Day 2: Siem Reap

Siem Reap is a beautiful city which is famous for its ancient temples, considered by many to be the 8th wonder of the world.  After visiting we were among the many believers.  Angkor Wat is the most famous of these temples, however the others we saw were equally - if not more - impressive and unique in many ways.

We decided to follow the advice of nearly every guidebook and catch the sunrise at the temples.  So, at 5:00am we hopped into tuk-tuks and headed north.  Anyone who knows me knows waking up early is NOT my idea of vacation, but this was well worth it.  We took in amazing views over a lake while sitting on the ruins of Sra Srang, a place that used to be reserved for the king and his wives.

 After watching the sunrise we walked about 100 meters to the ruins of a massive Buddhist monastery called Banteay Kdei which was built at the end of the 12th century.  There were few other people here, which made for a great visit.  The most striking aspects were the intricate carvings and the fact that it has been left basically unaltered.  This was in contrast to more popular locations, like Angkor Wat, which have been largely restored.  We all preferred the more natural, ruinous look.

From here we hopped back in the tuk-tuks and headed to Ta Prohm.  This is the most famous "wild" temple and was the location that some of the filming for the movie Tomb Raider took place.  It definitely feels like something out of Indiana Jones as tree branches and roots snake their way through the crumbling structure.  

On the way to lunch our driver suggested that we stop at Ta Keo, an unfinished temple that was built between 968 - 1001 AD.  It's made entirely of sandstone and is almost 50 meters tall.  Needless to say, we earned our lunch climbing to the top.

We asked our tuk-tuk driver to take us to a local restaurant near Angkor Wat where we enjoyed barbecued fish, a whole chicken, and some Cambodian beer.  Delicious.

Brothers playing in the dirt

Angkor Wat is the largest and best preserved of the temples surrounding Siem Reap and is believed to be the largest religious structure in the world, according to Lonely Planet.  It is thought to have been built by King Suryavarman II to honor the Hindu deity, Vishu, between 1112-1152 A.D.  We took time to walk around the outer sides of the temple, which are lined with 800m (8 football fields!) of bas reliefs hand-carved into the stone.  Each segment depicts different stories - some religious, some historical and some symbolic.  They were educational, fascinating and my favorite part of Angkor Wat.

Incredibly intricate bas reliefs carved from black marble

While we were focused on admiring the bas reliefs, this little friend came up and demanded a bit of our attention.  (Who am I kidding, forget the bas reliefs, he was definitely my favorite part of Angkor Wat!)

After a day of wondering at the feats accomplished by human hands almost a millennium ago and seeing the infamous Angkor Wat complex, we didn't think our experience could get any better.  We underestimated Bayon.  This temple really looks like a pile of stones or crumbling mountain from afar:

 But as you walk closer, enormous faces begin to appear from the rubble.  216 faces, to be exact, with at least a dozen heads visible at any moment.  It's as intimidating as Angkor's greatest king, Jayavarman VII, intended when he had it built between 1181 - 1219 A.D.  When Bayon was found it was completely covered in dense jungle and the function and symbolism of the temple remain a mystery.  One thing that is not a mystery is the unbelievable creativity you feel oozing from each crack and cranny.

After a long day of climbing temples we enjoyed dinner at a restaurant specializing in Amok, a Khmer specialty, and indulged in the fresh fruit smoothies.  After dinner we all decided to splurge on a two hour massage, which set us each back a whopping $15.  I love Asia.

Day 1: Ho Chi Minh to Siem Reap

After arriving at Ho Chi Minh airport late the night before (within 10 minutes of Stacey's flight), getting our visas sorted (unfortunately Vietnam is similar to China in its lack of visa efficiency), finding our driver and crashing at our hostel we were up early and ready to take Saigon by storm.  Since the Vietnamese also celebrate their new year, called Tet, according to the lunar calendar we had just a few days before the festivities kicked in.  As a result we decided planned to leave for Siem Reap right away and hit Ho Chi Minh on the tail end of our trip.  The earliest flight we could get to SR was at 3:00, so we hit the sightseeing trail running and got a feel for Saigon right away.

We set off walking towards Reunification Palace and on our way passed a huge makeshift market of potted flowers, plants and trees.  A big part of the celebration of Tet is to return home for the holiday, and having one of these beautiful plants is the equivalent of having a Christmas tree at Christmas.  According to vietnam-beauty.com, Vietnamese people decorate their houses and offices with these ornamental plants during Tet as symbols of warmth, wealth and good luck for the country’s biggest holiday.  Here are some pictures from the market:

We continued on our way Reunification Palace, which under the Republic of Vietnam was

known as Independence Palace or the Presidential Palace.  

On April 30, 1975 this was the location to which the first communist tanks in Saigon charged.  A very famous photo depicts the tanks knocking down the front gate (shown below).  We couldn't help but think of the fear the leader, Duong Van Minh, felt as he watched the tanks roll down the long street towards, and then through, his front gate.  Apparently when he surrendered he told the VC officer "I have been waiting since early this morning to transfer power to you", to which the officer replied, "There is no question of transferring power.  You cannot give up what you do not have."  Yikes. 

  

We had fun looking at the basically untouched interior decorating style of the 60's and exploring the basement with all of its war rooms, radio equipment, and bomb tunnels.

After this we headed to the War Remnants Museum.  

Although loaded with its fair share of propaganda,

it had a very large room dedicated to the photographers and journalists (mostly foreign) who gave their lives in an effort to show the rest of the world what was happening throughout the country.  We found this very moving.  Overall, it was much less biased than a similar museum we saw last year in the northern part of the country.

The final room depicted many of the uglier aspects of war.  Including brutality inflicted by frustrated troops and the effects of bombing, agent orange and various other weapons.  The basic takeaway was regardless of the issue, war is terrible - especially for the civilians in the war zone.  The room also included paintings of peace by Vietnamese children, which were powerful.

Outside was a yard full of weapons on display.

In an effort to overcome our depression at the moving images we had just seen and rejuvinate our minds and mouths, we grabbed lunch at an amazing restaurant called Bunta.  Bunta is named after the rice vermicelli noodles called "Bun" which are famous in Vietnam.  Stacey claims it was one of the best meals of her life due to their refreshingly fresh spring rolls and smoothies.

After lunch we rushed back to the hostel to grab our stuff and headed to the airport.  We got to Cambodia, actually had an enjoyable and efficient visa experience and loaded ourselves and all of our stuff onto a tuk-tuk.  When we got on the motorbike on the front almost capsized, but we managed to make it to the hostel without any major hiccups.  That night we set out to explore Siem Reap, but first joined in a makeshift dance party across the street.  Iced beer on a hot night in the company of friends.  Fun times.