Where on earth is Tim ?

Tomb Raider, The 2009 Chinese Edition is here.

For most of the past week I have been exploring Angkor Wat in Cambodia. After the intense rain caused by Typhoon Ketsana had stopped (more on this later...), I followed Paul's recommendation to 'head straight for Ta Phrom. This way you may avoid the coach loads of Japanese tourists'. Ta Phrom was the set for Tomb Raider as you realise when just about every seller tells you. But what is really special about Ta Phrom is that it is one of the few temples at Angkor that is overgrown and crumbling. There are some huge trees growing out of the top of buildings in this Hindu, then Buddhist temple. Its a shadowy and poky place and I was blown away. The temples of Angkor Wat and Ta Phrom in particular were simply incredible. This place is so good I went a little overboard taking Photographs. Like over 1000. And I visited Ta Phrom three times.

Ta Phrom

Unfortunately it seems they must have recently dubbed a Chinese version of Tomb Raider. Or even, it crossed my mind that Paul's excellent blog must now have a dedicated Chinese readership, but then again if you remember his blog is blocked in China, just like this one. Yes, Ta Phrom is now swarming with Chinese tour groups and it now feels awfully like a Chinese tourist attraction, except its not fake. They have even put in wooden walkways round the main route to accommodate all the high heels and posh frocks, the standard dress of a female Chinese tourist. Conclusion: I have found the one place outside mainland China which has been seriously tapped by the Chinese tourist market. Oh and, there are over a billion of them. Around Angkor you'll see separate places for the Chinese to eat and dine, great big warehouse sort of places serving, you guessed it ... Chinese. Then they're coached around in big tour groups from site to site and they destroy any sense of credibility by posing for Winston Churchill 'V for Victory' signs at every photographic moment, which, being Angkor, means there are a lot. Worst of all they are herded around temples in a giant convoys with tour guides bearing huge microphones and holding 'follow me, I'm an idiot' flags while blurting out Mandarin which I can only guess must be phrases like 'This tree root is growing on a doorway and looks like a frog crossed with a tiger crossed with a pig ! In China we call this the frog-tiger-pig-looking-tree'.

Tree and carved window at Ta Phrom

The other downside to Angkor is barrage of sellers that hang around all the main temples selling various bits of tat and plenty of drinks. But I have to say, compared to some place I've been they are very nice about it. Compared to India they are Saints. And its all very cheap, especially the couple of T-Shirts I bought for two Dollars, the cheapest t-shirts I have come across by far. Bets are on to see if the print will come off in the first wash !

So thank my lucky stars for a bit of serious rain from Typhoon Ketsana. Typhoon Ketsana left me with two whole days to explore Angkor without any tour groups and only the hardcore sellers. Everyone else stayed in Siem Riep, which I have to say is a dump although Sarah disagrees but I am with Paul on this one. Dump. For the first day, I was pretty much the only person brave enough to face the weather and head to Angkor. Which was rather pleasing to my Tuc-Tuc driver, who made his $10 dollars for a days work, while no one else did. But two days of a full on tropical Typhoon has its draw backs: Massive flooding. By the second day downtown Siem Riep was under two feet of water after the river breached its banks. Getting to Ta Phrom involved wading knee deep through the entrance. And the tuc-tuc drivers were frequently flooding their engines while whizzing you around. At first it was all a bit novel but that soon wore off after three nights of having to wade to dinner. Thankfully Ran our first rate Tuc Tuc driver knew all the back road routes managing to avoid the very worst of the floods.

My Blog does Video: My Second trip to Ta Phrom.

Its was all rather astonishing and very special. Bus loads of tourists aside, this place beats Hampi and Bagan hands down. Angkor Wat itself, the main and magnificent temple in Angkor was rather special but overrun by far too many tourists. The top level was also closed to tourists at the moment, which proved to be a little bit of a let down and certainly an anti-climax. Thankfully Ta Phrom and the hundreds of faces staring you down at the Bayon made up for this. The other place of note was Kbal Spean which translates to the 'river of 1000 Lingas'. Its a section of river has thousands of Lingas carved into the river bed, each of which is a symbol for the worship of the Hindu deity Shiva. Unfortunately with the floods all I could see was murky shapes in turbid water, but it gave me a sense of the scale and lengths the Angkor's went to worship their Hindu deities.

Detail, Ta Phrom

We liked Angkor Wat so much we put back our flights to give us a couple more days to explore. I even braved the heat on the final day to take a (push) bike for a spin and see some of the smaller temples, nooks and crannies. This is the way to see Angkor if you can brave the heat.

We are off to the Philippines in a couple of days. Our plan is to island hop for the next seven weeks. I've heard a lot about the Filipinos and I am hoping it's going to be a blast. I just have to survive one night in Bangkok. Gulp.

Sunset over Angkor Wat

Dinner in Flooded Pub Street

We are having dinner tonight, in a rather wet and flooded Siem Riep. No problem for the restaurants however, nothing like a little bit of wading to serve your customers and make a dollar or two! Same with the Tuc-Tuc drivers, who don't seem to be phased, despite flooding their engines on a regular basis.
Thankfully it's stopped raining and it looks like Typoon Ketsana has finally passed Cambodia. Oh and my feet have turned into prunes.

Brown and Out

One of the great things about travelling is that your a long, long, long, way away from the Tabloids. Ok, that is, apart from when I was passing through Bangkok airport and saw a selection of The Mirror and The Daily Mail in the Duty Free shop. Not quite the choice I wanted to make and certainly not the Sunday afternoon, Sunday Times, experience I might be looking for.

So today, while in rural Cambodia, a Cambodian came up to me told me that "The Sun" had just endorsed the Conservatives in the next election, ditching Labour after 13 years.

Right. No need to hurry back home and vote next year then. Its going to be a whitewash, or should I say, a bluewash.

On my way to Ankor Wat this afternoon

What I am more concerned about is if it will stop raining before I leave Ankor Wat. We are in the fallout of Typoon Ketsana and its rather wet. The river is only inches from breaking its banks. The Tuc-Tuc I was in died this afternoon ... from a flooded engine ... The driver got me another bike and then promised he will be at our guesthouse for a trip at 9am tomorrow, without fail, and ... he promised ... with a fully fixed Tuc-Tuc. I expect they will be working all the night to fashion a DIY high air intake. He is sure to reap his $8 dollars for a days work showing people like me round Ankor Wat tomorrow.

Detail, Ankor Wat

Despite the rain, Ankor Wat is rather good. More of it for the next couple of days, with or without the rain.

What ? No Grenades allowed ?

We have just arrived in Phenom Penh, Cambodia. It was one of the longer journeys we have taken in the past few months, with a full 16 hours on a bus from Laos. We arrived, blurry eyed, to be greeted by a sign at our guesthouse, which kindly reminded us of the prohibited items ... but this time I spotted something new!

No Hand Grenades ? Right. I'm glad I have got that one straight.

For one of the few times during my trip, the bus we took was ahead of schedule, by a full hour. That was, until disaster struck, thanks to the wet season here. Most of the roads are not sealed, which means they get quite muddy at this time of year. And its been raining allot. So much so that on a particularly muddy section we literally slid off the road, down a small slope to the side and into the quagmire that passes for the side of the road. We were stuck.

Stuck....

So, everyone out the bus. Those those brave enough took their shoes off and started pushing as the bus driver tried his best to get the show back on the road. Thankfully a handful of locals joined the action and we spent the next hour trying various maneuvers to get the bus out. I was a little worried about someone falling down and getting trapped under the bus. After-all, there were several tonnes of bus slithering about in thick mud with a bunch of pissed up locals and foreigners trying to push the poor machine back onto the road. Yes, most of the local lads that joined us had the smell of rum emanating near their vicinity. Probably at least a bottle judging by the way they were acting ... In the end we had to resort to chains, which the bus driver located from some kind residents in the local village. A bit more pushing and somehow we managed to get the bus back on the road. A quick wash off in the nearest rice paddy and we were off just under two hours later.

Phemon Penh Traffic

Crossing the Cambodia border from Laos was also a rather corrupting experience. First Stop, Laos departing immigration; Here the border guards asked for 10,000 kip (that's US $1.20). Why ? we were told its 'a fee' for crossing on a Sunday. Right. We paid and wondered off towards Cambodia.

Next stop, the Cambodian H1N1 health check; This chap promptly demanded $1 for a health check. We asked for a receipt. He said it costs $20 with a receipt, at which point it dawned on us. We told him where to go and that he was corrupt. He asked for our Yellow Fever certificates. We gave them to him. He threw them back at us and off we trudged.

Next stop, the Cambodian VISA office; We were charged $23 for a VISA, which we found out later was only $20. Doh.

Final Stop , the Border Post; Here they demanded $1 to stamp our passports. This time we told the border guard straight away, "No way, you are corrupt". He stamped our passport and grunted. I was amazed to see this level of blatant corruption, openly trying to cheat tourists. Every border official is on the take for as much as the can get, even the Health official!

Prior to coming to Phenom Penh, we spent our last day in Laos on motorbikes around Pakse. We were tempted after our fantastic experience on "The loop" and could not resist another day out on bikes in rural Laos. Pakse is surrounded by the Bolaven Plateau, which means lots of waterfalls, coffee and Tea plantations. We are now well and truly addicted. Mercifully the traffic in Phenom Penh is exactly the antidote we needed. Its the most crazy, disorganised, selfish and erratic driving I've every experienced. No respect for lanes, lights, other drivers or whats around you. Its a free for all and there is no way on hell we ate hiring a bike in central Phenom Penh!

  

Waterfall on the Bolaven Plateau

One cannot come to Phenom Penh without visiting both S21 and the Killing Fields, two poignant reminders to Cambodia's past horrors during the rule of the Khmer Rouge. It was quite upsetting to see, especially the bones and clothing that litter the topsoil of the paths around the killing fields. The attached museum was packed full of the history and one point got me really thinking. Vietnam was the only country to act and end the rule of the Khmer Rouge. The UN and the rest of the world sat idly by and let it happen, even to the point that some 10 years after the regime was toppled by the Vietnamese, the UN still recognized the Khmer Rouge as the legitimate government of Cambodia. Yet the Khmer Rouge committed one of the worst cases of human genocide this century.

S21

The UN has allot to answer for its inaction. Surly that's what the UN is for ? Will we find similar museums in Burma in 20 years time ? Will the UN have acted against the Human Right violations in Burma ?

We are off to Siem Riep and Ankor Wat in a couple of days. I am looking forward to seeing Ankor Wat and seeing how it rates compared to Hampi and Bagan.