Here we are in the waters off Phu Quoc Island... two brilliant days!
Wednesday, 17 November 2010
From the Temples of Angkor to Phu Quoc Island
One capital city, one plane, two boats and three consecutive days spent on buses.... It feels like a long time ago that we were on the lazy beach of Mui Ne. After a few grey days, our thoughts turned to what we wanted to see and do before our SE Asia time was up. Going to Cambodia to see the Temples of Angkor was the first consideration.... so we planned a route that took us by bus to Saigon and then a flight to Siem Reap in Cambodia the day after.
Siem Reap, nearest town and general support system to the temples, has developed into one of those towns that effortlessly relieves you of all your cash - but it does it with such a genuine smile that you don't mind at all. At the airport (where even the immigration officials where charming) we noticed that most of the tourists were in their sixties, retirees enjoying their freedom and ready for a good time. I'm sure they loved Siem Reap- lots of classy restaurants, elegant shops and faded French colonial architecture- and that's before they even got started on the temples. After the price of our international flight, we were in the lookout for bargains, and so had barbeques in the night market, Angkor draft beer at 75 cents a go and stayed at the Mandalay Guesthouse, whose slogan was proudly emblazoned across the doorway: Looks Expensive But Not!
We hired bikes that were probably in service during the construction of the temples for our first day of exploring. Catching sight of the Angkor Wat itself, set back behind a wide moat, was incredible. Inside, we found a huge temple with countless chambers and corridors. Although the main structures are iconic, what we found really breathtaking was the detailed reliefs and engravings covering every single surface of stone. When the afternoon sun got too much we retired to a shady spot for some lunch, looking at the famous entrance and those three almond-shaped towers, and thought: spectacular. And this is just one of a whole city of ancient temples. Kind of makes you wonder why we're so proud of Stonehenge!
We had a couple more jaw-dropping, camera-happy days at the temples, taking in Ta Promh, where tree roots and vines seem to be growing up, under and through the stones.... and finished with the mighty Angkor Thom, a walled fortress with the temple of Bayon inside. It's at Bayon where you see the famous pillars with the enigmatic faces carved on each of the four sides, the face said to be an amalgamation of the King who commissioned the temple and of a serene Hindu god.
Despite blowing a giant hole in our budget, our trip to Angkor was a fantastic introduction to Cambodia and its culture. From Siem Reap, we thought about our next move and decided on the boat over the Tonle Sap lake to take us to the regional city of Battambang (probably my favourite place name so far). When we boarded the boat for the seven hour journey only to find rather cramped, hard benches, we did as all the other traveller types did and found a spot on the roof for the journey. From here, we could see floating communities amongst the mangroves, and enjoyed waving back at all the children who screamed "Hello!!!!" at us as we passed. A little stiff but thankfully not too sunburnt, we arrived in Battambang for a two-night stay.
After a fairly uneventful couple of days (let's just say that one night would have been enough to see what there was to see...) we took a bus to Phnom Penh. We changed our plans slightly here as all the shifting around was beginning to take its toll, and for the sake of marital harmony decided to head straight on out and towards Phu Quoc Island in Vietnam. So it was back on another bus, off to the sleepy seaside town of Kep for one night - a rather melancholy place due to all the bombed out, blackened villas which the Khmer Rouge clearly took a dislike to - then up again for the final bus journey to take us back over the border and to the southern most tip of Vietnam. One ferry crossing and a minibus from the port later and we were on Phu Quoc. Easy!
So it's been a return to the punishing regime of beach, banana shakes and deciding where to watch the sunset for the past few days. Having totally recovered from all the moving about, we are now booked in to do some diving - a much-needed refresher course first, then two days on the north and south of the island. We were certainly glad to give the lady in the dive shop a good laugh when we handed over our PADI open water cards from 2000 - James has some traveller beads on and as I remember I had just suffered a particularly bad haircut from a hairdresser in Airlie Beach and resemble a potato. We are really looking forward to the diving - it will be great to be on and in the water rather than just looking at it (although that is very nice too).
Then three days in Saigon - next post from Sydney!
Love H&J
Siem Reap, nearest town and general support system to the temples, has developed into one of those towns that effortlessly relieves you of all your cash - but it does it with such a genuine smile that you don't mind at all. At the airport (where even the immigration officials where charming) we noticed that most of the tourists were in their sixties, retirees enjoying their freedom and ready for a good time. I'm sure they loved Siem Reap- lots of classy restaurants, elegant shops and faded French colonial architecture- and that's before they even got started on the temples. After the price of our international flight, we were in the lookout for bargains, and so had barbeques in the night market, Angkor draft beer at 75 cents a go and stayed at the Mandalay Guesthouse, whose slogan was proudly emblazoned across the doorway: Looks Expensive But Not!
We hired bikes that were probably in service during the construction of the temples for our first day of exploring. Catching sight of the Angkor Wat itself, set back behind a wide moat, was incredible. Inside, we found a huge temple with countless chambers and corridors. Although the main structures are iconic, what we found really breathtaking was the detailed reliefs and engravings covering every single surface of stone. When the afternoon sun got too much we retired to a shady spot for some lunch, looking at the famous entrance and those three almond-shaped towers, and thought: spectacular. And this is just one of a whole city of ancient temples. Kind of makes you wonder why we're so proud of Stonehenge!
We had a couple more jaw-dropping, camera-happy days at the temples, taking in Ta Promh, where tree roots and vines seem to be growing up, under and through the stones.... and finished with the mighty Angkor Thom, a walled fortress with the temple of Bayon inside. It's at Bayon where you see the famous pillars with the enigmatic faces carved on each of the four sides, the face said to be an amalgamation of the King who commissioned the temple and of a serene Hindu god.
Despite blowing a giant hole in our budget, our trip to Angkor was a fantastic introduction to Cambodia and its culture. From Siem Reap, we thought about our next move and decided on the boat over the Tonle Sap lake to take us to the regional city of Battambang (probably my favourite place name so far). When we boarded the boat for the seven hour journey only to find rather cramped, hard benches, we did as all the other traveller types did and found a spot on the roof for the journey. From here, we could see floating communities amongst the mangroves, and enjoyed waving back at all the children who screamed "Hello!!!!" at us as we passed. A little stiff but thankfully not too sunburnt, we arrived in Battambang for a two-night stay.
After a fairly uneventful couple of days (let's just say that one night would have been enough to see what there was to see...) we took a bus to Phnom Penh. We changed our plans slightly here as all the shifting around was beginning to take its toll, and for the sake of marital harmony decided to head straight on out and towards Phu Quoc Island in Vietnam. So it was back on another bus, off to the sleepy seaside town of Kep for one night - a rather melancholy place due to all the bombed out, blackened villas which the Khmer Rouge clearly took a dislike to - then up again for the final bus journey to take us back over the border and to the southern most tip of Vietnam. One ferry crossing and a minibus from the port later and we were on Phu Quoc. Easy!
So it's been a return to the punishing regime of beach, banana shakes and deciding where to watch the sunset for the past few days. Having totally recovered from all the moving about, we are now booked in to do some diving - a much-needed refresher course first, then two days on the north and south of the island. We were certainly glad to give the lady in the dive shop a good laugh when we handed over our PADI open water cards from 2000 - James has some traveller beads on and as I remember I had just suffered a particularly bad haircut from a hairdresser in Airlie Beach and resemble a potato. We are really looking forward to the diving - it will be great to be on and in the water rather than just looking at it (although that is very nice too).
Then three days in Saigon - next post from Sydney!
Love H&J
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