Amazing Angkor

I have found the significance of the ‘lost’ kingdom of Angkor. Finally I have fallen in love with this amazing archaeological maze. Turns out I needed a bicycle, not a tuk tuk. For two days I have taken to the brown dusty roads by pedal power, heading out past towering temples, swerving to avoid tourist buses, seeking out the lesser temples with their stunning stone colours shifting in the sunlight, admiring the deep bas relief carvings, clambering up steep steps carved into rock faces to peer in awe at the complex intricate stone pillars.

Pics show the elephant trade in full swing here; tour buses load passengers on them –the poor animals look so fed up and sad. The stunning stone carvings of these beautiful giant creatures running for miles along the ‘terrace of elephants’ in Angkor Thom is wonderful, a moving mural, spoilt only by the real elephants plodding alongside.

Bored Elephants

Carved Elephants

There are so many temples, the roads twist and turn around lakes where local families swim/wash and graze their cattle, past dry swamps eerie with white tree trunks rising from the dark still water, through forests ancient and new-multi national funding to replant from deforestation-many have a complex history, the Buddhist origins recarved into Hindu gods as the Kingdom changed. Shrines appear in the darkest corner or the highest pillar, the air suddenly filling with incense.

temple originally Buddhist then resculptured into Hindu worship

It is easier on the bike to dodge the beggar children, the street vendors who run alongside pulling at my clothes, the landmine survivors, the horrendously deformed children-it tugs my heart strings to say no, but it is impossible to give to everyone, or even to just one-giving to one means either the money is sidetracked into gangs or you will be followed by hundreds desperate for the same handout-it is really hard to be hard hearted, and I have resolved to find a reputable charity to support when back in England.

I am glad now I have taken the time to explore both Angkor and Siem Reap. Angkor is so vast its true beauty is slowly revealed. Siem Reap is a shopping mecca-night markets/day markets everywhere, massages for a dollar –I had a complimentary one here at the guest house which was very welcome!-‘same same’ products as throughout Asia obviously but its all rather fun-the town exists to serve tourists, it reminds me of a tiny Vegas in the Cambodian desert.

The downside is that I ache all over, every bone in my body hurts-today I cycled the 17 mile ‘grand tour’ along the bumpy dirt tracks. stopping only for an iced coffee in a roadside shack, sustained by my picnic of bananas and crackers. By the time I returned here tonight I was literally too exhausted to climb the stairs to my fourth floor room and had to sit in reception being plied with free sweet iced coffee and banana chips by the kind staff, bless them!

I am hoping to take the bike again tomorrow, but I am also hoping to be able to move-the first will depend on the second!