It’s 4:30am, the temperature is already 27 degrees centigrade and once again our sweet, taciturn driver Bol and remarkable guide Sarom, are waiting patiently for us in the hotel lobby.
We’ve never been that enthusiastic about guides, but for this week we are total converts, as Sarom in addition to being a hugely engaging storyteller has a photographer’s eye for light and composition (no wonder, as he regularly looks after National Geographic photo expeditions) and an uncanny ability to be several steps ahead of the inevitable tourist hordes.
This last feat was especially impressive at Angkor Wat, where not only were we completely on our own at the perfect vantage points, but were first in line to climb the steep staircase to the ‘citadel’ at the top level of the temple complex. A masterclass in choreography, given we had felt completely unrushed as Sarom related the Hindu legend of ‘The Churning of the Ocean of Milk’, about the beginning of time and the creation of the universe, which is carved in bas-reliefs in the temple’s eastern gallery.
Whether you visit at sunrise or sunset (and we did both), the sheer scale of Angkor Wat, which is the world’s largest religious structure, is undeniably impressive but to our surprise it has been the least interesting of the dawn and dusk patrols we have made these past few days. Close by, and also within the environs of the Angkor Archeological Park is arguably the greatest of the Khmer Empire’s rulers, King Jayavarman the Seventh’s extraordinary city of Angkor Thom, which you enter through its monumental Victory Gate across a causeway decorated with the statues of fifty four stone gods and demons.
Right at the heart of this late 12th century metropolis, which at its zenith housed up to 150,000 people and covers an area of nine square kilometres, lies the remarkable Temple of Bayon, an exercise in vanity on a colossal scale, as its 2000 plus massive stone heads of Buddha are modelled on the likeness of Jayavarman himself.
A short walk from the city and also built by the same monarch on a much more modest scale is Ta Prohm, which despite its global fame as the ‘Tomb Raider’ temple, having been hacked out of the jungle and left with its masonry strangulated by fig, banyan and kapok trees, is still extraordinarily atmospheric visited at first light, as the crowds gravitate en masse to Angkor Wat.
Further afield the multitudes thin remarkably and some 25 kilometres away, accessed through a bucolic tapestry of rice paddies, palm forests, lotus flower farms and herds of water buffalo lies the exquisite carved pink sandstone jewel of Banteay Srei, which means ‘citadel of beauty’ and was built nearly two centuries before Angkor Wat. Dedicated to the Hindu God Shiva, it is the only temple in the area not constructed as an exercise in narcissism by a Khmer monarch.
Forced by ferocious daytime heat and humidity into a pleasantly indolent routine we are punctuating our dawn and dusk forays with the restful rhythms of poolside naps and massage treatments at our laid back lodgings- a discreet walled haven between the Buddhist temple of Wat Polanka and the Siem Reap river. The hotel’s vintage Mercedes is an eccentric touch and amusingly caused some consternation amongst the other disembarking passengers when it picked us up from the quayside on Tonlé Sap lake which borders the city. Once was a charm, so now to avoid looking like some weird French colonial throwbacks we travel into town with Sam the tuk-tuk driver, who seems to have the uncanny knack of always being in the driveway when we need him.
Siem Reap may be Cambodia’s second city, but it’s only a fraction of the size of the capital Phnom Penh, and still retains the cosy feel of the series of small villages centred around the Buddhist pagodas (wats) that line its river, before it became a major tourist destination post Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. It’s a place in transformation though and there is definitely the sense of a ‘changing of the guard’ here as the French colonial influence, which is still visible in the streets around the Old Market and especially in the stately Grand Hotel d’Angkor which opened in 1932 to welcome the first tourists to the newly cleared Angkor Wat, gives way to the garish Chinese financed hotels and resorts on the road out to the airport.
Still, Siem Reap’s setting close to the shores of Tonlé Sap, the largest freshwater lake in South East Asia is magical and today’s city and its Angkor predecessors partly owe their existence to the lake’s bounty, which continues even today to be harvested by the local fishermen who live year round on the water, in picturesque floating villages.
No wonder that classic Cambodian dish of Amok Fish curry, made with carp, snakehead and catfish in a spicy coconut sauce is especially delicious here, but it’s the fortifying Khmer Noodle Soup which we are enjoying every morning which will stay with us. That and the roadside snacks of deep fried crickets and silk worm cocoons, which our daughter gamely sampled at Sarom’s enthusiastic urging.
Khmer Noodle Soup: Serves Four
I can take or leave breakfast most of the time, but this soup was irresistible, especially after being dragged out of bed at an ungodly hour by Marco!
The main difference between this soup and Vietnamese Pho, which I also love is in how the broth is made. Khmer Noodle broth is lighter and more fragrant, and is made with chicken or pork rather than beef. There's also no star cinnamon, a common spice used when making pho, in this dish.
For the stock
1½ pints pork stock made from pork bones
1/4 cup dried shrimps, soaked and set aside
1 small dried squid, soaked and set aside
1 small onion cut in half leaving the skin on then charred
4 whole cloves of garlic, smashed
2 whole star anise
1 tablespoon of fish sauce
1 tablespoon of sugar
Noodles and garnishes
1lb of dried vermicelli, soaked in warm water
8 sprigs of cilantro, roughly chopped
2 sprigs of Thai basil
Large handful of bean sprouts
4 green onions, thinly sliced
Fish sauce to taste
½ lb cooked pork shoulder thinly sliced
1/2 lb cooked shrimp
Bring the pork stock with all the rest of the ingredients to the boil then simmer for 45 mins to 1 hour, taste and adjust the seasoning.
Divide the soaked noodles into 4 bowls. Arrange the cilantro, basil leaves, green onions and bean sprouts in each bowl. Top each bowl with the thinly sliced pork, then pour the boiling hot stock over the meat filling up each bowl. Serve with a wedge of lime and sriracha sauce, black pepper and maybe hoisin sauce.
It’s our last morning here and leaving Sabrina and our daughter to catch up on their sleep I steal away in the darkness, meeting up with Sarom for one last time to climb Phnom Kraom hill as the full moon sets and the sun rises over the paddy fields, Tonlé Sap lake and the plain of Angkor. For the very first time on one of our dawn expeditions we are quite alone, except for a few young saffron robed monks at the 9th century temple, which today is part of a thriving modern monastic community.
We rendezvous for breakfast and a last shop at the atmospheric Old Market, which despite the hour is already hot, sweaty and crowded. One stall holder at least, is fully prepared for the oppressive humidity.
Excellent piece - one of your finest, judging by the yearning it gives me to visit that part of the world!
You’re most kind! When you go, think about taking a boat up the Mekong from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap- it’s an unforgettable journey