside the munitions. The work is done in conjunction with a Norwegian NGO, Norsk Folkehjelp, and I was met by a lovely Australian lady who explained everything they do. She showed me a small exhibition of the types of things they find along with pictures from their recently started puppy program, before she gestured me towards three rows of metal bleachers where she showed me two short films - one on the specific issue in Cambodia and another on how land is cleared through both non-technical and technical surveying. This is important as locals believe more land is affected than is the reality and their justifiable fear means they cannot farm this land or use it. The process of how land is deemed safe was really interesting and it’s good to hear they have a target of a mine-free Cambodia by 2025, as ambitious as this is. At Beng Mealea we saw a sign saying this area has been cleared by mines through a German governmental project and it’s great to see this happening as the war was forty years ago yet it is generations who weren’t even alive when it happened who are suffering.
It was then time to meet the dogs, who were brought out with their handlers, who I was told live on sight with them. Each handler has their own dog so trust is built up. Nergard is an eleven year old veteran who is soon to retire. He’s found mines in Bosnia and Myanmar before working in Cambodia. Meanwhile Inna is a four year old bouncy ball of fun who’s doing fantastically well out in the field. The first test was to see whether Inna could find some TNT inside a long row of bricks. The bricks are the ones with holes in, and a piece of red plastic fused with the smell of TNT was placed in one of the holes. It was then up to Inna to find it and she got it very quickly, stopping and sitting down at the exact point where the TNT was. She was then given her Kong reward as a treat. The second test was similar but was on a piece of ground. I was asked to place the sample in the grass and then Inna was walked up and down in one metre width lines until she found the piece. I then got to see Inna complete an obstacle course similar to the one they use at Crufts. It only took her 21 seconds and she did it twice, largely because I forgot to video the first time. Finally I got to see some obedience training with both dogs and their handlers before I was allowed to meet the dogs and pet them. They were very friendly, particularly the spritely Inna who jumped up on command and gave me a lick. I got to take quite a few photos with the dogs and afterwards, when they went back to their kennels, I chatted some more with the NGOs about the project and Siem Reap in general. It’s a great project and I bought a few souvenirs and gifts from them on the way out. They told me that the dog shows are a new thing and they’re trying to advertise them, as they’ve only been going since October. This is why I was on my own but I do hope interest grows - it’s a fantastic venture for a worthwhile cause and to meet the team and the dogs, as well as have a one-to-one demonstration was a real treat.
Back to the hotel we then went, with the tuk-tuk driver having stayed and waited for me at the event. Indeed towards the end he seemed to become quite interested, I guess because before then he hadn’t heard of it. Upon arrival, I booked my free massage for 6:30pm, giving me an hour to get showered and changed, and honouring their need for half an hour’s notice. I received a call, then a knock on the door as I prevaricated, when it was time to go down to the treatment centre, which was in a small wooden hut next to one of the two pools in the complex. With the curtains drawn, I stripped off and let the masseuse commence the massage, which was to last an hour and was a full body affair, back first and then front. It was incredibly relaxing, although the attempts at small talk did break me free from my mind space. The eucalyptus scented bucket of water underneath the head hole did help though, and random thoughts and images soon tumbled out of my mind. I do find it frustrating though that I couldn’t fully get into it as my mind kept thinking about pertinent things - Brexit, what I was going to do that evening, the Leeds Meets etc - but all in all it was exactly what I needed. It was the only massage the spa offers without oil and did involve a lot of stretching/pulling along with hand induced pressure. Either way though it definitely worked and afterwards, once I had obtained my wallet, I left a sizeable tip at the front desk for her.
Upon going to my room I was so relaxed I didn’t want to do anything but I needed food, so decided to go to the Siem Reap Brewpub, remembering their live music night. I jumped in a tuk-tuk, making the reception desk check my phone that I would use to call for a return pickup had credit this time, and soon we were on our way. Keeping with the tradition of guiding drivers to places they didn’t know before, I got the impression that again we were flying somewhat blind but he did get me there pretty swiftly. I must admit I was a bit disappointed with just how quiet it was, with only two other tables occupied. I guess this is why they were so eager to serve me. I bought an IPA and ordered some loc lac, beef cubes marinated in a black bean type source served with vegetables. It was incredibly nice and although I couldn’t eat all the rice, it was definitely one of the culinary highlights of the trip. As I ate, I listened to the performing trio; a female singer, a male singer/guitarist and a male drummer using his chair as the percussion. The singing wasn’t the greatest to be honest but they added a nice vibe, so much so that I ordered the honey infused wheat beer so I could hear some more. They soon finished however, and with an early start to catch my flight, I thought I had better head too. I had a quick peer at the teddy bear art exhibition they had on in the restaurant which was basically loads of different paintings of teddy bears before calling my tuk-tuk driver. Fortunately the phone worked this time and soon I was on my way back to the hotel, reminiscing about my wonderful short stay in Cambodia. I’ll definitely be back.
