Sunrise @ Angkor Wat

29 May 2009: It was a usual Friday morning where almost everyone at work is eagerly waiting for the day to end and start their weekend! I was back in office after ‘successful’ completion of my first project and almost 2 months of offshore (yes, sea) life. It was great to be back in office! Started the day with a cup of coffee and short chat with Anders, my senior. He came up with the usual question.. “Any plans for weekend??” I really wanted to travel somewhere to take a good break from work and Singapore.. Anders liked the idea and was ready to travel. We agreed to bunk office on Monday and travel somewhere for the weekend. One thing still missing in the plan was a good destination! Cambodia was always on top of my wish list. We both agreed to that and booked tickets for a flight the same evening! 6 hrs later we were sitting on a plane with no clue on where to go and what to do in Siem Reap, except “we want to visit Angkor Wat”. Prior to boarding, I managed to buy a copy of the Lonely Planet – Cambodia! At least, we could get basic info about the place we were heading to. After 2 hours of flight we reached Cambodia – The Kingdom of Wonders!

I used the world’s most popular currency – US Dollar for the first time in my life! US$ is the most commonly used currency in Cambodia even though Riel is the native currency (1 USD ~= 4000 Riels). Getting an on-arrival visa – valid for 1 month made it easier! We stepped out of the terminal and took a taxi to the city. The taxi driver recommended a hotel called Mekong Angkor Palace to his two ignorant customers. We didn’t know about any better choice and so, asked him to drive us there. The hotel was decent enough and nothing more. Right in front of our hotel was a restaurant called “CURRY WALA”!!! 🙂 Authentic north Indian food.. that brought a biggg smile on my face! I was totally relieved of the worry of not finding good vegetarian food. Anders handled Chikken Tikkas and Tandooris while I was busy with Roti, dhal and Paneer.

Day 1: Angkor Temples

We booked the same taxi driver who brought us from airport to pick us from the hotel at 5.30 am to watch the sun rising at Angkor Wat temple. Luckily, we woke up early and got to the viewing point on time. It was truly a special experience to watch Angkor Wat for the first time as a silhouette, as the sun rises. Slowly, the silhouette disappears and the marvellous structure becomes clearly visible. No suprise that many consider Angkor Wat as the eighth wonder of the world.

Originally a Hindu temple dedicated to the Lord Vishnu, it used to be called the Vishnuloka. The temple was built by the then King Suryavarman II (12th century AD). After the religious revolution in the 13th century, king Jayavarman VII converted the temple to a Buddhist monastery and named it the Angkor Wat. The architecture and construction of this place was similar to south indian temples in many aspects. The entry to the main shrine is prohibited. I was standing near the steps to the main shrine, when a security asked.. Sir, you want to enter the main shrine? I said yeah, sure!! Then came his offer “ok.. it costs 10 dollars (!!)”. Later i found out that we were actually paying off a police guard to see the main shrine were visitors access was prohibited then!! We spent rest of the day visiting some more (ruined) temples and monuments.

For those planning a visit to Cambodia, please carry around small change if you want to stop children from following you to sell souvenirs or books from them. 1$ should be enough to buy something from them so that they’ll happily leave u!

Day 2: Tuk Tuk ride to Kullen Mountains

Tuk Tuk is the best means of transport for tourists in Cambodia. Its a carriage pulled by a 100 – 125 cc motor bike.. Our Tuk Tuk driver’s name was Sovann (+855012406139 – sovann.driver@yahoo.com) and he named his tuk tuk Mekong Express! He was a very friendly and good english speaking guy. He was our guide too.. They normally charge 12 – 15 USD for one whole day tour. Our destination for Day 2 was kullen mountains which was 70 kms away from Siem Reap. We decided to take the tuk tuk and not a taxi. We realized that it was a very wise decision too!! 45 – 50 kms was normal road. Later, we had to remove the carriage and proceed on triples…

 Crazy ride through the mountains! It was the first experience for Anders.. Triples on a motor bike with no helmet!! 🙂 Kullen mountains was not a famous famous tourist spot.. It was popular among the local khmers (Cambodians).. A Buddhist temple on the highest point with a Reclining Buddha statue and a river with 1000 shiva lingas carved on the rocks in the river bed! Tried authentic Khmer cuisine food for lunch followed by a relaxing waterfall bath. 

On the way back, we stopped at some villages to get water / local ice creams. One thing I noticed in all those places was that, the people were happy, cheerful and content, even though the so-called “international economic data and growth statistics” doesn’t show Cambodia in a good position!!! They seem to be satisfied with what they have and living a happy life.. Cheers to them!

The Banteay Srei temple which we visited on the way back to Siem Reap was my favourite, of all the temples. This temple had great similarity to the south Indian temple architecture. Main shrine facing the east, a Nandi statue in front of the main shrine, Ganapathi and Sastha shrines on either sides, a room looking like the madappalli on the south side, Kerala government symbol(!!) on the main entrance arch and many other similarities.. We didn’t get to spend enough time here!

Day 3: Back to Singapore

There were many more places to visit outside the city, like the floating market. Anders left alone to visit few of those places. I decided to stay back and keep those places for my next visit (which i had promised to Viki!). I decided to spend the last few hrs left in Siem Reap by exploring the town and market places. Finally we returned to Singapore with loads of good memories about the place and photos too! 🙂

It has been almost 10 years since that trip. I hope to visit Siem Reap again and watch the sunrise @ Angkor Wat, again!