Pixie Dusted in SE Asia TR

[zanzibar138]

Continued...

The next item of business was the Bayon temple. We crossed the South Gate on the way through. We were let out of the car to cross on foot and met the driver again on the other side to continue to journey to Bayon.

As part of the journey of the kingdom of Angkor, at one stage the religion was changed from Hinduism to Buddhism. The king during the Buddhist era went on a bit of a building spree, and so quite a lot of the temples had Buddhist carvings. When the religion changed back to Hinduism with the next king, most of the Buddhist carvings were vandalised. In temples, the images were chipped off the stone, and on gateways, the heads were removed.

The Cambodian government has started a campaign to replace the heads as a 'restoration' effort. The Cambodian people believe it should be left as it is, since no one knows exactly what those heads looked like, so they don't believe it can be 'restored'. So there is a new vandalism movement among the people, defacing the new heads by chipping bits off. I have to agree with the people, that the new heads do look ridiculously out of place, and some things may be better left as 'ruins'.

So now the history lesson has finished, time for some photo of the South Gate. I actually tried to avoid the new heads in my photos because they looked so terrible, so you may not really be able to see what I mean.









When we got to the Bayon temple, our guide started quizzing us on things like; who built this temple? what religion is it? etc. I wasn't there to be tested, he was there to tell us that stuff! It would be an ongoing gripe for me.

But enough griping and on with the good stuff! This temple was amazing, the faces on the towers were beautifully detailed, and there were so many of them!







The temples all had little secret passageways and dark corners in them, which kind of looked like chimneys from inside!



In this temple, the guide left us to do our own exploring for 10 minutes. We were too scared we would get lost though and not be able to find him again, so we just kind of went around a corner and sat admiring the faces in front of us for a while.





In this area there were heaps of smaller temples, so we didn't do any more driving for a while. We just crossed the road to the next one, Baphuon. There was a long walkway to the actual temple.





Once we got to the temple entrance, our guide asked if we wanted to go in. Well, of course we did! So he waited for us again. This temple was mostly about the stairs, which we did in two slow stages











As usual, the view from the top was worth it.



By the time we joined up with our guide again, I had the distinct impression that he'd had enough, and that perhaps we were going to break for lunch. But he wanted to press on, so on we pressed.

 

[PrincessInOz]

What a shame about your guide. That would have made such a difference to a good experience to a great one!

Love your pictures of Angkor Wat. It's been on my list for a while and it is pretty high on the list. I just haven't got round to ticking it off yet.

 

[zanzibar138]

What a shame about your guide. That would have made such a difference to a good experience to a great one!

Love your pictures of Angkor Wat. It's been on my list for a while and it is pretty high on the list. I just haven't got round to ticking it off yet.

I feel pretty bad that there's all these people who have been hanging out to see Angkor Wat, and I only found out about it when I was planning our trip I'm not a big temple person, but it's definitely worth seeing

 

[zanzibar138]

Continued...

We wandered through an old dried up moat to the next temple, Phimeanakas.



Once again, our guide waited for us at the bottom while we climbed up.





DH went to the very top, but I just didn't trust myself on those rickety looking stairs, so I stayed on the first level. DH took the camera with him.



A lot of the stonework in this temple was in ruins, and some sections were inaccessible.



We made our way back down and met up with our guide before heading to our next destination.

We walked past the Royal Terrace Baths, where there was a local woman doing some washing with her children.



We ended up at the Terrace of the Leper King which, as you may have guessed, was more of a terrace than a temple. Our guide did not explain where the name of the Leper King came from.





There were lots more intricate details around the bottom of the terrace, but we were just rushed straight over the top and didn't really get to see them.



We made our way over to the parking area to find our driver who seemed to be MIA.



We found the car, and not long after the driver came rushing back, very apologetic. He got us some nice cold waters from the boot, then came to the door to open it for me (as he had done every time) and stopped short. It didn't take us long to realise that he had locked the keys in the boot Suddenly the car was surrounded by people, all trying to break in (DH included ).



I sat watching, quietly amused by the whole situation and thinking what a great story it would be! Now and then one of the locals would come and sit with me for a few minutes. They were very friendly, and I think they were surprised that we weren't angry. I really hope the poor driver didn't get into too much trouble, he was such a nice guy and we just thought it was hilarious!

After about 20 minutes, they had to concede that they wouldn't be able to break in, and had to wait for help to come (I have no idea how they eventually got into it). Since our next stop was lunch, our guide asked if we would be happy to eat at a nearby restaurant instead. We told him if he was happy to eat there we were too.



The food was fairly overpriced of course, but was enjoyable enough. It was a nice break sitting in the shade with some refreshing drinks. When we were finished lunch we checked out some of the shops and I bought a couple of cool looking dresses.



Then we finally got back into the car and headed for our next destination.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

It's definitely worth seeing Just be aware of the dangers of temple burn-out though
.

I can see how that might happen.

About a year into our London stay, dare I say it, but I got sick of old European buildings. Beautiful churches and castles that 6 months previous would have blown me away, became just another pretty building. It was at that stage of our travels that we jumped the Atlantic for a week long getaway to Memphis and Las Vegas. The tackiness of Graceland and The LV Strip was like a breath of fresh air. Of course now I'm dying to get back to Europe, but at the time it all felt a bit too familiar.

I'm so enjoying your updates and seeing your pics. I'm storing ideas in the back of my brain for the day I get to go to that part of the world.

 

[PrincessInOz]

The poor driver. I bet he was MORTIFIED!


Looks like it was an adventurous day. There seems to be a fair bit of similarity between the temples here and the temples of the Mayan. I expect that it is a very efficient building design, but it does make you wonder how the various cultures all came to the same sort of design, doesn't it?

 

[zanzibar138]

The poor driver. I bet he was MORTIFIED!


Looks like it was an adventurous day. There seems to be a fair bit of similarity between the temples here and the temples of the Mayan. I expect that it is a very efficient building design, but it does make you wonder how the various cultures all came to the same sort of design, doesn't it?

I haven't seen any Mayan temples. But some of the Angkor temples did remind me of photos I've seen of them. Then there are the pyramids in Egypt too, which are similar again (never been there either but seen plenty of them). All those ancient civilisations were very clever

 

[zanzibar138]

Continued...

The next temple on the list was also the one I was looking forward to the most - Ta Prohm (and no, not because it was the 'Tomb Raider' temple - I had no idea about that ). The fact that I was looking forward to this one more than Angkor Wat just proves that for me, nature will always be the best attraction It was really great that we were seeing this one next as I was getting kind of sick of temples by that point, so I had renewed enthusiasm.

Ta Prohm is really fascinating. Our guide informed us that only a few of the temples had become overgrown, because they had those trees in the gardens. Once they were abandoned of course nobody stopped the saplings from growing within the temples, or spending the next 400-500 entangling themselves into it.

I'm sure you can tell by the size of the roots/trunks among the temple ruins, but these trees are actually massive.



The guide also informed us that the government originally wanted to remove the trees, to 'restore' the temples. However, once they started trying to do so, they realised that the trees were now holding the temple together. So the trees will now always be a part of it.





This temple was also different in style to others we'd seen. It was all one level, with many courtyards.





These photos give a bit of an idea about the huge size of these roots. They certainly dwarf me and DH.















And here you can see the tall trees growing out of the temple.



The next stop was... gasp! Another temple... Specifically, Banteay Kdei. This was a small but scenic 'ruins' style temple.









We walked through the temple, and came out on the other side just across the road from Sras Srang, which is like a large man made lake. I would have liked to come here for sunrise on our third day, but for reasons which will later be revealed, it didn't happen





By the time we were done at Sras Srang, it was about 2pm. Our tour was due to finish at 6pm, and we only had one activity left on the itinerary, which was to view the sunset from a hill (forget the name of it). In previous private tours we've had, our guide would have suggested some fun activity to fill in time until we sunset. However, we could tell our guide was done for the day. He didn't really have anything else to suggest, and it didn't sound like he was planning to go up any hills or be out until 6pm. To be honest, we were both feeling pretty tired too, so we were happy enough to head back to the hotel.

On the way back to the hotel, the guide asked if we wanted to go shopping. He was actually quite insistent, saying it wouldn't take long, we didn't need to buy anything etc. We politely declined several times, saying we were too tired.

We spent the rest of the afternoon lazing by the pool, then went to visit our friend Lykhon again for dinner. There were a couple of other parties in the restaurant that night, but we still managed to have another couple of great chats with him.

We had a reasonably early night, knowing that we had another early start and a big day the next day.

 

[gogo65]

At least your guide gave you some information about the trees this time, instead of giving you an exam
Love the photos, looks amazing

 

[zanzibar138]

At least your guide gave you some information about the trees this time, instead of giving you an exam
Love the photos, looks amazing

He gave us an exam as well At every temple we had to say who built it and what religion it was.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Beautiful photies, Zanzibar. Love the temples and those tree roots are amazing. Pity you finished early, but given the guide you had, I can understand why.

What a shame your guide tried to make some additional kick-back money by trying to get you to go shopping. I hate when that happens. Did he expect a tip?

 

[zanzibar138]

Beautiful photies, Zanzibar. Love the temples and those tree roots are amazing. Pity you finished early, but given the guide you had, I can understand why.

What a shame your guide tried to make some additional kick-back money by trying to get you to go shopping. I hate when that happens. Did he expect a tip?

Yeah this guide was clearly only in it for the extra cash. We didn't do the tipping thing on this first day, but I can disclose that DH gave him and the driver a small tip at the end of the tour. I felt like he did not deserve a tip (in fact I already felt a little ripped off), and would have much preferred to give the whole lot to the driver

 

[WanderlustNZ]

The pics of the tree roots are great. Pics like that are what put the area on my bucket list in the first place.

I agree with PIO, what a shame that he became so insistent about the shopping. I'm pleased you stuck to your guns and said no.

We had that with nearly every guide we had in China and it threatened to ruin our whole trip. The problem is that in China (or at least it was a problem while we were there), is that it wasn't just the kickbacks that were encouraging the guides to take us to these specialty, overpriced shops, but the government was putting pressure on the guides to take people to these stores as well. I think the government wanted to showcase their best stores to the world, but in fact these visits were ruining people's overall experience.

Prior to our Yangtse River cruise, our guide told us about a great embroidery place that we needed to see. We said 'no' as we had reached a point of exhaustion at that stage of our whirlwind tour of China and were almost falling asleep standing up. We even declined the dinner that we had already paid for as we just wanted to get to the ship and go to bed.
He practically started begging, and we took pity and said as long as the visit was very very quick. We told him that we had no interest in buying any embroidery, and it was clear how exhausted we were, so he promised the visit would be brief.
I watched as we passed our ship at the jetty and I could see discomfort on the guides face that I had spotted it. No wonder - it took us another another half an hour to reach the store. Every 5 minutes we had asked 'How much longer' and he kept saying 'Nearly there'. When we finally arrived at the ship about 90 minutes after first passing it, we were livid.
Having had a similar issue in Xian, it was the straw that broke the camels back and I sent the angriest email to the company that had organised our whole tour. When we arrived in Guilin, our guide had obviously had the message passed on to her that we weren't happy and the poor girl anxiously tip toed around us avoiding shops like the plague.

 

[PrincessInOz]

The pics of the tree roots are great. Pics like that are what put the area on my bucket list in the first place.

I agree with PIO, what a shame that he became so insistent about the shopping. I'm pleased you stuck to your guns and said no.

We had that with nearly every guide we had in China and it threatened to ruin our whole trip. The problem is that in China (or at least it was a problem while we were there), is that it wasn't just the kickbacks that were encouraging the guides to take us to these specialty, overpriced shops, but the government was putting pressure on the guides to take people to these stores as well. I think the government wanted to showcase their best stores to the world, but in fact these visits were ruining people's overall experience.

Prior to our Yangtse River cruise, our guide told us about a great embroidery place that we needed to see. We said 'no' as we had reached a point of exhaustion at that stage of our whirlwind tour of China and were almost falling asleep standing up. We even declined the dinner that we had already paid for as we just wanted to get to the ship and go to bed.
He practically started begging, and we took pity and said as long as the visit was very very quick. We told him that we had no interest in buying any embroidery, and it was clear how exhausted we were, so he promised the visit would be brief.
I watched as we passed our ship at the jetty and I could see discomfort on the guides face that I had spotted it. No wonder - it took us another another half an hour to reach the store. Every 5 minutes we had asked 'How much longer' and he kept saying 'Nearly there'. When we finally arrived at the ship about 90 minutes after first passing it, we were livid.
Having had a similar issue in Xian, it was the straw that broke the camels back and I sent the angriest email to the company that had organised our whole tour. When we arrived in Guilin, our guide had obviously had the message passed on to her that we weren't happy and the poor girl anxiously tip toed around us avoiding shops like the plague.

That's a horrible experience Wanderlust and such a shame. I don't mind shopping; but only when I want to...as opposed to being coerced to when it suits a guide!

 

[CaliBear]

hi! I'm back from Cambodia as well and am really enjoying your photos and posts. I loved seeing the Batu caves. That is on my list as well. Thanks for posting about them.

Sorry to hear about your guide. He sounds awful all the way around. We wound up using the same tuk tuk driver all trip and used the guidebook for explanation. The tuk tuk driver did ask us if we wanted to go shopping, but took no for an answer and moved along. He did tell us that at the temples, those stalls let drivers eat for free if they bring tourists there instead of taking them back to town. The stalls at the temples cost much more than eating in town, but we ate at them twice anyway for convenience. We had a really good meal at one of them.

I'm enjoying your TR very much! Looking forward to more.

 

[zanzibar138]

The pics of the tree roots are great. Pics like that are what put the area on my bucket list in the first place.

I agree with PIO, what a shame that he became so insistent about the shopping. I'm pleased you stuck to your guns and said no.

We had that with nearly every guide we had in China and it threatened to ruin our whole trip. The problem is that in China (or at least it was a problem while we were there), is that it wasn't just the kickbacks that were encouraging the guides to take us to these specialty, overpriced shops, but the government was putting pressure on the guides to take people to these stores as well. I think the government wanted to showcase their best stores to the world, but in fact these visits were ruining people's overall experience.

Prior to our Yangtse River cruise, our guide told us about a great embroidery place that we needed to see. We said 'no' as we had reached a point of exhaustion at that stage of our whirlwind tour of China and were almost falling asleep standing up. We even declined the dinner that we had already paid for as we just wanted to get to the ship and go to bed.
He practically started begging, and we took pity and said as long as the visit was very very quick. We told him that we had no interest in buying any embroidery, and it was clear how exhausted we were, so he promised the visit would be brief.
I watched as we passed our ship at the jetty and I could see discomfort on the guides face that I had spotted it. No wonder - it took us another another half an hour to reach the store. Every 5 minutes we had asked 'How much longer' and he kept saying 'Nearly there'. When we finally arrived at the ship about 90 minutes after first passing it, we were livid.
Having had a similar issue in Xian, it was the straw that broke the camels back and I sent the angriest email to the company that had organised our whole tour. When we arrived in Guilin, our guide had obviously had the message passed on to her that we weren't happy and the poor girl anxiously tip toed around us avoiding shops like the plague.

Oh, that's an awful way to ruin a great trip 90 minutes extra is terrible!

Spoiler alert - we did actually relent the following day and let him take us to the darn shop. But it was on the way and we literally just walked in, looked at a few shelves and walked out again.

That's a horrible experience Wanderlust and such a shame. I don't mind shopping; but only when I want to...as opposed to being coerced to when it suits a guide!

I don't generally like the 'high end' shops in Asia. I don't go there to spend hundreds of $$ on a necklace. I'd much rather go to a market, buy something cheap and tacky, and have fun doing it!

hi! I'm back from Cambodia as well and am really enjoying your photos and posts. I loved seeing the Batu caves. That is on my list as well. Thanks for posting about them.

Sorry to hear about your guide. He sounds awful all the way around. We wound up using the same tuk tuk driver all trip and used the guidebook for explanation. The tuk tuk driver did ask us if we wanted to go shopping, but took no for an answer and moved along. He did tell us that at the temples, those stalls let drivers eat for free if they bring tourists there instead of taking them back to town. The stalls at the temples cost much more than eating in town, but we ate at them twice anyway for convenience. We had a really good meal at one of them.

I'm enjoying your TR very much! Looking forward to more.

I was wondering if you were back yet! Did you enjoy the trip? I'd love to hear more

We actually weren't supposed to eat at the stalls at the temples, but didn't have much choice without our transportation Our guide told us that they get free/heavily discounted meals wherever they take tourists, so it wouldn't particularly matter. Don't know if that would include the more 'local' style places in town though, probably just the touristy places where the guides couldn't afford to eat.

 

[zanzibar138]

Siem Reap

I woke feeling a little bit sick So I stuck to some nice plain toast for brekky. We did discuss cancelling the tour, but being a private tour, we could finish whenever we wanted, so I thought I'd see how I went once we got going. We met our guide at reception again and set off.

We started with Preah Khan temple, which has also overgrown in sections. My enthusiasm for temples had returned overnight, and I quite enjoyed this small and quiet temple.















We walked straight through the temple, and came to a lake/wetlands type area on the other side. Like all the waterways in the area, this was man made with the temples.



We made our way back to the car for the next destination.



The next destination was Neak Pean, which was kind of a hospital back in the day. It was on an island in the middle of the huge reservoir that we'd seen back at Preah Khan.



People of the time believed that the sick/injured could be cured by the water of four small pools, each representing a different element. The water was combined in different ratios for different ailments.





This puppy was enjoying a rest by one of the pools.



Next on the agenda was Ta Som, another somewhat overgrown temple. It didn't take long for me to get templed-out this morning, and the magnificence of the temples was kind of lost on me.



Also, our guide was clearly losing patience for photo-taking. He kept offering though, so we figured it must be something he was supposed to do.



I was amused by this dog having a rest in a little hole in the wall.



This temple was definitely more of the 'ruins' style.



There was one more temple in the area that we were to visit, East Mebon. This one was back to the pyramid style and was mostly quite well preserved.







The towers on the top level were the main attraction.



I was quite relieved to hear that we were done with all the temples in the area... for now

 

[PrincessInOz]

Sorry you weren't feeling the best on this day. I'm glad you got out and about as I'm really enjoying the smaller temples.


Same guide? Did you consider getting a replacement?

 

[zanzibar138]

Sorry you weren't feeling the best on this day. I'm glad you got out and about as I'm really enjoying the smaller temples.


Same guide? Did you consider getting a replacement?

I actually enjoyed the smaller temples too. It was just too many temples in a row for me - it would have been better if we had time to do maybe 3 temples each day combined with other activities. By the end of the third one on each day, I was ready for something else. But the smaller temples were much quieter and quite charming really.

As the tour came as a 2 day package, I kind of assumed we were stuck with our guide. I suppose if we'd have complained we might have been able to get a different one. Since we had no idea who to even complain to, it probably would have required speaking to someone on the phone and trying to explain why we were unhappy, it didn't seem worth it.

 

[CaliBear]

hey. I'm sorry to hear you weren't feeling well the second day. That must have made the heat even worse to deal with. At least you did the quieter temples that day. I loved Preah Khan. So unique.

I loved Cambodia. Loved it! I really encourage all the people saying it's on their bucket list to go and go now before it gets really built up.

Did you visit any local handicraft places, like Angkor Handicraft Association or Artisans d'Angkor? We enjoyed that part of the trip as well.

also, did you buy elephant pants? It seemed like everyone was wearing elephant pants. Sometimes whole groups of people in the same elephant pants in different colors. We didn't buy any, but I did buy an elephant sarong.