August 21, 2007

Siem Reap (CAMBODIA)

Jungle Temple of Beng Melea

I rose with the sun this morning having had a full night's sleep (always a bonus). Over breakfast I decided to visit Beng Melea temple, which is three hours outside Siem Reap by motorbike. Beng Melea promised to be "the ultimate Indiana Jones experience" (Lonely Planet), and since I did not want to miss out on all the great photos the temple offered I decided to bite the bullet and buy a new digital camera.

I shopped around a few camera shops scattered throughout Siem Reap (most were no more than photo printing shops that also had a few cameras for sale), and in the end I opted for the same model Nikon as my broken S6. This allowed me to use the same battery (as it was fully charged) and I already knew all the features on the camera. It was not an ideal fix as I hate wasting the money, but there is little point in saving the money and missing out on all the great photos.

So, with a new camera I set off on the back of a motorbike for a day of hard riding. Before I got too far outside the city limits (which basically translates to five minutes of riding) we stopped for petrol at one of the many upscale gas stations. Little do most people realize Cambodia is light years ahead of the world in gas distribution techniques. How so, you might wonder? The answer is remarkably simple: re-cycled Jack Daniels bottles (or plastic one-liter bottles for the stingy).

The vast majority of the ride was painfully jarring as the only paved roads in the country run from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap and on to Thailand. Making matters worse, it is currently the height of rainy season in Cambodia and this destroys the dirt roads - it looked like B-52 bombers ran bombing raids everywhere. Nevertheless, it was bright and sunny out and the wind was tearing by me as I kept one arm wrapped around my driver and used the other to waive at every smiling local we passed.

We reached Beng Melea just before noon, and the first thing I came across was a sign warning not to veer off the beaten path because of land mines. This wasn't the first time I have come across such things, but this was one of many danger signs I would come across during the day. I was warned heavily in advance of the dangers associated with this more remote region of Cambodia.

I passed the outer wall of the complex after a short walk from the road, but it was another ten minutes before the ruins of the temple showed through the dense jungle. Everything was crumbling as I approached, and I felt a growing sense of excitement at what was hidden inside.

There was a French movie that was shot here several years ago, and the film crew left a wooden walkway weaving its way through parts of the compound. I followed this to the back of the complex to get a feel for the layout, and after a short chat with a group of Chinese tourists (all Shanghai business men who were on an "adventure vacation") I began working my way back through the complex. I quickly veered away from the plank as even the 10 or so tourists on site were too many in my mind.

Veering off the "beaten path" was far easier than I anticipated, and before I knew it I was lost in the temple with very little idea of where I was going. It was impossible to see far in any direction because of the dense jungle growth, and the temples have been around so long they now blend in with the surroundings. I was scared witless at one point when a group of Cambodian boys popped out of nowhere and started staring at me. From the look on their faces they were as surprised by my presence as I was by theirs. I tossed them each a few Mentos fruit candy as we sat down and smiled at each other. Soon, one of the boys began scurrying up a tree in a funny attempt to impress me. I don't know how he was so nimble, but he was like a cat climbing a barren tree 15ft high and hanging on from the top.

The next three hours were spent climbing through every corridor and library in the complex. I didn't see a single other person the entire time. I could not believe the wonders hidden under the jungle canopy and beyond the rubble of fallen temples. It was definitely the epitomizing Indiana Jones experience as I ducked under archways and scaled walls to reach section after section of forsaken wonders. The pictures below should give an idea of what it was like crawling through this jungle paradise. For anyone who knows me, I am terrified of snakes so it was slow going the entire time and I was really overcoming a lot of life-long fears.

And here are a few more photos to further show what it was like inside these dark and mysterious corridors. Now imagine being alone in such places with no flashlight and no one around to call for help...

For all the other pictures I suggest checking out the photo gallery as there were some truly remarkable things to be seen. As ever, most of the thrill comes from discovering everything on your own with no one around to direct you or assure it is safe. Most of the time I was walking on rocks that wobbled and with most of them weighing several hundred pounds it was a lot more serious than one might imagine. The video below might give an idea of what the temple was like exploring:

As I was leaving the complex I sat down with a Khmer man and began chatting. He was twisting some kind of a root in his hand, and when I asked him what it was he struggled to explain that it was used for bites. Upon further questioning - and much gesturing on both our parts - he explained the root can be boiled in water and then drank to help fight malaria. I have heard of this root before, but I never imagined I would actually come across it. It is good to know such things exist out here because Cambodia is notorious for malaria and I have not had any vaccinations.

I met back up with my motorbike driver and we set off on a different return route to Angkor Wat. We were hoping to fit a couple more temples in for the day, but this meant we had to take back roads that were even worse than what we were on before. We traveled at roughly 10-15mph the entire way, and we bounced from divot to divot for two hours. Fortunately, the weather was still great (the monsoon rains usually hold off until the afternoon), but I nearly fell of the bike at one point when I dozed off. The driver gave me a serious look that seemed to say that was damn close and for the rest of the way I made sure not to do something so foolish again.

The next temple complex had some of the best carvings I have seen thus far, and all the limestone was brilliantly preserved. Below are some of the images adorning the walls of this century old complex. I feel bad because pictures cannot do justice to the intricacies involved, but I hope they do give some kind of an idea - especially considering they were carved in the 11th Century.

I stopped at one final temple for the day as I was utterly exhausted from all the climbing, exploring, and motorbike riding. I am too tired to write about more temples so the pictures below will have to be enough.

The day was still far from over as my new Nikon camera was malfunctioning and I went back for a refund. I did not get hassled too much as the faulty lens cover was not my fault, and I got all my money back on the purchase. I took this as a sign and I went around town searching out the cheapest camera on the market. I ended up with an old-school Samsung camera that was only one hundred bucks. It is a welcome relief to have this issue sorted out, and I have been kicking myself for being so negligent in breaking the first one.

When I arrived back at the hostel for the evening I had a local Khmer dish waiting for me. I had asked Eric yesterday to find all the ingredients necessary to eat real Khmer food, and despite his words of caution of the bad smells I was game for whatever came my way. Fortunately, the food was far better than it smelled (which was terrifyingly rancid), and the dish consisted of fish mashed in a dark brown sauce, a variety of diced vegetables and chilies (primarily cucumber), and all this was eaten with white rice. While I was eating I began chatting with a group of four English people sitting at the table adjacent to me , and one of the girls quickly caught my eye. As the group of four were preparing to head off to Bar Street to meet friends for dinner, I arranged to meet them later in the evening.

So, when I finished eating and took a shower (it had been a long, hard day) I caught a motorbike down to party central and met up with them. They were eating at one of the more posh restaurants in town - something I never do - so I stuck to beer and chatting. I was moderately disappointed that the girl I found so attractive, Jo (short for Joanna), was at the other end of the table, but things got better when we all headed out for drinks afterward.

We spent most of the night and early morning at Angkor Bar, which is one of the more famous bars on the strip as it offers everything from lady-boys to pool to loud music to cheap drinks. It was a fun night made even better by our group of eight people and the great time I had talking with Jo. Needless to say, we hit it right off and arranged to meet again early the next day.