Bangkok : First Impressions

             We got up early on the day we're leaving for Bangkok and we took our free breakfast of french bread, scrambled eggs and slices of tropical fruits. All our efforts to get up early was wasted because the van that would pick us up did not arrive until 8:30 AM. It ruined our plan. We were hoping to reach Bangkok before 5pm so we could go to a night market. We were transferred from a van to a bus at around 9AM . The bus roamed around Siem Reap to pick up the other passengers from their respective guesthouses and hotels .

Back in Bangkok


                                

                  The trip back to Bangkok from Siem Reap took so much longer than we had expected. It went smoothly at first until we reached the suburbs of Bangkok. The road became congested and that's where we got stuck. We had been traveling for 8 hours and I had been putting up with the Thai songs blaring from the bus' stereo since I didn't have my earphone with me. I kept on complaining to Anna that everything in Bangkok so far looked like Manila. It was already 7 pm when we arrived at the Mo Chit bus station. I thought the bus station was just a walking distance from the skytrain station. I was wrong. According to everyone we asked , we had to take a cab.We were staying at my friend's place not so far from Khao San, the famous backpacker's area in Bangkok. I just can't remember the name of the street. It's a challenge when you're dealing with Thai nouns which usually are consist of consonants that outnumber the vowels by a mile. To avoid being stuck in traffic the original plan was to take the skytrain from the Mo chit station and get off at the Saphan Taksin station then walk to the Central Pier (then maybe pass out for a few minutes) and take the boat along Chao Phraya river to get to Pier 13 (again I can't remember its name but each pier has a corresponding number).We paid the cab driver 70 baht to get to the skytrain station. I slammed the door at him because he initially refused to take us to our destination. He just  had no choice since it's his turn to pick up passengers otherwise he would have to queue up again and wait forever for his next turn. There is no skytrain station near Khao San so our plan would have been the best way to avoid the dreaded traffic.The thing was the boats that ply the Chao Phraya routes only operate until 6pm so that was out of the question. We took a bus instead from the National Stadium station to Khao San area. We arrived at our destination in no time since it was already 9pm and the roads were almost empty. We were dropped off near a 7-11 store.We hadn't eaten dinner yet so we bought cup noodles and shortly after I had my introduction to Thai flavor.It was so hot and spicy that I felt sick afterwards.


                                

                                          

             We walked towards the area near the Democracy Monument and there we found my friend. My friend is a fellow Filipino who works as a teacher in Bangkok. He lives at an apartment near Khao San and he would be our host for the next four days. I didn't feel like sleeping yet even though I was tired so I left Anna with my friend. Neither one of them could accompany me, Anna was dog-tired and my friend had to go to bed early since he had classes the following day. After we settled our things at my friend's place I went out alone to explore Khao San.
             I was hoping that my first impressions about Bangkok wouldn't last as nothing so far that I had seen impressed me.

Angkor Thom and the Other Ancient Temples In Angkor

                  When we were done exploring Angkor Wat we went back to Bana, our tuktuk driver and he suggested we visit Angkor Thom next. In Angkor there are actually dozens of temples. The others are not as popular as Angkor Wat but they're also worth a visit. A lot of those lesser-known temples are located within Angkor Thom which is an ancient city in the Angkor region . Like Angkor Wat , Angkor Thom is surrounded by a moat and is one of the largest of all the Khmer cities. Bana gave us instructions on how to find him after we explore Angkor Thom and then he dropped us off on the avenue leading to the gate of the ancient city. We walked through the impressive avenue lined with statues of guardian gods (devas) and asuras (demons). On the left side were figures of the gods and on the right were the asuras (demons), who had fierce grimaces on their faces.Not knowing what they were, I kept on posing right next to the asuras.

Avenue leading to Angkor Thom

               The avenue leads to the gate of Angkor Thom which is no less impressive. The gate looked so magnificent. It's made of stone and had an arch capped by a face-tower that faced the four directions . It had an enormous wooden doors that were swung open. When we saw an elephant carrying tourists on its back and was walking slowly through the gate , the more I felt like we'd been transported back to the 12th century. Our first stop was the spot where ladies were selling the $15-dollar tickets for a 30-minute elephant ride. They told us that we had to come back at around 3pm because it was already too hot for the elephants to be walking around. We knew we wouldn't be coming back in the afternoon. We were already exhausted, starving and dehydrating so we thought of trying the elephant ride in Bangkok instead.

                                          

One of the Face Towers Of Bayon

             Just in front of us was an ancient temple, the Bayon. From afar it looked like just a mere pile of stones but if you get closer you can make out the massive stone faces on its towers which is the distinctive feature of the Bayon . The towers of Bayon resemble the tower on the gate of Angkor Thom. The Bayon may not be as magnificent as the more famous Angkor Wat but it's definitely worth a visit. Aside from the towers I also admired its ornate carvings. The entire structure looked fragile though. It seemed like it would crumble down at the slightest tremor.There were so many tourists at the temple and I stumbled upon a group of Korean- (or maybe Japanese, how could I tell? ) looking tourists.

Carvings on the Elephant Terrace

          We didn't spend much time at the Bayon.We made our way to an open field at the center of Angkor Thom. Every few meters a kid would approach us. I knew what they were up to. I'd learned that those kids would start telling you bits of information about the temples then would ask for money as payment after. We ignored them and continued to walk to the open field. The field is surrounded with ancient structures and I learned later that it was actually the city square in the early days where functions were held. One of the structures that look out over the field was a long terrace with nice carvings of elephants on its walls. The carvings gave the terrace its modern name, the Elephant Terrace. On the other side of the field lined a couple of reddish towers , the Prasat Suor Prat. Unfortunately, we were too weak to walk towards them. We would have passed out in the middle of the field had we dared. We looked for our driver instead but still that required us to walk hundreds of meters. Walking a long distance under the oppressive sunlight every time we had to look for our driver was something that I hated the most on this tour. Apparently,  there were only designated spots where they could park. We walked across a dusty field before we found Bana. Our last stop was Ta Phrom , famed for being the location of the Angelina-Jolie movie Tomb Raider. Upon reaching the place I remembered one particular spot in the temple that had become popular because of the movie. I kept on looking for it. I pictured out a spot where a tree had grown intertwined among the ruins but there were about a dozen of those silk-cotton trees that did it. Ta Phrom is in a partly collapsed state. We saw cranes in the area which meant that restoration work was ongoing.

Cotton Tree At Ta Phrom

Location of the Angelina Jolie-Movie Tomb Raider

                                  

                   Finally, we're done temple hopping. We were templed-out (that day) but I was sure that I wanted  to come back. I suggest that one buys the three-day pass so there will be time to rest in between the temple hopping.

Angkor Wat : The Star of Angkor

                  Even though I was tired, I did not sleep well. I kept on tossing and turning the whole night, maybe because of too much excitement for the Angkor tour. We got up early the next day and to my surprise the driver who would take us to Angkor was already waiting for us outside. I didn't expect him to show up that early. He approached us the moment we stepped out of our room and asked, " Are you from Philippine?",we nodded and hopped on to his tuktuk.
                  It was hard to ignore the cold early morning breeze as we drived through the tree-lined road to Angkor Archeological Park. Angkor is a region in Cambodia that was part of the Khmer Empire. In its vast plains dozens of ancient Khmer temples were built including the world- famous Angkor Wat. The driver pulled over at a booth where we could purchase our tickets from. For a one-day pass we paid $20 per person. They took our pictures and printed them on the tickets.

                  As the tuktuk continued to traverse the road to Angkor , I saw a body of water and I realized that we were close to the Angkor Wat because it reminded me of the moat that I knew surrounded the temple. Moments later I saw silhouettes of tall structures which at first I had mistakenly identified as trees but it quickly dawned on me that those were actually the towers of Angkor Wat. WOW ! It gave me goose bumps. I just had my first glimpse of one of the wonders of the world.

                We pulled over in front of the Angkor Wat complex. Bana , the driver was still giving instructions when I turned around trying to take another look at the magnificent temple which was already visible even in the dark. Bana sensed that I was so excited so he didn't finish what he was saying. We made our way to the temple through a causeway that crosses the moat. It's hard to put into words what I felt the moment I touched the balustrades of the causeway. Imagine , after almost a thousand years Angkor Wat has withstood the ravages of time and tourists from around the world continue to be in awe of its beauty and grandeur and it was my turn to see it, and experience it.

              We followed a group of tourists that had a guide so that we could listen to some trivia about the temple ( for free). We didn't sign up for a Siem Reap Tour for obvious reasons so we had to be resourceful.We groped our way to the entrance. From the entrance only three of the five lotus-flower-shaped  towers were visible. Two of the towers in front blocked the other two at the back due to their perfect alignment. The fifth tower was at the center. Most photographers and tourists would position themselves on the side when taking pictures so they could capture all the five towers. The exact spot I'm talking about is on the left pond of the temple. We joined a pack of early birds at the pond who were also there for the sunrise. A lot of them had already set up their tripods and cameras. It was quiet , I could only hear whispers every now and then. I felt like the Angkor Wat was a superstar that we were meeting that day and we're just waiting for her to appear under the spotlight which would be the sunlight. The area was teeming with vendors selling coffee that came with monoblock chairs to sit on while waiting for the sunrise. Moments later we could already hear tourists snapping away. Up in the sky we could also see a hot-air balloon hovering above the Archeological Park. A ride on the balloon is one of the attractions in Siem Reap but it's beyond our budget.

                  We were about to enter the temple when a guy came up to us. He was trying to get us to buy a book about Angkor by telling us that he needed  the money to start a business. I didn't buy what he said but I bought the book. From $15 I haggled it down to $8 (later I bumped into some kids selling it for $5 only). Anywhere in Angkor you could get swarmed by touts, kids and adults alike. They'd sell you all kinds of souvenirs and whatknots. It could get annoying sometimes as they'd follow you around. You would always hear " Hey Mister / Lady wanna buy?....only $3 okay?", in a high-pitched tone.
               We finally entered the temple. Every nook and cranny was full of ornate carvings. We'd pause once in a while to take it all in. No wonder it's considered one of the wonders of the world. All those bas reliefs that depict Hindu epics were just awe- inspiring. They're true testaments to the incredible talent of the Khmer people , even way before the advent of modern technology.    
    

The ornate carvings on the walls

             After being overwhelmed by all the reliefs we proceeded to the inner part of the temple. To my dismay we saw dozens of headless statues lined along the hallways. There had been numerous reported incidents of people stealing artifacts from the temple. There was even a carving of an apsara on the wall that wasn't spared, its face had been scrapped off.
                There were still a lot of things to see and corners to explore, after all the entire Angkor Wat complex covers a vast area. It's more than one square mile. The complex is actually just a tiny portion of the entire Angkor region which stretches as far as the eye can see. It was only 8AM but I was already sweating profusely due to the very high humidity so we took a break to eat breakfast at the guesthouse.

                 After maybe 45 minutes we went back to Angkor Wat. The walk to the temple from the causeway when the sun is up is like Siem Reap's version of the Bataan Death March. It was a long walk under the scorching heat of the sun and it was not even noontime yet. We made a detour and walked through the tree lined path instead on the side of the temple. This time we checked out the center of the temple where the towers stand. There were very steep stairs leading to the towers. I remember watching a travel show that featured the Angkor Wat. The clips showed tourists having a hard time climbing up the towers. I wondered why the builders hadn't figured out a way to make the stairs easy to climb on. Later, I learned that they had done  it on purpose because the steep climb symbolizes humility and sacrifice. Well , enough with humility and sacrifice as  I was dehydrating already.



Stairs leading to one of the Angkor Wat towers

                  There was restoration going on so we're not allowed to go up to the towers . Too bad because the view from the top would have been spectacular.