Phnom Kulen Waterfall in Cambodia!

On our last day in Siem Reap, we booked a driver to take us to the Phnom Kulen waterfall where they had placed Lingas in the river bed so that the water is blessed.

Rebecca found our driver, Sam - Angkor Best Driver, on trip advisor. Sam was a few years older than us and was really nice. The first conversation we had was what we knew about Cambodia and he made sure to discuss the real Cambodia with us with some history and how corrupt the people in power were. He even discussed part of his personal life and how he had asked his parents not to put him in an arranged marriage, as it is tradition in Cambodia, as he felt he would be "blocked" (no more freedom) from many things he enjoyed. He met a country girl that does make up for weddings who is his current girlfriend. He said he would never marry a city girl because they would have had too many boyfriends lol.

Our drive to Phnom Kulen was about an hour and the "road" up the mountain was just red dirt and had a shit load of pot holes and bumps and was very uneven. (Side note: the roads at Angkor Wat use to be the same until an Australian? Couple filmed their ride and the road and complained to the government that the roads were horrendous for such a big tourist attraction)

We first visited a Buddhist temple that was in the mountain. It was nothing special. Then we saw the Lingas were in the river before we headed to the waterfall.

At the waterfall, there was a section at the top that had a mini 10ft waterfall before the big drop. We were able to stand in the water and take some pictures. We then walked down the hill to the pond where the waterfall was. It was not that busy but more people started to come shortly after we arrived. We found a spot on the right and I wanted to practice shooting flowing water pictures. I was able to get the water to appear flowing and smooth, but I think my shutter speed was a bit too slow as the pictures seem over exposed. Hopefully some post editing can make the pictures of Rebecca and I better.

I then decided to go into the water and it was so refreshing! And to my surprise, there were small fish in there that would nibble at your legs to eat your dead skin! I brought my GoPro in with me and caught some close up footage of the waterfall. I also recorded myself going under the waterfall and getting hit in the head hard by the water. Video to come!

We somehow spent a couple of hours down there and didn't realize it was 3:30 when we decided to go back up with meet Sam. We drove back into town and decided to go to the Old Market to get lunch and to walk around as we never went the previous evenings. We found a small cafe on a corner and ordered food. Rebecca ordered a chicken Caesar wrap and I ordered curry chicken.

After that we walked around to shop for souvenirs. Again, all the stores sold mostly the same items. Rebecca bought theses small stuffed fabric keychain elephants that are cute.

I wanted to buy a painting, as I've always wanted to buy one from my travels but we were short on US dollars and only had enough left to take a tuk tuk back to our hotel. I visited a few shops and the last one I visited, the price went from $15 to $2-$3 once I walked away! I really wished i had the cash as that would have been an amazing deal. I was even willing to buy them at $12!

We decided that we would go back to our hotel and then come back to shop more and have dinner. But as always, once we get back to the hotel, fatigue starts to set in and Rebecca passes out. So no Angkor Wat painting for me and I ordered a pizza from the bar downstairs.

Posted by Steven

Angkor Wat Tour Day 2

This morning at 4:30am, Steven and I woke up to get ready to watch the sunrise at Angkor Wat. We have been looking forward to watching the sunrise ever since we arrived in Cambodia because the view is supposedly breathtaking! According to our tour guide, David Angkor Guide, this time of the year isn't exactly the best time to capture the rise of the sun directly behind the temples. Cambodia`s winter season (September - December), is the peak season and the most beautiful time to visit the temples. Unfortunately for us, it is now summer and the beginning of the rainy season here, where temperatures rise upwards to 40 degrees Celsius.

By the time we got to Angkor Wat (around 5:50am), there were already many people who arrived much earlier to save their spots. The weather was very cloudy from yesterday`s rain. I suspect that it will rain again later today. Steven was upset about the cloudy weather because he wanted to shoot a time lapse of the sun rising with clear skies, oh well (funny story though, he was actually shooting a video instead of a time lapse during the sunrise, so he was really mad about that). I thought the view was still beautiful, despite the clouds. The sun rose on the left side of the temple, so we were still able to get a glimpse of the sun. In the future, I think I`ll revisit Cambodia to watch the sunrise again.

Last night, we let the receptionist at our resort know that we will be leaving early in the morning for the sunrise. They kindly prepared breakfast boxes for us to bring and eat at Angkor Wat during the sunrise. I thought that was very nice of them! Our breakfast box included; a bunch of pastries, bread with butter and jam, sausages, and bacon. Yum!

After the sunrise, David took us around the temples again, where we visited Ta Prohm (Tomb Radier temple), Pre Rup, Ta Keo, Thommanon, Preah Kahn, Neak Pean, and Ta Som (Overgrowing tree).

Five towers of Pre Rup (above picture)

Preah Kahn and Ta Som were both built as Buddhist sites in dedication to King Jayavarmn VII's father, Dharanindravarman II (King of Khmer Empire in 1150 to 1160).

Overgrowing tree at Preah Kahn (above picture)

 Lions guarding the ruins of Preah Kahn (above picture)

After the King's passing, his successors tried to convert the Buddhist temples to worship the Hindu gods. While we were there, we noticed that the Buddhist carvings on the walls were destroyed, scrapped off or replaced with Hindu statues.

 Hindu statues of the god. They look noticeably different than Buddha statues because of their high knees and long beards (above picture)

On the right side of the photo, notice the carved out Buddha statues (above picture)

 Preah Kahn was built in the late 12th century, where its name "Preah Kahn" also translates to the meaning of "Sacred Sword," which refers to the legendary sword owned by King Jayavarmn VII. Inside the courtyard of the temple lays a structure which guarded the King's sword. 

Temple structure which once guarded the King's sacred sword (above picture)

Ta Prohm, also known as the "Tomb Radier Temple" was built in the late 12th to early 13th century (one of the first major temples to be built). Ta Prohm was constructed as a Buddhist monastery and built in dedication to King Jayavarmn VII's mother.

Tree strangling, yet conserving the Ta Prohm temple. Balance of nature.

Columns loosing support at Ta Prohm

Currently, the temple is undergoing some reconstruction. From our observation, we noticed that there was a lot of rope blockage to avoid tourists from touching parts of the ruins as well as for construction.

Overgrowing tree blocked off at Ta Prohm "Tomb Radier" Temple 

Restoration project at Ta Prohm

Today, Ta Prohm remains one of the most visited temples in Angkor Wat, largely due to the trees growing over the ruins and the jungle surroundings (or maybe because Tomb Radier was filmed there?).

Steven and I posing at the scene where Lara Croft "Tomb Radier" movie was filmed

Ta Som is one of the smaller temples in Angkor Wat complex. It was built at the end of the 12th century dedicated to King Jayavarman VII's father, Dharanindravarman II (as mentioned previously). Similar to Ta Prohm temple, the ruins of Ta Som are engulfed by the destruction of the overgrowing trees.   

Overgrowing tree reclaiming parts of Ta Som (above picture)

  Steven and I at Ta Som (above picture) 

We left the temples at around 4pm. Before calling it a day, David took us to a memorial site around our resort dedicated to the horrific genocide of The Khmer Rouge in 1975 to 1979. When the Khmer Rouge was in power, they enforced policies and rules that caused repression and massacres across the country. Cambodia turned into a strict detention center, where anyone (including own members, professionals, or senior leaders) suspected of connections with the former/foreign government were executed. The Khmer Rouge costed the lives of over a million innocent Cambodians. Plus other deaths due to starvation and diseases such as malaria broke out, which resulted in a total number of deaths: 1.7 to 2.5 million. R.I.P.

At the memorial site, there was a viewing glass of a few hundred human skulls and bones that were collected around the Siem Reap area. All of the remains found were left undentified and unknown. Tombs were also built around the memorial where people pay respect to the lost ones. It was a very emotional place, as many Cambodians were affected by the incident.

We didn't`t have much time to explore the memorial site because the weather was starting to act up on us. Strong gusts of wind, sounds of thunder, and rain started to fall. The winds in Cambodia were so strong that tree branches started to fall on the ground! We ended up heading back to the resort to rest for the night.

Posted by Rebecca

Angkor Wat Tour Day 1

Today is the day we get to explore my first Wonder of the World; the Angkor Wat temple. This was the only reason we came to Siem Reap, Cambodia, as it is for most tourists. Our tour guide, David Angkor Guide, picked us up from our hotel at 8:30am and we were on our way.

Walking the long walkway to the entrance to Angkor Wat, I could not believe that I was here as I have been looking at pictures of Angkor Wat before and thought the place looked beautiful and amazing. David pointed out that half the walkway entrance has been restored already with plans to finish the other side. You could tell by one side the stones were all uneven and sinking in.

He also said that there is supposed to be Naga (snake) along the entire length, which is supposed to be rebuilt in the future with concrete.

Angkor Wat was built between 1113-1150 and took 37 years to build, including digging out the 200m wide man made mote around the city. The temples were built for religious gatherings and not for the King to live in.

Entering the first "temple" entrance and then walking out to Angkor Wat, there was lots of details to look at as there were carvings covering every single wall! It is amazing when you realize the amount of work that was put into all the carvings as they are done manually by hand. Let alone how they built this giant temple with stones they had to transport by river from far away. 

 

Angkor Wat is the biggest temple in the area and was made to be the best of the best with all of the decorations and carvings on the wall.

To enter the 3rd level of Angkor Wat, you cannot wear sleeveless shirts, so for some reason I decided to bring my rain jacket in case it rained later on. Oh, did I mention how f'in HOT it is in Siem Reap? It was going to be high of 40C and I had to wear my jacket inside the temple and was just baking. Even walking around outside the temples, I have never sweated so much in my life and pretty sure I was suffering from heat exhaustion. Good thing our Tour Guide also provided us with cold water bottles from his cooler he kept in his Lexus RX300, but it was still tough.

 

 
On the way to see the famous Bayon temples, the one with the big face carvings, we passed through South Gate where there were statues of Demons (on the right) and Gods (on the left) along the bridge gate, holding a Naga (snake). Some of the statue is broken and still needs to be restored.

Upon entering the South Gate, a large entrance overpass appears with four faces at the top.

 Once passed through the gate, we stopped to see the monkeys nearby, which were on the side of the road.

 

There was a Mom and baby monkey hanging out and the baby monkey was playing with this man's tripod. Excitedly, I got my GoPro out but for some reason it was not turning on even though I just had it on a few minutes ago. It could have been due to it overheating as it was quite hot. Next thing I know I see the Mom monkey charge at Rebecca and take a swipe at her as Rebecca got too close to the baby hahah. She missed though. It was probably because we just showed up and did not take the time for them to get as comfortable with us. Finally my GoPro started to work again and attached it to my GoPole but the monkeys were scared of it. Video to come soon!

We reached Bayon temple and the outside court areas were in rough shape with walls that have fallen down. However, in the middle of the temple, they have restored most of it. Bayon temple was different as it seemed sort of like a maze as everything was closer together but not as much open space as Angkor. There were multiple pillars with the 4 faces and it was definitely one of our favourite temples.

The last big temple we visited was Baphuon and we were able to climb to the top of it. We definitely got a good leg workout with all the walking and climbing we did. We were both exhausted at this point but it was the last site to visit for the day.

For dinner, David recommended we go to the Kulean 2 restaurant which is a buffet dinner and also has an Apsara "dancing girl" show, as how they would have danced for the King. The "dancing" was quite slow with slow hand movements and beats but that is how they jammed back in the day.

Posted by Steven