In a familiar repetition from a couple mornings ago, the alarmed pierced the quiet darkness at a very unnatural time of day. 4AM, to be precise. We packed up, caught a taxi to the airport, and were there for 5AM. The ticket said to be there at least 2 hours early, but we wound up having to wait half an hour until the customs officials arrive. Despite the temptation, we decided it was best not to give him grief over making us wait.
We caught the 6:30 flight to Pakse, then arrived at Siem Reap in Cambodia around 10AM, got a taxi into town, found a place to stay, snoozed for a couple hours. Siem Reap in Cambodian means "Siam Defeated", reflecting a deap seated historical antagonism between the Khmers and the Thais. You gotta love how in-your-face that is. Renaming the town to "Siem Reap" is the diplomatic equivalent of putting your hand in front of your nose, wiggling your fingers and giving a raspberry.
I can't say our initial impression of Siem Reap was a good one. It is a major tourist destination, and reminded us of Phuket, but without the beaches. So why come here?
Angkor Wat; one of the most amazing ancient ruins on the planet. In a proper sense, Angkor Wat refers to the temple which epitomizes the ancient Khmer ruins, built by King Suryavarman II. (Think that's a mouthful of marbles? How about Udayadityavarman II, one of his predecessors). However, the Angkor region was once home to a major civilization, and there are major ruins scattered through a fairly broad area, of which Angkor Wat is but one. At the apex of the Khmer Empire, around the 12th century, there were over one million people living in the area, while at the time, London was still a small town of about 50,000. The region is massive, and you truly have to be here on the ground to get a sense of it.
So around 4PM we took a
tuk-tuk over to the park entrance, and bought ourselves a multi-day pass. We then headed over to Phnom Bakheng, a temple built on a hilltop, to watch the sunset with a legion of other tourists. After watching it gracefully descend below the horizon, we headed back down and overheard someone with an English speaking guide. Having decided earlier that we wanted to get a guide for tomorrow, we politely butted in to the conversation, and asked if he was available. He was, so we agreed to have him meet us at our hotel at 8AM.
We came back home, had dinner and did a cram session over our guidebooks so we could get as much out of tomorrow as possible.
We caught the 6:30 flight to Pakse, then arrived at Siem Reap in Cambodia around 10AM, got a taxi into town, found a place to stay, snoozed for a couple hours. Siem Reap in Cambodian means "Siam Defeated", reflecting a deap seated historical antagonism between the Khmers and the Thais. You gotta love how in-your-face that is. Renaming the town to "Siem Reap" is the diplomatic equivalent of putting your hand in front of your nose, wiggling your fingers and giving a raspberry.
I can't say our initial impression of Siem Reap was a good one. It is a major tourist destination, and reminded us of Phuket, but without the beaches. So why come here?
Angkor Wat; one of the most amazing ancient ruins on the planet. In a proper sense, Angkor Wat refers to the temple which epitomizes the ancient Khmer ruins, built by King Suryavarman II. (Think that's a mouthful of marbles? How about Udayadityavarman II, one of his predecessors). However, the Angkor region was once home to a major civilization, and there are major ruins scattered through a fairly broad area, of which Angkor Wat is but one. At the apex of the Khmer Empire, around the 12th century, there were over one million people living in the area, while at the time, London was still a small town of about 50,000. The region is massive, and you truly have to be here on the ground to get a sense of it.
So around 4PM we took a
tuk-tuk over to the park entrance, and bought ourselves a multi-day pass. We then headed over to Phnom Bakheng, a temple built on a hilltop, to watch the sunset with a legion of other tourists. After watching it gracefully descend below the horizon, we headed back down and overheard someone with an English speaking guide. Having decided earlier that we wanted to get a guide for tomorrow, we politely butted in to the conversation, and asked if he was available. He was, so we agreed to have him meet us at our hotel at 8AM.We came back home, had dinner and did a cram session over our guidebooks so we could get as much out of tomorrow as possible.
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