We woke up very early at 4:30AM. Tong picked us up outside our hostel at 5 so that we could go to Angkor Wat for the sunrise. We bought tickets for the day which got us into not only Angkor Wat but pretty much all the other ruins in the area. We were dropped off at the ancient bridge that goes over the moat. We were told to walk about a kilometer and then find a high place to watch the sun rise. Since it was completely dark (they had no lights what so ever in the are) we had to guess where we were going. Once we got across the bridge we had to go through the gate which meant we had to go inside the wall for a while. It was kind of cool wondering around ancient ruins in the pitch dark (also a big tricky since there were a lot of steps involved). We made it to an area we thought was good for watching the sunrise but as soon as the light started coming up we moved around a lot to see it from different angles. There is really no way to describe it, pictures are the closest thing to doing it.
After the sun was up we went back to town for a quick breakfast and then came back to Angkor Wat to wonder around for a few hours. I don't know if there is much to say other then to look at the pictures. The temple had been modified several times and damaged in various wars from the time it was built to the Cambodian revolution just a few decades ago. Originally it was a Hindu temple but then it was converted to a Buddhist temple some years later.
The next place we went to was Angkor Thom. This was the ancient capital of the Khmer Empire. Angkor Wat was the major temple for the city (angkor means "city," wat means "temple"). Inside the walls of Angkor Thom were all kinds of other temples and ruins. The first temple we went to was the Bayon Temple. It had 54 towers (for the 54 provinces of the Khmer Empire) but several have since fallen down. It was a Buddhist temple and each tower had 4 unique Buddha faces each facing a different direction. After wondering around for a bit, Wes decided to go back to the hostel while Francesca and I looked around Angkor Thom some more. We saw the Baphuon Temple, which was a Buddhist temple they were working on reconstructing. Several decades ago, they took it all part to study it in depth and then do a good job reconstructing it. The problem is that while it was all in pieces, civil war broke out and the documents explaining how to put it back together were destroyed. So now progress is really slow and out side there are rows and rows of stone blocks they have no idea where to put. Next to that was the Elephant Terrace which was a big stone platform used by the public to watch public events such as parades. It was quite long and had many carvings (mostly of elephants) all along the edge. Then, on the end of that ruin was the Leopard Terrace. They believe it was used as a crematorium and the statue on top was for the god of death. The last thing Fransesca and I looked at in Angkor Thom was a series of 12 identical towers used as a prison. We then found Tong in the market near by to drive us down the road to see other places.
The next temple we went to was the Ta Prohm Temple. This was a Buddhist temple that was completely taken over by the jungle. It was also used in the filming of the movie "Tomb Raider." The temple was very interesting. A large portion of it was destroyed and many hallways were blocked off. Giant trees were growing on the temple, often up on top of the roof and their roots would flow over the side of the stone like waterfalls. Just down the road was the Banteay Kdei temple which was another Buddhist temple. It was an interesting temple, but nothing that unique. By this time Francesca and I were exhausted and had Tong take us back to the hostel. There we rested and got dinner at a small little place just down the road. Again it was very very good.
At 7PM we went to a concert performed by a Swiss doctor, Dr. Beat Richner, known by his stage name Beatocello (he plays the cello). Dr. Richner has worked at helping Cambodian children since the 1970s. In the 90's he started building children's hospitals which are now located in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. He plays every weekend to try to help raise money for his cause. 10% of the hospital's budget comes from Switzerland, 3% from Cambodia, and the rest come from donations. They cover all Cambodian children of free (including operations and medication) and never turn any away. He also insists on keeping the hospital up to Western standards. Over the past couple of decades his hospitals have reduced child mortality rates by about 90%. Dr. Richner was an interesting guy with a sense of humor but some how found himself being political near the end (which he claims he tries to avoid because the Chinese tend to get upset).
At around 5:30AM Francesca and I decided to stop trying to sleep and just check in. The departure hall of this terminal was poorly set up. We had to wait in line to get to the area with check in desks and then wait in line once we found the desk we needed. Checking in was pretty quick and our boarding pass was just an ordinary receipt. We then had to make our way back through all of the masses of people to get to the other side of the hall to go through immigration and security. Once we got through all of this mess and found Wes on the other side. We had to wait another 30 minutes before they called our flight. We walked out on the tarmac to our plane and our flight was only two hours long.
We arrived in Siem Reap at 8AM (we passed through a time zone). The scenery was a lot different then I had expected. It was flat, light vegetation, and very dirty. All the roads I saw were dirt and I half expected use to land on a dirt runway. The airport in Siem Reap was actually very nice, but very small. There were only two other plans at the airport. When we walked into the airport we had to buy a visa. It was only US$20 and then we got through immigration. At this point we were pretty happy that they took American dollars. However, once we got into the airport lobby and looked for a taxi, we realized that everything in Siem Reap was in American dollars. In fact no ATM offered anything other then American currency. We got a taxi to take us into the city to the hostel we had pre-booked. Our driver was named Tong and said that he could dive us around for the whole day for $25. We agreed. Tong then took all the things off the car that identify it as a taxi and hid his company ID. At first I assumed it was because we hired him for the day, but I think it was because he was using the company car to make extra money on the side. In any case Tong was a pretty nice guy. He is a student at Phnom Penh studying history and his dream is to one day become a tour guide. Throughout the day he gave us lots of information on the history and meaning of things around Cambodia for free.
Our hostel was pretty nice. It was called Shadow of Angkor (frequently misspelled as Shaow of Angkor) and was on the eastern edge of the Old French Quarter. In the area were a lot of old French colonial buildings. It was also the nicest part of the city. Our room had three beds, a private bathroom, and most importantly an air conditioner. Cambodia was very hot and very humid.
After we got settled into our hostel we decided to go into the country side and take a boat ride down the river. While driving out to the river we got to see a lot of the farm land. We saw many fields of rice and lotus. The ground was very similar for both, somewhat flooded. The lotus is very important to Buddhist and it is also a vary tasty snack. We got to walk around a lotus farm and try eating it. The lotus fields had lots of life in it with all kinds of frogs and insects going about their business. The seeds taste somewhat like a sweet pea. There were also a lot of oxen and cattle wondering around.
The area around the river seemed depressing. Everyone lives in shacks and there seemed very little economic activity. The ground was all dirt. Cambodia has a wet and dry season. It is currently the dry season and during the wet season the river rises quite significantly. This means it is very difficult for anything to grow and erosion seemed common place. All the shacks were built up high on pillars. We found our boat and started down the river. We were the only three people on the boat in addition to the boat driver and his son. His son would help dock the boat and help fix the engine every time it went out (not the most reliable motor). Going down the river we saw all kinds of daily life. Some people were fishing, some were transporting produce, while others were on their way to school. Most of this was done in small boats about the size of a canoe. The water was very muddy but there appeared to be little garbage in the water. Along the edge of the river near the shacks, however, there was plenty of trash. It seemed like those that lived there would just toss refused out the door and not worry about it. At the end of the river was Cambodia's giant lake. One the lake was the floating village. This was a decently sized village made up of entirely boats. This was to enable the fishermen to be close to the fish while not being troubled by rising and sinking water levels. There were houses, churches, schools, restaurant, police station, and even a basketball court and a vegetable garden, all floating on the lake. Here is a video of us overtaking a school that was being moved.We docked at the restaurant. Inside they had a little shop and a section where they raise fish and crocodile. Killing crocodile for their skin and meat is very common in Cambodia. We were not hungry but I did buy a small Cambodian flag. After we looked around (it was three stories high so the top was a good observation deck) we got back on the boat and head back to where Tong was.
Tong took us back into Siem Reap which by that time we were hungry and wanted some authentic Cambodian food. We went to this restaurant that was hidden but somewhat upscale. Even though it was pretty nice compared to most of the other places in Cambodia, the meal was still cheap. I ordered Lok Lak (I think that is how it is spelled) beef. It was very very good. We ended up sharing everything so I also had some very good vegetable dishes and chicken. Afterwards we went to a cultural center, but there was not much going on there and it was very touristy so we left early.
We then went to an artisan school for woodworking and masonry. This place was not touristy at all but they let outsiders come in and look around. The older man (who I am guessing is the headmaster) was quite happy to show us around while Tong translated for us. The main part was a big hut which had a bunch of students working on giant wood carvings. There were a few students working on smaller figurines, but for the most part the carvings were of panels with carvings of temples such as Angkor Wat. These were easily over 5 feet in length and 3 feet wide. Just outside was where the masonry students were working. They were working on all different size statues in various stages of creation. One of the finished statues of an ancient Cambodian king, which was a little smaller then life size, took over a month to make. Lying around in the rubble were bits and pieces and statues that were student mistakes. I found a small head of King Jayavarman VII (the Great Buddha king who converted the ancient Khmer Empire from Hindu to Buddhism) and asked the old man if I could buy it. He kept trying to tell me it was a student mistake, but I still thought it was done pretty well as it was about finished. He ended up agreeing to sell it to me for US$10. This was a pretty good deal since I couldn't tell it was a mistake and the other ones started at well over US$100.
On our way back to the hostel we passed by a monument to the Killing Fields. The Killing Fields is where Pol Pot tortured and killed a significant portion of the Cambodian population to solidify his power. Today, Cambodia is a democracy (but has a corruption problem) and is trying to move on from the Pol Pot area. The monument had a bunch of bones collected from the Killing Fields and had a few exhibits to show what a horrible situation the Pol Pot reign was. The signs that explained what happened were very condemning of the era.
Right next door was a Buddhist temple which was holding religious activities. There were monks chanting and many people were sitting in and around the temple. We went into the temple and sat in on the chanting. Before we could go in we had to take off our shoes and then sat quietly and watched. I am not sure what was going on but in front were older monks facing a big statue of Buddha. They were the ones doing the chanting. On one side were the younger monks, who were playing with cell phones for most of the chanting. It was somewhat comical.
Afterwards, we had Tong drop us off at our hostel and told him that we would hire him again tomorrow. We wanted to wander around the area near our hostel as there were many shops and restaurants near by. There was a small shopping complex one block down. It was basically a warehouse with all kinds of little independent shops inside. They sold similar things to the markets in China (artwork, fabrics, carvings, etc) but all Cambodian related. In the center was a wet market which smelled horrible (no ventilation). We ended up eating at a place called Cambodian BBQ which was recommended by Lonely Planet. There we ordered crocodile, kangaroo, and chicken. Crocodile is a lot like chicken, but the kangaroo was amazing. The meat looked a lot different from other meats and had a very different taste. Part of it could have been the seasonings they used, but it was still very good. Even though it was not that late when we finished we were still very tired from not having sleep the night before, the extreme heat, and all the things we did during the day.
I don't know if there is much to say other then to look at the pictures. The temple had been modified several times and damaged in various wars from the time it was built to the Cambodian revolution just a few decades ago. Originally it was a Hindu temple but then it was converted to a Buddhist temple some years later.
It had 54 towers (for the 54 provinces of the Khmer Empire) but several have since fallen down. It was a Buddhist temple and each tower had 4 unique Buddha faces each facing a different direction. After wondering around for a bit, Wes decided to go back to the hostel while Francesca and I looked around Angkor Thom some more. We saw the Baphuon Temple, which was a Buddhist temple they were working on reconstructing. 
Several decades ago, they took it all part to study it in depth and then do a good job reconstructing it. The problem is that while it was all in pieces, civil war broke out and the documents explaining how to put it back together were destroyed. So now progress is really slow and out side there are rows and rows of stone blocks they have no idea where to put. Next to that was the Elephant Terrace which was a big stone platform used by the public to watch public events such as parades. 
It was quite long and had many carvings (mostly of elephants) all along the edge. Then, on the end of that ruin was the Leopard Terrace. They believe it was used as a crematorium and the statue on top was for the god of death. The last thing Fransesca and I looked at in Angkor Thom was a series of 12 identical towers used as a prison. We then found Tong in the market near by to drive us down the road to see other places.
It was also used in the filming of the movie "Tomb Raider." The temple was very interesting. A large portion of it was destroyed and many hallways were blocked off. Giant trees were growing on the temple, often up on top of the roof and their roots would flow over the side of the stone like waterfalls. Just down the road was the Banteay Kdei temple which was another Buddhist temple. It was an interesting temple, but nothing that unique. By this time Francesca and I were exhausted and had Tong take us back to the hostel. There we rested and got dinner at a small little place just down the road. Again it was very very good.
