The People of Siem Reap & Angkor Wat

February 1
We arrived at the tiny airport in Siem Reap, Cambodia pretty early in the morning and took our taxi to the place we were supposed to stay but they didn't have our room. So, with all the laziness we could muster we trooped next door and found a room at Reaksmey Chanreas ($15 U.S. for a double with nice bed, hot private shower, and towels! Luxurious!). With only 3 hours sleep we had to take a little nap in our room, which literally feels like a cave with the lights out. I love it! After eating at Taste of Khmer (nice boiled fish w/ginger) and speaking with a travel agent we found a nice tuk tuk driver, Mr. Dy (21 years old, spoke some English), to take us to Angkor Wat for the afternoon. The 3-day pass is $40 and we even got a pass with a lovely photo, or I might best describe it as scary. It's so hot here and the dust from the roads is crazy at times. Especially, driving around in the open tuk tuk with just the roof overhead. There were more then 100 temples built between the 9th and 15th centures in this area of Cambodia. Here is what we saw today:

1. Angkor Wat - a mausoleum and temple for King Suryavarman II, the most well-known by site besides the Bayon Temple. There is a causeway across a huge moat surrounding Angkor Wat. It was originally built as Hindu temple then converteed to Buddhist monastery. The images everyone probably has seen are the three central towers that look like lotus buds. Lots of carvings of apsaras, or celestial nymphs. It was pretty crowded here but so impressive to see something that has been around for so long. We certainly don't have anything like it in the U.S.
2. Phnom Bakheng - This is the first major temple built in the Angkor area and is a temple mountain with the foundation carved from the existing rock edifice unlike most temples. There was a walk up a hill before climbing some steep (and narrow) stairs to the top where it is supposed to be great for sunset. Well, it was absolutely packed with tourists and the sunset wasn't that great (maybe that's just my opinion coming from incredible ones in Ko Chang). Then my least favorite part were the hordes of people all trying to get down the narrow/steep stairs at one time. My claustrophobia was starting to kick in for this portion. Next we rushed to get to our next destination.
3. Bayon Temple - We paid to come to Angkor Night at the temple where they light up the temple, have dinner outside (and Angkor beer), and the best part was the traditional dancing. This temple has giant stone faces which are the most recognizable images connected with Khmer art and architecture. It has 37 towers, most of them with four carved faces oriented toward cardinal points. I tried some traditional Khmer foods like Amok (fish dish with coconut milk and traditional spices) as well as a few others. We arrived a bit late so we rushed back to the area where the dancing was to begin just in time. The dancing was just gorgeous with such subtlety and grace. Each one really told a story which shared some of the history and culture of Cambodia. We even got a ride back to our hotel with the staff from the event and one of the organizers told us a bit more about the history of his country.

February 2

We decided to hire Mr. Dy for a whole day of exploring a bit further from Siem Reap city. Of course we had to go to Kbal Spean, a river of 1000 lingas (phallic symbols). We arrived and took a bit of a hike to the river which was not as impressive in its size as the temple we had seen the day before. But, the carvings of Buddha and other images in the rock that date even later then the lingas were pretty beautiful. There were just a few ruins within the river so some of them were partially submerged and others on the rocks nearby. But, no temple like the others. We ate at a food stall there (Mr. Dy's connection) and bought a few gifts for back home from these little girls. I tell you that there are so many more children trying to sell you things here and also begging for money on the streets in Siem Reap. It really breaks your heart but at the same time you can't give to every single one.

Next, on to Banteay Srey temple (built as a HIndu temple) which is the finest examples of Khmer art with the walls covered with the most beautiful, deep, and intricate carvings of any Angkor temple. It loosely translates as "citadel of the women'' so we had to see this one! It is a smaller temple made of pink sandstone and the ornate design gives it a totally different almost mystical feeling. It wasn't too packed either which made it a better experience overall. The red color of this against the green backdrop of the jungle was breathtaking.

One more place to see since we had some time, Ta Prohm (tomb raider site) which is a sprawling complex only partially cleared of jungle overgrowth. It was originally constructed as a Buddhist monastery in the 12-13th centuries. The impressive thing about this temple was the massive trees all over, practically taking over the temple. On to buy some scarves from Dy's sister, turns out that the souvenir stalls will pay some of his gas if he gets people to visit.

Dinner at the Buddha Loung on pub street, lots of restaurants and lots of tourists. I had the full dish of Amok that I tasted at the buffet the night before. Mmmm, even better as a main dish! Back on the TV at the hotel (yes, I did say TV) we caught some Asian dancing show (reminded me a bit like Cirque de Soleil) and I woke Carrie up when the dancers with no arms came on. Pretty amazing to see.

February 3

We took an early (well 8am) walk around the city and saw some different things like men cutting huge blocks of ice for peole to buy slices, lots of little barber shops, kids in school, the "gas stations". Tried the old New Zealand standby for breakfast, muesli, milk, and fruit at the Red Piano. Breakfast is about $3 for something like that along with tea and juice. We were supposed to take the bus at noon to Phnom Penh but the travel agent was trying to change out ticket from Cambodia to go into Hanoi, northern Vietnam instead of Saigon in the south. Turns out she changed our ticket entirely so we were now leaving Feb. 5 in the evening from Siem Reap (giving us one less day in Vietnam). So, that made our decision for us so we would stay in Sieam Reap until we leave for Vietnam. Probably turned out better because we had less travel and more time in one area to get a better feel for that part of the country. So, more temples since we had the 3-day pass anyway.

1. Bayon - this was the same temple where we went at night to see the traditional dancing. It was impressive lit up at night but even more so when you climb to the top and look at all the huge faces on so many towers. This temple is part of the city of Angkor Thom, the last capital of the Angkor era. While here we saw some young monks in their bright orange robes and after taking a photo we had a brief conversation because they didn't know hardly any English and we of course only know two Khmer phrases! Carrie was trying to figure out if they are happy, maybe she is thinking about taking that path! :)
2. Victory Gate - causeway with an archway or gate that leads to the Royal Palace. Each gate has 4 giant faces and on the stone causeway there are 54 god images on the left and 54 demon images on the right depicting the Churning of the Ocean of Milk (not sure what that is yet either but I'll check it out).
3. Preah Khan - this means "Sacred Sword"and is dedicated to Jayavarman VII's father. This is an extremely jungle ravaged temple with many routes blocked by fallen stones, trees, and archaelogical excavation. There is an impressive battle of wood and stone as an encroaching tree grows through the ruins - the tree really does seem to be winning the battle. We met an interesting couple from England and Australia, Matt & Simon, who had a lot of information to share about Cambodia and had been to an eastern city where they have a project called Starfish. It helps people by supplying them with things like water purifiers through donations. I also asked him about the three different political party signs I keep seeing everywhere and turns out the Cambodian People's Party is currently in power but corrupt and the leader of another party has been exiled for his criticism of the current government. His name is Sem Raimsey if I can remember correctly.

After a nice dinner and dessert (mmm, bananas flambee - this couldn't be why I'm so mushy these days could it?) we met them for drinks but no late nights for us. Too much to do!

February 4

Of course we are a bit late as usual, Mr. Dy is waiting for us as we finish our breakfast. It's hard to escape from the cave! Oh, I tried this fruit Carrie was telling me about, dragonfruit, which has a pink outside but is white with black spots/seeds inside. Pretty yummy! First, we went to the Silk Farm where we saw the process from beginning to end. They have an education program for Cambodian people to teach them how to do the entire process. There is a shorter 3-month one and the longer 7-month where they do the final stages of weaving the silk.

1. Mulberry trees grown to feed the silk worms
2. Moths mate to produce eggs
3. Baby worms fed until big enough to collect for starting cocoons
4. Separation and spinning
5. Dying process
6. Creation of silk weavings

All the processes are done in the traditional ways, the equipment used is very basic compared to what I'm sure other countries do for silk production. The weavings can be intricate to more simple solid raw silk creations. Of course they had a shop where you could buy products darn it! More gifts to send home but the money supports the education program.

Next we drove to Tonle Sap Lake to take a boat around and see the floating villages. The poverty we saw along the river was sobering. But, despite the poverty and raw sewage in many places there were huts with TV's inside! The children here are just gorgeous and it rips your heart out to see how many of them live. A group of kids were shooting marbles, doubt we would see many kids in the U.S. playing with something so simple these days. The stench was a bit overwhelming too. The lake is one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world and it swells from 2500km to more than 12,000 int he wet season. The floating fishing villages surround the rim of the lake showing us lakeside rural Cambodia. It was amazing that even the schools are on floating barge like boats. Our guide also told us that about 600 Vietnamese also live in these villages. The entire life is built around the water with fishing and tourist boat trips sustaining the people here. In wet season they have to move the boats and the villages before the lake as well. Our guide was 29 and not married because he told us he has to pay $900 dollars to the father of a woman to marry her. He makes $1 a day as a guide on the tourist boats so he said it would take too long. His father was killed by the Pol Pot regime in the war when he was a young child and so he has lived here all his life.

Since we still had time we went to visit a local Cambodian man's Landmine Museum. Aki Ra was a child soldier for the Khmer Rouge, put to work setting landmines and then later for Vietnam through the Cambodian army fighting the Khmer Rouge. He has created a makeshift "museum"on his own property where he also fosters 11 boys who have lost limbs due to landmine explosions. There are still about 6 million landmines in Cambodia alone, many along the Thai border. It was very sobering to see this collection of old mines, some recently disarmed and collected as well as to meet the boys themselves. As well as a home Aki Ra provides education for the boys at school and by volunteers at the museum. They operate solely by donations and ALL the donations go to support the boys and continue to disarm mines (www.cambodialandminemuseum.org or www.landmine-relief-fund.com).

After a dinner at an Irish bar, Molly Malones, we decided to get a 1-hour foot reflexology massage. Pretty incredible experience, I actually fell asleep for a bit and think I woke up when my leg jerked. Hopefully, I didn't actually kick my massage person! Yikes! Tomorrow we have some time, plan to visit the Sunrise orphanage and then head to the airport. Take care and more in Vietnam!