TEMPLES AND TUK TUKS
A short tour of Cambodia and Viet Nam
At Last, The Temples
Saturday 20th July,2024
Sunday 21st July,2024
Saturday 20th July,2024
Mac Waits in Style
p quite early for breakfast, we needed to be at our briefing at 0800. In our usual style we were early and had to sit around in Plantation style veranda chairs until the meeting was ready. At the briefing we met our Tour Director, Dy, Vietnamese, and his assistant Thoim. We were divided into three groups, Blue, Green and Orange. We were Orange. We were given orange ribbons to attach to our luggage for the benefit of the porters. Apparently, the colours had meaning according to which option your tour was following. Orange people were leaving directly from the hotel at HCM at the end of the tour while the other colours had other days booked.
At Bayon Temple
t the end of the briefing we were taken to the Tourist Office in Siem Reap to get Temple Passes for three days, which had our photos and the number of days punched in, with a lanyard and plastic pouch so it could be worn. We seemed to acquire quite a number of lanyards and plastic envelopes as we went on. Anyway, at last it was Ho for the Temples!
At Bayon Temple
irst, it was Angkor Thom, Bayon and the Elephant Terrace. The temples were amazing - crumbling towers with gravely smiling faces on all sides and incredibly carved buildings. I was very heartened by my ability to walk the distance and climb some steps and especially just to cope! The large tourist coaches can't get into the Conservation Area because the gates are too small so we had to transfer to a mini bus to get close enough.
Faces of Bayon
he walk from the carpark was not too long either, so that was great. The temples were fairly ruinous but fascinating, we had to navigate often broken steps and tracks and had to watch our feet (as I always do anyway!) but Mac was on hand to give me any assistance and there was always ready help from our leader.
Exploring Bayon
t Bayon we found the towers with the faces looking down at us, such calm, faintly smiling faces, nothing grotesque as in other countries, but giving the impression of knowing all but imparting little. I found it very calm and pleasant despite the general difficulty of access. Climbing among the temples was to me like bushwalking in the mountains. Some of our tracks are full of boulders pretending to be steps and require care and attention to navigate. Like here, wonderful stuff.
Mac at Bayon
t started to rain here and we got quite wet as we went on to the Elephant Terrace. This was very ruined and we only spared a short time here but it was interesting too, an ancient sports arena by all reports.
Later:
Nature Rules at Ta Phrom
fter lunch we went back and, before reaching the Tomb Raider Temple, Ta Phrom, visited a small school, supported heavily by APT, which teaches children, not orphans but from families too poor to afford education. The school was started by an artist, who had had a very poor childhood, no education until he was an adult. He teaches the kids art and drawing, but they also learn English, computers and general school subjects. Very inspiring. Two sweet little girls showed us around, practicing their English. To help support the school they sell artwork, paintings and craft made by the children and I bought two paintings to give a helping hand. They are really quite good.
Damage at Ta Phrom
fter this we reached the "Tomb Raider Temple" Ta Phrom, which is enveloped in strangler figs and other rampaging greenery, although generally not quite so much as I had expected. I think they must have cleaned it up somewhat. The temple is being pulled apart by the trees, naturally, and it is quite fascinating. The ruins are so evocative and show so well the force of nature.
There were cracked columns, broken doorways and piles of mossy stones waiting for the jigsaw puzzlers who will never come. We all enjoyed it, despite getting quite wet, again. It is after all, wet season, but although both days so far have had stretches of fine weather, it usually starts raining again in the afternoon. Never as heavily as I had expected, remembering the wet season in the Territory.
Later Still:
hen we got back we had an hour to freshen up and come out to the Circus!
The Phare Circus was another enterprise which trains acrobats and dancers from an early age. It was a lively, loud and very energetic show, which the performers seemed to enjoy as much as we did. Before the show we were shown all the backstage areas, costume and make up etc, then we had canapes and drinks with some of the others until show time.
We got back about 21:15 and went straight to bed. Mac has a cold and we have to get up pre 0500 tomorrow. EEK.
Sunday 21st July, 2024
Angkor Wat at Dawn
p at 04:45 this morning for our sunrise visit to Angkor Wat. This is the big one - the one I have most wanted to see, and the one I have been most afraid of. It is a massive complex with entrances at each cardinal point and several large towers.
Gate at Angkor Wat at Dawn
ur group was divided into the fit and intrepid who were doing the full complex, and a group of "gentle" walkers, which included us and some others of the halt and the lame. One with a walker, two with elbow crutches and some walking sticks.
Three Towers at Angkor Wat
his group took a gentle paced walk around the perimeter, seeing the structures with no crowds but us, and it was magic, just what I wanted, none of the terrifying steps but all the atmosphere. I need not have worried after all.
Gentle Walkers at Angkor Wat
Reflecting at Angkor Wat
he sunrise was very subdued, it was overcast and threatening rain, of course, so no coloured backgrounds for the silhouetted towers and the photos will probably be very dark, but we certainly got the feeling of the place. There are two sacred lakes in front of the Temple which reflect the towers and the picture was amazing.
Says it All
t Angkor you really know it is a tourist hotspot, lots of stalls selling souvenirs and quite importunate vendors. I did buy a bunch of fridge magnets for the Italian class and a badge for my hat which had lost its diamonte brooch in yesterday's rain. But they are really quite distant from the temple itself and don't really obtrude.
We did get lots of photographs, probably more than I will ever want to use, including some of the resident monkeys as well. Hopefully some will be useable.
Miserable looking Monkey at Angkor Wat
(In retrospect, I am sorry I didn't attempt the interior of Angkor Wat. I know I would not have even tried to climb the towers but I think I probably could have managed at least the first level. But my knees were feeling the strain after the previous day's temple scrambles and I took the easy way. But it certainly seemed as though I was not as halt and lame as some others!)
Lovely Sofitel Grounds
e got back to the hotel at about 08:30 and had a good brunch, after which Mac took his terrible cold to bed and I Vibered Geoff, had a shower and am now writing up my journal. I feel so elated, three temples covered and yesterday I managed well. Today I am feeling very footsore, as usual, and the knees are feeling the exertion but my shoulders are doing fine.
This afternoon we go by tuk tuk to an artisan's workshop, a private visit for us because nobody else signed up for it. Then a multi course Khmer dinner with traditional dancing in an art museum!
Sometime in all this we have to pack and get ready for the boat. Leave tomorrow after breakfast then five hours in a coach to the Mekong.
Later:
Rosemary in the Tuk Tuk
ur excursion was quite interesting, reached by an enjoyable and exhilarating tuk tuk ride for twenty minutes to the outskirts of Siem Reap. The workshop, "Senteurs d'Angkor" made soaps, balms, cosmetics etc with fragrances of plants grown in their own gardens. Also spices, teas , chutneys and sauces all made with Cambodian Certified sources. We sniffed, smeared and looked around their garden of interesting ingredients.
Products of Senteurs d'Angkor
hen we joined a group of ladies making boxes of all sizes (to put the products in) out of woven palm leaves, and Mac and I "made" our own small boxes. Mine was mostly done by the lady but Mac seemed to get the idea.
Afterwards we bought some of their products for souvenirs, gifts for Anne and Lorraine, in lovely woven boxes, then had another exhilarating ride home in the tuk tuk. The clouds have gone and the sky was blue, quite sunny and warm.
Back to pack as much as we can for tomorrow and get ready for our last night. I have really enjoyed this lovely hotel and everything we have done.
Later Still:
Tuk Tuk Driver and Our Guide
e visited a gallery owned by an artist, which is half museum of Cambodian artifacts and half a gallery of his own work. All for sale of course.
Then we had a four course Khmer dinner, interspersed with beautiful Cambodian girls in spectacular costumes doing traditional dances, the sort with elongated hands with fingers bent at impossible angles and feet stuck out behind, rather like some of the carvings in the temples. I wasn't the only lady trying to make her hands do what theirs were doing but we are all too old and arthritic! I think you have to start very young.
The meal was good, the company better, and the girls and boys were lovely.
All the guides and people we deal with look so young but our local guide Yuthi told us that his children were approaching university age!
Anyway, another early start, bags out at 0630 , cruise registration 0730, leave 0830. Somewhere in there will be showers and breakfast.
Off to the river tomorrow!
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