Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of the mrlukeniktravels blog coming from Siem Reap, Cambodia. I have, since last week, come further northwest into the centre of the country. I have also passed the halfway mark for my time in Cambodia. As I write the weather outside is intense heavy rain accompanied by the odd flash of lightning and rumble of thunder. Thus goes the rainy season! It is not, however, raining all the time. When the rain stops it the temperature really rockets. We have now left August so the weather should be cooling down from now on (relatively). Thankfully I am here in the dry as laptops and rainwater don’t really mix that well. That aside, here is a slice of what I have been up to since last Monday.
Since last week I have travelled west from Kratie, via Kampong Cham, to Siem Reap. The area is most famous for the temples of the Angkor Wat complex to the north of the town. The most famous of these is Angkor Wat, but the area encompasses a dozen or so others of varying sizes. Built by the Angkorian kings of the 7th-12th Century CE, these impressive stone structures were abandoned to the jungle during the 13th Century CE. All that remains toady are the ruined stone temples, the rest of the settlements disappeared long ago. The construction of a good portion of the temples was begun by King Jayavarman VII. He is the most famous Angkorian king accomplishing empire expansion, infrastructure construction and legal reforms. Perhaps Henry V would be an equivalent in English history. Criticisms on a postcard please!
To visit some of the temples I hired a tuk tuk for the day and went exploring. The day started early at 0430 to catch the sunrise over Angkor Wat temple. I definitely think it was worth the early start, hopefully the photos do it justice. After the sunrise I headed out on the “Grand Circle” of half a dozen temples as I had already visited most the sites in the “Small Circle” (the most famous ones) last time I was in Cambodia. To be precise I visited Preah Khan, Ta Som, East Mebon, Pre Rup, Banteay Kdei and Parsat Kravan. Starting early in the day meant I had a couple of the temples to myself without the heat of the afternoon. It is a tour I would definitely recommend and much less crowded than the Small Circle sites. Due to the pre-dawn start I had was finished around lunchtime so it was time to eat!
Lunch that day was particularly special as, hinted by the title, it was my birthday. Not only that I pass into a new decade where my age begins with a three(!). It doesn’t seem a year ago that I was celebrating my last birthday in Nanamio, Vancouver Island, Canada. I am now officially a thirty-something, although I feel like I’m a teenager still- that shows no sign of abating. It is a privilege that I am able to celebrate a significant birthday in a favourite country of mine, albeit on the other side of the world. I did miss birthday cake, but I had probably the best crème brûlée I’ve ever had which went some way to assuage that. Hopefully there will be plenty of travelling in my thirties to continue the trend I’m setting at the moment.
As fascinating as my celebrations are, I thought I would dedicate a portion of this blog to some of the pictures I whilst visiting the temples. It is important to note that the majority of the present-day temple names are recent labels. After their (re)discovery in the jungle they were named in the early 20th Century CE. Hopefully they do their subjects justice!
Preah Khan (Holy/Sacred Sword)
Ta Som (Old Man named Som?)
Pre Rup (Turn the body- in relation to funerals)
Banteay Kdei (Citadel of Chambers)
That is almost it for this week from Siem Reap. Next week I shall be further south on the other side of Tonle Sap, Cambodia’s principal freshwater lake. I have enjoyed my stay on the tourist route for a bit, time to head back off it again! From now until next week you can follow me on Twitter with the handle @mrlukeniktravel. For photos such as those above and many others, my Instagram handle is @mrlukeniktravels. If you would like an email every time i post, then you can subscribe to this blog using the link below. Finally, as always until next time, stay safe and travel on!