Sleepless in Siem Reap

Cupcakes, pancakes and fruit shakes. Batman Tuk Tuks, Jianzi, dollar massages. Baby Alligators. Temples.

Welcome to Siem Reap.

Known as the gateway to Angkor Wat, Siem Reap is a big tourist destination. With treelined streets, a river and you know it's coming - French colonial buildings, it's a handsome town filled to the brim with great little cafes and the more schlocky Pub Street for the younger, drink-fuelled backpackers.

We arrived by the notorious night bus, in spite of having been warned of how dangerous it is by every single travel guide and blog I had found on the internet.

Why then, you ask, did you go on it?

Because someone convinced me that I was being a... cluck cluck. And I'm too easily riled.

Having been promised a spacious double bed, air con, free water and all the perks (am I sounding incredibly naive at this point?) we found ourselves in a vehicle which could have masqueraded as a sex parlour. And probably did. Dark red curtains and tiny cells not fit for a life-term convict, we found our bed directly under the engine at the very back of the bus. Air-con out of action. Hairs on the pillow. Shady stains on the mattress.

Relatively claustrophobic, having once had a complete paddy climbing the staircase to the Whispering Gallery at St Paul's Cathedral, I found myself breathing pretty short breaths in muggy air convinced that the mephitic fumes of the engine would probably kill me overnight. The corridor reaching our budget boudoir was so narrow, all passengers had to walk crablike. One escape route, with us at the back of the bus.

Currently agnostic, I cannot say I 'found God' on this journey but I did pray multiple times overnight when I was suspended in air or spooning the wall when the driver slammed the brakes down. (Being at the back, we were sideways on).

The Remedy

Sleep deprived with a rats nest on my head and desperate for a wee, we arrived at a sunny 6am in Siem Reap. At this point with no placable sarcasm apparent, Alex said:

"Well that was much better than the night bus in Laos!"

Genuinely. I wanted to kill him.

At least he didn't say 'What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger".

But food always cheers me up and two pancakes with berry compote, creme fraiche, maple syrup and bacon at Cafe Central did a grand job.

You know that I can't write a blog about Siem Reap and not talk about Angkor Wat. And whilst we took some incredible photos, they will probably look just like everybody else's - no matter how much time is spent editing them. So I will attempt to not to go into minute detail about every temple we saw but share the more entertaining bits. But prepare yourself for lots of photos, tough luck on that side of things.

At 4.30am, my favourite time of day to wake up, we took a tuk-tuk which we had negotiated down (good cop/bad cop routine is still working) to 15 dollars for the day. We had decided to leave the best til last, so we maturely turned our heads to the left whilst passing Angkor Wat on the right.

First stop 5.30am

Baksei Chamkrong was our choice for the sunrise, an early 10th century Hindu temple which looked a little like an Apocalypto head-rolling sacrifical slide. Our driver got out his hammock and hanging it on his tuk-tuk, went back to sleep whilst we peered blankly into the dark at the very steep stairs we were standing in front of.

Having climbed to the top, whilst murmuring about health and safety hazards in a very British way, we sat and ate our breakfast of pineapple and mango whilst Alex listened to the bats that were chirping in the temple. I protected my hair with a sarong.

Breakfast time in the dark.

Having been to Petra in Jordan, the capabilities of what humans can do never ceases to amaze and when you stand amongst the faces of Bayon that awe and splendour really hits you. What was all the more special was that because all the tourists had flocked home after sunrise for breakfast, we were pretty much the only people there. Passing it a couple of hours later, it was like a sea of faces.

I pride myself with having a good vocabulary, but after seeing a couple of temples you do struggle for words to describe them. Rock. Stone. Carved. Sculptures. Buildings. Temples. Meh.

Alex bitterly disappointed me at Ta Prohm for refusing to be videoed pretending to be Lara Croft in Tomb Raider. He was never going to be Angelina Jolie but he could have been a very believable young Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones.

Later that day, we discovered the best cupcakes we had ever tasted at Blossom Cafe, so we ate lots of them. Though my sister is not a bridezilla, I still have to watch what I eat apparently so I am not a fat bridesmaid so I won't mention how many we had or how many times we visited in our week in Siem Reap.

Two of .... many!

Wednesday was a good day as it was a chance to see a face from the past - David and his wife Vina. Both his daughters are close friends of mine. They were both staying at a hotel a considerable upgrade from ours - the Victoria Angkor Resort which boasted a very nice swimming pool, those seriously cool old-school elevators which you have to slide the door to close and a baby alligator pond. We had a bizarre moment when discussing my failure to break Hollywood and it materialised out that one of the few people I had met was his best friend from school. (The only person he knew in LA). It's a small world.

Another day at the Angkor Wat Archeological Site involved riding 'the Grand Loop' - 30km on mountain bikes. The ride was brisk as Scouser Wiggins likes a good pace. I almost crashed into several bins that were waiting to be recycled on the road. Then almost did it again on the way back.

Trusty Steeds

Neak Pean was an island temple accessed by a long causeway and the views were reminiscent of the end of the second Lord of the Rings, when Isengard is destroyed.

"Some of my kin look just like trees now, and need something great to rouse them; and they only speak in whispers." (Treebeard)

Spooky stuff.

Isengard /Neak Pean

Alex's birthday falls on Valentine's Day and we were in Siem Reap to celebrate it. We spent the day doing most of his favourite things. We started with a pancake breakfast then watched a film in the Green Leaf Book Cafe (An Extraordinary Theory of Everything - is it only me who bawled their eyes out the whole film?) We then had a brunch of more pancakes with Alex's favourite Mango Shake. Lunch and the early afternoon was spent with Alex watching the cricket and rugby on two screens at the same time. Then we went for a Dollar Massage.

Massage parlours are everywhere in Siem Reap - to relieve the weary loins of tourists traversing Angkor Wat. Most of them have the same deal - a dollar for a ten minute foot massage. Being generous, we decided to go for three dollars.

It was not a pleasant experience.

The man who was lathering globs of unlabelled cream on my feet and legs had elongated molars - aka vampire fang dentistry and was giggling tonelessly in a high pitched voice to his neighbour. His idea of massage was to smack my feet and legs then place his pudgy gargantuan hands on my little toes and pull them out of their sockets as if he was having a tug of war with the entire Japanese Sumo Wrestling Team. This he then repeated two other times, once every ten minutes.

1$ foot massage. You get what you pay for.

Insanely after our dinner at 'Genevieve's Restaurant' - for where else were we going to go for Alex's birthday (it's also the number 2 restaurant in Siem Reap), we decided to go for another massage. This time I broke into hysterical giggles when both of them got into the downward dog position and put their hands on our groins, rubbing us in circular motion. The Khmer massage techniques are really not to be missed.

Then we watched Six Nations rugby well into the night with a few beers to help us along.

The Angkor Wat sunset was our last experience in Siem Reap before we took a bus and crossed the border to Bangkok. It was a marvel, worth waiting for. Alex took lots of pictures of the reflection of Angkor Wat in the lake whilst I made some friends.

Sunset at Angkor Wat

Making friends

Six weeks of travelling around Laos and Cambodia and it comes to the final thing we see to know that the crazy experiences we have been through have been worthwhile. That sitting under a bat-infested temple in the pitch black and watching the sun rise over Angkor Wat Archological Site made the entire trip worthwhile. There have been some incredibly unremarkable places. There have been some horrible, horrible bus journeys. There have been some gruesome, harrowing sights. There has been a lot of the views of the Mekong. That's all part and parcel of being a backpacker. But the majesty of being at Angkor Wat - and it only takes one time - leaves you feeling pretty special. That you've seen something that that old cliche 'once in a lifetime' truly fulfils.

A representation of 80% of photos taken.