Cambodia - Temples, Beaches and a Brutal Past

Our first glimpse of the wet and flat Cambodian landscape was from the plane window and it was a stark contrast to the rolling hills of Borneo. Our first stop was to Siem Reap which we envisaged to be a sleepy, tourist town revolving around Angkor Archaeological Park. There is no part of this area that could be described as relaxed as huge cars, tuk tuks and bikes zoom around and kick up dust, whilst parties go on all over town until the early hours. We met a group of British lads with their sons that saw the temples for a few hours then spent the rest of the week getting drunk. On a more positive note the accommodation here was cheap as for only six dollars per night we had a nice double room and a luxurious pool. We were also lucky to meet Malin, our Swedish friend, on the way to our hotel who we ended up exploring the temples with over the next few days. 

We decided to buy a pass that allowed us three days of adventure in this unbelievable wonder. There is a staggering amount to see here so if you don't have a time constraint then the best option is definitely the seven days which you can use over a month. Our trip began with an early wake up to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat. After stumbling over a bridge in the dark we stood by the lake edge at 5am waiting for the glorious colours to spread across the sky. We realised pretty quickly that all we'd see today were grey clouds which was very disappointing but we had lots to explore and our first look at Angkor Wat was spectacular. A particular highlight from this day, apart from all the temple dogs, was Ta Prohm which was even used to film scenes from Tomb Raider. Giant strangler fig trees grip onto the ancient stones in this temple, pushing their roots through the walls and growing up to 30m tall. Ta Prohm was deliberately left in degradation as the combination of the surrounding jungle and ruins was considered to be breathtakingly atmospheric. It was easy to get lost in the maze of buildings, trees and ruins with another stunning sight around every corner. On our first day we wandered around the temples for a whopping 12 hours and passed out by the pool as soon as we got back. 

Now for a little bit of history! The collection of temples is referred to as Angkor Archaeological Park with the best preserved and most iconic temple being Angkor Wat. The temples here are encompassed in 400 square kilometres and contain the largest pre-industrial city in the world which belonged to the Khmer Empire. They were built over 1000 years ago over a time period of 600 years which is evident through the differences in architectural style as well as religious symbolism. Angkor Wat for example beautifully represents Hinduism with its structural portrayal of mythical Mount Meru, the home of the Gods, whereas Ta Prohm was built during a time of Buddhist beliefs and contains many, albeit damaged, depictions of Buddha. Unfortunately due to the religious transformations throughout the years many of the Buddhist symbols have been destroyed or altered, but the striking contrast of the remaining styles is intriguing. The depth of geographical knowledge involved to create such a successful urban community during this time is also astounding and it is a place that holds not only religious significance, but also cultural, architectural and artistic merit that is undeniably futuristic. 

The next day, as part of Josh's extended birthday present, we went on a jungle adventure through the trees with Angkor Zipline. We were fitted into our safety gear and thrust straight into the canopy. It was pretty exhilarating being 35m high in the air sailing through the forest in Angkor Archaeological Park. There was even an opportunity for us to do a zipline together which you can see in the video. It was a lot of fun and a nice break from the previous long day of exploring temples. In the late afternoon we attempted, for the second time, to see Angkor Wat in all its glory at sunset. The weather was not on our side and although we saw a sunset in the distance, it did not extend to the temple so we trudged home. On our final day at the park we decided to try our luck for another sunrise, third time's the charm right? We got there early and positioned ourselves in the best spot to the left and patiently waited whilst the crowd began to gather. It was magical as we saw the most beautiful sunrise with the colours changing from blue to pink as the fiery red began to creep across the horizon. It was the kind of moment that you dare not look away for fear of missing another colourful transition of this mesmerising view.  

We just about managed to pull ourselves away from this spectacular sight to jump in the queue to climb the central tower in Angkor Wat. They only let 100 people in at a time so the queues can be hours long but luckily we were the first people there. After gazing at the glorious views we began the grand circuit which was probably our favourite day. This is partly due to the fact we went the reverse way round to everyone else which meant we had the temples to ourselves. Pre Rup was impossibly grand equalling the beautiful Hindu symbolism in Angkor Wat with a much more impressive view. The variety on this tour of large scale temples, small structures and the baffling use of water was astonishing as well as the huge distance between each of the buildings. There are still more temples to see which we'll have to save for our next visit but we were certainly sad to leave. We said goodbye to Malin who was going on a sleeper coach to Koh Rong Samloem with the hope we'd be able to find each other again on this supposedly internet free island. 

We flew to Sihnoukville on a little propeller plane which was a new, thrilling experience and then made our way into the strange city centre. The next day we were heading to paradise so after a night sleeping in a room adjacent to some bad karaoke, we jumped on the boat to Koh Rong Samloem. Saracen Bay is famed for having beaches like the Maldives although what we were greeted with was a grey, green disappointment. Despite the poor weather and brown sea we enjoyed exploring the beach and meeting all the teeny tiny puppies that lived in the hotels. We did have one absolutely glorious day of sunshine which transformed this bay into something which resembled paradise. Our favourite part was being led towards lazy beach through the jungle by a happy dog who then stayed to have a photo shoot with me, we fell in love! This beach was unbelievably beautiful and also faced West for a perfect sunset which unfortunately we couldn't see as we had to trek back through the Cobra filled jungle to get home. We ended our time on the island happy in our beach side dorm which we had all to ourselves minus a very noisy gecko. 

After lazing on the beach it was a shock being in the busy streets of Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia. We didn't have very much time here so contented ourselves with learning a bit more about the recent history of this country. We didn't feel it was appropriate to take many, if any photos and videos whilst at S21 and The Killing Fields but hopefully our words do it justice. S21 is an old high school turned into a prison in 1976 for interrogation, torture and execution by the Khmer Rouge, the ruling dictatorship responsible for one of the worst genocides in the 20th century. Led by Pol Pot they came to power in 1975 during the Cambodian Civil War, and immediately began their violent destruction of the current social structure. They tore the cities and towns apart and in the process they brutally murdered 25% of the population, particularly intellectuals, in just four years. S21 was one of many places they used to torture innocent people and of 14,000 that entered only 7 survived. We also visited Choeung Ek one of the The Killing Fields which were execution camps where the Khmer Rouge brutally killed and buried millions of people, including children, in mass graves. Try to imagine if 1 in 4 people were murdered in the UK over the course of a four years and you'll have an idea at how devastating this was, although it's hard to even comprehend what torment the Cambodian people went through. The most prominent message we took away was to never let these kind of atrocities happen again although it's awful to see it occurring in many countries today. On our last few days we took a trip up to Kratie where we were lucky to see lots of the incredibly rare Irawaddy Dolphins, even if they were hard to photograph! Next is our exciting journey through Vietnam where we'll be riding motorbikes from Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi.