Two extremes before Khmer ruins

Brazil / Burma / Cambodia: 7 June - 2 July 2014

Ian went to the world cup in Brazil and Astrid did a 10 day silent meditation course in Burma. The last three of weeks of June couldn't have any more different in terms of the experiences we both had. Ian was among thousands of fans, in a lively atmosphere, travelling to different cities enjoying the football. Astrid was sitting cross-legged on the floor for 10 hrs a day in a quiet and calm place focusing all on herself and not talking, reading, writing or listening to anything other than nature sounds (mainly rain as it rained a lot every day). Both had a good time in different ways and reunited again in Siem Reap. Siem Reap, Cambodia, was always meant as bit of a recharging and chilling spot. We had been to Cambodia (Phnom Phen) a couple of times previously, but had never managed to make it to Siem Reap – so it was time to finally see the ruins of Angkor.

We went on an Angkor Sunrise tour where we got to see a magnificent sunrise over Angkor Wat before entering the temple itself. The many intricate carvings of Apsara’s (celestial dancers), daily life and Khmer battles are absolutely stunning. After going up onto the third floor of the temple and enjoying the view across the site we cycled onwards to Angkor Thom. Cycling on the fortification wall along the moat was fun. In the middle of Angkor Thom is the Bayon temple with its numerous towers each with 4 faces on. It’s incredibly beautiful and we think this was our favourite Angkor temple. After Angkor Thom we still had Ta Prohm to go – this is the famous temple where Tomb Raider was shot and trees have taken over large parts of the temple structure. It all looks very cool!

The day after we did another cycle tour. This time we cycled 75km through Cambodian countryside to the Beng Mealea temple. Beng Mealea was used by Paul Pot during the Khmer rouge regime as a hide out and the surrounding area is littered with land mines. Land mines are still a huge problem all over Cambodia. The temple itself wins the ‘best ruin award’ as nature has totally taken over, leaving the temple to be a perfect ‘tree growing out of stone’ postcard picture opportunity. Unfortunately the light was rather difficult to take good shots, so ours are a little less picture postcard material. Beng Mealea was also featured in Tomb Raider.

A couple of days later we hired a car to drive us to the Thai/Cambodian border so we could visit Preah Vihear, the disputed temple on the border. It has the most magnificent setting of all the Khmer temples on a mountain top where one can see across the Thai plain on one side and the Cambodian plain on the other. Soldiers are guarding the temple. It rained heavily all morning during the journey, wet season tropical torrential rain, making the dirt roads quite slow and skiddy. We were lucky that there was no rain on both of our cycle trips. Thankfully the rain stopped as we arrived with the clouds and mist starting to lift just as we were approaching the temple. By the time we finished our tour the mist was flowing back in engulfing the ruins and providing a very atmospheric setting.

Angkor Wat:

Preah Vihear:

Beng Mealea:

Ta Prohm

Angkor Thom:

Angkor Wat:

Angkor Thom: