The temples of Angkor

Monday morning I hired a motorbike taxi to visit Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom in the morning. We left at 6am, hoping to beat the crowds. But at Angkor Wat that is simply impossible to do. You have to approach the temple on the west side, and according to the guide book 'there is nothing to prepare you for the majesty of Angkor Wat'. But I found that slightly exagerated. To be honest I was not that impressed by Angkor Wat. Yes, it's a big temple, and there are a few beautiful carvings, but I felt a bit let down and I'm not sure why. Maybe I got my hopes up too high after hearing all these wonderful stories. After visiting Angkor Wat we went to the Bayon inside Angkor Thom. The Bayon is probably one of the most interesting temples inside Angkor Complex. The temple has 54 (if I remember correctly) towers with 4 huge buddha faces each. All those faces looking at each other and at you, they're great. After visiting a few other smaller temples inside Angkor Thom I retuned to Siem Reap as my parents would arrive around lunch time.
It was nice seeing them again after being on the road for about 3.5 months. We spent the afternoon in town and decided to rent a car with driver and guide for the next 3 days to see the temples. This was a very nice way to see the temples, and I wouldn't have been able to afford it on my own. It was quite exhausting visiting al those temples. Sometimes it was really hot and sometimes it was raining. And most of those temples were built artificial mountains, which means off course that there is a lot of climbing involved. But after seeing almost all the temples in Angkor I have to say that eventhough Angkor Wat itself didn't really impress me, the whole complex did. It's absolutely worth seeing the temples.
Thursday evening my parents left again, continuing their trip to Phnom Phen. I stayed 1 more day in Siem Reap, so I could visit a few temples again where it was raining the first time.

Siem Reap

Yesterday I took a bus to Siem Reap. I arrived at about 3pm at the bustation and was welcomed by a big group of shouting and touting men, trying to get me to come to their guesthouse. It reminded me a bit of Jaisalmer in India. I decided to go with a tuktukdriver who said he was rom the buscompany and would give me a free ride to my choice of guesthouse anywhere in town. Of course after I settled into the tuktuk, he said the ride was only free if I would promise to use his services as a tuktukdriver the next day to visit the temples of Angkor Wat. Since I was planning to go by bicycle I didn't need his services, so he said he would take me to my guesthouse for 1$, which was fine or me. But suddenly he couldn't bring me anymore, his friend would bring me. After driving about 2km, the tuktuk driver stopped and said that that was only as far as he would go for 1$ and that my guesthouse was at least 5 km further. If I still wanted to go to my guesthouse I had to pay 2$. I told him that I wasn't going to pay more, because he knew very well where my guesthouse was when we agreed on the price. So he said that I should pay 1.5$. I said he should drive on, thinking that I wasn't going to pay him more than 1$ anyway. After 500m he drove into a small dust road and stopped. He talked to some people and I assumed he wanted to say something to a friend before resuming the journey, but he said we were there and that my guesthouse was around the corner. I was a bit suspicious,'cause a minute ago he was telling me that my guesthouse was still 5km away, but decided to follow him and indeed he was right, there it was, my guesthouse. I gave him a dollar bill and when he asked for half a dollar more, I shaked my head and laughed very loud. It seems wherever you go tuktukdrivers are never to be trusted :-))

Phnom Penh

After a short but turbulent flight I arrived in Phnom Penh 2 days ago. My first impression of Phnom Penh is that is very wet and chaotic. From the airplane it looked as if the whole of Cambodia was flooded and it was raining when I arrived. And the traffic in the streets around my guesthouseis crazy, Bangkok traffic is nothing against this. Yesterday morning I woke up to discover a bright blue sky and after switching to another guesthouse across the street with better rooms and a nice outside sitting area, I made my way to the national museum. Walked around a little and in the afternoon and went to the Orussey Market which is close to my guesthouse. This morning I visited the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda. But I have to admit that I was not very impressed by it, I guess I've already seen too many realy beautiful palaces and temples before...
Tomorrow morning I will take the bus to Siem Reap, where I will visit the temples of Angkor Wat and see my parents in a few days.

Na een korte maar turbulente vlucht ben ik eergisteren in Phnom Penh aangekomen. Mijn eerste indruk van Phnom Penh was dat het ere erg nat en chaotisch was. Vanuit het vliegtuig leek het wel of heel Cambodia overstroomd was en het regende bovendien keihard toen ik aankwam. Het verkeer in de omgeving van mijn guesthouse is superdruk en chaotisch, het verkeer in Bangkok is er niks tegen. Gisteren was er een stralende blauwe lucht toen ik opstond en nadat ik naar een andere guesthouse ben verhuisd met betere kamers en een fijn terras buiten, ben ik naar het nationaal museum gegaan. Ik heb een beetje rondgelopen en ben naar de Orussey markt vlak bij mijn guesthouse geweest.
Deze ochtend ben ik naar het koninklijk paleis en de zilveren pagoda geweest, maar ik moet eerlijk toegeven dat ik niet erg onder de indruk was, ik denk dat ik ondertussen al veel te veel mooie paleizen en tempels heb gezien...
Morgenvroeg zal ik de bus naar Siem Reap nemen, waar ik de tempels van Angkor Wat ga bezoeken en over een paar dagen mijn ouders ga zien.