I celebrated Christmas 2016 and New Year 2017 in the kingdom of wonder - Cambodia. We were there for a week during which we visited three places - Angkor Wat near Siem Reap, Coconut Beach near Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh.
Our itinerary for the week was as follows:
Day 0: Fly out from Delhi to Siem Reap
Day 1: Land at Siem Reap in morning, visit Pub street and around; stay in Le Meridien Angkor hotel
Day 2: Siem Reap, visit Inner Circle in Angkor Wat; stay in Le Meridien Angkor hotel
Day 3: Siem Reap, visit Outer Circle in Angkor Wat and Tonle Sap lake; stay in Le Meridien Angkor hotel
Day 4: Flight from Siem Reap to Sihanoukville, boat to Coconut Beach on Koh Rong island; stay at Koh Rong Coconut Beach Bungalows
Day 5: Stay at Koh Rong Coconut Beach Bungalows
Day 6: Coconut Beach, boat and taxi to Phnom Penh; stay at Skyline Boutique hotel in Phnom Penh
Day 7: Explore Phnom Penh; stay at Skyline Boutique hotel in Phnom Penh
Day 8: Flight back to Delhi
We spent a very relaxing and enjoyable week there, with warm weather, smiling people, exotic temples, a vibrant culture and stay at a great beach to boot. The first two places we stayed at were amazing and we loved it. But Phnom Penh felt a bit disappointing and I would rate it as a miss. Overall, I found Cambodia a great and different country to visit, but I would still put Cambodia as one of the optional places to visit, not really a must see.
Day 0: Fly out from Delhi to Siem Reap
To start with, there are no direct flights to Cambodia from Delhi. So we took China Southern connecting flights to Siem Reap and back from Phnom Penh, both with stopovers at Guangzhou. The flight timings were quite convenient - take off from Delhi late night, reach Guangzhou after a 6 hour flight in the morning, and then reach Siem Reap about 11 am after a 2 hour flight.
Here I must mention that I was shocked with the lack of English speaking capabilities in the China Southern flight air hostesses. I would have expected the air hostesses in an international flight to speak reasonable English. But it was a struggle to make them understand me or even for me understand the announcements they were making on the PA system! We had forgotten to order Indian vegetarian food on the flight, and it took forever to make the air hostesses understand what we were looking for. But once they got it, they were very helpful and managed to mix and match stuff they had, to make sure we were all fed 😊. Guess it was a sign of things to come - of limited English, even in Cambodia.
While taking off from Guangzhou, I got my first ever glimpse of China - of a green region dotted with lot of old multi-storied buildings. From the air, it felt almost like India. But I think that’s the only glimpse of China I would have for some time. We had a 1.5 hour stop in Guangzhou and our first flight had got delayed! So we ran once we landed and made it to the connecting flight to Siem Reap. Our luggage sadly did not.
Day 1: Siem Reap
The Siem Reap airport felt like a very small and compact one, but with lots of international flights coming in. Indians are eligible for getting visa on arrival in Cambodia. And unlike what is generally written on websites, the whole procedure took us barely 20 minutes. It did help that we were the first ones in the line, as after us a lot of people came in. But even then, the setup seemed to be focussed on efficiency. There seemed to be an assembly line of officials sitting ready to give the visas 😇. As expected though, we hadn't got our luggage on the flight but surprisingly, the airport officials told us to come and pick up the luggage in the evening, rather than deliver at the hotel! I found this quite surprising as this is not generally the case with most airlines.
At the Siem Reap airport, I already felt a very relaxed vibe plus a feeling of Buddhism in the air (similar to a lot of the mountainous areas of India in the north) which continued throughout our 3 days there. I loved our stay there and I think we could have easily stayed longer to experience the places around more.
Once outside the airport, we took a taxi to our hotel - the Le Meridien Angkor (in hindsight, we should have taken a tuktuk). As we had only half the day left, we decided not to go to the temples yet. And since we had landed early, our hotel rooms weren’t ready either. So we spent the next couple of hours just walking around the area around the hotel. The Meridien is located midway between the city and the temples, hence it was not a very commercial area. We walked into a huge handicrafts shop and realised that there is a lot that Cambodia sells, including silk and precious stones. Then we had local coconut water which was our staple hot weather drink for the whole week.
Then we had lunch at a restaurant just outside the hotel - the Angkor Palm and were surprised by how expensive even the terrible food they served was. It was the tourist effect, but a basic meal also cost about $20-30 per person. Clearly, Angkor was a major tourist destination. Very soon, we also realised that everyone in Cambodia takes US dollars! And that ATMs also dispense dollars! Its the first time I ever saw that an ATM dispenses notes from a different country! After lunch, we checked into our hotel and spent most of the afternoon sleeping inside as it was too hot to be outside. The weather was 35+ degree and so afternoons were best spent inside.
Once we got over our siesta, we visited the world famous Pub Street - the tourist hub in Siem Reap. The city of Siem Reap was also quite an active town, full of hotels and touristy stuff everywhere. It felt like a fast paced place, with the roads being full of mopeds and tuktuks. We took a tuktuk to town and thereafter, that was our favourite mode of transport for the next one week. The tuktuks in Cambodia have a bike fitted with a seating coach which can seat about 5-6 adults comfortably. They are the perfect way to explore the country, with the open make always providing a cool breeze to deal with the hot weather. I loved them totally - they were so cute, comfortable and fresh.
The very lively pub street |
We got a foot massage done on the main Pub street (we got one almost every day of our trip!), and then found a couple of Indian restaurants in a line. So we were sorted for food for the next few days 😆. We had dinner at a restaurant called - 'Indian' (how innovative is that?! ). The food was tasty but had a bit of South Indian taste to it.
While coming back from the restaurant, we took a tuktuk with a driver called Hai. He was quite a chatty guy and we decided to hire him as our driver for the next two days. We decided with him that he would pick us up at the hotel the next day at 4:30 am when we could get the tickets from the office and reach Angkor to see the sunrise.
By that time, our luggage had also arrived and we had to go to the airport to pick it up. Hai took us to the airport and back in his tuktuk and it was one of freshest drives have had for a long time. We drove at night through green fields and forests, with the cool air dashing against our faces. Its when driving in the tuktuk that we realised that the airport was quite far from our hotel and located right in the middle of forests!
Day 2: Angkor Wat, Siem Reap
Our second day in Siem Reap was spent in the Angkor Archeological Park, with the daily mandatory trip to Pub street at night. The Khmer Empire was a Hindu kingdom which existed from 8th to the 15th century AD in Cambodia which later converted to Buddhism. Angkor was built as their capital in the 8th century by king Jayavarman. It was a huge city with many temples and palaces built in stone around the area. And it was surrounded by moats all around.
Angkor is now a big tourist attraction for Cambodia, so much so that the national flag of Cambodia has the image of Angkor on it. It is almost a symbol of national pride and history now. At one time in history, according to Wiki, the single city housed 0.1% of the world’s population, and ‘at its peak, the city occupied an area greater than modern Paris, and its buildings used far more stone than all of the Egyptian structures combined’. The kingdom slowly converted to Buddhism and continued building more temples based on a mix of Hinduism and Buddhism.
And then slowly, the kingdom disintegrated and was forgotten. It was almost ‘re-discovered’ many centuries later by when a lot of its structures were in ruin and a state of decay. Even now, a lot of these majestic structure are being re-built to what they could have been. The Angkor complex now is what remains of those times, at different stages of re-construction. And its history is being re-told. Most of the remains are of temples and royal structures, all of which were made of stone, as the buildings where the common people lived in were built of less sustainable materials and did not survive the centuries...
The plan of Angkor |
There are a thousand of these old structures now spread out in the area and a lot of them are still not uncovered yet. So it all depends on you how much or how less you want to explore the area. You will never be short of new palaces and temples to explore, all of which were built in a different architectural style.
Angkor Wat during sunrise |
Sunrise crowds at Angkor Wat |
Carvings in Angkor Wat |
Inside the Bakan area |
The Angkor Wat |
Sun playing with the Angkor buildings |
Angkor silhouette in the pond in front |
Our next stop was Angkor Thom - the capital city of the empire. The capital area is enclosed within a walled area, with a moat all around. And the gates to Angkor Them all have a Sheshnag being held by multiple devas and asuras on both sides of the road.
Bayon faces |
Bayon faces |
Bayon faces |
Add caption |
The next temple we visited was the Ta Keo. It was built of orange coloured rocks and the temple was on the top of a steep stairs. We did not climb it though (a lot of the places had steep steps to go up which was a bit of a deterrent, especially in the heat). It had got so hot by then that all the coconut water wasn’t helping, so we took a break and had lunch at a typical Khmer restaurant within the complex - the Rohal restaurant. It was a restaurant built on stilts with place to sit on top and surrounded by gardens on all sides. They served typical Thai and Khmer food which was quite spicy and hence tasty to eat. It felt cool given how hot the weather was; the cool breeze on the first floor from the green areas around helped us freshen a lot. And we were ready for our second half of the day tour of Angkor.
The first view of Ta Phrom: tree growing on top of the temple |
Ta Phrom |
Remains of Ta Phrom |
Corridors of Ta Phrom |
The city in its heyday was huge, holding a sizeable population. They had a system of moats and rivers and canals to deal with water storage and distribution. And this system can be found 100s of kms away from Angkor too. It was a huge city and now the whole area is green and full of forests, filling up all the area between the different temples which are spread far and wide. Its a surprise that such a large city was lost for centuries and had to be discovered again later.
What remained now was mostly the stone buildings which included the royal palaces and the temples. The houses of the common folks were not made of such material and hence they did not survive. The stones had all lost a lot of their sheen beaten by centuries of rain and water. A lot of them had fallen off their places, scattering far and wide from their original places; they all were slowly being gathered and brought to their original and rightful places. The stones also needed cleaning as they had all developed a dark covering everywhere, but that would take time. Clearly the government was spending a lot to maintain it but a lot more remains to be done. But overall, it had been quite comfortable to explore the Angkor Park.
Apsara dance: Hanuman and Golden Fish |
Apsara dance |
Day 3: Angkor Wat and Tonle Sap, Siem Reap
We spent the first half of the day again in Angkor, exploring the temples of the Outer Circle and then visited a floating village on the Tonle Sap lake. As much as the temples were similar in their architecture, they were also different from the ones we had visited earlier. They were more open, had more space around them and a lot of them were made of orangish rock unlike the grey ones of the previous day.
The entrance to a lot of these temples again had gates outside, surrounded by moats. And the gate entrances were surrounded on both sides by huge Sheshnags supported by multiple devas or asuras. We encountered multiple water bodies today - small ponds, lakes, streams and moats - to store and utilise water better. And there were loads of monkeys around the complex too but thankfully not creating too much of chaos.
Musicians playing outside the temple |
Preah Khan shivling |
There were loads of pretty carvings, some geometrical patterned carvings, some of the Tara goddess, some lions, some scenes from the Ramayans, many sculptures of the sheshnags and sagar manthan, some pattern carvings and so on. It was quite a grand temple and so cool from the inside while the outside was hot. I could have sat there for hours, exploring all its different corridors and carvings, but as with all good things, we had to leave soon from here too.
Sights of Preah Khan |
Sights of Preah Khan |
Neak Poan |
Neak Poan moat |
East Mebon |
Lions of Pre Rup |
Pre Rup |
Forests within the Park |
After spending half the day in the Outer Circle, Hai suggested that we should go to see the floating villages of Kampong Phluk. It was about 35 kms away and took an hour or so in the tuktuk. To get there, we drove through villages and farms in the countryside. The overall ambience everywhere was very very relaxed, the typical feeling of a tropical country. We drove through many small and large villages. They all had two floor houses built on stilts, mostly of wood. And some of the houses had a room or so built on the ground floor around the stilt. The locals were all carrying on their daily jobs, of cooking, cleaning and farming, there was lot of farming everywhere too.
We drove a part of the journey on the highway and then took a detour towards the village. On the highway, the tuktuk drove on one side in a very disciplined way, which i have not seen anywhere else. When you turn off the highway, you have to drive through a kuchcha road through paddy fields on both sides. The villages got a lot more rural and backward by then, with similar houses but a lot less modern and rich.
The traffic jam |
Floating village of Kampong Phluk |
Mangrove boats |
And then you float a bit more to come out of the river into the Tonle Sap lake - a huge sea-like lake of about 100 by 250 kms. It was so expansive that it felt like it extended forever. You can even take ferries on the lake to go almost all the way up to Phnom Penh, on an 8 hour journey. We had earlier planned to take the boat when we were to go to Phnom Penh but had later changed the plans. The lake as I said was huge, and the boat driver came there and stopped for some time. We floated around and came to its floating markets. There was a woman selling her wares - snacks, coke, juice and so on - from a boat which she got near our boat. After spending some time there, we turned back, again going through the floating village, all the way back to the boats parking and back to Siem Reap. On the whole even though the experience was different, it almost felt like it was a slum tour and I wasn’t impressed. I would say its a definite miss.
The drive back to the highway was again through green paddy fields surrounded by red sand which was quite picturesque. By this time, the weather was also a bit cooler and we were noticing the beauty around a lot more too 😁. We had a long drive back to the highway and then took a break to have lunch at a garden restaurant called Stoeng Trorcheak Restaurant. It was a Khmer restaurant in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a green garden and small stream around. It felt so cool and relaxed there, with a tasty menu, I loved the food there.
Intricate Cambodian woodwork |
Once back we rested for a few hours again to get off the tiredness from the day and then went back again to pub street, our daily haunt 😊. This time our tuktuk took us through a different route next to the river which felt quite different and more impressive than our usual one. The road was lined with huge French colonial buildings which looked quite majestic and fascinating at night. And the hotels and the buildings all along the river were all lighted up making the whole area look so alluring. Whichever area this was may also be a good place to stay.
Once at Pub street, we ran into a huge New Years show happening right on the street, with loud music and lot of people around. So it was even more abuzz with activity than usual. We ate at our favourite restaurant Dakshin again and then called it a day as we had an early morning flight to catch at 7am.
Overall, Siem Reap felt like a very relaxed place, almost like India at many levels. Except that it was a lot calmer and people were happier and more relaxed. People woke up very very early everyday, at 5 or 6 am. By the time we were off to Angkor, the whole city was be abuzz with activity.
There were loads of shops all around, full of so much stuff. But the good thing was no one pesters you to buy anything, which was a big boon. There were unlimited hotels in the city, we were surprised by how many! We were also getting daily massages there and realised that even though most of them were good, some could easily be very average too! In terms of activities, I heard another good thing to do is quad biking tours through the villages and rice fields. Its takes about 2 hours and was a nice way to see the area and real life in Cambodia.
Traffic was a lot more disciplined too, and even though it was crowded, the traffic was always moving and people followed the rules everywhere. Everyone used mopeds for everything. For food stalls, as a means of transport and of course the tuktuks. Women were driving mopeds too. There were loads of tuktuks everywhere, more than what they needed. So you could easily bargain with them on the fare. (I wonder if those tuktuks were being modified locally or they come manufactured from somewhere else?)
Accommodation
We stayed at the Le Meridien hotel which was among the best in the area. But we did not get enough time to enjoy it as we had such a busy schedule all the time 😏. The Meridien had a beautiful lush garden around and nice landscaped pools, which were very prettily lighted at night, but as I said, we were barely there to enjoy it much.
Food
We went for dinner to Pub street everyday. Dakshin and Indian offered Indian food on Pub street and both were worth eating at for their tasty and authentic Indian offering. Angkor Palm in front of Le Meridien was quite an average option and a definite miss.
The Rohal garden restaurant in Angkor offers very cheap and tasty Cambodian food amidst a very natural and fresh ambience. And the Stoeng Trorcheak restaurant near the Sonle Tap restaurant is also quite similar. Very tasty local food amidst a natural environment of gardens and a small river. Overall, the Khmer cuisine is very tasty and has enough options for Indian vegetarian and spicy food loving tourists, so it wasn’t a tough place at all.
Maps
Tips
1) Its better to take a one day pass to Angkor unless you really love old culture, temples and the like
2) Dont go to the floating villages, the Kampong Phluk. They are a bit of a rip off and not really that worthwhile either
3) Tuktuks are the way to go, the best and most fresh way to explore the area
4) Food is yum in Cambodia especially if you like spicy food, so definitely try the Khmer cuisine
5) The English of the local people is quite average, it causes a bit of a problem. Its fine but not too good. Even the English used on signboards in Angkor was quite terrible, sample this - ‘ possibility of visit, way of visit’ when it should be saying, ‘walk this way to continue the visit’
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