Great Temple Explorations

A curious string of events unfolded last night: We checked in at the lovely and oh-so-posh feeling Golden Butterfly Villa(think welcome drink and cold towels), settled in our room, unpacked(we'd be here for 3 nights), and decided to head down to the lobby for a nice cup of tea. I try to unlock the door, but the barrel isn't turning. Maybe it's just me, so I hand the key to Mario, who tries and tries, but with no more luck than I had. We call the front desk, and when I explain that we are locked IN our room, the concierge seems confused, then surprised, then seems to think it's our fault since we tried to lock our door in the first place. Regardless, he comes up to our room, ring of keys jingling as he attempts to unlock the room from outside...and fails. "Huh." he says, to which Mario and I both laugh, because what else can you do in such a bizarre situation. He leaves, only to appear on our balcony, having passed through a neighboring room and through the large palms that separate the spaces. He tries again, this time from inside the room. "Huh." he says, followed by what were likely some choice Cambodian curse words. He explains that he will call someone, and come back, but he will switch our room regardless. Mario and I hurriedly pack our stuff BACK into our packs, and no sooner do we finish, but our concierge friend is back, followed by a spry-looking little guy with a metal tool box. He extracts a large pair of pliers, grasps the lock, and forces - and lo and behold, the door opens, to everyone's relief. Mario interjects, "Huh. Just needed a bigger pair of pliers." With the door finally open, the concierge leads us to a new room, with a working lock, up on the fourth floor - twice as big, and with a huge balcony, and a great view of the surrounding city. Upgrade! He apologizes profusely, wishes us a very good rest of our stay, and with that, leaves us for the night. We finally get to settle in.

Of course, this morning, as we come down for breakfast, there is the smiling face of our concierge, who asks us, a little tongue-in-cheek, how our room was last night. We all get a little laugh out of the joint knowledge of the previous night's events, and so we sit down for delicious scrambled eggs and to plan out our days at Angkor Wat. We choose to go wander the temple complex for both days we are in Siem Reap, and rent out a pair of mountain bikes to do so. Angkor Wat is situated outside of town, 7 km to the north, so anyone going does so by tour bus, tuk-tuk, or bicycle. If you're real sadistic, you COULD walk there, but when the coldest days of the year register around 30 degrees C, you might want to rethink your strategy. A few hiccups with the bikes later(no flat tires, but the gear shift is off, to my chain slips when I put too much force on the bike, resulting in me pushing off to start, instead of peddling!), and we are headed to the ticket office, then to the roadway around the temples, and then to our first encounter with the temples of Angkor Wat.
We chose temples on the outside circuit today, wanting that element of discovery and enchantment, and perhaps a little less visited. Our first stop, Prasat Banteay Kdei, offered it it full - slightly climbing but still complete structures, plant life taking over but not destructively, and this temple, being further removed from Angkor Wat, is less crowded, so we often had entire chambers and corridors to ourselves to scrutinize the impressive carvings. It is amazing how something so exposed could still retain so much detail.

There are vendor stalls set up on the approach to most of the temples, women plying classic Angkor War souvenirs - t-shirts, elephant pants, tacky statuettes to name a few - but we are drawn to the ones selling fresh fruit. They deftly chop up the sweetest mangoes and toss the chunks into a bag, carve juicy pineapples so that no spots remain, and this is how we stay hydrated in the +30 degree C heat, chomping on one dollar fruits.

We cross the road to catch a glimpse of Sras Srang, an large ablution pool that usually offers amazing reflections of the surrounding vistas, especially at sunset, but today there is a slight breeze marring the water's surface, so we take a moment to devour our pineapple, climb on our bikes and move on.
Next up is mysterious Ta Prohm, lovingly known as the "Tomb Raider" temple, as I understand it played a role in the movie starring Angelina Jolie. Not having seen the movie, I am here to enjoy a temple that has been restored to the state is was found in: slightly overgrown large trees having taken root in its walls and towers, showing how nature always has the upper hand, no matter how strong a structure's foundation. Here, the goal is to stabilize the structure, not rebuild it. The trees are impressively huge and the walls crumble around them, giving way to Mother Nature. Ta Prohm, understandably, gathers a large crowd, most of whom want pictures with the imposing tree from the movie, and there is actually a line to get to it, but the temple is full of similar scenes, the best of which are the back of the complex, so nothing makes this tree more special than any of the others.
Outside Ta Prohm is a small market area offering more of the same souvenirs, but also food options in the form of one long line of Cambodian cafeterias. Seated under the wind of a thousand fans, we share a coconut full of fish amok, a traditional Cambodian yellow curry, and a large, cold Angkor beer, which is surprisingly light and refreshing in this heat. Finishing what seems like a mountain of fresh fruit, we relax for a while, taking refuge from the heat, but still looking forward to more exploration. Off we go again.
Our next stop is Prasat Ta Keo, which we find hidden down a dirt road through the forest, and this fact keep the bigger tours at bay, we are seemingly the ONLY people exploring this temple. Better still, this is one of the few you can actually climb, due to major restoration efforts by the Chinese. Mario nimbly scales the inner pyramid, while I am not far behind, and we are rewarded with views of the surrounding jungle, but sadly, the trees obstruct the neighboring temples. We spend more time up here than needed - the feeling of being completely alone in such a large place is exhilarating.

At this point, the sun is slowly setting, the air a little cooler, and we want to get to Angkor Wat before it gets dark, so we bike through the large, imposing gates of Prasat Bayon, but get stopped by the site of a group of monks climbing up to a hilltop temple. Brakes on, we detour to join them, not really knowing where we are going. Turns out, this is Phnom Bakheng, what is know as the "sunset temple" due to its high vantage point above the rest of the area, and its unobstructed view of the hazy orange sunset. What we discover is that this is not a new discovery, and the throng of people standing in line to access the top supports this. There is a limited number of people allowed up at any given time, and the hope of us getting up there to see that last glimmering rays of the sun is slim at best, so we cut our losses and meander back down the hill. Oh, and it seems those orange robes the monks are wearing are a fast pass up to the top of the temple, as they get to bypass the line. Cheaters.
It's getting late, and the flurry of vehicles exiting the park supports this, so we decide to call it a day and begin the long bike ride back into town before it gets too dark. We pass by Angkor Wat on our way, vowing to be back tomorrow, and cycle our way through the dusty streets of Siem Reap, all the way back to our hotel.

A quick shower to cool off and remove all that orange dirt, and we are back out on the street, walking to Phare, a Cambodian Circus inspired by Cirque du Soleil. The show follows a story line, with the acts all incorporated into this story, and the performers are all multi-talented and extremely good. Even better, these performers are part of an arts program started in Siem Reap to gets kids off the street and back into school. It offers course in visual and performance art, music and dance, and the circus, of course, and it currently has 1200 kids under its care. The program has produced 150 professional performers who are now able to make money to provide a good life for their families, and by reputable means, too. It's a great cause, and even better because the show is so fantastic. I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see some of these kids in a Cirque show at some point.