I'm in Cambodia?
Loading Map
Siem Reap,
Cambodia
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Hello from Cambodia! It's weird to stop and think that I'm in a place so far from home that definitely sounds more exotic than China and was unsafe for visitors 15 years ago. We decided to come here after hearing more about Angkor Wat, and planned way last-minute, in light of the unrest in Thailand, to spend more time here. And I'm so glad that we did. We are in Siem Reap, Cambodia's second largest city behind the capital Pnom Penh, with a population reportedly of 800,000. However, the city is not densely populated at all, and everything appears to be designed only to cater to the tourists who flock here to visit the temple ruins of Angkor Wat.
Once we arrived, in every way, I was comparing things here not to the US (too different) but to China. In China, there are way more people-- even in the rural areas. And in China, you cannot expect to get by without speaking some Chinese, but nearly everyone in the service industry speaks English here. In fact, we have all been floored by how extraordinary everyone's English is, and it's certainly been a huge relief as none of us speak Khmer. The city (more like a resort town with hotels, markets and restaurants) has been fun to explore with lots of good, cheap food and very hospitable people.
Anywhere you cannot get by foot, you take a tuk tuk or rickshaw carriage hitched to a moto scooter. Our first night in Siem Reap, we wandered around a bit to get oriented and then hired a tuk tuk to get to Angkor Wat. This whole trip, we've been swearing by Lonely Planet and followed their advice to arriveat the admission gate after 5 p.m. so that your 3-day pass begins the next day.We got there in time to climb up a hill in order to reach a ruin where the sunset-viewing is the best. First off, it was cloudy so the sky's performance was a bit of a disappointment, but it was also surreal to observe the crowd. There could have easily been 250 people, from all over the globe, milling around on the top of this temple with an air of anticipation. I imagined this would be what waiting for the Second Coming would feel like.
The next morning, we decided to go to some of the temples that are farther away in hopes that they would be less crowded. We visited three total, and what was incredible was how different each one was to the next. Some were built up so that you had to climb up steep steps because the temple had been designed to mimic a mountain. Or some temples felt more buried, like they had sunk into the earth a bit. The jungle-like surroundings definitely made everything more exciting, and it was nice to separate and explore independently while silently competing for who could take the best picture of the same tower or entrance way.
Even though I was lost in how amazingly awesome all the temple ruins are, it is difficult to forget where you are. Whenever you leave a temple site, children under the age of 10, rush up to you to peddle their goods. You feel bad ignoring them, but eventually you learn that you must. At the recognition of the slightest bit of attention, they will stick to your side until you get into the car or acquiesce and buy. They all use the same lines, too: "I remember you. Lady, you buy from me, ok." Not a question, but an imperative. Also, land mine victims sit near the sites, too, and it is just as heartbreaking to walk past them without being compelled to open your wallet. I'm not sure if Lonely Planet coined this phrase or not, but I definitely identified myself as having beggar fatigue. Though they were selling things and not merely begging, their begging you to buy is just as exhausting.
In the afternoon of Day 1, we went to the Floating Village about 20 minutes outside of town. As you can guess from its name, it's a village of houseboats and small, one-room homes built on stilts in the water. Many of the boats are brightly painted, which makes it very picturesque and taking a boat ride around the lake was very relaxing after walking around temple ruins all morning. I even got to drive the boat for a bit! At one point, we stopped at a store in a boat that was selling school supplies we could donate to a Vietnamese school one boat over. Adam and Jason paid for some notebooks (WWF design, oh dear) and pens, and then we went to the school itself.
I told myself to check my cynicism at the door, but it was difficult to trust that the goods the boys bought wouldn't be immediately returned to the store. From the store we could see kids having recess and climbing the walls, but the moment we appeared, they were all seated at desks; boys one side, girls on the other. We tried to dissipate the awkwardness by talking to the students, but they were either shy or, more likely, did not speak English. Who knows if it is a school or not, but maybe it's ok just to believe that the children have a safe place to go during the day whether they are being educated (with the help of our school supplies) or not.
Day 2 began at 4:30 a.m. because we wanted to experience the sunrise at Angkor Wat. We had hired a guide for the day, so that we could do more than just appreciate the beauty of our surroundings. We wanted to understand it and know what we were looking at, too. Our driver and our guide, Mr. Lucky (whose Cambodian surname is Mr. Cheat, so I can see why he has a nickname) met us at 5 a.m. and we began our pilgrimage to Angkor Wat. Now, this is all rather difficult to explain because all the names get confusing, but most of the temple ruins around Siem Reap are referred to generally as Angkor Wat. But there is one large temple complex that actually holds this name specifically, and it is the iconic one that appears on the Cambodian flag. That is where we waited and watched for the sunrise. It had rained all night long, so again the clouds prevented us from having an ideal experience, but I still thought it was spectacular. Also, we were making fun of the Koreans because of the way they pose for all their pictures, but it's thanks to them that we also discovered a magnificent rainbow.
Ok, my time at the internet cafe is running out and we're flying to Ho Chi Minh city this afternoon, so I'll have to finish my Cambodia update then. I hope you come back to read more!
