Angkor afternoon
The heat in the middle of the day is sweltering,
even though we have had lots of time to adjust to Asian temperatures.
It reaches around 36 degrees, with no breeze to cool you. Its little
wonder that it is typical for people to shut up shop and take a rest
in Asia during the heat of the day, and it is one Asian habit that we're
copying, especially because of the children. We'd arranged for Mr Heng
to collect us later, as by 3:30 the heat is starting to fade a little,
and we had our second sightseeing trip of the day planned.
We
went straight the Bayon temple, inside the Angkor Thom city walls. Amazingly
it was empty, as all of the tour groups go there in the morning, and
we had it almost to ourselves. Why do they do it - why do all of the
buses turn up at the same time, and leave at the same time? It doesn't
make sense, especially at Angkor, where there's so much to see, and
could be so many different routes through. Anyway, its good for us!
From a distance Bayon looks like a ruin, but the closer you get, the
easier it is to see the turrets rising out, each with four of the big
Angkor-style faces on them. The faces are present at many of the temples,
but it is at Bayon where every single vertical surface seems to be carved
with them.
As
you can see, each of the faces are huge, comprised of loads of individual
granite blocks assembled into a single face. Some of them are quite
well defined, while others have moss, lichen or plants growing on them.
We enjoyed wandering around, climbing and descending the incredibly
steep staircases, but by the end of an hour the girls were tired, and
ready to rest again.
So
we headed back to Mr Heng's tuk-tuk, and drove back to Angkor Wat. Once
we were there, the girls decided to stay in the tuk-tuk, while we went
to watch the sun set on the temple. We felt relaxed, because Mr Heng
was very good with the girls (we discovered later that he had taken
them to see the Angkor hot air balloon while we were inside), and they
feel safe and relaxed with him. Mind you, the first time we did, we
couldn’t help but think of the dialogue ("So, Mr Fleming, when was
the last time you saw your children? Oh, you just left them with a tuk-tuk
driver you first met this morning..."). Angkor was beautiful in
the setting sun, with a pink glow in the sky, but because it was later
in the day than our last visit, the beggars were out in force. On the
walk across the causeway to the temple entrance we were accompanied
by small children begging plaintively. We think that these children
are part of a begging mafia clan, similar to Thailand, where they are
bussed in by a controlling gang who keep their takings, and pay the
children a wage. In town, we know that many of the children are from
families who live under the trees in the park, so Charlotte and Emily
collect all of our meal leftovers, like bread, and give them to the
children on the street.
When
we got back to the tuk-tuk, we found the children happily talking away
with a dozen of the children who sell things outside the entrance -
postcards, drinks, fans, films, and anything else a tourist might (or
might not!) want. Although they can be cute when they are selling you
something, they also can hassle you if you don't, or especially if you
buy just from one of them. Buy a drink from one, and the rest would
shot at you "Oh my God, you said you didn't want one. Why you not
buy from me? Why you not buy from me?". It can be quite intimidating,
and actually lead you to just ignore the worst of them. But with the
girls in the tuk-tuk, it was just a case of children talking to children
- "Where are you from? How old are you? Do you know David Beckham?"
etc
We
went straight the Bayon temple, inside the Angkor Thom city walls. Amazingly
it was empty, as all of the tour groups go there in the morning, and
we had it almost to ourselves. Why do they do it - why do all of the
buses turn up at the same time, and leave at the same time? It doesn't
make sense, especially at Angkor, where there's so much to see, and
could be so many different routes through. Anyway, its good for us!
From a distance Bayon looks like a ruin, but the closer you get, the
easier it is to see the turrets rising out, each with four of the big
Angkor-style faces on them. The faces are present at many of the temples,
but it is at Bayon where every single vertical surface seems to be carved
with them.As
you can see, each of the faces are huge, comprised of loads of individual
granite blocks assembled into a single face. Some of them are quite
well defined, while others have moss, lichen or plants growing on them.
We enjoyed wandering around, climbing and descending the incredibly
steep staircases, but by the end of an hour the girls were tired, and
ready to rest again. So
we headed back to Mr Heng's tuk-tuk, and drove back to Angkor Wat. Once
we were there, the girls decided to stay in the tuk-tuk, while we went
to watch the sun set on the temple. We felt relaxed, because Mr Heng
was very good with the girls (we discovered later that he had taken
them to see the Angkor hot air balloon while we were inside), and they
feel safe and relaxed with him. Mind you, the first time we did, we
couldn’t help but think of the dialogue ("So, Mr Fleming, when was
the last time you saw your children? Oh, you just left them with a tuk-tuk
driver you first met this morning..."). Angkor was beautiful in
the setting sun, with a pink glow in the sky, but because it was later
in the day than our last visit, the beggars were out in force. On the
walk across the causeway to the temple entrance we were accompanied
by small children begging plaintively. We think that these children
are part of a begging mafia clan, similar to Thailand, where they are
bussed in by a controlling gang who keep their takings, and pay the
children a wage. In town, we know that many of the children are from
families who live under the trees in the park, so Charlotte and Emily
collect all of our meal leftovers, like bread, and give them to the
children on the street.When
we got back to the tuk-tuk, we found the children happily talking away
with a dozen of the children who sell things outside the entrance -
postcards, drinks, fans, films, and anything else a tourist might (or
might not!) want. Although they can be cute when they are selling you
something, they also can hassle you if you don't, or especially if you
buy just from one of them. Buy a drink from one, and the rest would
shot at you "Oh my God, you said you didn't want one. Why you not
buy from me? Why you not buy from me?". It can be quite intimidating,
and actually lead you to just ignore the worst of them. But with the
girls in the tuk-tuk, it was just a case of children talking to children
- "Where are you from? How old are you? Do you know David Beckham?"
etc
What
are we, mad? After an exhausting day two days ago, we got up this morning
at 5am to meet Mr Heng and go to Angkor Wat for sunrise. We knew we
had to do it, so we thought we should get it done soon. Although lots
of people do get up this early to see it, most of them stop at the main
entrance to the temple, to get the view on the left. It was worth the
early start, with the trademark towers of the main temple outlined by
the red sky. Angkor is actually a collection of dozens of temples spread
across 25 miles of countryside, with the largest temple, Angkor Wat,
the most famous. Over the next 3 days we plan to visit half a dozen,
as well as seeing others from the road (drive-by-tourism), all on the
back of Mr Heng's tuk-tuk. 
Because
we went further into the temple, we were able to get some peace and
quiet - its always curious to us that you only have to go 50m of the
well-trodden path to have solitude. In this case, the girls are sitting
at the inner entrance to the temple complex, which is packed full during
the day, but for sunrise everybody stops short of it. When we walked
in further to the temple itself, we again had it virtually to ourselves
- apart from a little rush of people heading down from the main tower
- they'd seen the sunrise, and were heading back home.
Inside
the main temple, the detail of the buildings and carvings took our breath
away - on every surface were classic Khmer tales, related through stone
carvings. Although they are over 800 years old, they still looked new
in many places. The girls loved climbing the suicidally steep stairs
to the top of the temple, where we could get a panoramic view of the
temple and the forest surrounds. Coming back down was a more difficult
task, and had to be completed slowly!
Then
we went onto the South Gate, the entrance to the ancient city of Angkor
Thom. On the far side of the gates used to sit a huge bustling city,
but now it is just forest, with temples dotted around. We thought we'd
do a classic tourist thing for an elephant photo, but we took the backpacker
option of just having the and then hopping off the elephant - costing
us $4, but saving the full $30 of a ride into the temple complex! After
we'd had a good look around the gate, we went into the city. As it had
already been a tiring day (wow, almost 10 o'clock now - 5 hours after
we started!) we stayed in the tuk-tuk while we drove around a couple
of temples to whet our appetite for this afternoon.