Cambodia - Siem Reap, the temples of Angkor

Back in 2004 I visited Cambodia with my friend Gary, I fell in love with the country and the people straight away. Cambodia was very poor, very bumpy, very dusty but also very beautiful, very funny, very friendly and rather peaceful. It was hard not to bring these expectations with me when we returned a few days ago. I was in for a few shocks but now both Aimee and myself love it here. Cambodia is still poor but the economy is definitely moving, it is still bumpy but definitely less so and still very dusty. It is also still very beautiful, very funny and very friendly but it also now very busy.

We walked over the Thai-Cambodia border at Poipet having decided to spend the night at the Thai border town rather than do the insanely long Bangkok-Siem Reap journey all in one day, in that journey lies madness and a sore rear! The border crossing was painless and we even managed to slip past the touts undetected. We hopped in a shared taxi at the Poipet train station which is just outside town down a nice new smooth road; this new road was a massive shock, the last time I came past this way it was a bright orange dust road that was more rutted than a ploughed field! This same smooth road whisked us to Siem Reap in just 2 and a half hours, rather than 6. 

In Siem Reap I had a bit of a shock, that took a day to get over, it was a city not a town now. I should have expected it really, Siem Reap is the gateway to the amazing ruins of Angkor which rightly deserve to be visited by lots of tourists but the last time I had been that was not the case, Siem Reap was a quiet town with almost no traffic that was easy to walk and cycle around. There are now more motos, tuk tuks and cars than there were people on my last visit.

We found our hotel down a familiarly bumpy road that was being dug up as we arrived. Next door a building was being demolished, but inside the hotel was rather swish with loads of solid polished wood everywhere.

We spent the first day relaxing after the border crossing and exploring the new Angkor National Museum, which is genuinely educational and interesting, it was like doing early Cambodian history 101 with and interesting teacher, Ace.

We decide to get up at 4am the next morning to watch the sun rise over Angkor Wat at the recommendation of Nuria and Jochem who we made friends with in the Cameron Highlands (they are doing the near reverse of our trip).

I think I will let the pictures do the talking for the rest of the next two days.

First light - this was incredibly magical

Just as the moon was setting

Me shooting a few more frames

It was very early 

Health and safety seems to be reaching Cambodia, a lot more areas were closed off

The light was amazing I couldn't stop shooting

After our early start we went for breakfast in a French style cafe before meeting our Tuk Tuk driver for the next few days, Batman. Batman took us round several more of Angkor's beautiful structures.

Me in Batman's Amazing Tuk Tuk

I ended up taking a lot of shots through windows

See what I mean

The amazing Bayon - probably my favourite Angkor site 

This lucky couple were having their wedding shots done at the Bayon 

The completed jigsaw - the Baphuon was in pieces the last time I saw it.

There are always some bits left over when you do DIY

The next day Batman came to pick us up again and take us to a few further away sites.

Banteay Srei is always crowded

For good reason it has amazing carvings ...

and sculptures. Many are still intact

Aimee took this great shot of a kid playing with his mom

After a couple more sites Aimee didn't fancy climbing up the 7 tier Bakong in the heat

The Bakong is another of my favourite sites ...

Probably something to do with all of the elephants

Asia route map

For anyone who finds geography easier when looking at a map, like me, here is our Asia route so far.



View Asia Map in a larger map

Fairy tale of Bangkok

Fired up after our amazing experience at the cooking course we were very sad to leave Hua Hin and head back to Bangkok. This was made all the worse as Jim had to go back to work so our little group lost a member on Saturday.

Not sure how C never ended up in the group photos - guess we will have to do it all again.

To help us get over our blues at Jim being back at work and Mom and Dad’s part of the trip nearing its end we decided to have a couple of days of retail therapy. On Saturday we visited the amazing Chatuchak weekend market where we managed to finish our Christmas shopping and get me a much needed new pair of trousers. It was really nice to have C with us who found lots of small cool stalls that we might have missed.

Bangkok is really going for the Christmas decorations this year

Unlike my photography which is getting worse - boo

On Sunday we found our way to Bangkok’s air-conditioned heart, at the huge malls around Siam Square. We relaxed with a few cups of coffee and enjoyed the Christmas decorations that have been put up. Not buckling to nagging but rather realising that having long hair in the tropics is like wearing a woolly hat in the summer I decided to get a hair cut. It did not go entirely to plan as rather than getting a dashing Jake Gyllenhaal hair do, I ended up with the regulation Chinese ½ inch all over. Never mind hair grows.

Conscription haircut 300 bhat

To celebrate our last evening together in Thailand before Mom and Dad flew home we went to bar 55 on the roof of one of Bangkok’s taller hotels. We enjoyed a nice cocktail while enjoying the view and the soft jazz band.

Roof top bar - don't mind if I do

The last few weeks have been brilliant filled with some of the best experiences of the trip and amazing company, thanks so much to Mom, Dad, Jim and C for being part of our journey.

Hua Hin

After a pleasant day relaxing around the pool in Sukhothai, our next destination was Hua Hin. We broke up the journey by staying overnight in Bangkok and we were glad we did as flood hit Bangkok is still suffering and our 6-hour journey turned into a 8-hour one. Unsurprisingly we were all overjoyed when we were able to get off the bus and have a stretch out.

Traffic in Bangkok

Well rested, the next day we jumped in a mini van and went on our way to Hua Hin. Fortunately the floods did not feature in this journey and less than 5 hours later we were walking along the beach and watching the sunset from a beach side bar.

Sooner or later it was going to happen. We were lucky not to meet them in New York. But that night, meet them we did. Can you guess who visited us that night??

That’s right… Bedbugs!! I don’t think I have ever jumped out of my bed so fast at 6 o’clock in the morning! Fortunately only our room was infested but unfortunately they appeared to particularly enjoy the taste of Matt. The itching was maddening and the spots unsightly, but we were able to book into a nice new hotel just down the road. After sending all our worldly goods, which at the moment is roughly 4 kg of clothes and 2 backpacks, to the laundrette it was a case of smothering ourselves with after bite and trying to ignore the temptation to scratch.

By our last day in Hua Hin, Matt and I were feeling a lot less itchy and we were all able to enjoy a cooking course. We had a fantastic day, which started with buying our ingredients from the market. Our teacher Bo, explained to us all the ingredients we would be using before driving us to her house where the lesson would be taking place. Bo welcomed us into her beautiful home and made us feel very welcome, all this coffee around the pond we almost forgot what we were there for!

Making some coconut milk

C shows us how it is done!

Playing with the big knives! 

The new Jamie Oliver?

Finished product: Pad Thai

The Master-chef of Gaeng Jued!

In total we made 4 dishes Tom Yum soup, Green Curry, Pad Thai and a Thai dessert. We were all totally stuffed but feeling very proud of ourselves by the end of it!

Sukhothai

Nice pool

After another long bus journey from Chiang Rai we found ourselves in Sukhothai at the Ruean Thai hotel. We can't really say enough good things about this hotel, the rooms were some of the cleanest we have stayed in in Asia and beautifully decorated, the shower was even separated from the toilet by a curtain. The height of luxury. The rooms we stayed in were in a wooden building surrounding a really nice pool. Even better than the hotel rooms were the staff who could not do enough to help us, ferrying us back and forward to the bus station so that we could go and see the sights and suggesting places to eat and helping out with travel information. The hotel restaurant was nice as well. All round a great base from which to explore.

Fancy wooden hotel

After a very nice restful evening we got ourselves over to Sukhothai's main attraction the historical park. Sukhothai historical park is a complex, of mainly Buddhist, monuments that is being preserved. The 20ish sites in the complex are spread over an area of around 5 km and date from one of the earlier Thai kingdoms around the 13th and 14th Centuries.

Main temple at Sukhothai

We hired bikes and spent the day exploring the main park, it was really nice having everyone together as a family.

We don't look too much like trouble

Offerings at Sukhothai

Typical of a Sukhothai style Buddha

After we had had our fill of the main park we decided to ride outside of the old walls to Wat Si Chum to see the large seated Buddha. This was something of a mission accomplished for me as I have wanted to visit this site since seeing a postcard of it on my first trip to Asia. For me it was worth the wait, the size of the figure was second to the beauty of the carving and the peace that filled the space.

Everyone feeling a bit of inner peace we cycled back to bus stop to drop off the bikes, somewhat to Mom's relief (at that point she didn't know we would be on them again the next day.)

We spent November 26th exploring Si Satchanalai-chaliang historical park, again by bike. The park is similar to Sukhothai and from the same period in Thai history but the neat park areas and open spaces of Sukhothai contrast with the slightly wilder feel of Si Satchanalai and give you more of an explorer buzz. A huge flock of, I think, storks flying over the park added another twist. The ruins were again spectacular and as the park was quieter we largely had them to ourselves.

Dad and Jim do their best Atlas impression

Inside of of the Chedi

I think they are storks

Aimee and Mom helping out the local economy

We spent our last day in Sukhothai enjoying the pool and relaxing with a drink.

Park life

It did not take us long to see why Chiang Mai is dubbed Thailand’s capital of culture. Strolling along the laid back streets we spotted temples and stupas on every corner and in every style. We frequently observed young Buddhist monks learning from their elders and teenagers rushing past us on motos to get to university. It is the perfect place to relax with a glass of iced coffee, just ask Matt’s mom!

Coffee - Chiang Mai style

On our second day in Chiang Mai we decided to visit Doi Inthanon National Park. We hired a car and a driver for the day as the park is a few hours from Chiang Mai, not only did it make getting around a lot easier but it saved us money! We didn’t get to do as much walking as we would have liked because the park was so big but it was beautiful and spectacular.

Weirdly this sign was not actually at the highest point!

Driving through the park we were able to enjoy the wilderness surrounding us. Amongst dense forest, that appeared to go on forever, there were small villages full of people going about their daily lives. At the top of the mountain we emerged into a welcoming and blissfully chilly day, Matt was even able to wear the scarf I brought him for his birthday! It was the perfect weather for our trail through the mossy forest.

Mossy

Following this Ann was able to get her coffee fix as we enjoyed a coffee at the highest peak in Thailand and Matt experienced lens envy watching all of the wildlife photographers.

I wonder if that lens would fit in my backpack

Next up on the trip were two monumental stupas built in honour of the King and Queen’s 60^th birthdays.  The stupas were surrounded by picturesque gardens that even Disney would be proud of. Inside of the stupas was even more impressive; the walls were decorated with mosaic patterns of the Buddha’s life and his teachings and surrounded an impressive stone Buddha. Not to be outdone, the view from here was incredible, we were lucky that it was a clear day and we could see for miles.

His ...

and hers

Last stop on our trip was a short walk up the Nam Tok Wachiratan Waterfall, a great way to end the day!

End of a long but great day