One of the 7 Wonders of the World - Angkor 吴哥

VICHET "BROTHER"

Thursday 18 Aug 2011. Siem Reap

I book us on a full day tour of Central Angkor with a professional tour guide for a sum of $60. In additional we pay $20 per pax for the park entrance charges.

Vichet meets us at Frangipani ready to rock and roll at 7.30am. He is to be our guide for our momentous trip to the Angkor Central.

SIEM REAP, we ask, means Siam (Thailand) Defeated (Reap). Interesting. And Vichet ( I call him "Brother" because he always use the term "brother" as a term of endearment whenever he addresses us) gives us a brief history of Cambodia/Kampuchea from the period the French colonized the country in early 1800's to after the Pol Pot regime in 1979.

We start our tour today at the South Gate of ANGKOR THOM which was the largest city during the Khmer Ruler Jayavarman VII era (c 1181-1220). He also commissioned the construction of ANGKOR WAT, the largest temple ever built during the Angkor era. The city was 3 km on a side and has 5 huge gates leading to it. one gate each for north, south and west; two gates on the east - one is a gate of victory which the king entered if he won a war, the other a gate of defeat.

The channel of water (moat) surrounding Angkor Thom. The moat is more than 100 m wide

The giant statues along both sides of the causeway leading to the south gate of Angkor Thom form two rows: devas on the left and ashuras on the right. The figures are holding a naga (serpent)


On the causeway over the moat to the south gate




Water of reflections (moat)




Monkeys are sacred to the Hindus/ Khmer Buddhists


Carving of the face of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. It looks down on those who enter the south gate. The gate tower is 200 m high, and the bodhisattva's faces, on all 4 sides of the tower, are about 3 m high

Our first stop in the Angkor Thom is the BAYON temple, built in the middle of the 11th century (1060) by then Ruler Jayavarman VII.



The volcanic sandstones were stacked one on top another. Then the craftsmen carved figurines and inscriptions on them

The carvings give us an understanding of the daily life during the Angkor era. husband, wife and children



Monkeys eating fruits

A wild boar/ pig

A turtle bites a man's backside

Chams/Vietnamese soldiers at war with the Khmers. The oarsmen and warriors with spears and shields are depicted with exciting realism


Bayon temple has 54 towers with faces of Avalokiteshvara on 4 sides. It is built as a pyramid, gradually rising to the central sanctuary, 45 m high

Linga (male genital) and Uni (female genital). The water that is poured on linga flows out through a groove in uni and legend has it that the water gives health (not to promote childbirth)

Another pretty tourist

Pretty Japanese girl (tourist)

After visiting Bayon we make our tracks to Ta Phrom - temple in the jungle. Ta Phrom has many old 200+ years old trees growing in the temple and on top of the temple.

This is a picture of the causeway leading to Baphuon. We skipped Baphuon and went straight to Ta Phrom

Brother makes a point by drawing in the sand

Ta Phrom has 3 levels - Hell, Earth and Heaven

These trees are called "Sprong" - apparently 200+ years old

Big black ants making tracks

The volcanic sandstones are lying on the floor after they are excavated. There is a plan to restore them to their former glory. All these sites are UNESCO protected.

Darren and I are asked by Brother to point at something and then he took the pictures for us. In his words "This is a money shot!"

Apsara the dancing goddess

Amazing root system of the Ta Phrom trees. The original "sprong" has already died and then a later "new" banyan tree grows over it

This is an illusion. The tree is not growing on top of the temple structure but behind it

After the visit to Angkor Thom (of which we only covered Bayon and Ta Phrom temples) we decide to go back to town and Brother takes us to "Khmer Kitchen" for lunch. It is in a small lane just off Pub St. near Old Market. We invite him to join us. I order Fish Amok, banana salad, fried pork ribs, Angkor and coke. The lunch is fantastic here and we only pay $14.50. Unbelievable value.

After lunch we journey to visit Angkor Wat and by this time it is showery and out come the umbrellas. Brother tells us stories of the Good and Evil. The monkey soldiers of Indian origin vs. the Sri Lankan soldiers.

Angkor Wat

On the causeway leading up to the Angkor Wat temple

Darren has got Angkor Wat by his fingers

We climb the steep stairs up to the top level and meet some old folks (maybe in their 70's) doing the same. Darren feels the steepness and comments that we should travel more whilst we are able. He also comments that we are not too far off from the Cambodian's average life span of 65!

I like this design of the "window frame"

In touch with Apsara the dancing godess

Looking down from the temple

A buddha figure in the temple, sitting on a serpent

Going down the steep steps from the temple

In the overall scheme of things, the architecture, the grandeur, the design, the functions, the perspective; of ANGKOR WAT, is truly impressive. There is so much to see and to understand but we do not have the time. We get back after the long day to Frangipani Villa for a rest and I change to take another dip in the pool. We get our Air Asia boarding passes printed and start to mentally get ourselves ready for the early start to the airport tomorrow.

For dinner tonight we make our way to Pub St for BBQ. I am so tired I do not bother to remember where we have the dinner. We decide on BBQ mackerel (Sabah fish) and two frog legs. We also have amok, banana salad, Angkor and coffee. All for a grand sum of $15.

Tomorrow morning we rise early and will leave the Villa by 6.45am after breakfast. We should be able to get to the airport by 7.15am for our 8.30am departure. Home sweet home. What an unforgettable trip for me to one of the 7 wonders of the world.

Siem Reap Impressions

Rest Stop at Kampong Thom from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap

Wednesday 17 Aug 2011. Phnom Penh - Siem Reap

Today we get picked up at 8.am from Frangipani Villa 60's Phnom Penh to the Mekong Express office for our journey on coach to Siem Reap (pronounced by the Cambodians as Sim Reap). The journey takes 6 hours to cover some 310km. The bus is full with a mix of foreigners and locals. I think there are Australians, British, Chinese, Malaysians and other Europeans on board today. I sit next to Dan, a uni graduate from UK. He is going to do his civil engineering masters next year. He is staying in Cambodia with his cousin who works with World Vision.

Dan's view of the world is pretty idealistic but he is lucky he has the opportunity to travel abroad at his young age.

The fare to Siem Reap is only $11. To cut a long story short after tossing and turning in my seat many times we arrive at the Siem Reap Mekong Express bus station. We are met on arrival by Penya's friend Thom who is another tuk tuk driver.







Thom sends us to Frangipani Villa Siem Reap which is another beautiful property only about 1 year old. The building is expansive, well furnished in tropical Balinese style. It even has a nice pool at the back of the property. A truly 5-star hotel at a 3-star rate of $67.20 for 2 nights.

Raffles Hotel

Thom takes us for a city tour at 6pm tonight before dropping us at the Angkor Mondial Restaurant for a buffet dinner and traditional Khmer dance show at $12 per pax. The buffet spread is international + Khmer. It is well suited to our taste and hungry tummies.

I have Amok (wrapped in banana leaf), deep fried mushroom, and spring rolls

I love this Khmer soup with vermicelli and chicken; plus some Khmer salad

The traditional dances are performed by males and females. They are very much like Balinese dances because they are influenced by the Hindus. Cambodians embraced Hinduism first and foremost and later on are converted to Buddhism. No doubt the dances are also akin to Thai dances.









After dinner and show we go to the Night Market to sample what's on offer there.

Phnom Penh and surrounds

Tuesday 16 Aug 2011. Phnom Penh

Penya comes to pick us up to the Central Market in Phnom Penh at 7.30am. It's a market with stores selling normal stuff for the people of PP. We see some clean food stalls selling Khmer foods and debate about trying some of them as we also see some foreigners sitting down for their breakfast. In the end we step away as we already had our brekkies at Frangipani.

We sit across from the Market in a cafe run by a Teow Chew in his little plastic stools, watching people going about their business. We talk to this old man who converses with us in Putong Hua. He tells us he lost all his worldly possessions in his life during the Khmer Rouge rule 1975-1979 and fled Phnom Penh. He bought some assets back since then (after the Pol Pot regime had been defeated and overthrown by the Viets) and now runs his guest house cum cafe. He says the country is now peaceful. He never feels there is any animosity between the local Khmers and Cambodians of Chinese descent in answer to our question.

The Royal Palace

Palace Guard
Palace Ground Info Board

We go to the Royal Palace within 15 minutes walk from Central Market, where the King lives but decide not to tour it as we feel it is not right to charge tourists $6.75 p.p. for entrance. Should it not be free? After all it is the Palace.

National Museum

Instead we go to the National Museum to appreciate the artifacts, statues, coins, utensils, idol objects that were uncovered in this part of the world. This Museum offers a wealth of historical information to tourists by their exhibits. This is worth the $3 entrance fee. Unfortunately we are not allowed to take pictures of the objects.

In front of the river front

Anise Restaurant

Anise Restaurant

Anise is our preferred place for lunch at 2C St 278 off St 57. The old lady owner "Kheng" is Cambodian American. In 1975 she escaped from the Khmer Rouge and went to France with her children. For 2 years they lived there in a strange land. They finally re-settled in California and they lived there for the next 34 years.

6 years ago she returned to P.P. with her American husband and opened this restaurant, a guest house and a spa on St 57. She owns the assets and the business. She says she is happy now that she is back in her own country and land.



We choose to go to nearby Amret Spa (3 St 57) for foot massage and aromatherapy. Again we find the environment excellent but the massage is not so fantastic. It seems to us that this country has what it takes to be on par with her neighbors in terms of restaurants, spas, tourist attractions but fail to deliver the end products because the human skills and communications skills are somewhat lacking.

Tonight we choose to have Italian at ARIA D'ITALIA (41E0 St 310, BKK 1). We want something tonight other than Khmer food. I get the recommendation from the P.P. Guide Book.

I order seafood pizza, mozzarella ravioli, a carafe of Italian Rose, tiramisu and Bon coffee. Everything turn out very well for us - we love their food especially the pizza with thin, crusty base. Who doesn't love a crusty pizza?

The Cambodian lady boss is very friendly to us and chats with us about her business and the real estate market in P.P. We enjoy her company and give her restaurant a 9 out of 10.