It is SO HOT here (and the temples are amazing)

  Siem Reap, Cambodia
Friday, March 2, 2007

Cambodia was our shortest stop in Asia. It is about 20 years behind Thailand, 10 years behind Vietnam and, from what we have heard, a few years ahead of Laos. There are two cities that are visited in the country: Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. Siem Reap was our first stop. It is a town completely built on tourism because of its proximity to the Angkor temples (Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom in particular). The businesses in towns were primarily hotels, restaurants and shops selling tourist items.

In many countries we are quoted things in dollars which irritated us. We are in your country and know your currency. Plus, we will be paying you in that currency. Quote us in that! In Cambodia things are a bit different. For reasons that aren't that clear (probably years of unstable currency), the businesses have left the riel behind all together and price everything in dollars. The only time they mention the Riel is when they are charging less than a dollar for something (which is usually never, making it a much more expensive country). Even ATM's dispense dollars. To get Riels you have to go to the money changers in the market. It is strange but seems to work for them. With the dollar taking such a beating from the Euro, it is nice to know someone has faith in us.

The routine in Angkor is very simple. Get a tuk tuk driver (ours worked with the hotel so that was easy), buy a one, three or seven day pass then go to to the temples. Our driver was very sweet, spoke a little English and had been doing the job long enough to know where we should go. We didn't feel like getting up to early so we decided to meet him at 9am. By 10 am we were at the first of the temples. There are some pluses and minuses of starting the trip in this time of day. The plus is, all the sites are empty. The minus is, it is unbelievably, horrifically and excruciatingly hot. The intensity of the sun was like a ton of bricks. We drank about a liter of water an hour and still never peed. Everything was sweat out of us. It became clear why the sites were so empty - no one in their right mind would stay out in sun like this. They came in the early morning and again in the evening. It reminded us of a phrase we learned from a Brit in Thailand: "Only mad dogs and Englishmen stay out in the mid-day sun". He said it is something he heard in India when locals marveled at whites and their desire to lay on the beach and turn their skin red. We were a bit foolish but loved to photograph the places empty. Plus, it was nice to sleep in a bit. Julius wore a hat and I carried an umbrella which helped. A little.

The temples were really lovely. Westerners can sometimes dismiss the grand histories of now struggling countries so we were shocked to see the amazing architecture and learn that was built from 900 AD until 1200 AD. It had to be one of the most fabulous cities in the world at that time. The Angkor dynasty was able to take over many other lands in South East Asia and were one of the most powerful empires in the world. Unfortunately the buildings that make them famous today became the eventual undoing.

Temples of Angkor

Like many leaders today (no one learns from history) the rulers started to spend more money on fabulous buildings and less on security and keeping their conquered lands in check. Eventually they fell to neighboring kingdoms and the buildings were enveloped again by the jungle. In the 1800's the site was "discovered" (amazing how sites can be discovered when locals already know about them) by the French. Jungles were hacked away and renovations done. With the turbulent and tragic recent history of Cambodia the infrastructure of the country collapsed, foreigners fled and work ceased. Many statues were destroyed during that time but many were preserved as well. The temples managed to survive those years and now the entire Cambodian tourism industry depends on them. Over a million tourists visit them every year. Not a bad legacy for the Angkor dynasty to leave behind. Perhaps the Kings were thinking ahead after all.

On one of our days we hired a guide to give us some more in depth history of the sites and the Angkor dynasty. The history was interesting but very complex. The kings converted from Hindu to Buddhist to Hindu and finally settled on Buddhism. This made the decorations inside and on the walls of the temples quite a mish-mash of Gods, Goddesses and Buddhas. We admit that we know nothing about Hinduism which is one of the more complex religions out there, especially the alterations made by the Angkor people after they adopted the religion from Indian traders. These traders depended on the winds to direct their ships, so they spent a few months each year here waiting for the monsoons to come and whip them back to India. 

Wedding Photos at Angkor Temple

It is interesting to see how religion managed to spread even back then. Our guide had quite a task on his hands but did a good job overall. It was pretty obvious that he was new and had learned most of his stuff from reading. Since it was just the two of us we corrected his pronunciation when we could. Unlike some languages, English pronunciation has to be learned by listening. Otherwise you will be pronouncing the 's' in island like our guide. Why do we have an 's' there if we don't pronounce it? Who knows. But you can't blame the guy for wanting to do it.

Besides visiting the temples during the day, most tourists spent the night drinking. This seemed to be a bad idea. Spending the day in 100 degree tropical heat with a hangover can't be good for you. We did decide to tuk tuk to town one night to visit a bar with a free beer hour. It isn't something they advertise - you have to catch it in the city guide - but if you come on a Friday night and ask them what time the free beer starts they will tell you. We did have a drink before so we didn't look too cheap, but once the hour started we managed to drink three. The regular price was three dollars which was highway robbery by Asian standards. After 75 cent Phad Thai in Thailand and 12 cent beers in Vietnam we couldn't bring ourselves to pay near American prices for food and drinks. Soda was a dollar a can! A Dollar! It just didn't seem right. You can't blame the Cambodians - they know that Westerners can afford to pay more. And when you are ready to pass out from the heat they know that the soda will hit the spot.

Along with the overpriced food and drink we had the ubiquitous children selling packs of postcards. As you exited and entered the sites you had packs of kids from 4-12 years old clamoring around you "Buy some postcaaaad, only a daaaalaaaa. Buy some postcaaaad, only a daaaalaaaaa" Some were a bit cheeky, insisting that they would cry if you didn't. No parent or former babysitter is going to sympathize with a child who announces their intention to cry ahead of time but apparently no one let the child know that. When asked they always stated that they attended school in the morning and sold postcards in the afternoon. We were doubtful. We did buy some postcards because we needed some but after a while it became too much. We know why the parents sent the kids out - they were more sympathetic and could probably make more sales. You feel bad for the kids, though, because they get rejected dozens, if not hundreds of times on a daily basis. It has to be tough on their little psyches. This, of course, brought up another global topic for us to ponder - child labor.

In the suburbs and cities of America children get money spent on them but rarely work to contribute to the family's income. Children have to go to school but the idea of forcing them to work (except to make their own spending money) is now seen as inhumane. Even the idea of making older siblings babysit for younger siblings is getting disapproval from some family therapists. However, my friends who lived on farms (most of them I met when I attended Concordia in Minnesota) had to work on the farm. It was a family farm and you were family so you chipped in from a young age. Of course when Julius was a child in Tanzania you were expected to chip in and help around the house, take care of animals and watch younger kids. The idea of an allowance is ridiculous to him. But who is right? What is better for the child? The families who send their kids out to sell postcards every day are certainly doing so because they are very poor and need the money. Does this make it ok? Is it ok if the kids really are attending school and selling afterward? What if selling much more damaging than other tasks like caring for animals? We don't know the answer to these questions but when you come to a country like this one they certainly have to be asked. Childhood doesn't warrant any special privileges in many of these families.

After the standard three days it was off to Phnom Penh to learn about Cambodia's more recent history. History so recent, in fact, that it is still making headlines today.

Want to see photos of temples? Lots and lots of temples? Then visit our Siem Reap Smugmug page! Comments are welcome.