Cambodia: Part I - Ancient Civilisations

I have only been here a week and yet I feel as if I have gained the experience of centuries! Starting with the temples of Angkor in Siem Reap, built in the 12th Century by King Suryavarman II. and King Jayavarman VI. The "smaller temples of Bayon, Praeh Kahn, Ta Phrom (Angelina Jolie, Lara Croft fame) .. I could keep naming them.... are almost more impressive than Angkor Wat, probably because they fit in the camera view, whereas Angkor Wat is vast and towering. Each of the temples are in different stages of ruin and/or restoration funded by different countries. Despite this, what is amazing is the intricacy of some of the carvings and significance of what the Wats represent to the Khmer kingdom, people, religion and history. I spent 2.5 days touring the temples, at different times - sunset, sunrise and in the heat of midday. At all times there are gazillions of tourists, incl some rather large and loud tour groups and then many touts, either children selling postcards and guides or women selling food and drinks, and everything seems to get down to 1 dollaaaaar (slightly irritating after being accosted by at least 5 of them at each temple (x10) but then better than pure begging. The special moments were when you had the temple to yourself, like in a thunderstorm during my sunrise visit to Angkor Wat (there was no sunrise but it was very early in the morning) or first thing up Kbal Spaen (lingas and carvings in rock under river - a jungle walk of 3kms about 30kms out of town), or sitting in the shade of the tree observing smaller temples over lunch time when the hordes have gone back to town. The beauty of the buddha heads on my first temple is undescribable - photos (still to be added) can attempt to portray the beauty, but I might have to get the proverbial coffee table book!!

The town of Siem Reap is hectic - the traffic and drivers hae mindes and routes of their own - haphazard and hazardous!! There are 100's of hotels, restaurants, massage parlours, makets and 1000's of people, tuk tuks and motorbikes. I wandered through a number of markets selling temple and buddha carvings, silk items, clothes, food products (mostly for locals). The choice of food and drink is unversal, I even came across Springfield Life from Stone (Sav Blanc) at $27/bottle! The local Khmer food is spicy and includes curry, spring rolls and stir fries. Fish is common given the proximity of Tonle Sap Lake and Mekong River and fruit in abundance!! There is a distinct French influence and many other nationlities represented dur to the abundance of NGO's in Cambodia.
I stayed slightly out of town at a Cambodian run hotel - Palm Village Resort & Spa - ensuite, air con bungalow with pool, cable tv , internet - all for $35 B&B - slightly higher than my budget allows, and being out of town, I had the service of a tuk tuk driver which cost anywhere between $6 and $30/day depending on distances covered! After visits to the temple and into town, it was an absolute pleasure to get away from it all back to the quiet resort for r&r.