We still have places left on our travel list, but are getting to the point where we are starting to return to some old favorites. Ever since we had been to Siem Reap in July, we knew we would find a way to return, the only question was when. The powers that be at the airlines were nice enough to intervene and we found a sweet deal on some tickets right after New Years. After bidding adieu to our recent travel companions, it was back to the airport for a morning flight to Cambodia. When landing, the pilot announced it was 19 degrees outside. We've been here 18 months, you would think we understand centigrade at this point, but other than knowing our air-con is set at 25 degrees each night, we were pretty clueless. Glancing down at our shorts and t-shirts we wondered if we were going to be freezing after getting off the plane. We were instead greeted with spring like temperatures, bright sunshine and something missing.... aha, no humidity! It was like a bonus Christmas present.
Customs and immigration was a breeze and as we walked back outside we were greeted by a familiar face, our friend and guide Vandy (Vandy_So@yahoo.com, he's the best). Previously, he had wanted to take us to some temples outside the Angkor Wat area as well as a waterfall, so that was part of the motivation for the return visit as well. Tomorrow would be another early morning, this time hoping for a real Angkor Wat sunrise, so the rest of the day was spent purchasing tickets, picking up a few souvenirs the suitcases couldn't hold on the previous visit and finishing up with the always delicious Khmer food and Angkor beer. To me, Khmer food is like Thai food with training wheels. Just as good, but not very spicy. So if you like flavor, but can't take the heat, put another checkmark on the list for reasons to visit Cambodia.
At 4 AM we were up and off, trying to beat the hordes to get that perfect photo. Whereas last time we had walked outside and felt a few drops on our head, this time we could look up and see stars. They kind of looked like foreign objects coming from the washed out, light polluted, grey sky we see on a nightly basis, so this was a welcome change of pace. We settled in, me giving about 10 people an obstructed view and enjoying my height being an advantage in Asia vs. my knees into the seat in front of me or hitting my head on the handholds on the subway. Success, the early wake-up call was worth it. Feeling good about ourselves, we had some Cambodian coffee and eggs and then set out for the drive to the mountain.
Phnom Kulen National Park was about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Siem Reap. What started out as a smooth ride through villages and rice paddys, turned into a bumpy, pot holed, dirt and gravel filled trip through mango and dragon fruit fields. This was before we even got to the park entrance at which point we started winding our way up the mountain on a narrow, one lane road. It turns out that you can drive up the mountain until around noon at which point they reverse the flow of traffic to let people go back down. They were in the process of filling the barrel sized holes in the road, but it looked like they had at least another week ahead of them, so we powered on through.
Once we reset our teeth from all the jarring, we were rewarded with three spectacular sites, the first of which was a reclining buddha temple in which the reclining buddha had been carved from the rock at the highest point of the mountain. After the buddha temple it was down to the river to see the 1000 lingas that had been carved into the stone bed of the river. In hinduism, the linga is where holy water comes from, so by carving them into the riverbed, the whole river, which flows through Siem Reap and provides water for irrigation is considered to be holy. Further down the path you can actually see the spring where the water gurgles up straight through the rocks in the mountain to start the stream. Reversing course, we went downstream to see the waterfall we had been promised. We gingerly climbed down steps that looked like Bart Simpson had made them for his tree-house and immediately could feel the cool spray of the water blowing towards us. Since it comes straight out of the mountain, the water is quite clean and we intended on going for a swim..... until we dipped our toes in and were reminded of what a lake in Minnesota feels like in early June. Cooling off with the spray in our face was just fine.
We wrapped up the afternoon with lunch at one of the many open air cafes in the area and then it was back down the mountain for the bumpy ride towards Siem Reap. It had been a long, but rewarding day, and the warmer pool at our hotel was calling. That and a power nap. The next day was spent shopping, snacking and catching a ride in a tuk-tuk. Hopefully not our last visit to Cambodia, but if it was, at least we made sure to find Batman!
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