Mbah & Atok go to… Cambodia - Day 4
Day 4: Angkor Wat & Lara Croft
Tuesday 14 November 2023
This is a series of Mbah’s and Atok’s travelogs to Cambodia on 11-18 November 2023 originally published in Mbah’s Facebook (some original formatting have been modified to suit this blog page presentation). You can read the rest of her postings (and the originals in Facebook) here:
- Day 1 - Part I: Kuala Selangor - Phnom Penh (published in Facebook on 11 November 2023 at 18:08)
- Day 1 - Part II: Phnom Penh (published in Facebook on 11 November 2023 at 22:22)
- Day 2: Route to Siem Reap (published in Facebook on 12 November at 20:49)
- Day 3: Kampong Thom - Siem Reap (published in Facebook on 13 November 2023 at 21:50)
- Day 4: Angkor Wat & Lara Croft (published in Facebook on 14 November 2023 at 23:20)
- Day 5: Siem Reap round and about (published in Facebook on 15 November 2023 at 23:21)
- Day 6: The loop to Phnom Penh (published in Facebook on 16 November 2023 at 23:24)
- Day 7: Phnom Penh round n about (published in Facebook on 18 November at 00:08)
- Day 8: Phnom Penh (published in Facebook on 18 November 2023 at 19:02)
To start the day, in search of breakfast we went. The same location but a different stall. Clear beef noodle and chicken rice. These seem to be the staple among the Cambodian Muslim community. The one thing that we enjoyed here is the rice. its so nice - a bit starchy but not sticky and the taste is of sticky rice quality. If you are into sticky rice, you would love this. Asian and rice is inseparable, the only difference is in the quality of the rice, how it is cooked and the taste. All this will make us think of home.
Decide to buy some kueh - chakoi, donuts, fried bread and pau with meat filling. These were for the just in case cases if we could not find halal food eatery to where we were heading.
Off to Angkor Wat. 20 minutes ride. The scenery, at some part of the way was beautiful. Riding along beautiful lake. The road with many big, old trees lining the road. The road goes around the trees. The trees remain. What an effort to save the environment.
Angkor Wat. We bought the tickets online. USD 34 per person. This is for a one day visit to as many places that you can visit. It is not limited by number but by time. You could also buy a 3 (USD 62) or 7 (USD 72) days tickets.
An officer scanned the ticket and while doing so explained to us that it was better to go in with a guide. The officer is to contact the guide at the entrance as once we were in, no guide could be arranged.
This is rather different from the experience of visiting Borobudur. Tickets could be bought at the entrance and they have another counter to book the guide, This made it easier and put our mind more at peace.
The guide for Angkor Wat is USD20 (USD10 per person) in our case. Our guide is Rea. He took us around and told us bits and pieces of the history and story of the place. We are the inquisitive type but we felt that our guide is rather matter of factly and rushed. But, we still learnt a few things:
- state of mind: compassion, charity, equality, sympathy.
- naga (water), lion (land), garuda (air) depictions
- libraries - six for three different groups - royal, officials and normal people. Each has a separate library for male and female. Nowadays, the libraries remain but not of use. All the books have gone to the museum around the county.
- steep stairs. Really steep. The subjects (devotees) are to show respect to God by stooping while climbing the stairs to the top. Even when they are climbing, they should never turn their backs to the god.
- Echo chamber - one small chamber with two sides opened. This is where the guide is needed. If you are on your own, you are very likely to just passed by it just like some tourists that we saw. This echo chamber is mystical and magical. Try clapping your hand, no echo. But try leaning against one of the wall and pound your chest. It echoed. The sound reverberated. Scientifically, there should be some kind of biophysics explanation but Rea claimed that no scientists have managed to unearth the mystery. Anyone care to unearth the mystery?
We parted ways with our guide nearing to the entrance.
Lara Croft. Off we went to Tomb Raider (Prohm Temple). AK so wanted to go here for at the time when the movie came out in 2001, he was so in awe with Croft. Whatever it was, the lady in mind has always been yours truly. All those snippets, layankan jee lah. Anyway, the movie was shot 2 years after the 1997 coup d’etat. No guide for this as the real intention was to take photos. Took photos we did. The banyan trees. The ruins. The Croft’s depiction - trying to match the place to the movie. It was to be Ak’s moments but I stole the show.
All those taking photos excitements led to the wrong exit. We came in through the east entrance but came out West. Cursing. Oh yes. A loop we had to make. Luckily, there was an outer way with less people using it. Though it was quite a long way, the shades and the breeze helped to make the walk pleasant. Keep calm is very much needed when you faced this kind of situation.
Overall, the followings are the lessons learnt of the visit to these places:
- lack of signage to guide you to explore the place on your own. You do not even know where the exit are, let alone the WC. With better signpostings, the exploration could be done more efficiently and with more joy. There is no labelling and explanation shared anywhere in any of the temple. If the objective is to forced you to take a guide, then it is very effective. But lets just assumed that it creates jobs for the local.
- the guide. The story telling by the guide was not fluid. It was rather rushed and one question one answer conversation. The rather limited sharing might be due to lack of quality assurance. The experience in Borobudur where we had a very well trained and captivating story teller made this a not up to the expectation visit. As we could remember it, the guides back home and Borobudur need to go for training and certification before they could become tourist guides. Maybe the same could be done here. Buyer beware, your mileage may vary. Others might be luckier than us.
- stamina. Prepare yourself physically prior to making this kind of travel. The walk is for miles, the climb is bloody steep, the sun is blazingly hot and the crowd negotiation could be intense. All these need you to be fit and patience.
- things to take along. Wide brim hat, water (buy this from outside for 500ml cost UDS1 once you are inside) and something to boost your sugar level. Please wear a comfortable pair of shoes and clothing suitable for the tropic for you will be sweating a lot.
- pacing. Pace yourself. This is not a race. Stop when you feel you need to. Tell your guide. Do not just follow their pace for ultimately you are the one who is going to feel the consequences.
All these lessons learned were talked over while experiencing the calming effect of the cute, inviting pool. The physical body needs enrichment. Healty body, healthy mind.
Off to dinner at Cambodia Muslim Restaurant. Yet another interesting talk with the local. Another time, perhaps for the elaboration.
The mind and the body is calm now.
Night2 everyone.
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