Angkor Wat is the main reason most
travelers come to Cambodia. I finally got the chance to go last weekend. When I
decided to move to Cambodia, I told many friends to visit but only one took me
seriously and actually booked a ticket. Sheena decided to plan a trip to
Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam because of my relocation. I love that she
just went with it! Luckily, I had a 3 day weekend thanks to a Buddhist holiday called
Meak Buchea Day. This holiday also coincided with Valentine’s Day and I saw
hearts, flowers and teddy bears everywhere but no displays for the Buddhist
holiday. In case you’re wondering about
the holiday, I’m not quite sure what it is but it has something to do with
monks listening to Buddha’s preaching.
Sheena arrived in Siem Reap from
Thailand and I met her there on Thursday night. I took a half day from work and
got on a 12:30 bus with a pretty reliable company called Giant Ibis. They are pricier
than the rest but provide modern buses, water, a snack and wifi. Most bus
companies advertise the trip as 5 hours long but realistically it is about
seven hours. Travelers in Asia learn to add extra time for all their bus
trips pretty early on. There is even a formula, add half of the advertised time
to the total advertised time. I spent my seven hours chatting with a lovely
Australian couple, probably in their fifties, about their visit to Thailand,
Cambodia, and Vietnam. They had so many wonderful things to say about Cambodia
and were sad to be heading back home to Turkey in a few days. It was refreshing
to see an older couple enjoying the joys of travel instead of the usual young
backpacker.
Sheena and I stayed at a local guest
house called Victory Guest House. It is owned and operated by a Khmer family
who are extremely accommodating. They provide free pickup, free breakfast and
free water. It was about a 15 min walk to the night market and pub street but
we enjoyed the neighborhood and the daily walks.
Thursday
On our first night we decided to
check out Haven for dinner. Haven is a local restaurant that operates as a social
business. It has a training program for disadvantaged youths where young adults
learn life skills, work training, computer courses, and English lessons. The
restaurant also provides each trainee with housing, meals, medical care and an
allowance. It isn’t for the budget traveler looking for a $2 meal but you can
eat quite well for $4-$6. I had the cashew chicken curry and Sheena had the
fish amok. We were both very happy with our choices and thoroughly enjoyed the
beautiful ambiance. Their garden is so serene and was the perfect place to share stories and catch up on each other’s lives
. They close pretty early so we continued the storytelling
over some drinks at a nearby restaurant.
I couldn’t get a read on the
character of the city during our walks because everything revolved around
tourism. You really have to dig and go off the beaten path to get a sense of
the real Siem Reap. I found myself missing Phnom Penh.
Friday
We started our day pretty early
in hopes of catching the sunrise at Angkor Wat. Surprisingly, it was really
easy to find a tuk tuk at 5am. And we
weren’t the only ones with the idea. The ticket booth was packed with visitors.
They offer 1 day, 2 day, and 7 day passes. The pass allows admittance to over
50 temples! We opted for a 1 day pass for $20. The ticket agents make you take
a photo and then you get a personal ticket with your very own photo. It was too
early for me to put two and two together and as a result I look pretty unenthused
in my photo.
Once we got our tickets, we
headed back into our tuk tuk and headed to the Angkor Wat. The tuk tuks drop
you off at the entrance and then everyone walks in the dark towards the temple.
There were hawkers selling everything from guide books to flash lights.
Luckily, there were enough people in the crowd that we just followed them in
without worrying too much about where we were going. Once inside at 5:45, we
staked out a prime spot to watch the sunrise. There was so much suspense and excitement
within the crowd but the whole thing was pretty anticlimactic because of cloud
cover.
When we realized the sunrise was
not going to be anything spectacular, we decided to start exploring the
grounds. We entered Angkor Wat from the left portico and were blown away right
at the beginning by the details. Ramayana stories were etched in the walls and their
intricacy was amazing. There are also over 3000 apsaras carved into the walls
and each one is unique. The UNESCO world heritage site is viewed as a national treasure
and it was easy to see why. It was built in the 12th century and
covers over 200 hectares. It was a hindu temple at first and then became a
Buddhist temple.
We took our time and explored each and every room open to us.
The upper level was closed during our visit. Close to the end of the visit, I got
a little present from up above. I felt a small thud on m head and knew what it
was instantly. I think I was seven years old the last time a bird pooped on me.
Thankfully, Sheena had no problem helping me clean it off my hair. After easily
spending, three hours at the temple, we headed back to find our tuk tuk driver
to visit the next temple.
Our next stop was the south gate
of Angkhor Thom. Dehydrated and hungry, we were too busy eating and drinking in
the tuk tuk to notice the beautiful statues. Luckily, our tuk tuk driver called
our attention to the gate and told us to take pictures. Only then did we
realize where we were and the amazing structures around us. There were 54 gods
on the left and 54 demons on the right.
We got back on the tuk tuk and
headed towards Bayon, known as the temple of faces. Angkor Wat was interesting
because of its size and architecture but Bayon was much more engaging because of
all the different faces. We spent about an hour exploring here and the nearby
structures. And then things got a little tricky.
Our tuk tuk driver pointed at a spot on our map and told us to meet him there
once we were done. When we went to the spot, we couldn’t find
him. We ended up walking back and forth from the temples to the exit three times
in the scorching sun trying to find him. We finally gave up after 45 minutes
and spent another 10 minutes bargaining with a new tuk tuk driver. We felt really
guilty about leaving our first guy but didn’t know what else to do.
We carried our guilt to our next
and final temple, Ta Phrom. It was such a special temple. It has not been
restored like some of the larger temples and as a result it has a really
mystical feel to it. Trees grow amongst the ruins and the roots have taken over
the structure. The environment felt other world like and reminded me of Pan’s
Labyrinth. Ta Phrom is also famous because scenes in Tomb Raider were filmed here.
After six hours of temple explorations, we headed back to the hotel. We were exhausted, starving and
dehydrated. We decided to go out for a quick lunch before we could get too
comfortable at the hotel. We chose Hive Café for lunch, a small café ran by
two Australians. I had a vegetable curry pasty with fries and Sheena had the
Beef Lok Lak. Both were fresh and delicious. We headed back to the hotel pretty
quickly because we were filthy. I was so excited to shower and I don’t think a shower
has ever felt so good. We both passed out fairly quickly after our respective
showers.
Closer to sunset, we headed out to explore the Old market, Pub Street, Night market and the Art
market across the river. During our walk, we kept seeing signs for massages and
finally decided to get a foot massage. I opted for a 30 min foot massage and a
30 minute body massage. When it was time for my body massage, I was taken
inside and I assumed it would be with oil like the foot massage. I proceeded to
take of my shirt and my masseuse started laughing and told me put my shirt back
on. That was pretty embarrassing but hilarious at the same time. Like Thai massages, Cambodia massages are with your clothes on and at certain points, they even sit on top of you! The massages
were amazing and ridiculously cheap. We only spent $5 for an hour long massage.
For dinner, we opted for a casual road side spot. We went to Mama’s fried rice on the corner of Sok San Street and, you guessed it, it had many different varieties
of fried rice. Our meal was simple and each dish was only $2.50. We felt like treating
ourselves afterwards and grabbed some ice cream for the walk back to the guest
house.
Saturday
We got a late start on Saturday,
well late compared to the morning before. It was nice to wake up around 9 am and enjoy
breakfast in the guest house’s courtyard. We really didn’t have a plan for the
day except to take it easy.
Sheena’s laptop had stopped working
in Thailand and we spotted a certified Apple store during our walks and were
hopeful they could fix the problem. Sure enough they did and it only took them
all of ten minutes. The best part was they didn’t charge a thing. I was amazed
at the amazing customer service and Sheena was happy to have a working laptop
again.
The trend of free things kept continuing.
We wanted to get our bus tickets back to Phnom Penh from Giant Ibis. When we
got to their offices, they would only take money for one ticket and we never understood
why. We left with two tickets and were confused about why they would only let
us pay for one ticket.
We decided to spend our afternoon
at the New Leaf Book Café. It’s a book shop, café, restaurant and a rooftop
bar. And they donate 100% of their
profits to local causes. The space is very inviting and perfect for enjoying a
quiet read. A colleague had given me a book called, “First they killed me
father” by Loung Ung for the long bus ride and I decided to crack it open at
New Leaf. Three hours never went by so quickly! My book was engaging and my
food was delicious. Sheena and I ordered fried morning glory with rice for
lunch and really enjoyed the fresh flavors of our meal. I loved everything
about the experience. We only left because a large training group came in for a
late lunch and it became too loud for us to read.
Before heading back to the hotel,
we decided to visit one of the oldest temples in Siem Reap called Wat Bo. There
was a lot construction around the temple, mostly new homes for the monks. This
was a nice visit because it was so quiet and there were barely any tourists. It
felt like we were discovering it on our own. A local student opened up the temple
for us and we got to see some well preserved paintings from the 19
th
century. Most depicted the story or Rama and Sita. The Buddha statue was also
very beautiful. It was also really nice to chat with the teenager and hear
about his life. He was very excited to practice
his English with us and hoped to visit America one day.
We headed back to the hotel to
seek refuge from the heat and for an afternoon siesta. I really wanted to
finish my book and decided to curl up in a papasan in the courtyard of our
guesthouse. The book is an autobiography
and Luong, the author and narrator, is a survivor of the Khmer Rouge. She tells
us about her family’s move from Phnom Penh to the Cambodian country side with
the hopes of escaping death. The story is told from the perspective of a 5 year
old and it was so interesting to hear a child’s take on the barbaric period.
While reading the book, our first
tuk tuk driver from Friday stopped by to collect his fare. He apparently waited
for a few hours for us and finally left around 4pm. I apologized profusely told
him we searched for him for over 45 minutes. After apologizing profusely, he
took the money and left. I am so glad he came back because I felt really guilty
about not paying him.
We had some to kill before our
7pm Beatocello performance. I decided to pass the time by taking a nap while Sheena
enjoyed a few episodes of her favorite shows. After a few busy weeks at work, this
relaxed pace was such a treat. The concert is free and held every Saturday
night at Kantha Bopha hospital. Dr. Richter plays a cello while sharing stories
about his work and its significance for Cambodian children. Even though, his
work and hospital are extremely important, we left after 45 minutes because the
speeches became a little too preachy for us.
We opted to walk back to the town
center because the weather was so nice. In the day, you barely walk for five minutes
without sweating so a breezy evening walk is such a treat. Tired of Cambodia
food, we decided to head to Curry Walla for some Indian. Once seated, the
manager came up to Sheena to ask where she was from and gave us some extra
attention because she was Indian. I thought it was pretty funny that he did not
think I was South Asian. The food was pretty disappointing and we couldn’t understand
why it had such great reviews. We called it a night pretty early because we had
an early bus back to Phnom Penh the next morning.
Sunday
I forgot to mention this earlier but another perk of going with Giant Ibis is that they pick you up for free from
your hotel. This was great because we didn't have to worry about finding the bus terminal. We enjoyed a light breakfast and were picked up by a Giant Ibis shuttle. I was not looking forward to the seven hour journey
but was happy to go home.
During the ride, staring at the
countryside had a whole new meaning to me. I am so glad Jessica lent me the
book because it was really fitting for the trip. I could imagine thousands
of families marching on the dusty roads to the labor camps and villages
patrolled by the Khmer Rouge. Another humbling reminder that my life is fairly
easy compared to what others have endured. Oh and the bus concierge got a call a few hours into the trip telling him to collect the ticket fare from us so we ended up paying for the second ticket after all.
We arrived back home around 4pm
and it was so nice to be back. It was great to experience Siem Reap but I
prefer the hustle and bustle of the capital. I never thought I would miss Phnom
Penh so much.
Jenny and I started the weekend
with a trip to Oudong, a necropolis for the past kings of Cambodia. We wanted
to spend her last weekend in Cambodia with an excursion of some sort. We
decided on Oudong because of its proximity to Phnom Penh. It is about 90
minutes by car and two hours by tuk tuk, we went with the latter. It wouldn’t be
an adventure if we opted for a smooth, air conditioned ride. The roads get
pretty dusty once you leave Phnom Penh’s city center and to combat the smells and dust, we
brought our traditional Kramas, traditional Cambodian scarves, along for the
ride. Just last week Jenny was taught how to wear one correctly and we put her
new found skill to use. As you can see
from the picture, our hair, mouth and nose were pretty well protected. Needless to
say, we got plenty of stares but this just made our ride so much more interesting.
We arrived around 3pm, really the
perfect time for a visit because there were barely any tourists and the sun's rays were kinder. It also made the climb up 509 steps much easier. I don’t know if we
could have done it in the blistering noon heat. Once we climbed up we could not believe
how beautiful and clean everything around us was, it was probably one of the cleanest sites I have
seen in Cambodia after the Royal Palace. The details in the buildings were
refreshingly different and we could not stop staring. We walked to and from
every corner. We met male nuns that take immaculate care of the property. Yes,
there is such a thing as male nuns. They are called Ta Tei in Cambodia and are
not ordained so they have a lower status than monks. It was a really peaceful experience. 
We ran into our upstairs
neighbor in one of the rooms, out of all the places! This room had 4000 Buddha figures
from all over the world. I don’t think they were of any significance except that there were 4000 of them in one room. Once we were finished exploring
the grounds, our neighbor advised us to visit the nearby Wat. The grounds
around the Wat were also really well kept and the Wat was very different from
the ones I have seen in Phnom Penh. It also housed about a 100 male monks and
female nuns.
We had a lovely day trip and
arrived back in Phnom Penh around 6:30pm with enough time to shower and get
ready for Jenny’s farewell dinner with friends. Jenny decided on Dolce Vita, an
Italian spot in Riverside, for dinner. It was a lovely evening filled with old
and new friends and a lot of dancing. At midnight, I officially turned 29 and
was embarrassed by my friends who requested the venue to play music for happy birthday so they
could sing to me. And then Asghar called and my lovely TEDxJacksonville team
wished me a happy birthday. This definitely helped with the homesickness.
This was also my last week with
Jenny and it has been really tough to process. We have become great friends
and I am not sure how I will go on in Phnom Penh without her. Yesterday was her
last night here and we decided we needed to have some new experiences before she
could leave. We took the City Bus for the first time, a month long trial public
bus system that is actually really efficient and cheap. We went to the roof top
of the tallest building in Phnom Penh to catch the sunset and we went to one of
our favorite local restaurants and ordered dishes we have never tried before. It
was a great night.
